Zeus

by Dowden; KEN

• ISBN13: 9780415305020
• ISBN10: 0415305020
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2006-01-13
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

The first book to capture a complete picture of the most important of Greek gods in one reliable volume for almost seventy years, this masterly and comprehensive study brings a new-millennium examination of the fascinating god Zeus.Broad in scope, the book looks at myth, art, cult, philosophy, drama, theology and European painting amongst much more, and allows us to take seriously what it was to worship and respect the greatest of Greek gods, and to live through the aftershock of the Middle Ages and modern times.Showing the evidence along the way, Zeus is student-friendly and includes:- a range of illustrations and maps- translated passages from ancient authors- a chronology and excellent indexing.Looking at the ancient Greeks their predecessor and their successors - the Romans and beyond - the book is engagingly written and speaks to a modern audience: this is Zeus from our remote ancestors to Wagner, and into the computer age.

Author Biography

Ken Dowden is Professor of Classics, and Director of the Institute of Archaeology and Antiquity, at the University of Birmingham.

Table of Contents

Series foreword	ix
List of maps	xiii
List of illustrations and credits	xv
Preface	xix
Chronological table	xxiii
Map of Greece and its regions	xxvi
WHY ZEUS?	1	(18)
INTRODUCING ZEUS	3	(16)
The evidence for Zeus	4	(4)
Explaining Zeus	8	(8)
Overview: first impressions of Zeus	16	(3)
KEY THEMES	19	(96)
1 ENVISAGING ZEUS	21	(7)
Overview	27	(1)
2 ZEUS'S RELATIONSHIPS WITH GODS AND MORTALS	28	(26)
Zeus in the Bronze Age	28	(1)
Father, brother, husband	29	(3)
Zeus born and dying	32	(3)
Titanomachy, Typhon, Gigantomachy	35	(4)
The sexual activity of Zeus	39	(13)
Overview	52	(2)
3 ZEUS FROM WEATHER TO FATE	54	(11)
Weather, lightning	54	(3)
The mountain	57	(4)
Control of time and events	61	(3)
Overview	64	(1)
4 ZEUS AND THE ORDER OF SOCIETY	65	(21)
Athens	65	(2)
Zeus central	67	(5)
Kings and the justice of Zeus	72	(4)
Historical kings	76	(2)
The needs of outsiders: stranger, suppliant, oath	78	(2)
Zeus in the home: praying, drinking and swearing	80	(4)
Overview	84	(2)
5 THINKING ABOUT ZEUS	86	(29)
The vision of Homer, and the archaic poets	86	(5)
The Presocratic thinkers	91	(1)
The tragic stage	92	(3)
Zeus in Plato and Aristotle	95	(2)
Some Hellenistic poets	97	(2)
Stoics and others: allegory and euhemerism	99	(7)
Syncretism	106	(2)
Greek Thought about Roman Jupiter	108	(4)
Overview	112	(3)
ZEUS AFTERWARDS	115	(22)
6 PHASES OF HISTORY	117	(20)
Christianity terminates Zeus?	118	(2)
Jupiter in Western Europe 500-1200	120	(3)
1200's, 1300's: renaissance before the Renaissance	123	(5)
Zeus and the Renaissance	128	(6)
Twilight of the Gods	134	(3)
Notes	137	(7)
Further reading	144	(3)
Works cited	147	(3)
Abbreviations	150	(2)
Index of personal and geographical names	152	(9)
Index of subjects	161