Zeus

Zeus is the sky god and a leading deity of ancient GreeceAncient Greek worldGreek-speaking communities and cities around the Aegean and beyond, extending across the borders of modern Greece.Glossary · Click to read the explanation. He appears in the IliadIliadGreek epic attributed to Homer, narrating a phase of the Trojan War.Glossary · Click to read the explanation, the epic traditionally attributed to HomerHomerThe name to which Greek tradition attributes the Iliad and Odyssey.Glossary · Click to read the explanation, whose familiar form took shape around the eighth century BCE from older poetic traditions. Zeus presides over gatherings of the gods in the story, although others speak and object to some of his decisions. ^[13]

In Iliad 8 he prohibits the gods from intervening in the Trojan War; in book 20 he summons them and allows them to support either side. The changed decision shows how the poet uses a divine gathering to move the story. A paternal title does not make every participant Zeus's child or deprive them of agency. ^[2][3]

In book 15 PoseidonPoseidonSea god in Greek traditions and an influential figure in the Iliad and Odyssey.Glossary · Click to read the explanation, the sea god, says that he, Zeus and HadesHadesUnderworld god in Greek narratives, and brother of Zeus and Poseidon in the Iliad exchange.Glossary · Click to read the explanation, ruler of the underworld, are three brothers who allotted their domains by lot. This is a character's claim within the epic, expressing his demand for equal standing, not a genealogy of every Greek god. ^[12]

The cover shows a Greek marble head from the third or second century BCE, identified by the Metropolitan Museum as probably Zeus. A vase in the media gallery, later than the epic's formation, depicts a divine gathering. Both are later artistic witnesses, not direct illustrations of a particular Homeric scene. ^[14][11]