Zeus fell in love with Semele, the daughter of Cadmus and Harmonia, and started an affair with her. Hera discovered his affair when Semele later became pregnant, and persuaded Semele to sleep with Zeus in his true form.
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 Favourite Child Was Possibly Athena, Goddess of War
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Once the festivities came to an end, Zeus and Hera had a glorious wedding night that lasted a staggering 300 years. Together, the two love birds had three children: Ares the god of war, Eileithyia, the goddess of childbirth and Hebe, the goddess of youth.
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.
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.
Zeus'favourite son is Heracles, & his favourite daughter is Athena. One thing that these 2 have in common is, neither one of them are Hera's children.
Zeus's LEAST favorite son, Kratos.
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.
II.
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.
Sometime during her marriage, Hera would start an on and off affair with Hades that would end around the "80s." It is unknown if Zeus was ever aware of the affair.
But representations of Zeus as a powerful young man also exist. Symbols or Attributes: Thunderbolt. Animal: Eagle. Strengths: Highly powerful, strong, charming, persuasive. Weaknesses: Gets in trouble over love, can be moody.
Zeus has cheated on Hera over a hundred times. However, she keeps forgiving him in the end.
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.
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.
The Mesha Stele bears the earliest known reference (840 BCE) to the Israelite God Yahweh.
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).
Zeus and Metis
His first and favorite lover was Metis, a Titan goddess and mother of Athena.