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 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 and Metis
His first and favorite lover was Metis, a Titan goddess and mother of Athena.
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.
At that moment, Zeus transformed back into his true form, and Hera couldn't help it. She fell in love with him. This time, when he asked her to be his wife, she obliged. That marked the beginning of a vicious cycle of lust, infidelity, jealousy, and vengeance that would be the cornerstone of their relationship.
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.
Hebe was the youngest daughter to Zeus and his wife Hera. Her name came from the Greek word for 'youth', and it was thought she had the power to temporarily restore youth in a chosen few.
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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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Heracles – Son of Zeus and Alcmene
He possessed superhuman strength and courage. Because he was a reminder of Zeus's unfaithfulness, Hera made it her mission to make his life miserable. At one point, she drove him to madness and he killed his own children. To atone for his sins, he went through his famous “Labors”.
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.
The fifth wife of Zeus was his aunt, the Titan Mnemosyne, whom he seduced in the form of a mortal shepherd. Zeus and Mnemosyne had the nine Muses. His sixth wife was the Titan Leto, who gave birth to Apollo and Artemis on the island of Delos. Zeus's seventh and final wife was his older sister Hera.
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.
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).
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.
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.
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.