Zis is the principal god of the Messapii of ancient Apulia (Salento), a sky and lightning deity whose name continues the Proto-Indo-European sky-father *Di̯ḗu̯s and is cognate with Greek Zeús and Albanian Zojz. He is attested from the early sixth century BCE in votive inscriptions written in the Messapic alphabet, most famously through the formula 'klaohi zis' ('hear, Zis'), an idiom closely paralleling the Latin 'audi Iuppiter'. He was venerated under several cult-titles, including Menzanas ('lord of horses') and Batas ('the Thunderer'), and his worship at coastal sanctuaries such as the Grotta Porcinara at Leuca connected him with control of storms and the protection of navigation; his cult was later assimilated to Greek Zeus and Roman Jupiter and continued into Imperial times.