Editing Zeus (section)

== Mythology ==
=== Birth ===
In [[Hesiod]]'s ''[[Theogony]]'' ({{circa|730}} – 700 BC), [[Cronus]], after castrating his father [[Uranus (mythology)|Uranus]],<ref>See Gantz, pp. 10&ndash;11; [[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1:139-172 159&ndash;83].</ref> becomes the supreme ruler of the cosmos, and weds his sister [[Rhea (mythology)|Rhea]], by whom he begets three daughters and three sons: [[Hestia]], [[Demeter]], [[Hera]], [[Hades]], [[Poseidon]], and lastly, "wise" Zeus, the youngest of the six.<ref>Hard 2004, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA67 p. 67]; Hansen, [https://archive.org/details/handbookofclassi0000hans/page/66/mode/2up?view=theater p. 67]; Tripp, [https://archive.org/details/crowellshandbook00trip/page/604/mode/2up?view=theater s.v. Zeus, p. 605]; Caldwell, [https://archive.org/details/hesiodstheogony00hesi/page/8/mode/2up?view=theater p. 9, table 12]; [[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1:453-491 453&ndash;8]. So too [[Bibliotheca (Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:1.1.5 1.1.5]; [[Diodorus Siculus]], [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/5D*.html#68.1 68.1].</ref> He swallows each child as soon as they are born, having received a prophecy from his parents, [[Gaia (mythology)|Gaia]] and Uranus, that one of his own children is destined to one day overthrow him as he overthrew his father.<ref>Gantz, p. 41; Hard 2004, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA67 p. 67&ndash;8]; Grimal, [https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofclas0000grim/page/466/mode/2up?view=theater s.v. Zeus, p. 467]; [[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1:453-491 459&ndash;67]. Compare with [[Bibliotheca (Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:1.1.5 1.1.5], who gives a similar account, and [[Diodorus Siculus]], [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/5D*.html#70.1 70.1&ndash;2], who does not mention Cronus's parents, but rather says that it was an oracle who gave the prophecy.</ref> This causes Rhea "unceasing grief",<ref>Cf. [[Bibliotheca (Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:1.1.6 1.1.6], who says that Rhea was "enraged".</ref> and upon becoming pregnant with her sixth child, Zeus, she approaches her parents, Gaia and Uranus, seeking a plan to save her child and bring retribution to Cronus.<ref>Hard 2004, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA68 p. 68]; Gantz, p. 41; Smith, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0104:entry=zeus-bio-1 s.v. Zeus]; [[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1:453-491 468&ndash;73].</ref> Following her parents' instructions, she travels to [[Lyctus]] in [[Crete]], where she gives birth to Zeus,<ref>Hard 2004, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA74 p. 74]; Gantz, p. 41; [[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1:453-491 474&ndash;9].</ref> handing the newborn child over to Gaia for her to raise, and Gaia takes him to a cave on Mount Aegaeon (Aegeum).<ref>Hard 2004, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA74 p. 74]; [[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1:453-491 479&ndash;84]. According to Hard 2004, the "otherwise unknown" Mount Aegaeon can "presumably ... be identified with one of the various mountains near Lyktos".</ref> Rhea then gives to Cronus, in the place of a child, a stone wrapped in swaddling clothes, which he promptly swallows, unaware that it is not his son.<ref>Hansen, [https://archive.org/details/handbookofclassi0000hans/page/66/mode/2up?view=theater p. 67]; Hard 2004, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA68 p. 68]; Smith, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0104:entry=zeus-bio-1 s.v. Zeus]; Gantz, p. 41; [[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1:453-491 485&ndash;91]. For iconographic representations of this scene, see [[Louvre]] [https://collections.louvre.fr/en/ark:/53355/cl010270223 G 366]; Clark, [https://books.google.com/books?id=2gtmbI-v35sC&pg=PA20 p. 20, figure 2.1] and [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]] [https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/247308 06.1021.144]; ''[[Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae|LIMC]]'' [http://ark.dasch.swiss/ark:/72163/080e-74814fdcbeca1-e 15641]; [[Beazley Archive]] [http://www.beazley.ox.ac.uk/record/D550FF52-B336-4E6F-80BF-822C069CCE23 214648]. According to [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.perseus-eng1:9.41.6 9.41.6], this event occurs at Petrachus, a "crag" nearby to [[Chaeronea]] (see West 1966, p. 301 on line 485).</ref>

