Zeus.

This postings’ image is of the ‘King of the Gods’, Zeus and is a Red-figured Amphora of Panatheneas, 480-470 BC, Staatmuseum, Berlin. I have selected this particular image of Zeus as it depicts him with his symbol of power - his thunderbolt. Zeus is as close as we can get to the Ancient Greek religious version of the Christian ‘God’ - he controls both deities and mortals alike and is at the top of the hierarchy amongst the Olympians. Zeus is the most powerful god and is the implementer of justice in his guise as Zeus Dike. However, while Zeus is always regarded as the sovereign deity, throughout the study of the Ancient Greek Literature module there have been several instances in which we have been sharply reminded that Ancient Greek religion was polytheistic and not a monotheistic one. One example of this comes from The Homeric Hymns - the ‘Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite’ (which can be found in full at http://www.uh.edu/~cldue/texts/aphrodite.html). The hymn describes that there is ‘nothing among the blessed gods or among mortal men that has escaped Aphrodite. Even the heart of Zeus .. Is led astray by her’. Such instances remind us that although Zeus is the ‘King of the Gods’, the mortals are invited to respect and be in awe of all of the deities and their powers, not just the sovereign deities. However, in the instance referred to, Zeus turns Aphrodite’s wiles against her and ultimately restores himself to his former power. Deacy suggests that ‘polytheism worked as a system because each god had a particular place in the hierarchy presided over by Zeus’. This assertion is clearly supported by the ‘Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite’ and demonstrates that although the Ancient Greek world is clearly polytheistic , the polytheism is drawn together under the power of the sovereign ruler, King of the Gods, Zeus the almighty and the worship of this god could arguably be viewed as a monotheistic worship in some cases as not all of the gods in the religion are given equal respect.

The key, easy to read text for more information on Zeus is Ken Dowden’s Zeus, which can be found on googlebooks at http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=vRXaY0MZgqEC&dq=Dowden+Zeus&printsec=frontcover&source=bl&ots=2zmYF9SnLJ&sig=nCG04S98rIQKwI8mgCf9WT_-IDc&hl=en&ei=U_PySqD1C4OUjAfx1aWhDg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CAgQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=&f=false.