The Golden Age Of Greece

             and Hades were given power over the sea and the underworld, respectively. The earth .
             was to be ruled in common by all three. Beginning with the writings of the Greek poet .
             Homer, Zeus is pictured in two very different ways. He is represented as the god of .
             justice and mercy, the protector of the weak, and the punisher of the wicked. As .
             husband to his sister Hera, he is the father of Ares, the god of war; Hebe, the goddess of .
             youth; Hephaestus, the god of fire; and Eileithyia, the goddess of childbirth. At the same .
             time, Zeus is described as falling in love with one woman after another and resorting to .
             all kinds of tricks to hide his infidelity from his wife. Stories of his escapades were .
             numerous in ancient mythology, and many of his offspring were a result of his love .
             affairs with both goddesses and mortal women. It is believed that, with the development .
             of a sense of ethics in Greek life, the idea of a lecherous, sometimes ridiculous father .
             god became distasteful, so later legends tended to present Zeus in a more exalted light. .
             His many affairs with mortals are sometimes explained as the wish of the early Greeks to .
             trace their lineage to the father of the gods. Zeus's image was represented in sculptural .
             works as a kingly, bearded figure. The most celebrated of all statues of Zeus was .
             Phidias's gold and ivory colossus at Olympia. .
             The standing nude youth (kouros), the standing draped girl (kore), and the seated .
             woman. All emphasize and generalize the essential features of the human figure and .
             show an increasingly accurate comprehension of human anatomy. The youths were .
             either sepulchral or votive statues. Examples are Apollo (Metropolitan Museum), an .
             early work; Strangford Apollo from Límnos (British Museum, London), a much later .
             work; and the Anavyssos Kouros (National Museum, Athens). More of the musculature .
             and skeletal structure is visible in this statue than in earlier works. The standing, draped .