The Statue of Zeus at Olympia by Phidias, he created the 40 ft tall statue of Zeus at Olympia about 435 BC. The statue was perhaps the most famous sculpture in Ancient Greece, imagined here in a 16th century engraving
The term may mean different things in a modern perspective where thoughts may turn to Holly wood stars rather than the residents of Mount Olympus. But the term actually refers to Zeus and his kinsfolk. To start at the beginning would be to name the parents of Zeus who were the Titans, Cronus and Rhea. Now Cronus had this rather unwholesome appetite for his newborn children, and swallowed them whole as soon as he was informed of the good news. Cigars all around, now bring the little critter to me on a platter. This went on quite a few times till Rhea had had enough. When it was time for little Zeus to make his appearance she apparently hid him in a cave.
The bust of Zeus found at Otricoli (Sala Rotonda, Museo Pio-Clementino, Vatican)
Once he grew up one of the first things he did was make his father regurgitate all his siblings out. Then they joined forces and did the predictable thing under the circumstances; they overthrew the old man and gained absolute control over the universe. In the process he overthrew all the Titans and the survivors were sent to Tartarus in the underworld. Then the brothers Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades very amicably divided the kingdom into earth, sea, and the underworld respectively and ruled over them.
Due to all these upheavals from the time of his birth, Zeus probably didn’t really have much time for socialising, so he married his sister Hera. After the marriage it dawned on him that there were plenty more fish in the sea, and went on to have affairs with anything in a white robe. Metis, Themis, Europa, Io, Semele and a few others had been the object of his attentions at one time or the other. A raging affair with Leto resulted in the birth of Apollo and Artemis. Hera had her hands full coping with these escapades and devising the most painful means of getting rid of them.
Despite being such an eventful marriage, Zeus and Hera managed to have children. Ares, their son, was hated by both, and probably due to this reason he became the god of war and murderous deeds. Athena who was the apple of her father’s eye, is supposed to have sprung from his forehead and therefore does not have a mother. Hephaestus was another son who was so physically ugly that the mother flung him from Mount Olympus, causing him to become a cripple to boot. But he was a peaceful soul and was well rewarded by his marriage to Aphrodite, the goddess of love.
Poseidon who reigned over the seas, married Amphitrite, though he was besotted by his sister Demeter who cleverly eluded him. Hades the third brother and ruler of the underworld just went out to the meadows and kidnapped fair Persephone when he decided it was time for him to give up bachelorhood. Otherwise his sole ambition was to prevent people or rather souls from leaving the netherworld. Other than Hera and Demeter, there was a third sister Hestia, who is known as the virgin goddess and is supposed to preside over the hearth.