Zeus and love stories: his romances and demigod children

Zeus is a special god in the myths of ancient Greece. It is the most important and powerful deity, which had a great influence on the worldview of people. He was represented as a strong middle-aged man with long hair and a long beard. His main symbols were lightning, eagle, and scepter. He was a real hero lover who had three official marriages and a lot of unofficial love affairs. From this https://whoiszeus.ca/ had many children. Among them were both gods and demigods who were born to ordinary earthly women.

Three official marriages of Zeus

According to ancient Greek legends and myths, Zeus had three official wives. The first wife was the titanid Metida. She was notable for her special intelligence and could be very cunning. Metida helped Zeus in his fight against the titan Kronos. She helped prepare a drink that made Cronus regurgitate the children he had swallowed. The earth goddess Gaia predicted to Zeus that Metida would bear him a son who would be much stronger than Zeus and who would overthrow him from his throne. Zeus did not want to repeat his father's fate. He decided to turn Metida into a gnat and ate her. Metida planted a seed in Zeus' head, from which the goddess Athena grew. She came out of Zeus' head as an adult. Zeus was very tormented with headaches and he decided to split his head in half.

Zeus' second marriage was his union with his own aunt Themis, the goddess of justice and fairness. The classic image of Themis: she holds a scale and wears a blindfold over her eyes. In this way she demonstrates her impartiality and has the gift of foresight. She also carries a sword - so that the truth is always paramount. Themis resisted the relationship for a long time, but eventually submitted. She gave birth to three oras, goddesses of the seasons, from Zeus. Even after Themis separated from Zeus, she remained on Olympus and announced to the gods the will of the Thunderer.

Zeus' third wife was his own sister Hera. She was an overbearing and willful goddess. The quarrels between Hera and Zeus were constant. Hera could not punish her spouse because she was much weaker. But she took revenge on her rivals who had an affair with Zeus. There was no way she would put up with Zeus cheating on her. She set up various trials for the mistresses and the illegitimate children of Zeus. But this made them even more enduring and stronger. From Zeus, Hera gave birth to Ares, the god of war, Hephaestus, Hoeba. Hephaestus was born ugly, so Hera decided to throw him off a cliff. However, the sea nymphs saved the child. They raised him up. Hephaestus became a true master blacksmith. He made lightning bolts for his father. Hera tried to dethrone Zeus, for which she was suspended on golden chains.

Mistresses of Zeus

Among the famous mistresses of Zeus it is worth mentioning Oceanis Eurynum. She gave birth to the Charitas. These are the goddesses of the joy of life, attractiveness and eternal youth. Charitas were opposed to the evil and destructive forces of nature, which man could not influence. Charitas make the world beautiful and harmonious, they decorate it.

Zeus had sexual intercourse with one of the Pleiades, Maia. From this was born a son, Hermes. This was a cunning messenger. Some myths say that Zeus' daughter was Aphrodite, who was born to the titanid Diona.

Another mistress of Zeus was the titanid Mnemosyne. She was the goddess of memory. Zeus spent nine nights with her, from which nine sisters were born - nine muses. The muses were in charge of the arts and sciences. They were inspirational and provided pleasures of the spirit.

Zeus also had love affairs with earthly women. From this were born heroes - great men. Their exploits are shown in Greek mythology of the classical period. One of Zeus' mistresses was Io. She bore from him the great hero, Hercules. Hera severely punished Io. Zeus seduced Io and then turned her into a cow. He did this to hide her from Hera's wrath. However, Hera discovered the beautiful snow-white cow and suspected that something was wrong. She asked Zeus to give the cow to her. Hera assigned a guard to the cow, the hundred-eyed Argus. The latter watched her 24 hours a day. Zeus saw Io's suffering. He instructed Hermes to kill Argus. Hermes did so and freed Io. She remained, however, in the form of a cow. A frightening love story is associated with the union of Zeus and Danaë. Danaë was the daughter of King Acrisius of Argos. An oracle gave a prediction to Acrisius that his own grandson would kill him. The latter was frightened of this. He decided to imprison his daughter Danae in a deep dungeon. Then Zeus turned into golden rain and penetrated through the bars of the dungeon. From this, Danaë became pregnant and gave birth to another famous hero, Perseus. Artemias, upon learning that his daughter had given birth, ordered her imprisoned along with the baby in a wooden box and thrown into the sea. However, Danaya and the boy survived. They were rescued by fishermen. In the future, Perseus will become a famous hero who can destroy the jellyfish Gorgon.