While Hesiod gives Lyctus as Zeus's birthplace, he is the only source to do so,<ref>West 1966, p. 291 on lines 453–506; Hard 2004, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA75 p. 75].</ref> and other authors give different locations. The poet [[Eumelos of Corinth]] (8th century BC), according to [[John the Lydian]], considered Zeus to have been born in [[Lydia]],<ref>Fowler 2013, pp. [https://books.google.com/books?id=scd8AQAAQBAJ&pg=PA35 35], [https://books.google.com/books?id=scd8AQAAQBAJ&pg=PA50 50]; [[Eumelus of Corinth|Eumelus]] [https://archive.org/details/L497GreekEpicFragmentsVIIVcBC/page/n235/mode/2up?view=theater fr. 2 West, pp. 224, 225] [= [https://books.google.com/books?id=j0nRE4C2WBgC&pg=PA109 fr. 10 Fowler, p. 109] = ''PEG'' fr. 18 (Bernabé, p. 114) = [[John the Lydian|Lydus]], ''De Mensibus'' 4.71]. According to West 2003, [https://archive.org/details/L497GreekEpicFragmentsVIIVcBC/page/n235/mode/2up?view=theater p. 225 n. 3], in this version he was born "probably on [[Mount Sipylos|Mt. Sipylos]]".</ref> while the Alexandrian poet [[Callimachus]] ({{circa|310|240 BC}}), in his ''Hymn to Zeus'', says that he was born in [[Arcadia (region)|Arcadia]].<ref>Fowler 2013, [https://books.google.com/books?id=scd8AQAAQBAJ&pg=PA391 p. 391]; Grimal, [https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofclas0000grim/page/466/mode/2up?view=theater s.v. Zeus, p. 467]; [[Callimachus]], ''Hymn to Zeus'' (1) [https://archive.org/details/callimachuslycop00calluoft/page/36/mode/2up?view=theater 4&ndash;11 (pp. 36&ndash;9)].</ref> [[Diodorus Siculus]] (fl. 1st century BC) seems at one point to give [[Mount Ida]] as his birthplace, but later states he is born in [[Dikti|Dicte]],<ref>Fowler 2013, [https://books.google.com/books?id=scd8AQAAQBAJ&pg=PA391 p. 391]; [[Diodorus Siculus]], [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/5D*.html#70.2 70.2], [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/5D*.html#70.6 70.6].</ref> and the mythographer [[Bibliotheca (Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]] (first or second century AD) similarly says he was born in a cave in Dicte.<ref>[[Bibliotheca (Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:1.1.6 1.1.6].</ref> In the second century AD, Pausanias wrote that it would be impossible to count all the people claiming that Zeus was born or brought up among them.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Pausanias, Description of Greece, Messenia, chapter 33, section 1 |url=http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.perseus-eng1:4.33.1 |access-date=2025-03-18 |website=www.perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref>

{{chart top|Children of Cronus and Rhea<ref>[[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' 133&ndash;8, 453&ndash;8 (Most, pp. [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/hesiod-theogony/2018/pb_LCL057.13.xml 12, 13], [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/hesiod-theogony/2018/pb_LCL057.39.xml 38, 39]); Caldwell, [https://archive.org/details/hesiodstheogony00hesi/page/4/mode/2up?view=theater p. 4, table 2], [https://archive.org/details/hesiodstheogony00hesi/page/8/mode/2up?view=theater p. 9, table 12].</ref>}}
{{chart/start}}
{{chart}}
{{chart| | | | | | | | | | | URA |y| GAI |URA=[[Uranus (mythology)|Uranus]]|GAI=[[Gaia (mythology)|Gaia]]}}
{{chart| | | | | | | | | | | |,|-|^|-|.}}
{{chart| | | | | | | | | | | CRO |y| RHE |CRO=[[Cronus]]|RHE=[[Rhea (mythology)|Rhea]]}}
{{chart| | | |,|-|-|-|v|-|-|-|v|-|^|-|v|-|-|-|v|-|-|.}}
{{chart| | | HES | | DEM | | HER | | HAD | | POS | | ZEU |ZEU='''ZEUS'''|HER=[[Hera]]|POS=[[Poseidon]]|HAD=[[Hades]]|DEM=[[Demeter]]|HES=[[Hestia]]}}
{{chart/end}}
{{chart bottom}}

