Zeus (Jupiter): Myths, History, Wives, Affairs

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ZEUS

Zeus
Zeus (Jupiter to the Romans) was the supreme god, thunder god, sky god, lord of the universe, creator men and women, upholder of justice, avenger of broken promises, regulator of the seasons and protectors of kings and states . Homer wrote "No mortal could view with Zeus, for his mansion and possessions are deathless...All Olympus trembled at his nod.”

Zeus reigned over all the other deities and their realms. He was the protector of justice, kingship, authority, and the social order. His personal life, however, was a mess. Many myths tell of his love affairs with various goddesses, Titans, and human women — and their broader implications. [Source Encyclopedia.com]

Zeus was king of the 12 major gods of Olympus and the father of many of them. Armed with a powerful thunderbolt, Zeus ruled from his throne on Mount Olympus and shared power with his brothers and sisters, six of his children and Aphrodite. His two brothers, Hades and Poseidon, reigned over the Underworld and the sea, The ox and the oak tree were sacred to Zeus

Debra Kelly wrote in Listverse: Zeus is known as the father of the gods, and by extension, he’s also the father of a lot of other people. His amorous intentions toward the mortal and immortal alike are well-known, but that doesn’t do justice to the details. His first wife, the Titan Metis, tried a variety of shape-changing acrobatics to get away from Zeus’s advances. It didn’t work—she became pregnant with Athena, and once Zeus heard the prophecy of how powerful his daughter would be, he swallowed them both.It wasn’t uncommon for Zeus to take the form of an animal in order to fulfill his desires, opening up the question of just what kind of bestiality the ancient Greeks were telling stories about. He wooed both Demeter and her daughter Persephone (his brother’s wife) as a serpent, Asteria and Aiginia as an eagle, Boetis as a goat, Europa as a bull, Eurymedousa as an ant, Phthia as a dove, and Leda as a swan. Perhaps the oddest shape-changing seduction was the seduction of Danae, who was courted by a rain of gold that impregnated her with the hero Perseus. It wasn’t just animals and inanimate objects—Zeus also wasn’t above taking advantage of women while letting them think he was their husband, such as he did with Alkmene, Hercules’s mother. [Source Debra Kelly, Listverse, December 17, 2013]

Historical Origin of Zeus

Zeus is believed to have been derived from the Indo-European sky-go Dyaus introduced by the Hellenes who invaded southern Greece from the north in second millennia B.C. The early Zeus often embraced the local earth-mother goddess as his lover. Later Zeus was worshiped so exclusively it was almost a monotheistic religion. The Olympics were conceived as a way to honor Zeus.

Zeus was originally a weather god or sky-god controlling thunder, lightening and rain but as time went on he took on more responsibilities such as upholding justice and the law. Endowed with supreme strength and wisdom he was far more powerful than the other gods but, even so, he was subject to the limitations imposed by the three Fates, who controlled the destinies of humankind and, some said, of the gods themselves." [Source: Canadian Museum of History]

Marianne Bonz wrote for PBS's Frontline: “Even in the ancient Greek poems of Homer and Hesiod, Zeus was the ruler of the gods, the most powerful and the most wise. But in his early days, Zeus also was guilty of numerous sexual indiscretions with both goddesses and mortal women. These liaisons resulted in the birth of a number of demi-gods and heroes, for whom the Greeks also established cults. Despite his wisdom and majesty, this early Zeus could also be petty, self-indulgent, and occasionally cruel." [Source: Marianne Bonz, Frontline, PBS, April 1998]

Birth of Zeus

Zeus was the son of Cronus and Rhea. Hesiod wrote in “Theogeny” ll. 453-491: “But Rhea was subject in love to Cronos and bare splendid children, Hestia, Demeter, and gold-shod Hera and strong Hades, pitiless in heart, who dwells under the earth, and the loud-crashing Earth-Shaker, and wise Zeus, father of gods and men, by whose thunder the wide earth is shaken. These great Cronos swallowed as each came forth from the womb to his mother's knees with this intent, that no other of the proud sons of Heaven should hold the kingly office amongst the deathless gods. For he learned from Earth and starry Heaven that he was destined to be overcome by his own son, strong though he was, through the contriving of great Zeus. [Source: Hesiod, “Theogony”, “The Homeric Hymns and Homerica”, English translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White.. Cambridge, MA.,Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914]

