Before his marriage to
Suffice it to say that Zeus was constantly involved in extramarital affairs. Throughout the various and sometimes contradictory myths composed by Greek authors, there are at least 20 divine figures with whom he consorted, and about twice as many mortals.
This page describes three of Zeus' mortal liaisons--Danae who was impregnated by the god in the form of a golden shower, Antiope who was seduced by the god in the guise of a satyr, and Kallisto who was deceived by Zeus disguised as the maiden Artemis.
Even after his marriage to Hera, he continued sleeping with both goddesses and mortals.
Zeus was well known for his amorousness—a source of perpetual discord with his wife, Hera—and he had many love affairs with both mortal and immortal women.
Zeus finally became enamored of the goddess who was to become his permanent wife — Hera.
Zeus was known in his time as much more than the father of the gods. He was also a womanizer, and as such, he fathered many, many offspring! He would transform into various animals to fulfill his desires; therefore, his 'children' are quite interesting.
Zeus disguised himself as Hades and slept with her, and as a result gave Persephone children. Zeus also didn't want children with Persephone.
The relationship between Zeus and Hera had always been tumultuous. Zeus was consistently unfaithful, and Hera spent all her time exerting revenge on her husband's mistresses and offspring. The two also seemed to be in constant competition with each other.
Instead Hera beautifies herself in preparation for seducing Zeus and obtains the help of Aphrodite. In the climax of the episode Zeus and Hera make love hidden within a golden cloud on the summit of Mount Ida.
In one Orphic myth, Zeus was filled with desire for his mother and pursued her, only for Rhea to refuse him and change into a serpent to flee. Zeus also turned himself into a serpent and raped her. The child born from that union was their daughter Persephone, and afterwards Rhea became Demeter.
While the vast majority of Zeus's lovers were female, one of Zeus's lovers was the mortal Ganymede. Ganymede is noted as the only one of Zeus's lovers to whom he granted immortality.
In his private life Zeus was quite the lothario, fathering an unbelievable number of around 100 children with many different women (but don't hate him too much – it's just a myth, after all). Of this 100, he fathered a mix of sons and daughters, many of whom were gods and goddesses, and some became great leaders.
Zeus's notable spouse, Hera, holds a significant role as the goddess of women, marriage, family, and childbirth. Intriguingly, Hera is not only Zeus's wife but also his sister. Their union began with Zeus employing a clever ploy—he transformed into an injured bird to elicit Hera's compassion and affection.
And the handmaidens, too, sometimes. Zeus even managed to impregnate mortal women when he was a swan or a bull. Hercules was the illegitimate child of Zeus and a mortal woman, as were Perseus, Helen of Troy and Minos (among other very, very famous offspring of Zeus).
As the sky god Zeus had easy access to the women of the world and took full advantage of it. Also, his power as a supreme god made him difficult to resist. Prior to his marrage to Hera he was married first to Metis, then Themis.
Aphrodite later and of her own volition had an affair with Zeus, but his jealous wife Hera laid her hands upon the belly of the goddess and cursed their offspring with malformity. Their child was the ugly god Priapos.
According to a Homeric Hymn, there are three goddesses whom Aphrodite “can't persuade or decieve”, i.e. who don't feel sexual desire and are perpetually virgins. They are Athena, Artemis and Hestia. So, we are sure that Zeus did never have affairs with any of those three.
Zeus set a decree that the gods were not allowed to interfere in the mortal war. Hera is on the side of the Achaeans, so she plans a Deception of Zeus where she seduces him, with help from Aphrodite, and tricks him into a deep sleep, with the help of Hypnos, so that the Gods could interfere without the fear of Zeus.
Perhaps partly because of the strange circumstances of her birth, Athena is often cited as Zeus's favourite child. He also greatly admired her strength of character and fighting spirit.
Before his marriage to Hera, Zeus consorted with a number of the female Titanes (and his sister Demeter). These liaisons are ordered by Hesiod as follows: (1) Metis; (2) Themis; (3) Eurynome; (4) Demeter; (5) Mnemosyne; (6) Leto.
Amalthaea, in Greek (originally Cretan) mythology, the foster mother of Zeus, king of the gods. She is sometimes represented as the goat that suckled the infant god in a cave in Crete, sometimes as a nymph who fed him the milk of a goat.
Ganymede (or Ganymedes) was a young man from Troy. His beauty was unparalleled, and for that reason, Zeus abducted and brought him to Olympus to serve as his cupbearer and lover. Ganymede's myth is an important step in queer history, but there is also a dark side to the story.
Some estimates put the count at well over a hundred, with the lovers being mostly but not exclusively female. In some cases, ancient authorities differ, so the exact lineage and relationships remain open to debate.
The God Zeus fell in love with Europa and wanted to take her away from her family to live with him. One day while Europa was wandering amongst her father's herds of cattle she saw a white bull. She was not aware that Zeus had turned himself into the bull in order to trick her.