=== Infancy ===
[[File:Idäische Grotte 01.JPG|thumb|"[[Cave of Zeus]]", [[Mount Ida (Crete)|Mount Ida, Crete]]]]
While the ''Theogony'' says nothing of Zeus's upbringing other than that he grew up swiftly,<ref>Hard 2004, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA68 p. 68]; Gantz, p. 41; [[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1:492-506 492&ndash;3]: "the strength and glorious limbs of the prince increased quickly".</ref> other sources provide more detailed accounts. According to Apollodorus, Rhea, after giving birth to Zeus in a cave in Dicte, gives him to the nymphs [[Adrasteia]] and [[Ida (nurse of Zeus)|Ida]], daughters of [[Melisseus]], to nurse.<ref>West 1983, p. 122; [[Bibliotheca (Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:1.1.6 1.1.6].</ref> They feed him on the milk of the she-goat [[Amalthea (mythology)|Amalthea]],<ref>Hard 2004, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA612 p. 612 n. 53 to p. 75]; [[Bibliotheca (Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:1.1.7 1.1.7].</ref> while the [[Kouretes]] guard the cave and beat their spears on their shields so that [[Cronus]] cannot hear the infant's crying.<ref>Hansen, [https://archive.org/details/handbookofclassi0000hans/page/216/mode/2up?view=theater p. 216]; [[Bibliotheca (Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:1.1.7 1.1.7].</ref> Diodorus Siculus provides a similar account, saying that, after giving birth, Rhea travels to [[Mount Ida]] and gives the newborn Zeus to the Kouretes,<ref>[[Diodorus Siculus]], [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/5D*.html#70.2 7.70.2]; see also [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/5D*.html#65.4 7.65.4].</ref> who then takes him to some nymphs (not named), who raised him on a mixture of honey and milk from the goat Amalthea.<ref>[[Diodorus Siculus]], [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/5D*.html#70.2 7.70.2&ndash;3].</ref> He also refers to the Kouretes "rais[ing] a great alarum", and in doing so deceiving Cronus,<ref>[[Diodorus Siculus]], [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/5D*.html#65.4 7.65.4].</ref> and relates that when the Kouretes were carrying the newborn Zeus that the [[umbilical cord]] fell away at the river Triton.<ref>[[Diodorus Siculus]], [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/5D*.html#70.4 7.70.4].</ref>

Hyginus, the author of the ''[[Fabulae]]'', relates a version in which Cronus casts Poseidon into the sea and Hades to the Underworld instead of swallowing them. When Zeus is born, Hera (also not swallowed), asks Rhea to give her the young Zeus, and Rhea gives Cronus a stone to swallow.<ref>Gantz, p. 42; [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''[[Fabulae]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/206#139 139].</ref> Hera gives him to Amalthea, who hangs his cradle from a tree, where he is not in heaven, on earth or in the sea, meaning that when Cronus later goes looking for Zeus, he is unable to find him.<ref>Gantz, p. 42; Hard 2004, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA75 p. 75]; [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''[[Fabulae]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/206#139 139].</ref> Hyginus also says that [[Ida (nurse of Zeus)|Ida]], Althaea, and [[Adrasteia]], usually considered the children of [[Oceanus]], are sometimes called the daughters of Melisseus and the nurses of Zeus.<ref>Smith and Trzaskoma, [https://books.google.com/books?id=vczTNMWLGdoC&pg=PA191 p. 191 on line 182]; West 1983, p. 133 n. 40; [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''[[Fabulae]]'' 182 (Smith and Trzaskoma, [https://books.google.com/books?id=vczTNMWLGdoC&pg=PA158 p. 158]).</ref>

According to a fragment of Epimenides, the nymphs Helike and Kynosura are the young Zeus's nurses. Cronus travels to Crete to look for Zeus, who, to conceal his presence, transforms himself into a snake and his two nurses into bears.<ref>Hard 2004, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA75 p. 75&ndash;6]; Gantz, p. 42; [[Epimenides]] [https://archive.org/details/diefragmenteder02diel/page/192/mode/2up?view=theater fr. 23 Diels, p. 193] [= Scholia on [[Aratus]], 46]. Zeus later marks the event by placing the constellations of the Dragon, the Greater Bear and the Lesser Bear in the sky.</ref> According to [[Musaeus of Athens|Musaeus]], after Zeus is born, Rhea gives him to [[Themis]]. Themis in turn gives him to Amalthea, who owns a she-goat, which nurses the young Zeus.<ref>Gantz, p. 41; Gee, [https://books.google.com/books?id=NPsh5CsJprYC&pg=PA131 p. 131&ndash;2]; Frazer, [https://books.google.com/books?id=n6uUBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA120 p. 120]; [[Musaeus of Athens|Musaeus]] [https://archive.org/details/diefragmenteder02diel/page/180/mode/2up?view=theater fr. 8 Diels, pp. 181&ndash;2] [= [[Eratosthenes]], ''[[Catasterismi]]'' 13 (Hard 2015, [https://books.google.com/books?id=7IMSBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA44 p. 44]; Olivieri, [https://archive.org/details/mythographigrae00olivgoog/page/n39/mode/2up?view=theater p. 17])]; [[Musaeus of Athens|Musaeus]] ''apud'' [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''[[De astronomia]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/207#2.13.6 2.13.6]. According to Eratosthenes, Musaeus considers the she-goat to be a child of [[Helios]], and to be "so terrifying to behold" that the [[Titans]] ask for it to be hidden in one of the caves in Crete; hence Earth places it in the care of Amalthea, who nurses Zeus on its milk.</ref>

