In gratitude the Kyklopes (Cyclopes) armed him with lightning-bolts and the Hekatonkheires (Hundred-Handed) aided him in his assault on the Titanes with volleys of thrown boulders. Zeus liberated the six giant-sons of Heaven from the pit of Tartaros. She served the Titan Kronos a magical draught which caused him to disgorge the young gods he had devoured. Upon coming of age Zeus recruited the goddess Metis to his cause. The god was raised in secrecy on Mount Dikte in Krete (Crete) where he was nursed by nymphs on the milk of the goat Amaltheia and guarded by the warrior Kouretes (Curetes) who drowned out the sound of his crying with their shield-clashing battle-dance. Kronos devoured each of his children as they were born, but Zeus escaped this fate when his mother spirited him away, handing the Titan a stone substitute wrapped in swaddling cloth. Zeus was the youngest child of the Titans Kronos (Cronus) and Rheia. His usual attributes were a lightning bolt, a royal sceptre and an eagle. He was depicted as a regal, mature man with a sturdy figure and dark beard. ZEUS was the King of the Gods and the god of the sky, weather, law and order, destiny and fate, and kingship. Jupiter, Jove Zeus with eagle and lightning, Athenian red-figure amphora C5th B.C., Musée du Louvre
