Zeus (/zjuːs/, Ancient Greek: Ζεύς)[a] is the chief deity of the Greek pantheon. He is a sky and thunder god in ancient Greek religion and mythology, who rules as king of the gods on Mount Olympus.
Zeus is the child of Cronus and Rhea. In most traditions, he is married to Hera, by whom he is usually said to have fathered Ares, Eileithyia, Hebe, and Hephaestus. At the oracle of Dodona, his consort was said to be Dione, by whom the Iliad states that he fathered Aphrodite. According to the Theogony, Zeus's first wife was Metis, by whom he had Athena. Zeus was also infamous for his escapades. These resulted in many divine and heroic offspring, including Apollo, Artemis, Hermes, Persephone, Dionysus, Perseus, Heracles, Helen of Troy, Minos, and the Muses.
He was respected as a sky father who was chief of the gods[9] and assigned roles to the others: "Even the gods who are not his natural children address him as Father, and all the gods rise in his presence." He was equated with many foreign weather gods, permitting Pausanias to observe "That Zeus is king in heaven is a saying common to all men". Among his symbols are the thunderbolt and the eagle.[14] In addition to his Indo-European inheritance, the classical "cloud-gatherer" (Greek: Νεφεληγερέτα, Nephelēgereta) also derives certain iconographic traits from the cultures of the ancient Near East, such as the scepter.
He is also major character in Disney's 1997 animated feature film Hercules. The mighty god of the skies and ruler of the gods, Zeus controls the universe and presides over Mount Olympus, with the power to control thunder and lightning. He is also father to Hercules, who—under Zeus' guidance—would become the greatest hero in all of Greece. Zeus is jovial and carefree, which makes him a beloved figure amongst his godly colleagues, with the exception of his evil younger brother, Hades.