[[Antoninus Liberalis]], in his ''Metamorphoses'', says that Rhea gives birth to Zeus in a sacred cave in Crete, full of sacred bees, which become the nurses of the infant. While the cave is considered forbidden ground for both mortals and gods, a group of thieves seek to steal honey from it. Upon laying eyes on the swaddling clothes of Zeus, their bronze armour "split[s] away from their bodies", and Zeus would have killed them had it not been for the intervention of the [[Moirai]] and [[Themis]]; he instead transforms them into various species of birds.<ref>Hard 2004, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA75 p. 75]; [[Antoninus Liberalis]], [https://topostext.org/work/216#19 19].</ref>

=== Ascension to power ===

[[File:Zeus Getty Villa.jpg|thumb|1st century BC statue of Zeus<ref>[[J. Paul Getty Museum]] [https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/object/103QST 73.AA.32].</ref>]]

According to the ''Theogony'', after Zeus reaches manhood, Cronus is made to disgorge the five children and the stone "by the stratagems of Gaia, but also by the skills and strength of Zeus", presumably in reverse order, vomiting out the stone first, then each of the five children in the opposite order to swallowing.<ref>Gantz, p. 44; Hard 2004, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA68 p. 68]; [[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1:492-506 492&ndash;7].</ref> Zeus then sets up the stone at [[Delphi]], so that it may act as "a sign thenceforth and a marvel to mortal men".<ref>Hard 2004, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA68 p. 68]; [[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1:492-506 498&ndash;500].</ref> Zeus next frees the [[Cyclopes]], who, in return, and out of gratitude, give him his thunderbolt, which had previously been hidden by Gaia.<ref>Hard 2004, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA68 p. 68]; Gantz, p. 44; [[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1:492-506 501&ndash;6]. The Cyclopes presumably remained trapped below the earth since being put there by [[Uranus]] (Hard 2004, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA68 p. 68]).</ref> Then begins the [[Titanomachy]], the war between the Olympians, led by Zeus, and the Titans, led by Cronus, for control of the universe, with Zeus and the Olympians fighting from [[Mount Olympus]], and the Titans fighting from [[Mount Othrys]].<ref>Hard 2004, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA68 p. 68]; Gantz, p. 45; [[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1:617-653 630&ndash;4].</ref> The battle lasts for ten years with no clear victor emerging, until, upon Gaia's advice, Zeus releases the [[Hundred-Handers]], who (similarly to the Cyclopes) were imprisoned beneath the Earth's surface.<ref>Hard 2004, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA68 p. 68]; [[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1:617-653 624&ndash;9], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1:617-653 635&ndash;8]. As Gantz, p. 45 notes, the ''Theogony'' is ambiguous as to whether the Hundred-Handers were freed before the war or only during its tenth year.</ref> He gives them nectar and ambrosia and revives their spirits,<ref>[[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1:617-653 639&ndash;53].</ref> and they agree to aid him in the war.<ref>[[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1:654-686 654&ndash;63].</ref> Zeus then launches his final attack on the Titans, hurling bolts of lightning upon them while the Hundred-Handers attack with barrages of rocks, and the Titans are finally defeated, with Zeus banishing them to Tartarus and assigning the Hundred-Handers the task of acting as their warders.<ref>[[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1:687-728 687&ndash;735].</ref>

Apollodorus provides a similar account, saying that, when Zeus reaches adulthood, he enlists the help of the Oceanid [[Metis (mythology)|Metis]], who gives Cronus an [[emetic]], forcing to him to disgorge the stone and Zeus's five siblings.<ref>Hard 2004, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA69 p. 69]; Gantz, p. 44; [[Bibliotheca (Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:1.2.1 1.2.1].</ref> Zeus then fights a similar ten-year war against the Titans, until, upon the prophesying of Gaia, he releases the Cyclopes and Hundred-Handers from Tartarus, first slaying their warder, [[Campe]].<ref name="p. 69">Hard 2004, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA69 p. 69]; [[Bibliotheca (Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:1.2.1 1.2.1].</ref> The Cyclopes give him his thunderbolt, Poseidon his trident and Hades his helmet of invisibility, and the Titans are defeated and the Hundred-Handers made their guards.<ref name="p. 69"/>

