Jupiter (mythology)

Jupiter (Latin: Iuppiter) is the king of the gods in Roman mythology. He was the god of the sky and thunder. He is known as Zeus in Greek mythology. His brother's name was Pluto and his sister was Ceres.

Jupiter
God of the sky and lightning
Member of the Archaic and Capitoline Triads
Other names	Jove
Venerated in	Imperial cult of Ancient Rome Polytheistic religion
Personal information
Parents	Saturn and Ops
Siblings	Roman tradition: Juno, Ceres, Vesta Greco-Roman: Pluto and Neptune
Greek equivalent	Zeus

Life of Jupiter

Birth

Saturn, who was the previous king of the gods, began to swallow the children that he had with his wife,(Greek equivalent Rhea), when they were born. This was because he had been warned that one of his children would overthrow him. Saturn swallowed the children Neptune, Pluto, Ceres, Juno and Vesta. When Ops realised that she was pregnant with Jupiter, she had the baby secretly and moved to Crete, giving a stone wrapped in baby clothes to Saturn for him to eat. Saturn believed he had eaten Jupiter but Jupiter was saved.

Overthrowing Saturn

After Jupiter was raised by his mother, his destiny was to take over his own father, Saturn, as revenge for all he had done to his brothers and sisters in the past. When Jupiter grew up, he made Saturn vomit up all of the children he had swallowed. All the brothers and sisters joined forces and overthrew Saturn.

Battle of the Titans

Then, with the help of the Cyclopses and the Hundred-handed Giants, they declared war on Saturn and the other Titans. Jupiter finally defeated the Titans and they were imprisoned in Tartarus.

Dividing the universe

Jupiter and his brothers divided the universe into three parts, Jupiter obtaining the heavens, Neptune the sea and Pluto the underworld. This is how Jupiter became the king of the gods.

Related pages

• Tinia - Etruscan mythology equivalent to Jupiter
• Zeus - Greek mythology equivalent to Jupiter
• Odin - Norse mythology equivalent to Jupiter