Zeus

Zeus
Place of origin:	Olympus
Brothers:	Hades, Poseidon
Children:	Apollo, Athena, Artemis, Castor and Pollux, Dionysius, Hebe, Heracles, Minos, Hermes, Persephone
First mentioned in:	The Lost Ones
First appearance:	The Life Bringer!
Appearances:	PROSE: Katarina in the Underworld PROSE: Deadly Reunion PROSE: Wandering Stars

You may wish to consult Zeus (disambiguation) for other, similarly-named pages.

Zeus was, in Greek mythology, the leader of the gods. He was a fatherly figure, and the actual father of a number of his fellow deities including Apollo, Athena, Artemis, Castor and Pollux, Dionysius, Hebe, Heracles, Minos, Hermes, Persephone, (PROSE: Deadly Reunion) and Ares. (PROSE: The Lost Ones) His powers were associated with lightning. (TV: The Time Monster, COMIC: The Life Bringer!)

As with the rest of the Greek pantheons, multiple accounts showed that Zeus was a real being with whom the Doctor had dealings, but disagreed as to the details, with him variously construed as an Immortal (PROSE: Deadly Reunion) or an Olympian. (COMIC: The Life Bringer!)

Biography

Origins

According to one account, Zeus and the other Greek deities were Immortals, a race of powerful immortal humanoids who lived on Earth but were themselves unsure whether they were alien in origin or related to humanity; while Zeus and his kin were worshipped as gods, other Immortals in other eras were thought of as witches. (PROSE: Deadly Reunion) According to another account, Zeus and his pantheon were Olympians, native to a planet called Olympus; though they had influenced the Earth, they were not native to it nor residents of it. (COMIC: The Life Bringer!) According to another, the gods were native to Greek Space, a dimension composed of metaphor; Zeus rose to power by performing some unknown act against Kronos, which "made time run wild and free". (PROSE: Wandering Stars)

Banishing Prometheus

After his fellow Olympian Prometheus stole life spores and spread them across the galaxy to create life, Zeus became angry and banished him to an unknown planet, to be chained to a mountain for the rest of his existence. Zeus believed that the life spores should only be used once, to produce peace-loving creatures. (COMIC: The Life Bringer!)

Meeting the Fourth Doctor

The hand of Zeus rains lightning bolts down onto the Doctor's TARDIS. (COMIC: The Life Bringer!)

When Prometheus returned to Olympus with the Fourth Doctor and K9 to the planet Olympus, Zeus sent Aphrodite to bring them to him. Prometheus tried to reason with Zeus that people were good but Zeus mentioned that most of them knew how to hate, steal, kill, and start wars; they had poisoned the universe with their actions. He had Prometheus sent to the confinement rooms whilst the Doctor and K9 were sent to Asclepius to be studied.

After the Doctor, K9, and Prometheus escaped, Zeus showed his wrath by appearing in a gigantic form in the clouds. He sought to stop them by attacking them with massive amounts of electricity. However, once they got into the TARDIS, Zeus wasn't able to destroy the ship with his powers. (COMIC: The Life Bringer!)

Fraternising with mortals

When Iris Wildthyme and Panda visited Greek Space, the goddess Eos told them that, these days, "poor Zeus" had to disguise himself as animals to get any excitement out of interacting with humans. Iris speculated that this was also partly to put people at ease, as a "friendly bull" would seem less intimidating than the father of the gods. Later, Zeus appeared in the form of a polecat and jump-started the Celestial Omnibus with a bolt of divine lightning. (PROSE: Wandering Stars)

Retirement

Sometime before the 20th century, Zeus permanently retreated from Earth to the alternate dimension of Olympus, passing his power to control the seasons and weather to Persephone. Eventually, Demeter tried to contact him to stop Hades from taking over the world. Though it was not immediate, Zeus finally returned and banished Hades to the underworld forever. Demeter and her family decided to leave with Zeus when he went back to the alternate dimension. (PROSE: Deadly Reunion)

Legacy

The First Doctor was mistaken for Zeus by the Greeks during the Trojan War in circa 1200 BC as well by the Trojan servant Katarina, who became one of his companions. (TV: The Myth Makers)

Hippias called a lightning bolt "a sphere of fire hurled by the hand of Zeus." (TV: The Time Monster)

Bigon once swore by Zeus. (TV: Four to Doomsday)

Both Axatil and his captain frequently swore by Zeus. (PROSE: The Lost Ones)

A belief engine once fell to Earth in ancient Greece in Socrates's day. The faith of the locals created a psychic construct version of Zeus, but he vanished when Socrates logically proved to him that he did not really exist. (COMIC: The Chains of Olympus)

A statue of Zeus at Olympia was one of the Seven Wonders of the World. Like the other six Wonders, it was stolen by Pholonius Ginn, who intended on selling it to the highest bidder on G-Bay. It was later returned by Trongus Squum, at the Tenth Doctor's request. (COMIC: Minus Seven Wonders)