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“Therefore he kept no blind outlook, but watched and swallowed down his children: and unceasing grief seized Rhea. But when she was about to bear Zeus, the father of gods and men, then she besought her own dear parents, Earth and starry Heaven, to devise some plan with her that the birth of her dear child might be concealed, and that retribution might overtake great, crafty Cronos for his own father and also for the children whom he had swallowed down. And they readily heard and obeyed their dear daughter, and told her all that was destined to happen touching Cronos the king and his stout-hearted son. So they sent her to Lyetus, to the rich land of Crete, when she was ready to bear great Zeus, the youngest of her children. Him did vast Earth receive from Rhea in wide Crete to nourish and to bring up.

“Thither came Earth carrying him swiftly through the black night to Lyctus first, and took him in her arms and hid him in a remote cave beneath the secret places of the holy earth on thick-wooded Mount Aegeum; but to the mightily ruling son of Heaven, the earlier king of the gods, she gave a great stone wrapped in swaddling clothes. Then he took it in his hands and thrust it down into his belly: wretch! he knew not in his heart that in place of the stone his son was left behind, unconquered and untroubled, and that he was soon to overcome him by force and might and drive him from his honours, himself to reign over the deathless gods.

(ll. 492-506) “After that, the strength and glorious limbs of the prince increased quickly, and as the years rolled on, great Cronos the wily was beguiled by the deep suggestions of Earth, and brought up again his offspring, vanquished by the arts and might of his own son, and he vomited up first the stone which he had swallowed last. And Zeus set it fast in the wide-pathed earth at goodly Pytho under the glens of Parnassus, to be a sign thenceforth and a marvel to mortal men. And he set free from their deadly bonds the brothers of his father, sons of Heaven whom his father in his foolishness had bound. And they remembered to be grateful to him for his kindness, and gave him thunder and the glowing thunderbolt and lightening: for before that, huge Earth had hidden these. In them he trusts and rules over mortals and immortals.”

How Zeus Became the Supreme God

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After Cronus overthrew his father Uranus to become supreme god, he had a premonition that one of his children would usurp him. He then ordered all of his children killed. Rhea was overcome with grief at the loss of her children. When Zeus was born she wrapped a stone in children’s clothing and gave it to Cronus to eat and Zeus was spirited away to a cave on Crete, where he was raised by nymphs and a goat with a horn of plenty.

After growing up to become a powerful god, Zeus married Metis, the goddess of prudence, who helped him devise a plan to overthrow Cronus. She gave Cronus a magic herb that she said would make him unconquerable but she lied. The herb caused Cronus to get violently ill and vomit up Zeus's sibling who joined with Zeus and hundred-handed, fifty-headed monsters to dethrone their father. Laterr, warned that one of his offspring would overthrow him like he did to his father, he tricked his daughter Mentis into becoming a fly and swallowed her.

After usurping the throne Zeus repelled attacks by giants and conspiracies by other gods. After the dethronement of the Titans a lottery with himself and his brothers Poseidon and Hades was held to decided who would occupy the heavens, the sea and the Underworld . Zeus won. He chose the heavens while Poseidon and Hades were awarded the sea and the Underworld respectively.

Leftowitz, the classics professor at Wellesley, wrote in the Los Angeles Times, Zeus “Retained his power by using his intelligence along with superior force, Unlike his father...he did not keep all the power for himself but granted rights and privileges to other gods. He was not an autocratic ruler but listened to, and was often persuaded by, the other gods.”

