So says Homer in the Iliad. Throughout antiquity, there was a fascination with the tale of how Zeus, king of the gods, fell in love with a human boy. The scene of Zeus swooping down from Olympus to steal away Ganymede, known as 'The Rape of Ganymede', appeared on pottery, frescoes, statues and mosaics.
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.
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.
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.
Aside from his seven wives, relationships with immortals included Dione and Maia. Among mortals were Semele, Io, Europa and Leda (for more details, see below) and the young Ganymede (although he was mortal, Zeus granted him eternal youth and immortality).
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.
The God Zeus fell in love with Europa and wanted to take her away from her family to live with him. One day while Europa was wandering amongst her father's herds of cattle she saw a white bull. She was not aware that Zeus had turned himself into the bull in order to trick her.
Zeus slept around because he thought it was fun. Zeus wanted to have as much offspring as possible.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Instead Hera beautifies herself in preparation for seducing Zeus and obtains the help of Aphrodite. In the climax of the episode Zeus and Hera make love hidden within a golden cloud on the summit of Mount Ida.
Accordingly, the Greek god Zeus's affairs were with willing participants – regardless of his trickery and disguise to seduce them. The male-dominated art world interpreted Zeus's promiscuity as part of fulfilling his duty to populate the newly formed world. They never allowed it to detract from his dignity.
Zeus even managed to impregnate mortal women when he was a swan or a bull. Hercules was the illegitimate child of Zeus and a mortal woman, as were Perseus, Helen of Troy and Minos (among other very, very famous offspring of Zeus). Yep, the Greek God family tree is very, very tangled.
At the same time, there is a wide range of relationships between the gods and the humans without marriage, the so-called lust-type of love. These are the couples of the goddess Aphrodite and her young lover Adonis and relationships between Zeus and mortal women Alkmene, Semele, and Leda.
Gods aside, Zeus also had sexual affairs with 20 mortals, including one male, Ganymede, a prince ofTroy.
The relationship between Zeus and Hera had always been tumultuous. Zeus was consistently unfaithful, and Hera spent all her time exerting revenge on her husband's mistresses and offspring. The two also seemed to be in constant competition with each other.
Even after his marriage to Hera, he continued sleeping with both goddesses and mortals.
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.
In many of these stories, Zeus seduces unwitting maidens by changing form in order to trick them. Hera, jealous and bitter, ends up striking out against the mistresses time and time again. As a result of his infidelity, Zeus had lots of children.
Zeus cheats on Hera because he's a reflection of the morals of the ancient Greeks. Unlike the Abrahamic god, Zeus was made in the image of man, not the other way around. Ancient Greek men viewed marriage as a necessity and a duty, not a partnership. Women existed to bear children, preferably male children.
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.
Lycaon, in Greek mythology, a legendary king of Arcadia. Traditionally, he was an impious and cruel king who tried to trick Zeus, the king of the gods, into eating human flesh.
According to the Greek myth, when Zeus saw Leda, a beautiful human and wife of King Tyndareus of Sparta, he became enamored and obsessed. Zeus transformed himself into a magnificent swan to 'seduce' Leda.