Zeus

(Gk.). A Greek deity of sky and weather, also ruler of men, usually referred to as Zeus-patēr (“Father Zeus”); his consort is Hera. (Their Roman equivalents are Jupiter, i.e., Ju-pater, and Juno.) But his origin may be found in the Vedic sky god Dyaus who is also identified as Father (Sk. pitṛ). There is obviously a linguistic relation between these names, suggestive of the spread of religions ideas westward as a result of the migration of the Aryans into India, Greece, and Italy. Helena P. BLAVATSKY quotes Hermes Trismegistus (trans. by Kingsford & Maitland, The Virgin of the World, 1885, pp. 64-65) as saying, “The supreme Being of Heaven, or of all that is comprehended under this name, is Zeus, for it is by heaven that Zeus gives life to all things” (SD I:672). Many of her references to Zeus seem to suggest that he is symbolic of Nature’s finer forces, such as Fohat. In Homer, Zeus is represented as the ruler or “Father” of all the gods and of humanity.

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