According to Greek mythology, Zeus was born on Crete. Two caves high in the Cretan mountains contest the honour of being known as the birthplace of the greatest god of ancient Greece: the Dikteon Cave in south-central Crete and the Ideon Cave on the highest mountain in Crete, Mount Ida or Psiloritis.
There is no information describing exactly where Zeus was born, and each cave has its own adherents. The important thing, however, is that Crete is the birthplace of Zeus, in a way which has many points of similarity to the birth of Christ, many centuries later, in another cave in what is now the state of Israel.
Uranus, Gaia and Cronus
But let’s start at the beginning. According to Hesiod’s Theogony, the first gods at the beginning of the world were Uranus (the Sky) and Gaia (the Earth).
Uranus, fearful of losing his power to his descendants, cast his children into the depths of the earth.
Gaia, who was not keen on her husband’s behaviour, hid her son Cronus in the marriage bed and later helped him to overthrow his father.
According to myth, on Gaia’s advice Cronus took a sickle and castrated Uranus, throwing his genitals into the sea. Thus was born the beautiful goddess of love Aphrodite.
Cronus and Rhea, the birth of Zeus on Crete
But Cronus was to share his father’s fate. Afraid of his father’s prophetic curse, he swallowed his children sothey would not be able to take his place.
Cronus and Rhea had had five children before Zeus, who all ended up in their father’s stomach.
When Rhea became pregnant with Zeus, she did not want him to share their fate, so she asked for the help of her parents, Uranus and Gaia.
Following their advice, she went to Crete and hid in a cave inthe Cretan mountains to bring forth the child in secret, unknown to her child-eating husband. As she gave birth, Rhea tried to stifle her cries by sinking her fingers into the earth. From each finger arose one of the ten Dactyls, benevolent inhabitants of the Cretan mountains.
Throughout the birth, the entrance to the cave was guarded by the legendary Curetes, whom many myths identify with the Dactyls.
As soon as Rhea gave birth to Zeus, the healthy boy who was to become the Father of the Gods of Olympus, she gave him to the Curetes to look after. They danced and stamped, beat their drums and clashed their shields to cover the baby’s crying.
In order to deceive her husband Cronus, Rhea gave him a stone wrapped in swaddling clothes instead of the baby. He swallowed the supposed infant at once and relaxed once more in the certainty that his throne was not at risk from his children.
Zeus grows up hidden in the mountains of Crete
In the meantime, little Zeus was growing up in the cave where he remained hidden in the mountains of Crete. The goat Amalthea and the nymph Melissa played an important part in his upbringing.
Amalthea, a goat or, according to others, a nymph, suckled the holy infant and from her horn, the cornucopia or horn of plenty, came all manner of good things.
The nymph Melissa nursed Zeus and looked after him, while feeding him her nourishing honey so he would grow more quickly.
The War of the Titans – Zeus overthrows Cronus
When Zeus eventually grew up and came of age, he overthrew Cronus and assumed his divine authority, either bloodlessly or after a terrible war, the Titanomachy, referred to in a different version of the myth.
According to the version of the Titanomachy or War of the Titans, when Zeus went to find his father and take over from him, he sliced open Cronus’s belly and out leapt all the children he had swallowed in the past: Hera, Poseidon, Hestia, Demeter and Pluto (Hades). With their help, Zeus fought the Titans who controlled the universe, led by Cronus.
The war was long and cruel but it was finally won by Zeus and his siblings, who, together with Zeus’s children, made up the Twelve Gods of Olympus.
Links
Variations on the myth of Zeus’s birth
Similarities between the stories of Christ and Zeus
Antoninus Liberalis, in his Metamorphoses, says that Rhea gives birth to Zeus in a sacred cave in Crete, full of sacred bees, which become the nurses of the infant. While the cave is considered forbidden ground for both mortals and gods, a group of thieves seek to steal honey from it.
In this island Zeus, Apollo, Dionysus and Ariadne, Demeter and Artemis were worshiped above all. Zeus, father of all gods, was born in Crete but was brought up in Naxos in his honor the inhabitants named the island's tallest mountain after him (Zeus or Zas).
That hidden baby would grow up to become Zeus, king of the gods, and the cave he was hidden in is thought to be Greece's Dikteon Cave. The birth of Zeus is one of several myths and legends associated with Dikteon Cave.
There is no definitive answer to this question, though the first writings that included Zeus as a figure date back to 700 BCE. Zeus was born sometime in the distant past, long before humans appeared in the world.
Psychro is associated with the Diktaean Cave (Greek: Δικταῖον Ἄντρον; Diktaion Antron), one of the putative sites of the birth of Zeus. Other legends place Zeus' birthplace as Idaean Cave (Ἰδαῖον Ἄντρον) on Mount Ida.
When Hera took pity on the bird and held it to her breast, Zeus resumed his true form and ravished her. Hera then decided to marry him to cover her shame, and the two had a resplendent wedding worthy of the gods.
The sacred Mount Yuchtas is the final resting place of the greatest God of Greek Antiquity. Whilst the claim of Crete to be the birthplace of Zeus has been widely accepted, the myth that the god also died and was buried in the island is unique to Crete.
Mythology says that Crete was the birthplace of the Greek god twins, Apollo and Artemis, who were born in the nearby islets of Paximadia. Apollo and Artemis were considered, along with Zeus, to be the Gods that protected Crete.
The history of Crete is age–long and should be traced back in the first myths and legends. According to the Greek mythology, Zeus, the father of gods and humans, was born in Crete, where later he secretly copulated with beautiful nymph Europa, who gave her name to our continent.
Europa, in Greek mythology, the daughter either of Phoenix or of Agenor, king of Phoenicia. The beauty of Europa inspired the love of Zeus, who approached her in the form of a white bull and carried her away from Phoenicia to Crete.
According to Greek mythology, the first queen of Crete was Europa. Later on, Crete island became the land of King Minos. The legend is that the king refused to sacrifice a bull to the gods and Poseidon punished him by making his wife fall in love with a bull.
The Three Graces were three daughters of Zeus who personified grace, beauty and charm. Hesiod, in the 'Theogony', names them as Aglaia, Euphrosyne and Thalia.
Mythology says that Crete was the birthplace of the Greek god twins, Apollo and Artemis, who were born in the nearby islets of Paximadia. Apollo and Artemis were considered, along with Zeus, to be the Gods that protected Crete.
One of the biggest mythological stories to come out of Crete is the fact it is the birthplace of Zeus, arguably the most well-known and most powerful God within Greek mythology.
Mythology and legend has bestowed on the Greek island of Crete the privilege of being the birthplace of Zeus, father of the gods. ccording to mythology, Zeus, the God of gods, was born in Crete.
According to the legend, the shape of Mount Yuchtas when viewed from the west, reveals the profile of a bearded head reclining as in sleep or in death and represent the face of Zeus; right here, according to the myth, in the mountain lies his tomb.
Introduction: My name is Corie Satterfield, I am a fancy, perfect, spotless, quaint, fantastic, funny, lucky person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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