Zeus in early Greek mythology and religion : from prehistoric times to the early Archaic period /
Zolotnikova, Olga A.
Oxford : Archaeopress,
2013.
"This monograph examines the religious and mythological concepts of Zeus from prehistoric times until the Early Archaic period. The research was performed as an interdisciplinary study involving the evidence of the Homeric poems, archaeology, linguistics, as well as comparative Indo-European material. It is argued that Greek Zeus, as a god with certainly established Indo-European origins, was essentially a god of the open sky and the supposed progenitor of everything, a supreme, but not ruling deity; initially, he must have been distinct from the god of storms, who, for unknown reasons, completely disappeared from Greek religion and mythology by as early as the Late Bronze Age. From the time of Homer, Zeus-Father appeared as a storm-god, the autocratic ruler of the universe, and an offspring of elder deities, on the level of mythology. Such a concept does not correspond to the traditional Indo-European patterns and seems to have been formed under the influence of Near-Eastern concepts of the supreme almighty god, on the one hand, and the Cretan-Minoan concept of a young god/divine child, on the other. However, the Homeric concept of Zeus was adopted by his practising cults much later, only from the Late Archaic period."--Publisher's website.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 133-158).
"This monograph examines the religious and mythological concepts of Zeus from prehistoric times until the Early Archaic period. The research was performed as an interdisciplinary study involving the evidence of the Homeric poems, archaeology, linguistics, as well as comparative Indo-European material. It is argued that Greek Zeus, as a god with certainly established Indo-European origins, was essentially a god of the open sky and the supposed progenitor of everything, a supreme, but not ruling deity; initially, he must have been distinct from the god of storms, who, for unknown reasons, completely disappeared from Greek religion and mythology by as early as the Late Bronze Age. From the time of Homer, Zeus-Father appeared as a storm-god, the autocratic ruler of the universe, and an offspring of elder deities, on the level of mythology. Such a concept does not correspond to the traditional Indo-European patterns and seems to have been formed under the influence of Near-Eastern concepts of the supreme almighty god, on the one hand, and the Cretan-Minoan concept of a young god/divine child, on the other. However, the Homeric concept of Zeus was adopted by his practising cults much later, only from the Late Archaic period."--Publisher's website.
The concept of Zeus in the Iliad. The Homeric language and epics ; The characteristics of Zeus in the Iliad ; The characteristics of Homeric Zeus denoting his natural aspects ; The characteristics of Homeric Zeus denoting his ruling functions and his intellectual abilities ; Relation of the Homeric concept of Zeus to the basic Indo-European mythological conceptions ; Parallels between Homeric Zeus and the Near-Eastern supreme gods ; Possible ways of entry of the Near-Eastern elements into the epic/mythic image of Zeus. -- The relation of the Homeric concept of Zeus to the Mycenaean religion. The evidence for the worship of a deity of the clear sky in the Mycenaean religion ; The evidence for the worship of a storm-deity in the Mycenaean religion ; Mycenaean male deities without certain connection with the natural phenomena ; The term for "throne" in the Linear B and in Homer ; The evidence for the association of Zeus with the concept of a "young god" ; The evidence for the association of the notion of divine to the concept of the supreme power in the prehistoric Greek perception. -- The evidence for the worship and perception of Zeus during the early historic time. The EIA places of worship of Zeus ; Zeus in the EIA iconography ; Evaluation of the evidence presented in the Chapter 3.
Zeus (Greek deity)
Mythology, Greek.