12 Every thing good as well as bad comes from Zeus, and according to his own choice he assigns their good or evil lot to mortals, 13 and fate itself was subordinate to him. He was further the original source of all prophetic power, from whom all prophetic signs and sounds proceeded ( πανομφαῖος, panomphaios). 10 He avenged those who were wronged, and punished those who had committed a crime, for he watched the doings and sufferings of all men ( ἐπόψιος, eposios). 9 He also watched over the sanctity of the oath ( ὅρκιος, horkios), the law of hospitality ( ξένιος, xenios), and protected suppliants ( ἱκέσιος, hikesios). 8įor the same reason he protects the assembly of the people ( ἀγοραῖος, agoraios), the meetings of the council ( βουλαῖος, boulaios), and as he presides over the whole state, so also over every house and family ( ἑρκεῖος, herkeios). 6 He is the highest ruler, who with his counsel manages every thing, 7 the founder of kingly power, of law and of order, whence Dike, Themis and Nemesis are his assistants. 4 He is called the father of gods and men, 5 the most high and powerful among the immortals, whom all others obey. 3Īccording to the Homeric account Zeus, like the other Olympian gods, dwelt on Mount Olympus in Thessaly, which was believed to penetrate with its lofty summit into heaven itself. 2 This accounts for the fact that some writers use the name of the king of heaven who sends dew, rain, snow, thunder, and lightning for heaven itself in its physical sense. Later mythologers enumerate three Zeus in their genealogies: two Arcadian ones and one Cretan and the first is said to be a son of Aether, the second of Coelus, and the third of Saturn. When Zeus and his brothers distributed among themselves the government of the world by lot, Poseidon obtained the sea, Hades the lower world, and Zeus the heavens and the upper regions, but the earth became common to all. The greatest of the Olympian gods, and the father of gods and men, was a son of Cronus and Rhea, a brother of Poseidon, Hades, Hestia, Demeter, Hera, and at the same time married to his sister Hera.
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