Zeus
Unknown, Zeus Otricoli, Ancient Greek - Hellenistic, 4th century B.C.E.,
Pio Clementine Museum, Vatican Museums, Vatican City
Qitong Liang(Mike)
The Zeus of Otricoli is an ancient Roman bust found in Otricoli in 1775 during the excavation financed by Pope Pius Vl. The sculpture shows one of the most Greek ancient gods, Zeus, who performs as the father of all gods in ancient Greek mythology. Zeus is the god of the sky in ancient Greek myth; as the chief Greek deity, Zeus is considered as the ruler, protector and father of all gods and humans. Zeus of Otricoli depicts an older man with a beard as well as strong muscles, which appears to be the normal symbols of Zeus. Appearing with the lightning bolt and the eagle, Zeus stands for superiority in ancient Greek culture, the representation of power, rules, which seems to be the symbol of monarch in Greek culture. A solemn and powerful man stood in the Zeus of Otricoli.
In the “Creation of Mortals”, Zeus, as the son of previous god Cronus, just defeated his father and became the new king in the world, found out that there were only creations of himself alone or other gods. With the suggestion from Ovid that the birth of mortals depicts the superiority and lofty ambition of this highest creature in the order of things, Zeus created “man” which epitomizes the human race. Men possess several resemblance to Zeus since people retained seeds from Zeus’s kindred sky, and Zeus fashioned them into the likeness of the gods who control all. After that, Zeus also divided people into several stages – the age of gold, the age of silver and the age of bronze. The gold age stood for the first class in the society and silver for the second class, bronze for the third class, which might represent various races or several social stages in the ancient Greek society. (Classical Mythology Page 86, 87)
As I was looking at the sculpture “The Zeus of Otricoli, my attention was initially attracted by Zeus’s thick hair and mustache, which showed his seriousness as well as maturity. Holding the stage of the father of all gods and creator of all humans, Zeus possessed the most superior right in the world in order to manage, punish and protect all the mortals in the ancient time. Based on my understanding, Zeus was the representation of nature or emperor in ancient Greeks’ mind who decided individuals’ lives. In addition, we can not see any facial expression in the Zeus of Otricoli which also stood for Zeus’s just as managing human beings’ lives where he made the judgment only based on truth.
The life experience of Zeus really did attract me where he defeated his own father initially and finally governed the whole world. Tracing back to Zeus’s growth, his father Cronus controlled the heavens constantly by swallowing all his children, and Zeus, as the youngest child, was the only one to survive since his mom Rhea wrapped a stone with thick clothes and gave it to Cronus for swallowing. Zeus escaped to Mt. Diket and gradually grew up with the raise from Gaia. Finally, Zeus killed Cronus and became the new governor of heavens. Referring to my childhood, Zeus did not leave me a good impression since I usually heard the story that Zeus robbed some girls or killed some of his offspring. However, Zeus also made great contributions to the world by maintaining the safety as well as peace in the world. He ended several wars such as the first Iyre, conflict between Apollo and Hercules and a terrible drought. Generally speaking, Zeus appeared to be a combination of kindness and craft instead of a totally kind father to the world which resembled humanity more vividly.
Yu Li
Zeus, one of the best figures in Greek mythology, is the king of all other gods and men, he is also named as the Olympian god of the sky and the thunder. This is a cast of an over life-sized bust of Zeus discovered at Otricoli (Ocriculum), Italy in the 18th century and housed in the Vatican. This remark will focus on the process of determining Zeus' character in mythology, as well as comparing our selection of The Zeus of Otricoli with the statue of Zeus in the Temple that has disappeared.
As a god of absolute dominance in Greek mythology, the image of Zeus also seems to be associated with his wisdom, power, and sense of battle. And in the process of its image formation, the two wars of Titanomachy and Gigantomachy have to be mentioned, because they signify the full maturity of Zeus' personal power. In Titanomachy, Zeus and his outcast siblings form an alliance to challenge their father. Zeus' alliance of gods includes Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades, and Poseidon. And allies with Cronus are the Titans other than Themis and Prometheus. This battle lasted for ten years between Zeus’s Mt. Olympus and Cronus’s Mt. Othrys. (Morford et al. p. 83) While at the Battle of Gigantomachy, Zeus led the Olympians and defeated the Giants and Typhoeus. The Gigantomachy was a fight between the Giants, the sons of Gaea and Uranus, and the Olympian gods. Because Giants were trying to overthrow the old religion and start a new order to establish themselves as the new rulers of the cosmos. (Morford et al. p. 84) However with the death of many giants and some famous giants such as Typhon and his brother Enceladus were imprisoned under the volcano, the Olympians resumed total domination of the pantheon.