According to the ''[[Iliad]]'', after the battle with the Titans, Zeus shares the world with his brothers, Poseidon and Hades, by drawing lots: Zeus receives the sky, Poseidon the sea, and Hades the underworld, with the earth and Olympus remaining common ground.<ref>Gantz, p. 48; Hard 2004, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA76 p. 76]; ''[[Brill's New Pauly]]'', [https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/brill-s-new-pauly/zeus-e12216820 s.v. Zeus]; [[Homer]], ''[[Iliad]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-eng1:15.184-15.219 15.187&ndash;193]; so too [[Bibliotheca (Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:1.2.1 1.2.1]; cf. ''[[Homeric Hymn]] to Demeter'' (2), [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0013.tlg002.perseus-eng1:2 85&ndash;6].</ref>

=== Challenges to power ===

[[File:Zeus contra Poryphion Pergamonaltar.JPG|thumb|upright=1.5|Zeus (centre-left) battles against Porphyrion (far-right), detail of the Gigantomachy frieze from the [[Pergamon Altar]], [[Pergamon Museum]], [[Berlin]].]]

Upon assuming his place as king of the cosmos, Zeus's rule is quickly challenged. The first of these challenges to his power comes from the [[Giants (Greek mythology)|Giants]], who fight the Olympian gods in a battle known as the Gigantomachy. According to Hesiod, the Giants are the offspring of Gaia, born from the drops of blood that fell on the ground when Cronus castrated his father Uranus;<ref>Hard 2004, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA86 p. 86]; [[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1:173-206 183&ndash;7].</ref> there is, however, no mention of a battle between the gods and the Giants in the ''Theogony''.<ref>Hard 2004, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA86 p. 86]; Gantz, p. 446.</ref> It is Apollodorus who provides the most complete account of the Gigantomachy. He says that Gaia, out of anger at how Zeus had imprisoned her children, the Titans, bore the Giants to Uranus.<ref>Gantz, p. 449; Hard 2004, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA90 p. 90]; [[Bibliotheca (Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:1.6.1 1.6.1].</ref> There comes to the gods a prophecy that the Giants cannot be defeated by the gods on their own, but can be defeated only with the help of a mortal; Gaia, upon hearing of this, seeks a special ''pharmakon'' (herb) that will prevent the Giants from being killed. Zeus, however, orders [[Eos]] (Dawn), [[Selene]] (Moon) and [[Helios]] (Sun) to stop shining, and harvests all of the herb himself, before having [[Athena]] summon [[Heracles]].<ref>Hard 2004, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA89 p. 89]; Gantz, p. 449; [[Bibliotheca (Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:1.6.1 1.6.1].</ref> In the conflict, [[Porphyrion]], one of the most powerful of the Giants, launches an attack upon Heracles and Hera; Zeus, however, causes Porphyrion to become lustful for Hera, and when he is just about to violate her, Zeus strikes him with his thunderbolt, before Heracles deals the fatal blow with an arrow.<ref>Hard 2004, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA89 p. 89]; Gantz, p. 449; Salowey, p. 236; [[Bibliotheca (Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:1.6.2 1.6.2]. Compare with [[Pindar]], ''Pythian'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0033.tlg002.perseus-eng1:8 8.12&ndash;8], who instead says that Porphyrion is killed by an arrow from [[Apollo]].</ref>

