Zeus

Zeus is the god of lightning, the sky, and ruler of Mt. Olympus and the gods. He is the last son of Kronos and Rhea.

History
Kronos sired several children by Rhea: Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades, and Poseidon, but swallowed them all as soon as they were born, since he had learned from Gaia and Uranus that he was destined to be overcome by his own son as he had overthrown his own father— an oracle that Zeus was to hear and avert. But when Zeus was about to be born, Rhea sought Gaia to devise a plan to save him, so that Kronos would get his retribution for his acts against Uranus and his own children. Rhea gave birth to Zeus in Crete, handing Kronos a rock wrapped in swaddling clothes, which he promptly swallowed.

Rhea hid Zeus on Mount Ida in Crete. He was raised by Melissa, who nursed him with goat's milk and honey.

After reaching manhood, Zeus forced Kronos to disgorge first the stone, then his siblings in reverse order of swallowing. Metis the Titan, gave Kronos a mixture of mustard and salt water to force him to disgorge the babies. Then Zeus released the brothers of Kronos, the Hecatonchires and the Cyclops, from their dungeon in Tartarus, killing their guard, Kampe.

As a token of their appreciation, the Cyclops gave him thunder and the thunderbolt, or lightning, which had previously been hidden by Gaia. Together, Zeus and his brothers and sisters, along with the Hecatonchires, Metis, and Cyclopes overthrew Kronos and the other Titans, in the combat called the Titanomachy. The defeated Titans were then cast into a shadowy underworld region known as Tartarus. Atlas, one of the titans that fought against Zeus, was punished by having to hold up the sky.

After the battle with the Titans, Zeus shared the world with his elder brothers, Poseidon and Hades, by drawing lots: Zeus got the sky and air, Poseidon the waters, and Hades the world of the dead (the underworld).

The ancient Earth, Gaia, could not be claimed; she was left to all three, each according to their capabilities, which explains why Poseidon was the "earth-shaker" (the god of earthquakes) and Hades claimed the humans that died.

Gaia resented the way Zeus had treated the Titans, because they were her children. Soon after taking the throne as king of the gods, Zeus had to fight some of Gaia's other children, the monsters Typhon and Echidna. He vanquished Typhon and trapped him under a mountain, but left Echidna and her children alive.

Zeus and Metis
Metis was the goddess of wisdom and deep thought, but her name originally connoted 'magical cunning' and was as easily equated with the trickster powers of Prometheus as with the 'royal metis' of Zeus.

Metis was both a threat to Zeus and an indispensable aid. She advised him with her wise council during the war between the Titans and the gods, and was invaluable as an advisor. She was the one who mixed the mustard and salt water to cause Kronos to vomit up his siblings.

After the war, Zeus and Metis married. While they were settling down in their married life, a prophecy was made by Gaia, Zeus' and Metis' grandmother. It was prophesied that Metis would bear extremely powerful children: the first, a daughter, and the second, a son more powerful than Zeus himself, who would eventually overthrow Zeus.

Zeus then consummated his marriage with Metis, but immediately feared the consequences.

In order to forestall these dire consequences, Zeus tricked her into turning herself into a fly and promptly swallowed her. He was too late: Metis had already conceived a child. In time she began making a helmet and robe for her fetal daughter. The hammering as she made the helmet caused Zeus great pain and Hephaestus cloved Zeus's head with an axe.

Metis' daughter Athena then leaped from Zeus's head, fully grown, armed, and armored, and Zeus was none the worse for the experience.

It is unknown if Metis escaped when Zeus' head was split open. There has been no mention of her since.

Zeus and Hera
Zeus was brother of Hera, and then became her consort. Gaia, his grandmother, gave Hera the Garden of the Hesperides as a wedding gift. Not trusting the Hesperides, Hera also put a one hundred headed dragon Landon to guard the apples of her orchard.

By Hera, Zeus sired Ares, Eris, Hebe, and Hephaestus.

The conquests of Zeus among nymphs are famous. Stories of Zeus credits him with unions with Leto, Demeter, Dione, and Maia. Among mortals were Semele, Io, Europa, and Leda.

Many stories render Hera as jealous of his amorous conquests and a consistent enemy of Zeus' mistresses and their children by him. For a time, a nymph named Echo had the job of distracting Hera from his affairs by incessantly talking: when Hera discovered the deception, she cursed Echo to repeat the words of others.

Modern Times
Over the centuries the Olympians moved west to the countries that held the seats of great power and influence. But after World War II where his sons and Poseidon's sons battled the sons of Hades, the three took an oath to not have anymore children. Decades later, he couldn't resist a beautiful 80s television starlet and sired his newest child, Thalia.

Because he broke his oath, Hades was outraged and set monsters loose on the twelve year-old Thalia. Grover become her keeper and tried to escort her to Camp Half-Blood, along with a seven year-old Annabeth and fourteen year-old Luke. She made her last stand on Half-Blood Hill, and as she died, Zeus took pity on her and turned her into a pine tree to preserve her life so Hades couldn't take her soul.

This was most likely away to keep Thalia's spirit safe from his elder brother who was still hurt and angered over the death of the mortal Maria who he had killed in an attempted to kill Hades own children to prevent the Prophecy from coming true.

Five years later, his lightning bolt was stolen and Percy Jackson and friends went across America to retrieve it. Percy then had to fly back on a plane to New York to give it back to Zeus. He was grateful, but told Percy never to fly in his dominion again or he would strike him out of the sky.

He seems to have warmed up to Thalia and the other heroes as they prepare for battle against his father, Kronos and his old triumphs in The Titan's Curse.

During The Last Olympian, when Typhoon is striking, he refuses to let any of the gods go back to Olympus to help the demigods fight against Kronos.

Personality
Zeus is seen as stubborn, proud, and temperate. He has a soft side for Thalia, which is probably because she is his daughter. He's shown to get in lots of arguments with his brother, Poseidon. He is also slightly paranoid of his elder brother especially after an incident where Poseidon and some of the other gods trapped him in a magical net and refused to release him until he promised to be a better ruler. He also apparently has a flare for dramatic exits, which Poseidon pointed out to Percy saying he should have been the god of theater.

Appearance
Zeus is a god with black long hair around his shoulders, a beard mixed with marbled gray and black like a storm cloud, rainy gray eyes, and a handsome, proud, and grim face. He wears normally a dark blue pinstribed suit, and gives off the aura of ozone.

Demigod Children

 * Hercules
 * Perseus
 * Thalia

Film


In the upcoming film The Lightning Thief, Zeus will be played by Sean Bean.