Zeus’s Jeolous Wife and Affairs

Aphrodite was the goddess of love, beauty, and desire. Homer wrote she was daughter of Zeus and Dione, a Titan goddess. Zeus like every god was so struck with her beauty he wanted her marry but Aphrodite turned him down as she had every other deity. Zeus got even by forcing her to marry his ugly son Hephaestrus (Vulcan), who built a lovely palace in Cyprus but was ultimately dumped by Aphrodite for Hephaestrus’s handsome brother Ares (Mars). One of their children was Eros (Cupid). Aphrodite’s true love was Adonis, who was killed in a boar hunt.

Hera, the god of marriage, was Zeus's beautiful his wife and queen as well as his sister.Although she was the patron of brides, wives, and mothers she could cause all kinds of trouble when her husband pursued other women. She could be cruel and vengeful toward Zeus's mistresses and their children.

Being the goddess of marriage was a challenging task given the roving eye of her husband. It is no surprise that she was accused of being jealous. She often went through great lengths to give Zeus' other wives and lovers a hard time.

Hesiod on the Wives, Girlfriends and Children of Zeus

Hesiod wrote in “Theogeny” ll. 886-900: “Now Zeus, king of the gods, made Metis his wife first, and she was wisest among gods and mortal men. But when she was about to bring forth the goddess bright-eyed Athene, Zeus craftily deceived her with cunning words and put her in his own belly, as Earth and starry Heaven advised. For they advised him so, to the end that no other should hold royal sway over the eternal gods in place of Zeus; for very wise children were destined to be born of her, first the maiden bright-eyed Tritogeneia, equal to her father in strength and in wise understanding; but afterwards she was to bear a son of overbearing spirit, king of gods and men. But Zeus put her into his own belly first, that the goddess might devise for him both good and evil. [Source: Hesiod, “Theogony”, “The Homeric Hymns and Homerica”, English translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White.. Cambridge, MA.,Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914]

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“(ll. 901-911) Next he married bright Themis who bare the Horae (Hours), and Eunomia (Order), Dike (Justice), and blooming Eirene (Peace), who mind the works of mortal men, and the Moerae (Fates) to whom wise Zeus gave the greatest honour, Clotho, and Lachesis, and Atropos who give mortal men evil and good to have. And Eurynome, the daughter of Ocean, beautiful in form, bare him three fair-cheeked Charites (Graces), Aglaea, and Euphrosyne, and lovely Thaleia, from whose eyes as they glanced flowed love that unnerves the limbs: and beautiful is their glance beneath their brows.

“(ll. 912-923) Also he came to the bed of all-nourishing Demeter, and she bare white-armed Persephone whom Aidoneus carried off from her mother; but wise Zeus gave her to him. And again, he loved Mnemosyne with the beautiful hair: and of her the nine gold-crowned Muses were born who delight in feasts and the pleasures of song. And Leto was joined in love with Zeus who holds the aegis, and bare Apollo and Artemis delighting in arrows, children lovely above all the sons of Heaven. Lastly, he made Hera his blooming wife: and she was joined in love with the king of gods and men, and brought forth Hebe and Ares and Eileithyia.

“(ll. 924-929) But Zeus himself gave birth from his own head to bright-eyed Tritogeneia (29), the awful, the strife-stirring, the host-leader, the unwearying, the queen, who delights in tumults and wars and battles. But Hera without union with Zeus — for she was very angry and quarrelled with her mate — bare famous Hephaestus, who is skilled in crafts more than all the sons of Heaven.

(ll. 929a-929t) (30) But Hera was very angry and quarrelled with her mate. And because of this strife she bare without union with Zeus who holds the aegis a glorious son, Hephaestus, who excelled all the sons of Heaven in crafts. But Zeus lay with the fair- cheeked daughter of Ocean and Tethys apart from Hera.... ((LACUNA)) ....deceiving Metis (Thought) although she was full wise. But he seized her with his hands and put her in his belly, for fear that she might bring forth something stronger than his thunderbolt: therefore did Zeus, who sits on high and dwells in the aether, swallow her down suddenly. But she straightway conceived Pallas Athene: and the father of men and gods gave her birth by way of his head on the banks of the river Trito. And she remained hidden beneath the inward parts of Zeus, even Metis, Athena's mother, worker of righteousness, who was wiser than gods and mortal men. There the goddess (Athena) received that (31) whereby she excelled in strength all the deathless ones who dwell in Olympus, she who made the host-scaring weapon of Athena. And with it (Zeus) gave her birth, arrayed in arms of war.”