In the ''Theogony'', after Zeus defeats the Titans and banishes them to Tartarus, his rule is challenged by the monster [[Typhon]], a giant serpentine creature who battles Zeus for control of the cosmos. According to Hesiod, Typhon is the offspring of Gaia and [[Tartarus]],<ref>Ogden, [https://books.google.com/books?id=FQ2pAK9luwkC&pg=PA72 pp. 72&ndash;3]; Gantz, p. 48; Fontenrose, [https://books.google.com/books?id=wqeVv09Y6hIC&pg=PA71 p. 71]; Fowler, p. 27; [[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1:820-852 820&ndash;2]. According to Ogden, Gaia "produced him in revenge against Zeus for his destruction of ... the Titans". Contrastingly, according to the ''[[Homeric Hymns|Homeric Hymn to Apollo]]'' (3), [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0013.tlg003.perseus-eng1:305-348 305&ndash;55], Hera is the mother of Typhon without a father: angry at Zeus for birthing Athena by himself, she strikes the ground with her hand, praying to Gaia, Uranus, and the Titans to give her a child more powerful than Zeus, and receiving her wish, she bears the monster Typhon (Fontenrose, [https://books.google.com/books?id=wqeVv09Y6hIC&pg=PA72 p. 72]; Gantz, p. 49; Hard 2004, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA84 p. 84]); cf. [[Stesichorus]] [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/stesichorus_i-fragments/1991/pb_LCL476.167.xml fr. 239 Campbell, pp. 166, 167] [= ''[[Poetae Melici Graeci|PMG]]'' 239 (Page, p. 125) = ''[[Etymologicum Magnum]]'' 772.49] (see Gantz, p. 49).</ref> described as having a hundred snaky fire-breathing heads.<ref>Gantz, p. 49; [[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1:820-852 824&ndash;8].</ref> Hesiod says he "would have come to reign over mortals and immortals" had it not been for Zeus noticing the monster and dispatching with him quickly:<ref>Fontenrose, [https://books.google.com/books?id=wqeVv09Y6hIC&pg=PA71 p. 71]; [[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1:820-852 836&ndash;8].</ref> the two of them meet in a cataclysmic battle, before Zeus defeats him easily with his thunderbolt, and the creature is hurled down to Tartarus.<ref>[[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1:820-852 839&ndash;68]. According to Fowler, [https://books.google.com/books?id=scd8AQAAQBAJ&pg=PA27 p. 27], the monster's easy defeat at the hands of Zeus is "in keeping with Hesiod's pervasive glorification of Zeus".</ref> [[Epimenides]] presents a different version, in which Typhon makes his way into Zeus's palace while he is sleeping, only for Zeus to wake and kill the monster with a thunderbolt.<ref>Ogden, [https://books.google.com/books?id=FQ2pAK9luwkC&pg=PA74 p. 74]; Gantz, p. 49; [[Epimenides]] [https://books.google.com/books?id=j0nRE4C2WBgC&pg=PA97 fr. 10 Fowler, p. 97] [= [https://archive.org/details/diefragmenteder02diel/page/190/mode/2up?view=theater fr. 8 Diels, p. 191] = ''[[FGrHist]]'' 457 F8].</ref> [[Aeschylus]] and [[Pindar]] give somewhat similar accounts to Hesiod, in that Zeus overcomes Typhon with relative ease, defeating him with his thunderbolt.<ref>Fontenrose, [https://books.google.com/books?id=wqeVv09Y6hIC&pg=PA73 p. 73]; [[Aeschylus]], ''[[Prometheus Bound]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0085.tlg003.perseus-eng1:343-378 356&ndash;64]; [[Pindar]], ''Olympian'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0033.tlg002.perseus-eng1:8 8.16&ndash;7]; for a discussion of Aeschylus's and Pindar's accounts, see Gantz, p. 49.</ref> Apollodorus, in contrast, provides a more complex narrative.<ref>[[Bibliotheca (Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:1.6.3 1.6.3].</ref> Typhon is, similarly to in Hesiod, the child of Gaia and Tartarus, produced out of anger at Zeus's defeat of the Giants.<ref>Gantz, p. 50; Fontenrose, [https://books.google.com/books?id=wqeVv09Y6hIC&pg=PA73 p. 73].</ref> The monster attacks heaven, and all of the gods, out of fear, transform into animals and flee to Egypt, except for Zeus, who attacks the monster with his thunderbolt and sickle.<ref>Hard 2004, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA84 p. 84]; Fontenrose, [https://books.google.com/books?id=wqeVv09Y6hIC&pg=PA73 p. 73]; Gantz, p. 50.</ref> Typhon is wounded and retreats to Mount Kasios in Syria, where Zeus grapples with him, giving the monster a chance to wrap him in his coils, and rip out the sinews from his hands and feet.<ref>Hard 2004, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA84 p. 84]; Fontenrose, [https://books.google.com/books?id=wqeVv09Y6hIC&pg=PA73 p. 73].</ref> Disabled, Zeus is taken by Typhon to the [[Corycian Cave]] in Cilicia, where he is guarded by the "she-dragon" [[Delphyne]].<ref>Fontenrose, [https://books.google.com/books?id=wqeVv09Y6hIC&pg=PA73 p. 73]; Ogden, [https://books.google.com/books?id=FQ2pAK9luwkC&pg=PA42 p. 42]; Hard 2004, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA84 p. 84].</ref> [[Hermes]] and [[Aegipan]], however, steal back Zeus's sinews, and refit them, reviving him and allowing him to return to the battle, pursuing Typhon, who flees to Mount Nysa; there, Typhon is given "ephemeral fruits" by the [[Moirai]], which reduce his strength.<ref>Hard 2004, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA84 p. 84&ndash;5]; Fontenrose, [https://books.google.com/books?id=wqeVv09Y6hIC&pg=PA73 p. 73&ndash;4].</ref> The monster then flees to Thrace, where he hurls mountains at Zeus, which are sent back at him by the god's thunderbolts, before, while fleeing to [[Sicily]], Zeus launches [[Mount Etna]] upon him, finally ending him.<ref>Hard 2004, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA85 p. 85].</ref> [[Nonnus]], who gives the longest and most detailed account, presents a narrative similar to Apollodorus, with differences such as that it is instead [[Cadmus]] and [[Pan (god)|Pan]] who recovers Zeus's sinews, by luring Typhon with music and then tricking him.<ref>Ogden, [https://books.google.com/books?id=FQ2pAK9luwkC&pg=PA74 p. 74&ndash;5]; Fontenrose, [https://books.google.com/books?id=wqeVv09Y6hIC&pg=PA74 pp. 74&ndash;5]; Lane Fox, [https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780679763864/page/287/mode/2up?view=theater p. 287]; Gantz, p. 50.</ref>

