Zeus (Jupiter)
Zeus
• As the sky god Zeus had easy access to
goddesses and mortal women of the
world and took full advantage of it
• His power as a supreme god made him
difficult to resist
• He had 5 marriages before finally
marrying his sister, Hera (Juno)
• After his final marriage to Hera, the list
of affairs is considerable
Notable Affairs
• Aegina (daughter of river god Asopus), child: Aeacus
• Alcmene (mortal), Child: Hercules
• Electra (daughter of the Titan Atlas), child: Dardonus
(founder of the Royal house of Troy)
• Europa (daughter of the King of Phoenicia), children:
Minos, Sarpedon, Rhadomanhys
• Io (priestess of Hera)
• Leda (daughter of King Aetolia), children: Polydeuces,
Helen, and some attribute Castor, Phoebe, Timondra
and Philonoe
• Taygete (Daughter of the Titan Atlas), child:
Lacedaemon
Cronus m. Rhea
Hestia
Hades
Poseidon
Demeter
Hera
Zeus
Zeus m. Hera
Hebe
Hephaestus
Zeus m. Metis
Athena
Zeus m. Danae
Perseus
Ares
Zeus m. Leto
Apollo
Artemis
Zeus m. Alcmena
Heracles
Eileithyia
Zeus m. Semele
Dionysus
Zeus m. Io
Epaphus
Zeus m. Maia
Hermes
Zeus m. Europa
Minos
Leto (Latona)
• Leto was an early and
favorite lover of Zeus. Zeus
married Hera while Leto
was pregnant. Although
the pregnancy began
before the marriage, Hera
was still jealous of Leto.
• Hera pushed Leto out of
Olympus. As she
wandered, no place would
allow her to stay for fear
Hera would be offended.
Finally, the desolate
rocky island of Delos
accepted her.
Leto
Leto first gave birth to
Artemis
Then, after another nine
days of labor, Artemis
helped Leto give birth to
her twin brother, Apollo.
Leto was forced by the anger
of Hera to wander carrying
her two babies
Artemis the Huntress, Roman
copy in marble of a Greek
bronze, ca. 4th cent. BCE
Leto
As they grew into
their full power
the twins
became willing
to avenge Leto's
honor as well as
to protect her
safety.
Death of the Children of Niobe, redfigure amphora, ca. 460 BCE
Leto
As the mother of two
powerful gods, Leto
returned to Zeus's
favor despite Hera's
disapproval.
Apollo Belvedere, Roman
marble, ca 2nd cent. CE
Io
• Io was loved by
Zeus; she was a
priestess of Hera
and could not avoid
detection by the
goddess
• Zeus failed to
deceive Hera in his
affair with Io, and
Hera turned Io into
a white cow in
retaliation
Another version states that Zeus, in an
attempt to avoid the rage and jealousy of
Hera, transformed Io into a handsome
white cow. Hera, who knew Zeus was up
to no good, asked for the cow as a gift,
which Zeus could not refuse.
Io
• To guard the cow, Hera set Argus (with 100
eyes that never slept all at once) to watch her
under constant surveillance
• Zeus sent Hermes to rescue Io; Hermes lulled
Argus to sleep and cut off his head
As a memorial, Hera set Argus’ eyes in the tail of
the peacock, the bird with which she is
especially associated
Io
Hera then forced Io to
wander the earth without
rest, plagued by a gadfly
to sting her into madness.
Her wanderings gave names
to many geographical
features, including the
Ionian Sea, and the
Bosporus (meaning ox
crossing).
Io
Io eventually crossed paths
with Prometheus, who was
chained. He predicted that
she would have to wander
for many years, but, she
would eventually be changed
back into human form and
would bear a child.
He predicted that a descendent
of this child would be a great
hero and set him free
Prometheus, by Gustave Moreau (18261898
Io
Eventually she reached the
Nile, where Zeus
restored her to human
form. She bore Epaphus
and eleven generations
later her descendant
(and son of Zeus by
Alcmena) Heracles
would set Prometheus
free.
Europa
Zeus was captivated by
Europa and decided
to seduce her.
He transformed himself
into a tame white
bull and mixed in
with her father's
herds. While Europa
and her female
attendants were
gathering flowers,
she saw the bull,
caressed him, and
eventually got onto
his back.
Europa
Zeus took that
opportunity and ran to
the sea and swam, with
her on his back, to the
island of Crete. He then
revealed his true
identity, and Europa
became the first queen
of Crete, where she
bore Minos, Zeus’ son.
The Rape of Europa, Titian, ca 1487
Europa
Zeus later recreated the
shape of the
white bull in
the stars,
which is now
known as the
constellation
Taurus.
Europa in a
fresco at
Pompeii, c. 1st
cent. BCE
Semele
• Disguised as a mortal, Zeus was having an affair
with Semele, a daughter of Cadmus (Theban king)
• When Hera found out, her jealousy led her to get
even
• She appeared to Semele disguised as an old
woman and convinced her rival that she should
ask her lover to appear in the full magnificence of
his divinity
• Semele first persuaded Zeus to swear that he
would grant whatever she might ask of him, and
then revealed her demand
Semele
• Zeus was unwilling but was obliged to comply,
and Semele was burned to a cinder by the
splendor of his person and the fire of his
lightning flash
The Death of
Semele, Peter
Paul Rubens
(1577-1640
Semele
Her unborn child,
being divine, was
not destroyed in
the conflagration;
Zeus saved his son
form the ashes of
his mother and
sewed him up in his
own thigh, from
which he was born
again at the proper
time
Semele
• Eventually, Dionysus
(Bacchus), who had
never seen her,
managed to rescue
her from the
underworld and
arrange for her to live
on Mount Olympus.
• She is the only mortal
to be the parent of a
god.
Leda
Leda, the wife of
Tyndareus, king of
Sparta, bore four
children to Zeus, who
visited her in the
shape of a swan
Study for Leda and the Swan, Leonardo da
Vinci, ca. 1506
Cyprus
Mosaic,
c. 3rd
cent. CE
Leda
•The four were born from two
eggs – from the one sprang
Polydeuces and Helen, from the
other Castor and Clytemnestra
•Polydeuces and Castor were
immortals connected with
seafarers
•Clytemnestra became the wife
of Agamemmnon
•Helen grew up to be the most
beautiful of women
Danae
• The King of Argos consulted an
oracle about his lack of a male
heir and learned that he would
be killed by his only daughter's
son. His daughter, Danae, was
childless and he locked her in a
tower to keep her that way.
• Zeus loved Danae and came to
her bed in the form of a shower
of gold, to hide his amorous
adventure from Hera.
Danae
Danae gave birth to
the hero Perseus.
Upon discovering
the child, her
father cast the
two into the sea
in a wooden
chest.
With the help of Poseidon, Danae and
Perseus washed up on the shore of
Seriphos and Perseus is raised by Dictys,
the brother of the king.
Danae
• The prophesy became
true when Perseus
participated in funeral
games in Larissa and
accidentally struck his
grandfather with a
discus.