Riordan Wiki:Featured Articles/Zeus



Zeus is the king of the gods and lord of the sky. Before his birth, Kronos was told that one of his children would take over the throne like he had done to his own father, Ouranos. To prevent this, Kronos began to eat his children as soon as they were born. Rhea, his wife, couldn't stand by any longer and when she gave birth to Zeus, she replaced him with a rock that Kronos ate, then hid Zeus far away in a cave. When Zeus got older, he returned and tricked Kronos into throwing up his children with a mixture of wine and mustard. After all of Zeus' brothers and sisters were freed, the First Olympian War began.

Zeus lead his siblings into battle against the Titans, eventually defeating Kronos, chopping him into pieces, and tossing his remains into the pits of Tartarus. Zeus then became king of the gods and split the major realms of the world between his two brothers, with Poseidon becoming lord of the sea, Hades becoming lord of the Underworld, and Zeus himself becoming lord of the sky. Gaea however became unhappy with the gods' rule and raised up a new generation of children called the Gigantes, starting the first Gigantomachy. With the aid of Zeus' son, Hercules, as well as several other heroes, the Giants were defeated and Gaea went back to sleep.

In the series, Zeus is still king of the gods, but is obviously very arrogant in his duties. He likes to believe that everything is fine right up until the moment when things take a turn for the worst. He is also very over-dramatic, with Poseidon once mentioning that he should have been the god of theater. This can be seen any whenever anyone thinks that Zeus is wrong about something or Zeus himself feels threatened. Zeus' biggest fault is his unfaithfulness to his wife Hera. Zeus will constantly cheat on his wife with mortals, even after the Pact of the Big Three, which was a result of the Great Prophecy claiming that one of his or his brother's children could destroy Olympus. Zeus however was the first to break the oath, which angered Hades enough to send monsters after her. Zeus in a rare act of kindness turned his Thalia into a pine tree so she could live in at least some form. Despite all his faults, Zeus is possibly the only god able to keep the Olympians together and is still king of the gods.

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