Zeus from stories from Greece
Written by TEMPLETON INSTITUTE FOR NEUROLOGY
Narrated by Catherine Carter
Even though he was the god, Zeus was born into the
world much like any other baby
His parents were Elder Gods called Titan and they
were the very first beings to rule the world
Zeus's father was Cronus and his
mother was Rhea. Cronus was a terrible
jealous and greedy being and a wicked
father. He feared that one day he was
loose throne and therefore his position
of King. So to make sure he would never
be challenged, he imprisoned all of his
brothers in the dungeon, but even worse
every time his wife Rhea gave birth to
one of their children, Cronus would
swallow the baby. But when Rhea gave
birth to her last child, a boy named
Zeus, she managed to trick clonise
instead of handing over her new baby she
gave her husband a rock, wrapped in
blankets to swallow. She quickly arranged
to send Zeus away to the greek island of Crete
to keep him safe from a treachery
of his father. Zeus was raised secretly
by a number of enchanted beings
One setting goats milk and honey, small God's
called Kretz made lots of loud noise by
dancing and banging drums so that Cronus
would not hear the cries of the baby
another hit him by dangling him on a
rope from a tree. You see dear children
his evil father Cronus ruled over the
heavens the earth and the sea, so when
Zeus were suspended between Earth's sea
and sky he was invisible to his father
soon came a day where Zeus was grown up
enough to claim the kingdom of the world
and he plotted a battle against his
father and the other elder Gods the Titans
But first Zeus cut open
Cronus's stomach to expose all of his
brothers and sisters freeing them into
the world. Then Zeus released Cronus's
imprisoned brothers from their dungeon
These fears Titans recall giganteus
Heckert hea Ess and Cyclops
To their gratitude the Cyclops gave Zeus
the power of thunder and lightning bolts
the most distinguished power of God's
can have. Zeus was also born with other
powers such as being able to shape-shift
or turned himself or others into
anything he wanted. So together Zeus his
brothers and sisters along with his own
fathers brothers joined their forces
together and conquered Cronus and the
other Titans the defeated Titans were
then cast into a shadowy underworld
known as Tartarus. one of the Titans who
fought against Zeus was named Atlas.
Zeus punished him by ordering him to hold up
the sky for all eternity. By the time the
war was over the world's population had
grown to include humans, beasts and half gods
who were a mixture of mortals and gods
The time had come for the kingdom
of the world to be ruled by Zeus and his
brothers and sisters. Unlike his father
Zeus was fair and just he drew straws
with his brothers Poseidon and Hades to
see who would become the new king of the Gods
Zeus won the draw and he officially
became the ruler of the earth and the
sky and the Lord of Mount Olympus the
highest mountain of Greece. From that day
on each of Zeus's siblings controlled a
single part of the world. His brother
Poseidon was god of the sea while his
other brother Hades ruled the underworld
his sister Hera became goddess of
marriage and childbirth. Another sister
Demeter,  became goddess of Corn, grain and
the harvest. And the third sister, Hestia
was lesser Godness and more keeper of the Herp
The symbol of the house around
which a newborn child is carried before
it is received into the family
All were mighty in their own right and each took
great pleasure in carrying out the tasks
set to them by their brother the great Zeus
Ruling the world was enjoyable at
first especially because Zeus didn't
really have too much to do. After all he had
invited everything up between his
brothers and sisters. Zeus often amused
himself by checking on how his siblings
were running their kingdoms he would
change himself into an octopus and visit
his brother - Poseidon under the sea
that Zeus had no fondness for water as
he found it cold and murky sometimes he
would go far beneath the earth to visit
his brother Hades, but it was so dark and
gloomy in the underworld, that Hades
would like huge fires and Zeus fantasy
far too hot for his liking. Zeus would
also find great amusement by hurling
thunder and lightning bolts on his home
on Mount Olympus which would frighten
the humans beasts and half gods down
below and annoy the other gods who felt
that this was just showing off, but Zeus
was after the mighty ruler of the
universe and he felt entitled to amuse
himself however he saw fit
Now dear children, Zeus was the most handsome of
all the gods. He was as tall as ten men
with incredibly strong huge muscled arms
and abroad robust chest. His long bushy
beard was common to the gods in those
times signifying his greatness his
shoulder-length thick blond hair
identified him to everyone as a mighty
being that he was and made him
attractive to women likewise Zeus had a
great fondness for beautiful women from
an early age he attracted women and
married several times. Each of his wives
gave him children but he couldn't seem
to stay with just one person. His sixth
wife was one of his favorites.
