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Zamzam- The sacred well situated in the heart of the city of Mecca. According to Arab tradition, it is the very well that was shown to Hagar when she was wandering with Ishmael in the desert.
Zephyrus- A personification of the west wind. He was the mildest and gentlest of the sylvan deities.
Zethus- Oneof the twin sons of Antiope and Zeus. See Amphion.
Zeus- The greatest of the Olympian gods, father of gods and men, a son of Cronus, or Saturn, and of Rhea. He was identified by the Romans with Jupiter. When Zeus and his brothers distributed among themselves the government of the world by lot, Poseidon obtained the sea; Hades received the lower world; and Zeus, the heavens and the upper regions; but the earth became common to all. According to Homer, Zeus dwelt on Mount Olympus in Thessaly, which was believed to penetrate into heaven itself. By his counsel he managed everything; he founded law and order, so that Dike, Themis, and Nemesis came to be regarded as his assistants. According to his own choice he used to assign good or evil to mortals. Zeus had an ancient oracle at Dodona in Greece, where, by means of speaking oaks, he made known his will to mortals. His wife was Hera. Many stories are told of her jealous pursuit of mortal women who had been loved by Zeus and visited by him, usually in a disguised form. By such unions Zeus became the father of many heroes. Europa, receiving him in the form of a white bull, had several sons by him, one of whom was Minos, the famous lawgiver of Crete. Zeus came to Leda as a swan and by her was the father of Helen and of Pollux. Gaining admittance to Danaë in the form of a shower of gold, he begot Perseus. His greatest son was Hercules, the offspring of Alcmene, to whom Zeus obtained access by impersonating her husband.
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