HeraHera was one of the 12 Olympian gods, the sister, and wife of Zeus, and thus the Queen of the gods. She was the goddess of women, marriage, childbirth, and family, and she was widely seen as a matronly figure who presided over weddings and other important social ceremonies.https://greecetravelideas.com › facts-about-hera-queen-of-the-...
Zeus and Metis
His first and favorite lover was Metis, a Titan goddess and mother of Athena.
Seven wives of Zeus
According to Hesiod, Zeus had seven wives. His first wife was the Oceanid Metis, whom he swallowed on the advice of Gaia and Uranus, so that no son of his by Metis would overthrow him, as had been foretold. Later, their daughter Athena would be born from the forehead 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. Some believe Athena was Zeus's first born child, which might, somewhat unfairly, suggest why he chose her as his favourite.
Zeus fell in love with Io and seduced her. To try to keep Hera from noticing he covered the world with a thick blanket of clouds. This backfired, arousing Hera's suspicions. She came down from Mount Olympus and begain dispersing the clouds.
Zeus finally became enamored of the goddess who was to become his permanent wife — Hera. After courting her unsuccessfully he changed himself into a disheveled cuckoo. When Hera took pity on the bird and held it to her breast, Zeus resumed his true form and ravished her.
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 the history of homosexuality.
Metis, an Oceanid or sea-nymph, was Zeus's first wife. Wise and prudent, she was endowed with the gift of prophecy. In their early years together, she was Zeus's closest ally and aide, helping him win the battle against Cronus.
1. Apollo: Zeus' Best-Known Son. Of all the sons Zeus fathered, Apollo is perhaps the best known. Apollo was conceived during an illicit affair between Zeus and Leto (Zeus was married to Hera at the time), along with a twin sister named Artemis.
Hera was worshipped throughout the Greek world and played an important part in Greek literature, appearing most frequently as the jealous and rancorous wife of Zeus and pursuing with vindictive hatred the heroines who were beloved by him.
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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.
Impregnation by Zeus
Nonnus classifies Zeus's affair with Semele as one in a set of twelve, the other eleven women on whom he begot children being Io, Europa, Plouto, Danaë, Aigina, Antiope, Leda, Dia, Alcmene, Laodameia, the mother of Sarpedon, and Olympias.
In some versions of Greek mythology, Zeus ate his wife Metis because it was known that their second child would be more powerful than him. After Metis's demise, their first child Athena was born when Hephaestus cleaved Zeus's head open and the goddess of war emerged, fully grown and armed.
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.
Zeus' wife Hera was the mother of some of his offspring, and, as one might expect, her jealousy was legendary. It's not uncommon to read about her acts of revenge, not only against Zeus and his lovers, but also against the children who came from these relationships.
Generally, Zeus is believed to have had over 100 children, but the number could be even greater considering the number of concubines that he had.
Turns out Cronus had overthrown his dad, and he feared his son was a chip off the old block. One of those who sheltered the infant Zeus was a mountain nymph called Melissa. She cared for the baby and fed him milk and honey.
"Sons of Jove [Zeus] : Liber [Zagreos] by Proserpina, whom the Titanes dismembered; Hercules by Alcmena Liber [Dionysos] by Semele, daughter of Cadmus and Harmonia; Castor and Pollux by leda, daughter of Thestius; Argus by Niobe, daughter of Phoroneus; Epaphus by Io, daughter of Inachus; Perseus by Danae, daughter of ...
Who did Zeus marry? His sister Hera was the first and only to whom he was married, but that didn't stop him from fathering children with all and sundry, willing or not. Hera, the goddess of marriage and childbirth, constantly fought with Zeus throughout their marriage.
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.
After Leto, Zeus found a lover who put him in seventh heaven. For this lover, his seventh, was the one he chose to marry: his sister Hera. When he began courting her—in secret, so that his mother would not find out—Hera, who no doubt knew that Zeus had already had six different lovers, spurned his romantic overtures.
After Zeus became king, he and Metis were married, and she bore him a daughter, Athena, the goddess of wisdom. After hearing a prophecy stating that after Metis gave birth to Athena, she would have a son mightier than Zeus who would overthrow him, Zeus tricked the still pregnant Metis and swallowed her whole.
Under the name of Callithyia, Io was regarded as the first priestess of Hera, the wife of Zeus. Zeus fell in love with her and, to protect her from the wrath of Hera, changed her into a white heifer. Hera persuaded Zeus to give her the heifer and sent Argus Panoptes (“the All-Seeing”) to watch her.
It is commonly thought that Nyx is the only goddess that Zeus is truly afraid of because she is older and more powerful than him. This traces back to one story in which Hera, Zeus' wife and goddess of marriage and childbirth, works together with Hypnos, the god of sleep, to trick Zeus.
The philosopher Plato recounts that Rhea, Cronus and Phorcys were the eldest children of Oceanus and Tethys. According to the Orphic myths, Zeus wanted to marry his mother Rhea. After Rhea refused to marry him, Zeus turned into a snake and raped her.