List of Wives, Girlfriends and Offspring of Zeus

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List Girlfriends and Offspring (name of wife or girlfriend, followed by children):
Metis: children: Athena (With the Aid of Prometheus or Hephaestus)
Themis: children: Seasons (Eunomia, Dike, Eirene): children: Fates (Moirai: Clotho, Lacheses, Atropos)
Eurynome: children: Graces (Charis, Aglaia, Pasitheia)
Demeter: children: Persephone [Perse, Proserpina]
Mnemosyne: children: Muses (Nine: Hesiod, Theogony )
Leto: children: Apollo and Artemis [Diana] Twins [Source: John Adams, California State University, Northridge (CSUN), “Classics 315: Greek and Roman Mythology class]

Hera: children: Ares [Mars], Eileithyeia, Hebe, [Eris?]
Maia: children: Hermes
Semele: children: Dionysos
Io: children: Epaphus (Apis Bull of Egypt)
Antiope: children: Zethus, Amphion (Theban Rulers, Oedipus' Great-uncles)
Leda: children: Helen, Pollux (Half-siblings of Castor and Clytamnestra)
Niobe (Daughter of Phoroneus): children: Argus (Hera's Watchman) [Apollodorus Ii.1.1]
Europa: children: Minos (Father of Ariadne and Phaedra), Rhadamanthys, Sarpedon
Danaë: children: Perseus (Herakles' Great-grandfather)

Electra (Pleiad): children: Dardanus (Ancestor of Priam and Aeneas), Iasion
Taygete: children: Lacedaemon
Eurynome: children: Aesopus River (Father of Aegina, the Island)
Aegina: children: Aeacus (Father of Peleus, Grandfather of Achilles)
Callisto: children: Arcas
Alcmene: children: Herakles
Plouto (Daughter of Kronos): children: Tantalus (Father of Pelops, Grandfather of Pittheus, Atreus, and Thyestes, Great-great-grandfather of Theseus)

Liaisons of Zeus and Young Men
Ganymede: Trojan prince, Cupbearer of Zeus (Iliad XX. 231; Ibycus, Fragment 289)
Phaenon: (Hyginus Poetica Astronomica 2. 42) a creation of Prometheus, reported to Zeus by Eros, carried to Zeus by Hermes, became the Planet Jupiter or Saturn

Zeus and Hercules

Hercules (Herakles to the Greeks and Hercules to Romans) was the son of the mortal Alcmene, who made love to Zeus and her husband on the same night and bore two children: Hercules, son of Zeus and Iphicles, son of her husband Amphityon. Hera was angry about her husband’s indiscretion and vented her anger at Hercules.

Hercules inherited great strength from his father and began performing heroic deeds at an early age. Vengeful Hera, attempted to kill the infant Herakles by placing serpents in the cradle where he and his twin brother slept. But Herakles strangled the snakes, thus saving himself and his twin.

Collete Hemingway wrote: “According to Greek mythology, Zeus desired to sire a son who would be the guardian of mortals and immortals. Thus, he visited the mortal woman Alkmene in Thebes, where they conceived Herakles. However, on the day Herakles was to be born, Zeus boasted that his son would rule over Greece. Homer describes how Hera, wife of Zeus, delayed the birth of Herakles until the day after his cousin Eurystheos was born. Thus, the vengeful Hera ensured that Eurystheos inherited the throne. And she sent two snakes to destroy the infant Herakles as he slept in his cradle. Yet even as a baby Herakles' strength was legendary, and he saved himself from Hera's serpents by grasping one in each hand and strangling them. [Source: Collete Hemingway, Independent Scholar, Metropolitan Museum of Art, January 2008, metmuseum.org \^/]