In the ''Iliad'', Homer tells of another attempted overthrow, in which Hera, Poseidon, and Athena conspire to overpower Zeus and tie him in bonds. It is only because of the Nereid [[Thetis]], who summons Briareus, one of the [[Hecatoncheires]], to Olympus, that the other Olympians abandon their plans (out of fear for Briareus).<ref>Gantz, p. 59; Hard 2004, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA82 p. 82]; [[Homer]], ''[[Iliad]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-eng1:1.386-1.427 1.395&ndash;410].</ref>

=== Partners before Hera ===
[[File:Jupiter, vermomd als herder, verleidt Mnemosyne, godin van het geheugen Rijksmuseum SK-A-3886.jpeg|right|thumb|''Jupiter, disguised as a shepherd, tempts Mnemosyne'' by [[Jacob de Wit]] (1727)]]
According to Hesiod, Zeus takes [[Metis (mythology)|Metis]], one of the [[Oceanid]] daughters of [[Oceanus]] and [[Tethys (mythology)|Tethys]], as his first wife. However, when she is about to give birth to a daughter, [[Athena]], he swallows her whole upon the advice of Gaia and Uranus, as it had been foretold that after bearing a daughter, she would give birth to a son, who would overthrow him as king of gods and mortals; it is from this position that Metis gives counsel to Zeus. In time, Athena is born, emerging from Zeus's head, but the foretold son never comes forth.<ref>Gantz, p. 51; Hard 2004, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA77 p. 77]; [[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1:886-900 886&ndash;900]. Yasumura, [https://books.google.com/books?id=7cXUAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA90 p. 90] points out that the identity of the foretold son's father is not made clear by Hesiod, and suggests, drawing upon a version given by a scholiast on the ''Iliad'' (see below), that a possible interpretation would be that the Cyclops Brontes was the father.</ref> Apollodorus presents a similar version, stating that Metis took many forms in attempting to avoid Zeus's embraces, and that it was Gaia alone who warned Zeus of the son who would overthrow him.<ref>Smith, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0104:entry=metis-bio-1 s.v. Metis]; [[Bibliotheca (Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:1.3.6 1.3.6].</ref> According to a fragment likely from the Hesiodic corpus,<ref>Potentially from the ''[[Melampodia]]'' (Hard 2004, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA77 p. 77]).</ref> quoted by Chrysippus, it is out of anger at Hera for producing [[Hephaestus]] on her own that Zeus has intercourse with Metis, and then swallows her, thereby giving rise to Athena from himself.<ref>Gantz, p. 51; Hard 2004, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA77 p. 77]; [[Hesiod]] [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/hesiod-other_fragments/2018/pb_LCL503.391.xml fr. 294 Most, pp. 390&ndash;3] [= fr. 343 Merkelbach-West, p. 171 = [[Chrysippus]] [https://archive.org/details/stoicorumveterum02arniuoft/page/256/mode/2up?view=theater fr. 908 Arnim, p. 257] = [[Galen]], ''On the Doctrines of Hippocrates and Plato'' [https://archive.org/details/ondoctrinesofhip0000gale/page/226/mode/2up?view=theater 3.8.11&ndash;4 (p. 226)]].</ref> A scholiast on the ''[[Iliad]]'', in contrast, states that when Zeus swallows her, Metis is pregnant with Athena not by Zeus himself, but by the Cyclops Brontes.<ref>Gantz, p. 51; Yasumura, [https://books.google.com/books?id=7cXUAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA89 p. 89]; Scholia bT on [[Homer]]'s ''[[Iliad]]'', 8.39 (Yasumura, [https://books.google.com/books?id=7cXUAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA89 p. 89]).</ref> The motif of Zeus swallowing Metis can be seen as a continuation of the succession myth: it is prophesied that a son of Zeus will overthrow him, just as he overthrew his father, but whereas Cronos met his end because he did not swallow the real Zeus, Zeus holds onto his power because he successfully swallows the threat, in the form of the potential mother, and so the "cycle of displacement" is brought to an end.<ref>Hard 2004, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA77 p. 77]. Compare with Gantz, p. 51, who sees the myth as a conflation of three separate elements: one in which Athena is born from Zeus's head, one in which Zeus consumes Metis so as to obtain her wisdom, and one in which he swallows her so as to avoid the threat of the prophesied son.</ref> In addition, the myth can be seen as an allegory for Zeus gaining the wisdom of Metis for himself by swallowing her.<ref>Hard 2004, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA77 p. 77&ndash;8]; see also Yasumura, [https://books.google.com/books?id=7cXUAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA90 p. 90].</ref>

