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Zeus (Bright Sky)
Zeus is the King of the Greek pantheon and master of the heavens. He was identified by the Romans as Jupiter. He is known as the earth-shaker and at his will, he could summon rain, snow, hail, and all other meteorological phenomena, but his most feared and revered weapon was the lightning bolt, forged for him by the Cyclopes.
Below
is an early 16th century tapestry of Jupiter, It was designed
in France and woven in northern France or the southern Netherlands.8'1" x
3'3 3/4" It may be seen at the Detroit Institute of Art. He is shown with
his characteristic sceptre and attendant eagle.
Jupiter, King of the Gods
Read
the following segment from Plato's On the Soul's Recollecting True Being
and Beauty from The Phaedrus for a the Platonic and Neo-Platonic
conception of Zeus
Mark
therefore the sum and substance of all our discourse touching the fourth sort
of madness--to wit, that this is the best of all forms of divine possession,
both in itself and in its sources, both for him that has it and for him that
shares therein--and when he that loves beauty is touched by such madness he is
called a lover. Such a one, as soon as he beholds the beauty of this world, is
reminded of true beauty, and his wings begin to grow; then is he fain to lift
his wings and fly upward; yet he has not the power, but inasmuch as he gazes
upward like a bird, and cares nothing for the world beneath, men charge it
upon him that he is demented.
Now, as we have said,
every human soul has, by reason of her nature, had contemplation of true
being; else would she never have entered into this human creature; but to be
put in mind thereof by things here is not easy for every soul. Some, when they
had the vision, had it but for a moment; some when they had fallen to earth
consorted unhappily with such as led them to deeds of unrighteousness,
wherefore they forgot the holy objects of their vision. Few indeed are left
that can still remember much, but when these discern some likeness of the
things yonder, they are amazed, and no longer masters of themselves, and know
not what is come upon them by reason of their perception being dim. Now in the earthly likenesses of justice and temperance and all other prized possessions of the soul there dwells no luster; nay, so dull are the organs wherewith men approach their images that hardly can a few behold that which is imaged, but with beauty it is otherwise. Beauty it was ours to see in all its brightness in those days when, amidst that happy company, we beheld with our eyes that blessed vision, ourselves in the train of Zeus, others following some other god; then were we all initiated into that mystery which is rightly accounted blessed beyond all others; whole and unblemished were we that did celebrate it, untouched by the evils that awaited us in days to come; whole and unblemished likewise, free from all alloy, steadfast and blissful were the spectacles on which we gazed in the moment of final revelation; pure was the light that shone around us, and pure were we, without taint of that prison house which now we are encompassed withal, and call a body, fast bound therein as an oyster in its shell (Phaedrus 249d-250c).
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