GREER. As usual, the Romans borrowed much from the Greeks in their later conception of Jupiter, and it will be best to treat first of ZEUS as he appears in Greek mythology. From the beginning of our records Zeus appears as the supreme god, established as the ruler of the uni verse, whom all the other gods obey, for he is stronger than all of Hum. Ile wields the thunder bolt, which in even the earliest art is his almost inseparable attribute. As to the origin of this supremacy nothing is known. It may come from the natural idea of the god of the sky and light, or it may be due to the awe before the power of the thunderbolt. which would secure to its wielder irresistible might. With Zeus were also associated the eagle, the oak (at Dodona), and the wolf (on Mount Lyeus). To Zeus in Homer also belongs the _Eris (q.v.), brandishing NvIlich he causes confusion and term-o• to fall upon his enemies. Closely connected with the idea of Zeus as god of the lightning and thunder is Ids func tion as a rain-god. As the supreme god Zeus was the protector of suppliants and the punisher of perjurers. Though Zeus nowhere actively takes part in battle, except against such enemies of the gods as the Titans, Typhon, or the Giants, he was honored by the erection after a victory of a trophy was dedicated to him. Ile was also a prophetic god, perhaps from the use of lightning in auguries, revealing the future in many ways, as by birds and dreams, or at his oracles. Naturally in the developed Hellenic civilization other functions arc especially as signed to Zeus, and he often appears as the guar dian of leagues, or of public assemblies. Zeus was of course worshiped throughout Greece, and with a wide vat icty of local observances, hut there are a few' points where his cult received especial prominence and obtained far more than a local importance. Dodona (q.v.) was the seat of a very early worship, called by the Greeks Pelasgian, where Zeus was associated with Diime instead of Hera, and gave oracular responses to those who asked advice, either by the rustling leaves of the oaks, or by casting lots, or by other more complicated methods. The great centre of Zeus-worship in Greece was, of course. Olympia (q.v.), where from very early times there seems to have been a. cult of Hera and possibly of Zeus also, though it is very probable that the latter was introduced from Thessaly, where the home of Zeus was placed on the summit of _Mount Olympus. Here also was an oracle, which, how ever. never attained special eminence. The im portant feature of this cult was the celebration, every four years, of the great Olympian games. (See OLYMPIC GAMES.) Primitive rites and even human sacrifices appear in connection with the worship of Zeus on Mount Lye;ens in Arcadia, where there was no temple or image, but only two eagles on pillars facing the east in an inclosure on the summit of the mountain which it was for bidden to enter. Here a boy was sacrificed by
priest, who, after tasting of the victim, fled and was believed to he transformed for nine years into a wolf. The rite seems to have been per formed even as late as the time of Hadrian. Similar rites existed on Mount lthome in Mes senia, and at Halys in Phthiotis and Orehomenns in Thcotia ill connection with the cult of Zeus Laphystins. There are even traces of such sav age customs in the Zeus cults of Athens, where the god seems to have been worshiped both as a beneficent and as a cruel deity. His great temple, begun by Pisistratus in honor of the Olympian Zeus, was to the southeast of the Acropolis, near the Ilissus. Passing from Greece proper, we tied in Crete a very extensive worship of Zeus which shows many traits pointing to early connection with Asia Minor, especially Carla, and the Won ,,hip of 11lwa-Cybele, the great mother of the god.. Ilere the god was born of Rhea, and here concealed from his jealous father Cronus in a cave (either the Dictean or Idean) where he was suckled by the goat Amalthea, while the armed uretes (the regular attendants of Rhea) danced and clashed their shields to drown his infant cries. Here, too, not far from Cnosus, was shown the grave of Zeus. Much here recalls the worship of Dionysus, and obviously contains a chthonic ele ment. In general, the god was honored on lofty 111011TO:6ns. :is is to be expected front his nature as a god of the sky, and also of lightning, for it is around the mountain-tops that the storm clouds gather. The stories of the birth of Zeus, Inch have lnen already mentioned, appear even in Ilesiod. who also tells of the overthrow of Cronus, and the establishment of the now dynas'ty by ZellA, who,after hard struggles with the Titans and Giants, secures his supremacy. in general., the myths about Zeus are concerned chiefly with his numerous love affairs, either with goddesses or with mortals. In sonic of these we doubtless have reminiscences of the association in worship of different goddesses with the supreme god. be fore the unification of religious views had estab lished Hera as his legitimate consort. A large number. however, are due to the desire to trace the deseeot of the heroes and noble families to the great god. AtcrEvhs% Zeus-descended. is a com mon Homeric epithet of the Aeli•an princes. in art Zeus was usually represented as bearded and of majestic presence. The artistic type was largely determined by the great gold and ivory statue of Militias in the temple at Olympia, of which we can form but a slight notion from the late coins of Elis, and the description of Pausa nias. A fine example of the later type is the well known Zeus Otricoli in the Vat lean. Consult: Overbe•k. K an tsnipt hologir and tlaR (Leipzig• 1871 sqq.) ; Iyrepter-llobert, t:ricchiRchP Mythologic (Berlin, 1SS7) ; and other Works cited under CHEEK RELIGION.