According to these myths, most of Zeus' sculptures are all about his heroic and powerful character. The image of The Zeus of Otricoli presented in the plaster statue has a full, bushy head of curly hair and a full, bush, curly beard. His brow is furrowed, his nose is broad, and his lips are full. However, there was once a huge and world-famous statue of Zeus in the Temple of Zeus in Olympia, Greece, which was more grand and majestic than the above-mentioned The Zeus of Otricoli. It was carved by the famed Classical sculptor Phidias in Olympia, Greece by circa 435 BC. It was about 40 feet tall, carved from ivory and covered with gold plating. Also, it was seated on a magnificent throne of cedarwood, inlaid with ivory, gold, ebony, and precious stones (The Statue, 2022). In the original statue, Zeus held a scepter with a perched eagle in his left hand and a small statue of Nike, who is the goddess of victory in his right hand. Unfortunately, the statue disappeared around the 5th century, and there is still no conclusion as to why it disappeared, which includes the possibility that it was destroyed in the fire of Constantinople, or that it had been destroyed with the temple in an earthquake. Today's people can only find traces of the statue of Zeus from some coins in ancient Rome.
If we say that The Zeus of Otricoli is more focused on showing Zeus's perseverance through facial structures such as facial features, beards, hair, the Zeus statue in the Temple is better at using gorgeous materials such as Ivory, gold to show off his supremacy. If we say that The Zeus of Otricoli is more focused on showing Zeus's perseverance through facial structures such as facial features, beards, hair, the Zeus statue in the Temple is better at using gorgeous materials such as Ivory, gold to show off his supremacy(The Statue of Zeus). In addition, the giant statue of 40 feet tall represents the height of Zeus above the gods; the robe and olive branch mean that he has power and also hopes to maintain the peace and order of the world; at the same time, the statue of the Goddess of Victory and the scepter with eagle image shows his bravery, great combat skills and desire to win. All of these are showing Zeus became the veritable and undisputed world master after the battle of Titanomachy who defeated his father and Gigantomachy who defeated Giant.
Sena
Zeus was the youngest child of the Titans Kronos and one of the most influential gods of the greek. He was raised in secrecy on Mount Dikte in Krete where he was nursed by nymphs on the milk of the goat Amaltheia and guarded by the warrior Kouretes who drowned out the sound of his crying with their shield-clashing battle dance because his father was swallowing his sons. When Zeus had grown to maturity, Cronus was beguiled into bringing up all that he had swallowed, first the stone and then the children. Zeus then waged war against his father with his disgorged brothers and sisters as allies (classical mythology pg. 82) after the war that lasted 10 years Zeus became the god and replace his father. During the war, in addition to that Zeus led the gods to fight against Giants children of Gaea and Tartarus and won the battle with other gods. According to Britannica “successfully crushed several revolts against him by his fellow gods.” One thing I have noticed about those that connect him with the modern world and the way a lot of people believe is that as a god he was the protector of cities, the home, property, strangers, guests, and supplicants.This is the same way a lot of people believe and expect the god they believe in, to protect them, their cities, their homes, and so on.
Even though in the modern world Zeus is no longer worshiped like the ancient time, but his image stayed with the pop culture. He appeared in 1970 in the cult classic Hercules in New York, featuring Arnold Schwarzenegger, and in 1997 in the Disney animated film Hercules. He is also in a God of War video game series, he appears in the game as the father of Hero Kratos. In all of these movies and games, his personality is a consistent good, wise father. He also appears in the new avenger movie Thor love and thunder, which shows how he is the leader of many gods, with great power and having a lot of good as his supporters.
Works Cited
Cartwright, Mark. “Zeus.” World History Encyclopedia, Organization, 31 July 2022,
https://www.worldhistory.org/zeus/
Jastrow. Zeus of Otricoli (Image). Vatican City.
Morford, Mark, et al. Classical Mythology. 11th ed., Oxford University Press, 2019.
Morford Mark P, et al. “Zeus's Rise to Power: The Creator of Mortals.” Classical Mythology,
Oxford University Press, New York, NY, 2019, pp. 82–87.
“The Statue of Zeus.” Temple of Zeus, http://www.olympia-greece.org/templezeus.html.
“Greek mythology” Stories of ancient Greek myths, legends, and religious worship
Greek god Zeus https://mythopedia.com/topics/zeus
“Zeus.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.,
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Zeus.