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The Roman Jupiter is the Latin variant of this Aryan
Sky Deity. From Numinous agricultural weather god beginnings he developed in conjunction with the city-state to become the
paramount national god of Rome. Initially taking control of the sky and earth's surface, he grew to become the all
powerful arbiter and judge, intervening in all aspects of human and divine life.
Olympic plain near Mt. Olympus once the site of a magnificent
temple dedicated in 460 BC to Zeus, father of the gods. Here he presided over his sacred Olympic Games.
The colossus
made from ivory and gold was sculpted by Phidias, the greatest of Greek artists who also decorated the Parthenon.
The
40 foot tall statue was later moved to Constantinople in the fourth century AD where authors of antiquity ranked it as one
of the Seven Wonders of the World. It was later destroyed by fire in 462 AD.
Jupiter
fathered many other gods and semi-divine heroes. The friction this caused between him and his wife Juno (Hera) can be seen
as the interplay of friction between the older chthonic mother-goddess and newer Indo-European sky god.
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