Zeus

Zeus was, in Greek mythology, the leader of the gods. A paternal figure, he was also the actual father of many younger deities and demigods, including Apollo, Athena, Artemis, Castor and Pollux, Dionysius, Hebe, Heracles, Minos, Hermes, Persephone, (PROSE: Deadly Reunion) and Ares. (PROSE: The Lost Ones) He had powers associated with lightning. (TV: The Time Monster, COMIC: The Life Bringer!)

Multiple accounts agreed that Zeus was a real being with whom the Doctor had dealings, but differed as to the details. In one account, Zeus and the other gods lived in Greek Space, a dimension composed of metaphor. (PROSE: Wandering Stars) By another account, they were Olympians, and lived on a planet called Olympus; they influenced the Earth, but did not reside there. (COMIC: The Life Bringer!) By another, they were Immortals, a powerful race who lived on Earth but were themselves unsure of their own origins. (PROSE: Deadly Reunion)

Rise to power
By one account, Zeus and his brothers were born sometime after 3030 BC. (PROSE: Deadly Reunion) Zeus rose to power by performing some unknown act against Kronos, which "made time run wild and free". (PROSE: Wandering Stars) In one account, Zeus castrated his father. (PROSE: Possum Kingdom) In any case, this was the beginning of Zeus's reign as the king of the gods. (PROSE: Wandering Stars) His queen was Hera. (PROSE: Introduction and links)

Punishment of Prometheus
On the planet Olympus, Zeus had his fellow god Asclepius experiment with the fiery sparks known as the life spores, to develop specimens of various creatures. Before Asclepius could perfect his creations, Prometheus stole some spores and scattered them throughout the universe to create life, angering Zeus. (COMIC: The Life Bringer!)

According to myth, Zeus had Hephaestus create Pandora, a living clay golem, gave her a box containing all miseries and ills, and sent her as a gift to Prometheus. As Zeus had planned, Prometheus's mortal friend Epimetheus fell in love with Pandora; since Epimetheus would die without her, Prometheus let him marry her in his stead. Being mortal, Epimetheus lacked the power to prevent Pandora from opening the box, releasing plagues and devastation on the world. (PROSE: The Mary-Sue Extrusion)

Zeus banished Prometheus to an unknown planet, to be chained to a mountain forever. The men whom Prometheus had created died out. (COMIC: The Life Bringer!) One myth held that Zeus sent a great flood to wipe evil and corruption from the Earth, and that the only mortal survivors were Deucalion and his wife Pyrrha. (PROSE: Introduction and links)



Centuries later, the Fourth Doctor and K9 found Prometheus and freed him. Prometheus took control of the TARDIS and brought them to Olympus; Zeus sent Aphrodite to bring the trio to the palace. Prometheus attempted to reason with Zeus, defending mortal men for their art, philosophy, and capacity to love, but Zeus declared that they had "poisoned the universe" by hating, stealing, killing and warring. Zeus insisted that life must be perfected before it could be restored, so that the cosmos would be populated by flawless creatures. He sent Prometheus to the confinement rooms, and the Doctor and K9 to Asclepius's laboratory to be studied.

When Prometheus escaped with the Doctor and K9, stealing another hornful of life spores, Zeus showed his wrath by appearing in a gigantic form in the clouds. He attacked them with lightning, but they reached the TARDIS and dematerialised. (COMIC: The Life Bringer!)

Hunting the Medusa
Sometime prior to 500 BC, Zeus and several members of his race set out from their own world in a spaceship to hunt an alien criminal, the Medusa. They captured her successfully, but during the voyage home, she telepathically dominated the ship's Scryclops crew, causing them to attack and wound Zeus and the others. The ship crash-landed in ancient Greece, where Zeus and the others had to await rescue from their own people. (COMIC: Gaze of the Medusa)

Fraternising with mortals
By one account, Zeus and his Immortal pantheon lived alongside humanity for millennia, and could freely travel between Earth and "transdimensional locations" such as Olympus and the Underworld. The Immortals disagreed among themselves about their own race's origins; some believed that they were aliens, others that they were mutant cousins of humanity. Although Zeus and his family were worshipped as gods, other Immortals would be persecuted as witches. (PROSE: Deadly Reunion)

In one myth, Zeus took the form of a beautiful white horse to seduce Europa. He kidnapped her and took her to Crete, where she bore him three sons. In another myth, he took the form of an eagle and abducted Ganymede, a youth from Troy, bringing him to Olympus to be his wine-pourer and lover. (PROSE: Introduction and links)

Zeus came to Leda in the form of a swan. (TV: The Myth Makers) They had a daughter, Helen. (PROSE: The Squire's Crystal) Castor and Pollux were said to be sons of Zeus, (PROSE: Deadly Reunion) but also described as favoured mortals of his. When they died in battle with their cousins, the Leucippidae, Zeus placed Castor and Pollux in the heavens as the constellation Gemini. (PROSE: Introduction and links)

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 alternative 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 alternative 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)

In 223 BC, Evelyn Smythe and the Sixth Doctor visited the library of Alexandria, where she saw an artist amending the painted ceiling so that a figure of Zeus now held a square containing a circle. (PROSE: The Eighth Wonder of the World)