Zeus the Thunderer : Tales of the Ancient Greeks

Zeus was the son of Kronos and Rheia.

It happened that just before Kronos killed his father, Ouranos, he was warned that his own son would someday depose him. (This was a common fear shared by powerful men in the old days).

In fear and greed, Kronos swallowed his first children as they were born, but Rheia tricked Kronos and when the sixth child, Zeus, was born, she substituted a stone for the infant and Kronos swallowed it down.

Zeus was hidden and raised in secret until he was old enough to fulfill his destiny.

One day he attacked Kronos while he was out hunting, kicking him in the stomach until the old god vomited up the other five (undigested) children.

Demeter, Hades, Hestia, Hera and Poseidon were so pleased to be released they accepted Zeus as their leader.

They are all known as The Olympians after their dwelling place Mount Olympus.

His first amorous adventure seems to have been with Dione but his wife was Metis, whom he later swallowed. (This gastronomic feat resulted in Athena being born through his head).

Hera
However Hera is his permanent companion although the marriage wasn't to her liking.

After Zeus had courted her unsuccessfully for some time, he turned himself into an injured bird and Hera kindly held the little creature to her breast for warmth. Zeus, true to form, showed his gratitude as rape, and Hera then married him to cover her shame.

Father of the Graces, Fates, Muses and the Golden Twins
Themis bore him the Fates, while Mnemosyne gave birth to the Nine Muses and Eurynome presented the god with the three Graces. Leto bore the twins Apollo and Artemis.

Mortal Maidens
Zeus gave birth on another occasion too. When he impregnated the maiden Semele, Hera convinced her to ask the god to appear in his full glory. He did, and Semele burned to death. But Zeus snatched Dionysus from her womb a second beforehand, and placed him in his thigh until he was ready to be born.

Zeus lusted after mortals like Alicimena; Danae, daughter of Acrisius; Io, princess of Argos; and Europa, daughter of the king of Sidon.

Danae, daughter of Acrisius
When it was prophesied that Danae's son would kill Acrisius, her father imprisoned her in a bronze tower. (Another of these men who feared being usurped by an infant)

However, Zeus came to her in the form of a shower of gold, and she bore him a son, Perseus. Acrisius put Danae and Perseus into a chest and threw them into the sea, but they floated safely to land.

Perseus ended up killing Acrisius, and thus the prophecy was eventually, and understandably, fulfilled.

Leda of Sparta
Leda married Tyndareus and they lived happily in Sparta when Leda caught the eye of Zeus and he raped her in the form of a swan.

Leda bore four children, two sets of twins, male and female, by laying eggs. The twin girls were Helen and Clytemnestra, the former known to us Helen of Troy; the latter as the wife of Agamemnon (She killed her husband in the bath with an axe, but that's another story).

Alcimena
Alcimena conceived Heracles when Zeus came to her disguised as her husband Amphitryon, but the story gets murkier. Her genuine husband came home that same night and Alcimena conceived again. So her twins Herakles and Iphicles had different fathers.

Io of Argos
When the long-suffering Hera discovered the passionate affair with Io of Argos, Zeus changed the princess into a white heifer. Hera wasn't deceived and, claiming the heifer, she sent Argus to guard it.

When Hermes killed Argus, Hera tormented Io with a gadfly which drove her across Europe and through Asia, until she was finally allowed to rest in Egypt. There Zeus changed Io back into her human form, and she bore his child Epaphus.

Europa of Sidon
Europa was the daughter of King Agenor of Sidon. One day she was gathering flowers by the sea when Zeus, in the form of a white bull, carried her off to Crete.

She gave birth to many sons including Minos I and Rhadamanthus.

Ganymede : Buy at AllPosters.com

Though Zeus is better known for his forced love affairs with Olympians and savage conquests of mortal women, his true love seems to have been the young Ganymede, son of King Tros of Troy and famous for his beauty.

Zeus became an eagle and plucked him from the Trojan plain.

Perhaps this was the problem with Zeus all the time, he really didn't like female companionship.

Zeus is not a very likeable character, but it's a waste of time to take a personal dislike to him, he was a compilation of many supreme gods from different areas and the stories of his barbaric rapes can be interpreted as the male-dominated warrior tribes invading and defeating matrilineal societies.

Thanks very much for dropping by to read about Zeus the Thunderer, Lord of the Sky (and other names besides). You're more than welcome to leave a note in the guest book above and, if you're a member of Squidoo, you can also rate this lens :)

It's all much appreciated, Susanna

For more pages like this, my lens collection is at Susanna's Lensography

All text content, unless otherwise stated, is copyright. This content is an excerpt from a book written by Susanna Duffy, 1996. Any duplication of content is easily found. To avoid legal complications arising from copies of this text, any copied content must be attributed to Susanna Duffy. www.susannaduffy.com

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