Another famous son of Zeus is the great hero Hercules, who we might all know as the iconic totem of masculinity and power. He was born a demigod, as his mother was the mortal woman Alcmene. Even from infancy Hercules showed great promise, strangling two snakes sent to his cradle by Zeus's jealous wife Hera.
Athena: Goddess of War (And the Most Famous Daughter of Zeus) Athena, Greek goddess of wisdom and war, is arguably Zeus's most famous daughter. She was born in extraordinary circumstances. Zeus swallowed his pregnant wife Metis, after being told that her child would try to overthrow him.
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 fathered many children. Among the most well-known are Athena, the goddess of war; Perseus, the hero known for slaying Medusa; and Persephone, Demeter's daughter and wife to Hades.
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.
Answer and Explanation: In most myths, Athena is the eldest child of Zeus. Athena's mother, Metis, was a powerful Titaness whom Zeus either seduced or raped, depending on the version of the story.
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.
Zeus is the Greek god of the skies, and Hera is the Greek goddess of marriage and birth. Hera is also known as Queen of the Gods because of her matriarchal role in Greek mythology. Together, Zeus and Hera had three children: Ares, Hebe, and Hephaestus.
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.
Hera. The most famous of Zeus' wives, Hera was also the sister of the father of the gods, and the goddess of women, marriage, family, and childbirth.
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.
Mnemosyne spent nine nights with Zeus, and on each of these nights, he fathered a child. The nine children were born in the same birth and were known as the nine muses, the goddesses of artistic inspiration. The nine daughters of Mnemosyne and Zeus were: Calliope, muse of epic poetry.
Hercules has existed long before the Marvel Universe, let alone the MCU. In ancient stories, Hercules is the son of Zeus and Alcemene (nonconsensual, which is pretty common for Zeus).
Dioscuri, also called (in French) Castor and Polydeuces and (in Latin) Castor and Pollux, (Dioscuri from Greek Dioskouroi, “Sons of Zeus”), in Greek and Roman mythology, twin deities who succoured shipwrecked sailors and received sacrifices for favourable winds.
Heracles: son of Zeus (king of the gods) and Alcmene, a mortal woman.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The other gods came to see what the problem was. Hermes realized what needed to be done and directed Hephaestus to take a wedge and split open Zeus's skull. Out of the skull sprang Athena, full grown and in a full set of armour. Due to her manor of birth she has dominion over all things of the intellect.
He was the youngest, but the most powerful of three brothers. His oldest brother was Hades who ruled the Underworld. His other brother was Poseidon, god of the sea. He had three sisters including Hestia, Demeter, and Hera (who he married).
Zeus is depicted with both fe- male and male aspects as he gives birth to the goddess Athena. Zeus is blessed by female embodiments of birth even as he completes birth in his own male way. This reflects patriarchal ideas in Greek society about the superiority of men and the male body.
Semi-immortality: As a God, Zeus is incapable of dying due to old age. He is a lot older than most gods, being older than the Big Bang itself (making him over 13.8 billion years old).