Encyclopedia: Z - Zopyrus: Greek mythology, people, places and things of ancient Greece

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Z
Zeta; the uppercase form of the sixth letter of the Greek alphabet; lowercase: ζ.
The ancient Greeks did not have lowercase letters in their alphabet; the lowercase letters were not invented until the ninth century CE, i.e. about eleven hundred years ago.

Zakynthos (Zacynthus)
ZAH ken thos
One of the Ionian Islands located off the western coast of the Peloponnesian Peninsula in the Ionian Sea; 157 square miles (253 square kilometers) in size; also called Zakinthos or Zante.
The largest town on the island is Zakynthos Town which is located on the eastern side of the island; Mount Vrachionas (2,480 feet or 756 meters in height) is situated in the center of the island; the southern portion of the island is devoted to a large National Marine Park which is both complementary and contrasting to the rest of the island’s green beauty; Cape Skinari is at the most northern point of the island and Marathia Cape is at the southern most point.
Approximate East Longitude 20º 44' and North Latitude 37º 52'
Homeric Hymn to Pythian Apollon, line 429

Zaphos
A term referring to The West implying the gloom of the Underworld and nether-darkness.

Zea
A military harbor near the city of Athens on the Saronic Gulf.
Zea is part of the port facilities of Athens; the port of Piraeus actually consisted of three separate docking areas with two larger areas flanking a smaller center dock; on the west was the Kantharos (Cantharus) or Augreat harbor; the small round harbor of Zea was in the center and Munychia was on the east; the harbors were administered from a small settlement located on the high ground of the Munychia promontory.
Munychia was fortified by the Athenian tyrant Hippias (527-510 BCE) but the entire port area, including Zea, was not protected by walls until circa 493 BCE when Themistocles began making defensive preparations for the Persian invasion of 490 BCE; there was also an unprotected anchorage used by the Athenians called Phaleron but the docking facilities of Piraeus were considered to be more important so Phaleron was left unfortified.
After losing the war with Sparta (circa 404 BCE), the Long Walls were torn down by the Spartan general, Lysander; it wasn’t until 393 BCE that new walls were built to protect Piraeus; the new walls followed a slightly different overland route to the sea than the original walls but the purpose was essentially the same, i.e. to allow protected access to Piraeus from nearby Athens; the three separate docking facilities could accommodate nearly 100 ships each; the two larger docks (Kantharos and Munychia) were used as commercial docks and the smaller docking area of Zea was used as a military facility.

Zelos (Zelus)
ZEE lohs
Rivalry or Emulation; he is the son of the Titan, Pallas, and the Okeanid, Styx; the brother of Bia (Force), Kratos (Cratos) (Power) and Nike (Victory).
Theogony, line 384

Zeno ¹
ZEE noh
(circa 340-265 BCE) A Greek philosopher from the island of Cyprus; he is called: Zeno of Kitium (Citium) and Zeno the Stoic.
Zeno was the founder of the Stoic school of philosophy in Athens circa 300-315 BCE; he taught that people should be free of passion, unmoved by joy or grief and submit without complaint to unavoidable necessity; he could argue relentlessly on any side of any argument; he has been described as an “assailer of all things”; he was honored with a public funeral in Athens because he was thought to have lived his life in harmony with his teachings.

Zeno ²
ZEE noh
(circa 490-430 BCE) Zeno of Elea; a Greek philosopher who is most famous for what is commonly known as Zeno’s Paradox.
Zeno’s Paradox has been explained by sociologists such as Robert Anton Wilson, mathematicians such as Rudy Rucker, and even characters in the TV series, Star Trek; Zeno’s Paradox can be stated formally as: the relation of the Discrete to the Continuous and requiring the concept of Limit for its satisfactory explanation; as a practical example: if you were ten feet away from a wall and you move halfway towards it and then stop and then move halfway towards it again and then stop and then move halfway towards it again and then stop and on and on in this fashion, you will never reach the wall because you will always have another half the distance to traverse; the distance to the wall is clearly Finite but you have made it Infinite simply by your method of measurement.

