The ancient Greeks perceived their gods in a polytheistic religious worldview as men and women. Zeus, above all other gods, was the god of ancient Greek society. In large measure, this is mainly because Zeus was considered the father of all the other gods, including the god of the skies. Zeus was more prominent than other gods in Greek society because he was viewed as the most powerful and the god that had the ability to administer justice on earth as well as in heaven. He was also the brother and husband of the goddess Hera and a father to countless Greek heroes. As Powell maintains, the progression from chaos to order and from female creation and rule to male creation and rule ends in the ultimate god, Zeus, ôThe Greek cosmogony/theogony is a tale of the gradual ascent to power of male over female. In the beginning was female Gaea/Earth, mother of all; in the end is the male Zeus, ruler of the universe,ö (96).
If Zeus emerged as the ultimate Greek god it was not only because of various myths and stories that posited him in such a position. Zeus also occupied such a role to ancient Greeks because his presence was important in all aspects of daily life. Zeus was the god above all who offered comfort to ancient Greeks against the unknown terrors of the universe. The Greeks believed the universe was magical and unpredictable, which caused a dilemma not unlike our own views of existentialism. Many contemporary individuals still turn to Christian mythology and its ôgodö in order to find refuge from existential dilemma, e.g. existing in an often hostile and indifferent universe in which our individual significance seems a moot point. In Greek society, being able to offer sacrifices to Zeus and to appeal to the gods by offering some form of appeasement made it probable in the Greek mind that intervention from Zeus might avert disaster. If Zeus became the ultimate god in Greek society, it is not because his
...