Zeus

Zeus was King of the Ancient Greek gods of Mount Olympus as well as the god of thunder and lightning. The Romans conflated Zeus with their own King of the gods Jove Pater (Jupiter). "Zeus" and "Jove" are both believed to be derived from the Proto-Indo-European name Dyauṣ.

According to tradition, Zeus was the youngest son of the Titans, Cronus (Kronos in old style) and Rhea. An oracle had foreseen that a son of Cronus would overthrow him. In response, Cronus swallowed all of his children seconds after their birth. Only Rhea's trickery saved Zeus, who grew up to defeat his father, liberate his swallowed siblings, and become King of the Gods.

Zeus was famous for his lechery. His dalliances produced many of the heroes of Greek myth, including Perseus and Hercules. However, there was also a popular story where Zeus expressed a strong fondness for Prince Ganymede of Troy, and this attraction has sometimes been interpreted as having a homosexual element.

Zeus in "Miss Manners' Guide to Greek Missology"
Zeus tasked Andromeda with vanquishing the Gorgons, three women whose beauty was causing great consternation to Mount Olympus. She later married his son Perseus. Zeus attended the wedding and lusted after the serving maids, and the serving men whom he collectively referred to as Ganymede.

Zeus in Thessalonica
After several centuries of Christianity as the dominant religion of Greece, Zeus apparently ceased to exist for want of worshipers - or possibly he was still there on top of Olympus but no longer daring to venture into the world. The Satyr Ampelus gloated that while the mighty Zeus was no longer having sexual adventures with human women, he - a mere Satyr - was still doing so at every opportunity. George the Shoemaker thought that the widespread reading of Homer might be enough to lend the old Olympian gods a kind of half life, even when nobody worshiped them any more - since even loyal Christians could not help believing in these gods while reading the vivid text of the Illiad and Odyssey. For the same reason, such clergymen as Bishop Eusebious would have liked to replace the reading of Homer with the Gospels. However, Homer was too deeply entrenched in the Greek and Roman culture to be dislodged by the Church.

Zeus in After the Downfall
In 1893 Herr Doctor Professor Maximilian Eugen von Heydekampf took the Omphalos from Zeus' temple in Delphi and brought it back to Berlin.

Zeus in "The Daimon"
Zeus was called upon by many Greeks during their prayers. Even Alkibiades, who generally disdained worship, readily swore by Zeus when it suited his purposes.

Zeus in Ruled Britannia
Christopher Marlowe defended his preference of "boy loving" by pointing out that the Ancient Greeks romanticised such behaviours. They even wrote of the love that their greatest god Jove had for Ganymede.