The Ancients13 Nov 2022

Zeus: King of the Gods

Zeus, the chief deity in Greek mythology, is the Olympian god of sky and thunder, and is king of all other gods and men.

His tale is one of overthrowing fathers, eating babies and seducing women, both mortal and divine, by changing his own form. He's one of the most complex figures in history, and his story is one that's been retold throughout millennia. To try and make sense of it all, we're going back to very beginning, to the origins of Zeus, starting with his grandfather and grandmother, Uranus and Gaia. We learn about the prophecy that ultimately overthrows Uranus, the same one that is also fated for Zeus's father, Cronus, and start to understand the family-tree that becomes the Olympians - from Athena to Dionysus.

For this episode, Tristan Hughes is joined by academic, author, broadcaster and Professor in Classics and Ancient History at the University of Warwick, Michael Scott. If you enjoyed this episode, you might also enjoy The Symposium: How To Party Like An Ancient Greek, also with Michael Scott.

Script written by Andrew Hulse

Voice over performed by Deryn Oliver

Produced, edited and sound designed by Elena Guthrie

The Assistant Producer was Annie Coloe

For more Ancients content, subscribe to our Ancients newsletter here.

If you'd like to learn even more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit - enter promo code ANCIENTS for a free trial, plus 50% off your first three months' subscription.

To download, go to Android > or Apple store >

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Denne episoden er hentet fra en åpen RSS-feed og er ikke publisert av Podme. Den kan derfor inneholde annonser.

Episoder(661)

The Gospels: Are They Historical?

How much can we really know about the historical Jesus? The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John have shaped Christianity for nearly 2,000 years, but they were written decades after the events they...

27 Sep 1h 3min

Maya Hieroglyphs Decoded

Forget everything you thought you knew about the ancient Maya. Cracking their mysterious hieroglyphs didn't just reveal boring calendars, it exposed a cutthroat, Game of Thrones-style world of rival s...

24 Sep 48min

Human Sacrifice in Ancient Britain

WARNING: This episode contains descriptions of graphic violence from the start.When we picture human sacrifice in ancient Britain, the iconic, flaming Wicker Man often comes to mind. But how much of t...

20 Sep 1h 1min

Ice Age America: The Clovis Culture

Before the mammoths disappeared, people hunted them across Ice Age America. Armed with distinctive stone spear points, the mysterious Clovis culture left behind traces of a world filled with giant bea...

17 Sep 57min

The First Punic War

How did the Romans ambush a massive Carthaginian fleet from behind a Sicilian island to win one of history's fiercest sea battles? For over 20 years, Rome and Carthage fought a brutal war for supremac...

13 Sep 1h 1min

Iron Age Ireland

How much of Iron Age Ireland is myth, and how much is archaeological reality? At the monumental Hill of Tara, sacred kings ruled over a landscape steeped in ancient ritual and ancestral memory.Tristan...

10 Sep 52min

Human Origins: Did We Begin in Africa?

The story of human origins is often imagined as a simple journey from Africa, but is the truth actually much messier? Tristan Hughes and leading palaeoanthropologist Prof. Chris Stringer dismantle the...

6 Sep 58min

Egypt's Lost Cities

What happens when an entire city disappears? Beneath the sands and wetlands of Egypt lie the remains of forgotten cities that once stood at the heart of one of the ancient world’s greatest civilisatio...

3 Sep 59min