Zeus

By Gregory Nagy

Variations on a theological view of Zeus as god of the sky

2016.05.12 | By Gregory Nagy The theological view of Zeus as simply the god of the bright sky, which is when the weather is ‘good’, gets more complicated when the weather turns ‘bad’, that is, when this god gathers clouds to make rain either with or without thunder and lightning. At such moments, Zeus is the nephelēgereta or ‘cloud-gatherer’ (Iliad 1.511, etc.). When the weather turns ‘bad’, is it necessarily… Read more

By Gregory Nagy

Longinus and a theological view of Zeus as god of the sky

2016.05.05 | By Gregory Nagy A theological view of Zeus as god of the sky is evident from the Indo-European etymology of his divine name. The Greek form Zeús is derived from an Indo-European noun that linguists reconstruct as *dyeu-, which meant ‘sky’ in general and ‘bright sky’ in particular. As I will argue in this essay, such a theological view of Zeus is recognized and understood by Longinus in… Read more