Zeno ³
ZEE noh
Zenon; (fl. 460 BCE); the successor to Parmenides in the Eleatic School of philosophy which investigated the phenomenal world, especially with reference to the phenomena of change; he was famous for his devotion to his beliefs and was honored with a public funeral in Sparta.

Zephyrian
A name for the Lokrian (Locrian) colonists from mainland Greece who settled near Mount Zephyrium in southern Italy; also called the Epizephyrian.

Zephyrium
Mount Zephyrium in southern Italy; home of the Zephyrian who were Lokrian (Locrian) colonists from mainland Greece.

Zephyros (Zephyrus)
ZEH fee ros
The West Wind; one of the sons of Eos (Dawn) and Astraios; Zephyros is the husband of Iris; his brothers are: Boreas (North Wind) and Notos (South Wind).
There are two types of Winds: 1) the divinely created winds, i.e. Boreas (North Wind), Notos (South Wind), Zephyros (West Wind) and the Etesian winds, and 2) the ill-favored winds that were created by the monster, Typhoeus, when Zeus imprisoned him under the earth; the divinely created winds nourish and bless the earth but the winds of Typhoeus are wild and destructive.
For more information on the Winds I suggest that you consult the Immortals section of this site.
Theogony, lines 379+ and 869-880

Zeta
The sixth letter of the Greek alphabet; uppercase: Ζ; lowercase: ζ.
The ancient Greeks did not have lowercase letters in their alphabet; the lowercase letters were not invented until the ninth century CE, i.e. about eleven hundred years ago.

Zetes
ZEE teez
One of the two winged sons of Boreas (North Wind) and Oreithyia.
Zetes and his brother Kalais (Calais) were a wonder to see with dark wings, bright with golden scales vibrating from their temples and feet; both had long blue-black curling hair that streamed in the wind when they flew.
The two brothers are best remembered for their role in the adventures of Jason and the Argonauts; the voyage of the Argo with its company of heroes was one of the greatest adventures of the ancient world; in their Quest for the Golden Fleece, the Argonauts encountered the blind prophet, Phineus.
Phineus had married the daughter of Boreas (North Wind), Kleopatra (Cleopatra), and after her death he married a cruel and vengeful woman; his new wife hated his sons which he and Kleopatra had sired; she induced Phineus to blind them; as punishment for such a horrendous act, Zeus offered him blindness or death; Phineus chose blindness; Helios (the Sun) was offended that Phineus would choose darkness rather than death so he sent the two winged-women known as the Harpies to torment Phineus by stealing his food; the Harpies did not steal all of Phineus’ food, they would always leave reeking morsels so that he could sustain himself and thus his torment could continue.
In order to find the location of the Golden Fleece, the Argonauts had to consult with Phineus on how to survive their passage between the treacherous Floating Islands; in order to reach the land of Kolchis (Colchis) and secure the Golden Fleece, the Argonauts had to sail through the Floating Islands which would clash together whenever any living thing passed between them; Phineus told the sailors that he would only help them if they would rid him of the curse of the Harpies; Kalais and Zetes set a trap for the Harpies but the flying women were very swift and the winged brothers could only get close enough to claw at them with their fingertips; Iris, the messenger of the Immortals, rushed into the fray and chided the brothers for trying to harm the Harpies; Iris explained that the Harpies were there to punish Phineus at the behest of Zeus and that the brothers would incur the wrath of the father of the Immortals if they interfered with his judgment; Iris swore a sacred oath on the river Styx that if Zetes and Kalais would stop their pursuit of the Harpies, Phineus would no longer be tormented; thus Phineus was freed from his curse and the Argonauts learned how to find the land where the Golden Fleece was kept.
Argonautika, book 1, lines 211-223 and 240+
Catalogues of Women, fragment 42

Zethos (Zethus)
ZEE thos
He and his brother, Amphion, were sons of Zeus and Antiope; the two brothers presumably built the foundations and bulwarks of the city of Thebes; Zethos married the nymph, Thebe, and the newly built city was named after her.
In the play Antiope by Euripides, the story was expanded and the twin boys, now grown to manhood, avenged the harsh treatment their mother had received at the hands of her uncle and aunt, Lykus (Lycus) and Dirke (Dirce); Lykus was deposed as the king of Thebes and Dirke was killed cruelly on the horns of a bull.
Odyssey (Lattimore), book 11, line 263; book 19, line 523
Odyssey (Loeb), book 11, line 262; book 19, line 523
Odyssey (Fagles), book 11, line 298; book 19, line 589
Odyssey (Fitzgerald), book 11, line 300; book 19, line 607
Argonautika, book 1, lines 735-741

Zeus
ZEFS

The king and symbolic father of the Immortals; one of the children of the Titans, Kronos (Cronos) and Rheia (Rhea).
Zeus has a page in the Immortals section of this site ... click on his photo to view that page.

