1.1.1ZEUS

Zeus and his brothers drew lots抽签for their share of the universe. The sea fell to Poseidon, and theunderworld to Hades. Zeus became the supreme ruler. He was Lord of the Sky, theRain-god and the Cloud-gatherer [ˈɡæðərə(r)],

who wielded [ˈwiːldɪd] 拥有the awful [ˈɔːfl] 骇人听闻的thunderbolt [ˈθʌndəbəʊlt] 雷电. His powerwas greater than that of all the other divinities [dɪˈvɪnɪtiz] 神together.

In the Iliad he tells his family, “I am mightiest [ˈmaɪtɪɪst] 非凡的of all.Make trial [ˈtraɪəl] 审判that youmay know. Fasten a rope of gold to heaven and lay [leɪ] hold抓住, every god and goddess. You could not drag down Zeus. But if Iwished to drag you down, then I would. The rope I would bind to a pinnacle [ˈpɪnəkl] of Olympus and allwould hang in air, yes, the very earth and the sea too.”

Nevertheless he was not omnipotent [ɒmˈnɪpətənt] 全能的or omniscient [ɒmˈnɪsiənt] 全知, either. He could be opposed and deceived [dɪˈsiːvd] 欺骗. Poseidon dupes [djuːps] 哄骗him in the Iliad and so does Hera. Sometimes, too, the mysterious [mɪˈstɪəriəs] 神秘的power,Fate, is spoken of as stronger [ˈstrɒŋgə]than he. Homer makes Hera ask him scornfully [ˈskɔːnfʊli] 轻蔑地if he proposes [prəˈpəʊzɪz] 希冀to deliver [dɪˈlɪvə(r)] 宣布from death a manFate has doomed [duːmd] 注定的.

He is represented [ˌreprɪˈzentɪd] 作为as falling in love with one woman after another and descending toall manner of tricks [trɪks] 把戏to hide his infidelity [ˌɪnfɪˈdeləti] 通奸from his wife. The explanation why such actions were ascribed [əˈskraɪbd] 把…归因于to themost majestic [məˈdʒestɪk] 雄伟的of thegods is, the scholars [ˈskɒləz] say,that the Zeus of song and story has been made by combining many gods. When his worship [ˈwɜːʃɪp] 崇拜spread to atown where there was already a divine ruler the two were slowly fused [fjuːzd] 融合into one.The wife of the early god was then transferred [trænsˈfɜːd] 转移to Zeus. The result, however, was unfortunate and the later Greeksdid not like these endless love affairs [əˈfeəz] 风流韵事.

Still, even in the earliest record Zeus had grandeur [ˈɡrændʒə(r)] 伟大.

In the Iliad Agamemnon prays: “Zeus, mostglorious, most great, God of the storm-cloud, thou [ðaʊ] 汝that dwellest in住在the heavens.” He demanded, too, not only sacrifices from men, butright action. The Greek Army at Troy is told “Father Zeus never helps liars orthose who break their oaths [ˈəʊðz]. 誓言” The two ideas of him, the low and the high, persisted [pəˈsɪstɪd] 保持side by side for along time.

 His breastplate [ˈbrestpleɪt] 胸铠was the aegis [ˈiːdʒɪs] 庇护, awful tobehold看; his bird was the eagle [ˈiːɡl] 雕, his treethe oak. 橡树His oracle [ˈɒrəkl] was神示所Dodona inthe land of oak trees. The god’s will was revealed [rɪˈviːld] 显示by the rustling [ˈrʌslɪŋ] 瑟瑟声of the oak leaves which the priests [priːsts]祭司interpreted. [ɪnˈtɜːprətɪd]