Ancient Greek mythology depicts Zeus as the most powerful of all gods. He represents law & order and could control the weather. The appearance of Zeus was depicted with a long cloak, dark beard and always holding the lightning bolt. He was known for being the king of Olympian God. He was respected as the sky father and all the gods rose in his presence. The symbol of Zeus was thunderbolt, eagle, bull and oak.
Zeus was the son of Cronus and Rhea Titans. Cronus had upsurged his father Uranus to become the king. He had also heard a prophecy from Gaia that one of his son’s will dethrone him just the way he did to his father. So to prevent this from happening whenever Rhea gave birth to a son Cronus would swallow it whole. Hera, Poseidon, Hades, Hestia and Demeter were swallowed whole and spent their initial years in their father’s belly. Rhea was not at all happy about this situation, so when their sixth son Zeus was about to be born she hid in Crete and a stone wrapped in a blanket was given to Cronus. He thought it was their new child so he gulped the whole stone bolder happily. The island of Crete was where Zeus was raised by the Nymphs.
Zeus colluded with his mother to get back his siblings from Cronus’s belly. He forced his father to vomit all his siblings with the boulder which Cronus thought was the baby Zeus.The siblings and Zeus revolted against their father and won against the Titans. The Titans were then banished to Tartarus.
The three conquering brothers Zeus, Hades and Poseidon decided to divide the territory of the world among themselves. The division was done by drawing lots. All the dead folks and underworld was given to Hades, the seas and ocean were given to Poseidon and the skies were given to Zeus. The God of sky is high above any other gods, so Zeus was also respected as the king of gods.
If you are interested to lean more about Zeus and Athena and how they are related, then I already have a blog on that.