Topic
Zeus
3 passages cited, from 1 classic reference work.
These works date from 1915 and are in the public domain. They reflect the Protestant scholarship of their time: their history, archaeology and dates can be out of date, and where they interpret, other traditions read the text differently. The verses are shown in the King James Version, the wording these works were written against.
The verses
The passages the works cite, those cited by more of them first.
- 2 Maccabees 6:1ISBE
Not long after this the king sent an old man of Athens to compel the Jews to depart from the laws of their fathers, and not to live after the laws of God:
- Luke 9:52ISBE
And sent messengers before his face: and they went, and entered into a village of the Samaritans, to make ready for him.
- Acts 14:12ISBE
And they called Barnabas, Jupiter; and Paul, Mercurius, because he was the chief speaker.
In the reference works
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915) · 3 references
zus (Zeus, the Revised Version margin; the Revised Version (British and American) and the King James Version Jupiter): The supreme god of Hellenic theology, "king of gods and of men." In 168 BC Antiochus Epiphanes, "who on God's altars danced," bent upon the thorough Hellenization of Judea and Jerusalem, sent "an old man of Athens" (or "Geron an Athenian," the Revised Version margin) to pollute the sanctuary in the temple at Jerusalem and to call it by the name of Jupiter Olympius, and that at Gerizim by the name of Jupiter Xenius (2 Macc 6:1 ff). Olympius, from Mt. Olympus, the home of the gods, is the favorite epithet of Zeus, Zeus Olympius being to the Greek world what Jupiter Capitolinus was to the Roman. The same Antiochus commenced the splendid temple of Zeus Olympius, finished under Hadrian. Zeus is also frequently styled Xenius or "Protector of strangers" (Juppiter hospitalis) in classical literature. The epithet is here applied because the people of Gerizim--the Samaritans--were hospitable, probably an ironical statement of the author (compare Lu 9:52 f). Zeus is also in Ac 14:12 f the Revised Version margin for JUPITER (which see).
S. Angus
Texts: International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915), from the CrossWire SWORD modules (public domain). Verse references were parsed from the works' own markup and checked against the KJV verse list.