Zeus finally became enamored of the goddess who was to become his permanent wife —
Zeus and Metis
His first and favorite lover was Metis, a Titan goddess and mother of Athena.
Metis, the goddess of wisdom, was Zeus' first wife. According to a prophecy, she would bear two children. The first would be Athena and the second, a son who would be powerful enough to overthrow Zeus. This made him very anxious.
Hera was goddess of marriage and childbirth. Since Hera's husband was Zeus, king not only of gods, but of philanderers, Hera spent a lot of time in Greek mythology angry with Zeus. So Hera is described as jealous and quarrelsome.
In most traditions, he is married to Hera, by whom he is usually said to have fathered Ares, Eileithyia, Hebe, and Hephaestus. At the oracle of Dodona, his consort was said to be Dione, by whom the Iliad states that he fathered Aphrodite.
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'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.
A while later, he rapes her, she agrees to marry him and they create a family on Mount Olympus, the Deities' new home. Unfortunately, Zeus constantly cheats on Hera and he has done it over a hundred times, but in the end Hera always forgives him.
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. Suidas s.v. Priapos (trans.
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.
However, Hera also had an attraction to Hades in the beginning, something Zeus seemed to have noticed and shown jealousy over. Towards the end of the war against Kronos, the two came up with a plan wherein Hera would seduce Kronos to be able to poison him over time.
The relationship between Zeus and Herakles is not like any other father-son relationship; they both acknowledge each other with the respect due but they do not closely communicate or function as a family.
Zeus: The serial womanizer of Greek mythology
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.
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.
Apollo: Zeus' Best-Known Son
He is often described and portrayed in art and literature as the ideal male beauty, with a strong, muscular and athletic build. Funnily enough, he turned out quite like his father, featuring dominantly in many Greek myths, and enjoying a string of love affairs that usually ended badly.
To punish man, Zeus had Hephaestus create a mortal of stunning beauty. The gods gave the mortal many gifts of wealth. He then had Hermes give the mortal a deceptive heart and a lying tongue. This creation was Pandora, the first women.
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.
Persephone was born so deformed that Rhea ran away from her frightened, and did not breastfeed Persephone. Zeus then mates with Persephone, who gives birth to Dionysus. She later stays in her mother's house, guarded by the Curetes. Rhea-Demeter prophecies that Persephone will marry Apollo.
Aphrodite and Anchises
Zeus was angry at Aphrodite for making the gods, especially himself, fall in love with mortals and make fools of themselves pursuing them, so he caused Aphrodite to fall madly in love with Anchises.
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.
Io, in Greek mythology, daughter of Inachus (the river god of Argos) and the Oceanid Melia. 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 was courted by her brother Zeus who was the leader of the gods on Mount Olympus. At first she was not interested, but Zeus tricked her into marrying him by disguising himself as a wounded cuckoo bird. Hera rescued the cuckoo bird and ended up marrying Zeus. Hera was a very jealous and vengeful wife.
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.
Hera's children were Ares (the god of war), Hephaestus (the god of fire and the divine smith), and Hebe (the goddess of youth and the cupbearer to the gods on Mount Olympus).
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.