Zeus Pandion
Zeus, Father of the Gods; the festival of Zeus Pandion was a winter festival of Athens which celebrated Zeus as the father of the Immortals and the progenitor of the first kings of Athens.

Zeus Soter
Zeus the Savior; on the last day of the month of Skiraphorion, and thus the last day of the year in Attica, there was a celebration of Zeus Soter and Athene (Athena) Soter as Saviors to ensure their divine blessings for the coming new year.

Zeuxis
(fl. circa 430-400 BCE) One of the most famous painters of his time.
Several descriptions of his work offer us a glimpse of the talent and imagination of this man; he was said to have painted grapes so realistically that birds flew down and tried to eat them; he was mentioned by Pliny the Elder regarding his depiction of a scene from the life of Herakles (Heracles) in which Herakles was struggling with the snakes that Hera sent to kill him while he was still an infant.

Zeuxis

(fl. circa 430-400 BCE) One of the most famous painters of his time.

Several descriptions of his work offer us a glimpse of the talent and imagination of this man; he was said to have painted grapes so realistically that birds flew down and tried to eat them; he was mentioned by Pliny the Elder regarding his depiction of a scene from the life of Herakles (Heracles) in which Herakles was struggling with the snakes that Hera sent to kill him while he was still an infant.

Zeuxo
ZEF kso

An Okeanid, i.e. one of the three thousand daughters of Okeanos (Ocean) and Tethys.
Zeus gave the Okeanids, Apollon and the Rivers the special obligation of having the young in their keeping.
The above scene depicts Zeuxo pouring wine for the poet, Chrysippus (Chrysippos).
Theogony, line 352

Zeygitai
The social class of ox drivers.
When the noted statesman Solon reorganized the Athenian society (circa 594 BCE) he divided the citizens into four specific groups; the four classes under Solon’s constitution were:
1) Pentakosiomedimnoi (the owners of large, productive tracts of land);
2) Ippeis (named for their social class as horsemen or charioteers);
3) Zeygitai (named for the social class of ox drivers); and
4) Thetes (the lowest of the four classes of Athenian citizens, literally they were hired farm workers and served as lightly-armed soldiers and common seaman).

Zmyrna (Smyrna)
The mother of Adonis and daughter of the legendary king of the island of Cyprus, Kinyras (Cinyras).
Zmyrna was the mother of Adonis by the unnatural union with her father; she had dishonored Aphrodite (goddess of Love) and the goddess had her revenge by causing Zmyrna’s father to seduce her; Adonis was the result of that union; when Kinyras came to his senses he intended to kill Zmyrna but the Immortals intervened and turned the disgraced girl into a myrrh tree.
Her name is also rendered as Myrrha.

Zodiac
The zodiac is a circle of constellations on the ecliptic, i.e. the apparent path of the sun and planets in the heavens; the idea of dividing the heavens into a circle of three hundred and sixty degrees and then dividing that circle into thirty degree sections to form the houses of the zodiac originated with the ancient Sumerians (circa 4000 BCE) and was passed down to succeeding civilizations, virtually unchanged, until it was adopted by the ancient Greeks as the zodiakos kyklos, i.e. Animal Circle; each zodiacal constellation is generally denoted by an animal but there are exceptions such as Libra (the Scales), Virgo (the Virgin) and Gemini (the Twins).
Originally, the constellation which was behind the sun at dawn on New Year’s Day was the house of the zodiac which was thought to be dominant in the affairs of nations and individuals alike; every 2160 years, the sun slips back one zodiacal house and a new age begins; this retrograde action is caused by the tilt of the earth on its axis and is commonly called the procession of the equinoxes; the transition from one zodiacal age to the next is not as clean and crisp as we would like to assume; after the age of Taurus was long gone, the Bull was still adopted as the national symbol for different cultures for another thousand years; for example, the Minoan civilization, which ended catastrophically circa 1450 BCE, clearly worshiped of the Bull even though the age of Taurus had ended in 2220 BCE.
The twelve constellations of the zodiac are:
Aquarius
Capricorn
Sagittarius
Scorpio
Libra
Virgo
Leo
Cancer
Gemini
Taurus (4380 - 2220 BCE)
Aries (2220 - 60 BCE)
Pisces (60 BCE - 2100 CE)

