Kasios - Miscellany On Zeus

Miscellany On Zeus

• Zeus is sometimes depicted as a middle-aged man with strong muscular arms. His facial hair can be a full beard and mustache to just stubble.
• Zeus turned Pandareus to stone for stealing the golden dog which had guarded him as an infant in the holy Dictaeon Cave of Crete.
• Zeus killed Salmoneus with a thunderbolt for attempting to impersonate him, riding around in a bronze chariot and loudly imitating thunder.
• Zeus turned Periphas into an eagle after his death, as a reward for being righteous and just.
• At the marriage of Zeus and Hera, a nymph named Chelone refused to attend. Zeus transformed her into a tortoise (chelone in Greek).
• Zeus, with Hera, turned King Haemus and Queen Rhodope into mountains (the Balkan mountains, or Stara Planina, and Rhodope mountains, respectively) for their vanity.
• Zeus condemned Tantalus to eternal torture in Tartarus for trying to trick the gods into eating the flesh of his butchered son Pelops.
• Zeus condemned Ixion to be tied to a fiery wheel for eternity as punishment for attempting to violate Hera.
• Zeus sank the Telchines beneath the sea.
• Zeus blinded the seer Phineus and sent the Harpies to plague him as punishment for revealing the secrets of the gods.
• Zeus rewarded Tiresias with a life three times the norm as reward for ruling in his favour when he and Hera contested which of the sexes gained the most pleasure from the act of love.
• Zeus punished Hera by having her hung upside down from the sky when she attempted to drown Heracles in a storm.
• Of all the children Zeus spawned, Heracles was often described as his favorite. Indeed, Heracles was often called by various gods and people as "the favorite son of Zeus", Zeus and Heracles were very close and in one story, where a tribe of earth-born Giants threatened Olympus and the Oracle at Delphi decreed that only the combined efforts of a lone god and mortal could stop the creature, Zeus chose Heracles to fight by his side. They proceeded to defeat the monsters.
• Athena has at times been called his favorite daughter and adviser.
• His sacred bird was the Golden Eagle, which he kept by his side at all times. Like him, the eagle was a symbol of strength, courage, and justice.
• His favourite tree was the oak, symbol of strength. Olive trees were also sacred to him.
• Zelus, Nike, Cratos and Bia were Zeus' retinue.
• Zeus condemned Prometheus to having his liver eaten by a giant eagle for giving the Flames of Olympus to the mortals.
• When Hera gave birth to Hephaestus, Zeus threw him off the top of Mount Olympus because of his repulsive appearance.