The lovely Goddess called Leto, but just like all
the other marriages, Zeus was restless
and his union with Leto didn't last long
So while Leto was present with
twins, Zeus was already looking for
someone else. His seventh lover and the
next woman he chose to marry was his
sister, Hera. You might think this very
strange dear children but don't forget
that Zeus and me as gods were so
powerful they could do anything they
wanted and the world was so new that the
rules we live by today did not surprise  to them
When Zeus began dating Hera, he
had to do it in secret so that his
mother would not find out. Zeus knew she
would not approve. At first Hera wanted
nothing to do with Zeus advances so Zeus
turned himself into a bird and appeared
outside her window in the rain. Hera saw
the poor bird and kindly brought him
into the shelter of her bosom to warm
and dry him. Zeus immediately returned to
his true form and persuaded Hera to marry him
The wedding of these olympians
was no small occasion all the gods and
goddesses attended bringing with them
marvelous gifts, including a wondrous
tree that bore golden apples. Zeus and
Hera glorious wedding nights lasted three
hundred years. Quite a party they had
four children together but sadly suit
his marriage to Hera was not happy
either. Hera was a very jealous wife and
she had a bad temper. She was especially
jealous of Leto Zeus's ex-wife and had
her chased out of the kingdom by dragon
even more she was pregnant with Zeus twins
Leto fled to the island of
Delos where she gave birth to her twin
boys Apollo and Artemis. Now I must
explain that the children of gods and
goddesses are not like ordinary children
They grow much faster and of course they
are born with extraordinary powers which
increased as they grow. By the time there
were just a few weeks old both boys were
excellent archers and could shoot a bow
and arrow with the greatest accuracy
They adored their mother and protected
her by killing a dragon and a giant who
had tried to attack her. As the boys grew
into teenagers a letter realize that she
was the mother of two exceptionally
handsome and powerful young gods.
She knew this would please Zeus and make him
proud so she returned to Zeus his favor
on Olympus. Hera was not happy about this
but Leto remained on Olympus anyway
knowing that while Zeus was around Hera
would not dare to harm her, so Leto
spent many of her days
happily hunting with her sons. One day
Zeus in his boredom decided to leave his
home on Mount Olympus and visit earth to
see if there was anything of interest to
entertain him. Soon he came to a river
where a glint on the water caught his
eye he saw a beautiful river Nymph
I should explain dear children better
Nymph is a female magical being not
quite a goddess but not a human either I
suppose you would say that Nymphs sound like fairies
with certain powers of enchantment
This nymph named was "Io" (IO)
and from the moment you set eyes on her
he was completely enchanted
Zeus wanted to talk to IO and get to know her better
but he knew that the jealous Hera would
be wondering where he was and would most
probably be watching him with an eagle eye
So Zeus decided to cover the earth
with a thick coat of clouds to hide
himself but Hera was no fool and before
long she realized what Zeus was up to to
save himself Zeus quickly turned I O
into a little white cow and acted very
surprised when Hera appeared at his side
"oh dear wife I was walking by the river
when this little white cow appeared from nowhere"
He said. Hera are smart at her
husband and replied: "what a lovely cow!
May I have it as a present.?" To keep the
peace and prevent his jealous wife from
flying into a fit of rage Zeus had no
choice but to agree even though Zeus was
a powerful God Harris seem to have Paris
of her own to make soos agree to
anything she wished. Hera imprisoned Io
on a remote island and a heavy guard and
refused to tell Zeus where. But Zeus
outsmarted her by sending his son Apollo
to find her. Apollo used his tracking and
archery skills to kill the guards
watching over Io. Zeus then changed her
back to her original form and after her
frightening ordeal she decided to spend
the rest of her days wandering the earth
Next story about a hero named Hercules (Zeus's son)
...