Zoogonos
zoh GO nos
A name of Apollon used to denote his generative powers.

Zoophoros
zooh FOH ros
The Zodiac; the word could be translated as Animals-Shining but literally means Bearing Animals.
The zodiac is a circle of constellations on the ecliptic, i.e. the apparent path of the sun and planets in the heavens; the idea of dividing the heavens into a circle of three hundred and sixty degrees and then dividing that circle into thirty degree sections to form the houses of the zodiac originated with the ancient Sumerians (circa 4000 BCE) and was passed down to succeeding civilizations, virtually unchanged, until it was adopted by the ancient Greeks as the zodiakos kyklos, i.e. Animal Circle.

Zopyrus
ZOH pea ros
A Persian commander during the reign of Darius I (circa 521-485 BCE).
During the reign of the Persian king, Kambyses (Cambyses), a Mede, commonly called false-Smerdis, assumed the throne of the Persian Empire; Kambyses had been in Egypt and died before he could return to Susa and confront the usurper; false-Smerdis took the throne by deception and ruled for seven months before Darius and six other Persians were able to organize a revolt and restore Persian rule to the empire; as one of the seven revolutionaries, Darius was chosen as the new king.
Taking advantage of the confusion caused by the rule of false-Smerdis and the subsequent rebellion, the city of Babylon declared its independence from the Persian Empire; prior to this, Cyrus the Great, the first Persian king, was able to capture Babylon by diverting the Euphrates River and sending his troops into the city through the dried-up riverbed; the Babylonians had learned from their mistakes and Darius was unable to beach the walls or enter through the riverbed; the Babylonians were so confidant of their position that they taunted the Persians by saying, You will take the city when a mule bears an offspring, meaning of course that the city would never fall to the Persians again.
After nineteen months of frustrating defeats a miraculous thing happened in the ranks of the Persian contingent around Babylon: a mule belonging to a Persian commander named Zopyrus gave birth to a foal; Zopyrus correctly presumed that this was a divine message and that the fall of Babylon was eminent; he devised a clever plan that he knew Darius would never sanction so he proceeded in secret until it was too late for Darius to stop him.
Zopyrus cut off his nose and ears and presented himself to Darius; the king was horrified that Zopyrus would do such a thing to himself but, as he heard the plan that Zopyrus had devised, he realized that Babylon was within his grasp; Zopyrus planned to surrender himself to the Babylonians and say that Darius had mutilated him because he had advised the king to depart and give up the siege; Darius was to position his most expendable troops at various gates of the city armed only with daggers; Zopyrus would gain the trust of the Babylonians by leading forays against the lightly armed Persians which Darius had positioned at the predetermined city gates and slaughtering them.
This was supposed to impress the Babylonians with Zopyrus’ military abilities and allow him to gain command authority of the defensive forces; leading the Babylonian army on three separate raids, Zopyrus killed a total of seven thousand Persians and consequently was promoted to captain of the army and warden of the walls of the city; with his new authority, Zopyrus then opened two of the city gates and allowed the Persian army to enter and capture the city.
Darius tore down the walls of Babylon so that no such rebellion could be accomplished in the future; he made Zopyrus the ruler of Babylon and required no tribute (taxes) be paid as long as Zopyrus lived; Zopyrus’ son Megabyzus distinguished himself as a loyal Persian but his grandson, also named Zopyrus, betrayed the Persians and deserted to the Athenians.
Histories, book 3.154-160