“When gods began with wrath,
And war rose up between their brows,
Some choosing to cast Cronus from his throne,
That Zeus might king it there, and some in haste,
With opposite oaths, that they would have no Zeus
To rule the gods forever.”
--_E. B. Browning._
Cronus, the father of Jupiter, was in the habit of swallowing his
children at birth, but when Jupiter was born his mother, Rhea, hid him
in a cave and gave to the unnatural father a stone wrapped in swaddling
clothes which he accepted, unaware of the deception.
Jupiter grew up under the care of the nymphs, and, after a mighty
conflict, overthrew the dynasty of the old gods and took possession of
the throne and dominion of Cronus. He was then supreme ruler of gods
and men, but had viceroys of the sea and the regions of the dead in
Neptune and Pluto. His lawful wife, Juno, reigned with him in equal
sovereignty. Their children were Mars, Vulcan and Hebe. Although wedded
to Juno, Jupiter as the deity of the visible heavens, had brides and
children in many lands. The abode of this wisest and most glorious of
the divinities was on Mt. Olympus in the unclouded ether.