Zeus is the chief god in Greek mythology: king of the gods on Mount Olympus, ruler of the sky and of thunder, and in the stories the one who finally decides things among gods and people. His weapon is the thunderbolt, his bird is the eagle, and Roman writers called the same god Jupiter, so when you read a Roman story about Jupiter it is the same figure under another name. He is not a distant, perfect god. The myths make him a family man with a very complicated family — married to Hera, endlessly unfaithful, father of Athena, Apollo, Artemis, Hermes and many heroes including Heracles — and much of Greek storytelling grows out of his affairs and Hera's anger about them. That matters for reading English, because when a writer calls a man 'a Zeus figure', they usually mean someone powerful, commanding and a little bit dangerous, not someone good. The name also turns up as a general symbol of top authority, in the phrase 'like Zeus throwing thunderbolts' for someone in charge losing their temper, and as a brand and character name in games and films.