Zeus

In Hesiodic and related Greek accounts Zeus is the youngest child of the Titans Cronus and Rhea. To prevent Cronus from swallowing him, Rhea hides Zeus (variously said to be on Crete — e.g., Lyctus, Mount Aegaeon/Aegeum, Mount Ida or Dicte in different traditions). After reaching maturity Zeus leads the revolt that overthrows Cronus and the Titans, freeing his swallowed siblings and assuming rulership of the cosmos as king of the gods on Mount Olympus. Variant local traditions record multiple claimed birthplaces and upbringing locations, a fact remarked upon by Pausanias.

Classical iconography and literary epithets present Zeus as a royal, patriarchal sky figure associated with the thunderbolt, the eagle, and the scepter; he is described by the epithet Nephelēgereta ('cloud-gatherer'), linking him to cloud and storm imagery. Artistic and literary traditions depict him as the chief, bearded Olympian in kingly attributes (scepter, thunderbolt) rather than by a single fixed corporeal description.

Zeus is primarily a sky‑and‑thunder deity with authority over weather phenomena (clouds, thunder, lightning) and wields the thunderbolt as an emblem of his power. He occupies the supreme position in the Olympian order—other gods address him as 'Father' and rise in his presence—and acts as chief arbiter and assigner of roles among the Olympians. Mythic narratives credit him with fathering a wide array of gods and heroes (accounts vary by source) and with being identified with equivalent sky‑king deities in other traditions (notably Roman Jupiter and the Proto‑Indo‑European *Dyēus).