Temple of Zeus in Athens

Pausanias wrote in “Description of Greece”, Book I: Attica (A.D. 160): “Before the entrance to the sanctuary of Olympian Zeus” is “the statue, one worth seeing, which in size exceeds all other statues save the colossi at Rhodes and Rome, and is made of ivory and gold with an artistic skill which is remarkable when the size is taken into account...Before the pillars stand bronze statues which the Athenians call "colonies." The whole circumference of the precincts is about four stades, and they are full of statues” from “every city... and the Athenians have surpassed them in dedicating, behind the temple, the remarkable colossus. [Source: Pausanias, “Description of Greece,” with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D. in 4 Volumes. Volume 1.Attica and Cornith, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd., 1918]

Within the precincts are antiquities: a bronze Zeus, a temple of Cronus and Rhea and an enclosure of Earth surnamed Olympian. Here the floor opens to the width of a cubit, and they say that along this bed flowed off the water after the deluge that occurred in the time of Deucalion, and into it they cast every year wheat meal mixed with honey. On a pillar is a statue of Isocrates, whose memory is remarkable for three things: his diligence in continuing to teach to the end of his ninety-eight years, his self-restraint in keeping aloof from politics and from interfering with public affairs, and his love of liberty in dying a voluntary death, distressed at the news of the battle at Chaeronea1. There are also statues in Phrygian marble of Persians supporting a bronze tripod; both the figures and the tripod are worth seeing. The ancient sanctuary of Olympian Zeus the Athenians say was built by Deucalion, and they cite as evidence that Deucalion lived at Athens a grave which is not far from the present temple.

“Close to the temple of Olympian Zeus is a statue of the Pythian Apollo. There is further a sanctuary of Apollo surnamed Delphinius. The story has it that when the temple was finished with the exception of the roof Theseus arrived in the city, a stranger as yet to everybody. When he came to the temple of the Delphinian, wearing a tunic that reached to his feet and with his hair neatly plaited, those who were building the roof mockingly inquired what a marriageable virgin was doing wandering about by herself. The only answer that Theseus made was to loose, it is said, the oxen from the cart hard by, and to throw them higher than the roof of the temple they were building.

“Concerning the district called The Gardens, and the temple of Aphrodite, there is no story that is told by them, nor yet about the Aphrodite which stands near the temple. Now the shape of it is square, like that of the Hermae, and the inscription declares that the Heavenly Aphrodite is the oldest of those called Fates. But the statue of Aphrodite in the Gardens is the work of Alcamenes, and one of the most note worthy things in Athens. There is also the place called Cynosarges, sacred to Heracles; the story of the white dog1 may be known by reading the oracle. There are altars of Heracles and Hebe, who they think is the daughter of Zeus and wife to Heracles. An altar has been built to Alcmena and to Iolaus, who shared with Heracles most of his labours. The Lyceum has its name from Lycus, the son of Pandion, but it was considered sacred to Apollo from the be ginning down to my time, and here was the god first named Lyceus.”

Image Sources: Wikimedia Commons, The Louvre, The British Museum

Text Sources: Internet Ancient History Sourcebook: Greece sourcebooks.fordham.edu ; Internet Ancient History Sourcebook: Hellenistic World sourcebooks.fordham.edu ; BBC Ancient Greeks bbc.co.uk/history/; Canadian Museum of History, Perseus Project - Tufts University; perseus.tufts.edu ; MIT Classics Online classics.mit.edu ; Gutenberg.org, Metropolitan Museum of Art, National Geographic, Smithsonian magazine, New York Times, Washington Post, Live Science, Discover magazine, Natural History magazine, Archaeology magazine, The New Yorker, Encyclopædia Britannica, "The Discoverers" and "The Creators" by Daniel Boorstin. "Greek and Roman Life" by Ian Jenkins from the British Museum, Wikipedia, Reuters, Associated Press, The Guardian, AFP and various books and other publications.

Last updated September 2024

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