As one of the Twelve Olympians alongside Zeus, the Greek god of the skies and the king of the gods, Zeus was afraid that Aphrodite's beauty would cause a war among the gods.
Zeus did not fear Athena, though it was foretold that her wisdom and strength would match his own. But he dared not risk the birth of a second child by Metis: a son destined to usurp his dominion.
Zeus was king of the gods, and his lightening bolt was something of a supreme weapon in the clash with the titans. And yet, Zeus is often depicted as a hen-pecked husband, fearful of his wife.
But representations of Zeus as a powerful young man also exist. Symbols or Attributes: Thunderbolt. Strengths: Highly powerful, strong, charming, persuasive. Weaknesses: Gets in trouble over love, can be moody.
Who does Zeus fear? In fact, there is one myth that shows Zeus to be afraid of the goddess Nyx. 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.
However Zeus is then confronted with one final adversary, Typhon, which he quickly defeats. Now clearly the supreme power in the cosmos, Zeus is elected king of gods.
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.
As punishment for her attempt to overthrow him, Zeus seized Hera and hung her in the sky by golden chains. Hera wailed in pain all night, but no one would help her out of fear of Zeus.
Hestia, Hades, and Poseidon are more powerful than him while Demeter can rival his power and Hera is not far behind him.
In some versions of the story, Athena has no mother and is born from Zeus' forehead by parthenogenesis. In others, such as Hesiod's Theogony, Zeus swallows his consort Metis, who was pregnant with Athena; in this version, Athena is first born within Zeus and then escapes from his body through his forehead.
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.
As Athena grew inside of Zeus's head, he got a really bad headache. Eventually he couldn't stand it anymore and he had the god Hephaestus crack open his head with an ax. Athena jumped out of Zeus's head.
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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.
THE ILIAD : APHRODITE WOUNDED BY DIOMEDES. In the Iliad she is wounded by Diomedes while attempting to rescue her son Aeneas.
Her extreme action shows that Hera is fearful of being usurped by one of Zeus's mistresses or children.
Of all the sons Zeus had fathered on other women, Hera hated Heracles most of all, for the seed of Zeus flowed in his veins most copiously.
In addition to her inherent roles as a goddess she was also the wife and sister of Zeus, making her queen of Mount Olympus after their marriage. Although as a goddess she was not outright malevolent, she was known to be a vengeful being and was especially cruel towards those who crossed her.
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.
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.
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.
Later Kronos threw up the children that he ate and then there was a 10 year war against Cronus and the other Titans. The gods eventually won and overthrew the Titans. Zeus then cut up his father Cronus and threw him into the pit of Tartarus.
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.
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.