In Hesiod's account, Zeus's second wife is [[Themis]], one of the Titan daughters of Uranus and Gaia, with whom he has the [[Horae]], listed as [[Eunomia]], [[Dike (mythology)|Dike]] and [[Eirene (goddess)|Eirene]], and the three [[Moirai]]: [[Clotho]], [[Lachesis (mythology)|Lachesis]] and [[Atropos]].<ref>Gantz, p. 51; Hard 2004, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA78 p. 78]; [[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1:901-937 901&ndash;6]. Earlier, at [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1:207-239 217], Hesiod instead calls the Moirai daughters of Nyx.</ref> A fragment from [[Pindar]] calls Themis Zeus's first wife, and states that she is brought by the Moirai (in this version not her daughters) up to Olympus, where she becomes the bride of Zeus and bears him the Horae.<ref>Gantz, p. 52; Hard 2004, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA78 p. 78]; [[Pindar]] [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/pindar-fragments/1997/pb_LCL485.237.xml fr. 30 Race, pp. 236, 237] [= [[Clement of Alexandria]], ''[[Stromata]]'' 5.14.137.1].</ref> According to Hesiod, Zeus lies next with the Oceanid [[Eurynome (Oceanid)|Eurynome]], by whom he becomes the father of the three [[Charites]]: [[Aglaia (Grace)|Aglaea]], [[Euphrosyne]] and [[Thalia (Grace)|Thalia]].<ref>Gantz, p. 54; Hard 2004, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA78 p. 78]; [[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1:901-937 907&ndash;11].</ref> Zeus then partners with his sister [[Demeter]], producing [[Persephone]].<ref>Hard 2004, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA78 p. 78]; Hansen, [https://archive.org/details/handbookofclassi0000hans/page/68/mode/2up?view=theater p. 68]; [[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1:901-937 912&ndash;4].</ref> Zeus's next union is with the Titan [[Mnemosyne]]; as described at the beginning of the ''Theogony'', Zeus lies with Mnemosyne in [[Pieria (regional unit)|Piera]] each night for nine nights, producing the nine Muses.<ref>Gantz, p. 54; [[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1:53-62 53&ndash;62], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1:901-937 915&ndash;7].</ref> His next partner is the Titan [[Leto]], by whom he fathers the twins [[Apollo]] and [[Artemis]], who, according to the ''[[Homeric Hymn]] to Apollo'', are born on the island of [[Delos]].<ref>Hard 2004, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA78 p. 78]; [[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1:901-937 918&ndash;20]; ''[[Homeric Hymn]] to [[Apollo]]'' (3), [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0013.tlg003.perseus-eng1:89-130 89&ndash;123]. The account given by the ''Homeric Hymn to Apollo'' differs from Hesiod's version in that Zeus and Hera are already married when Apollo and Artemis are born (Pirenne-Delforge and Pironti, p. 18).</ref> In Hesiod's account, only then does Zeus take his sister [[Hera]] as his wife.<ref>[[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1:901-937 921].</ref>

{{chart top|Children of Zeus and his partners before Hera<ref>[[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' 886&ndash;920 (Most, [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/hesiod-theogony/2018/pb_LCL057.75.xml pp. 74&ndash;77]); Caldwell, [https://archive.org/details/hesiodstheogony00hesi/page/10/mode/2up?view=theater p. 11, table 14].</ref>}}
{{chart/start}}
{{chart}}
{{chart|ZEU|7|ZEU='''ZEUS'''}}
{{chart| | | |D|~|~|y|~|~|~|MET|MET=[[Metis (mythology)|Metis]]<ref name="www.loebclassics.com">One of the [[Oceanid]] daughters of [[Oceanus]] and [[Tethys (mythology)|Tethys]], at [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/hesiod-theogony/2018/pb_LCL057.31.xml 358].</ref>}}
{{chart| | | |:| |ATH|ATH=[[Athena]]<ref>Of Zeus's children by his partners before Hera, Athena was the first to be conceived ([https://www.loebclassics.com/view/hesiod-theogony/2018/pb_LCL057.75.xml 889]), but the last to be born. Zeus impregnated Metis then swallowed her, later Zeus himself gave birth to Athena "from his head" ([https://www.loebclassics.com/view/hesiod-theogony/2018/pb_LCL057.77.xml 924]).</ref>}}
{{chart| | | |D|~|~|~|y|~|~|THE|THE=[[Themis]]}}
{{chart| | | |:| | |,|^|-|-|v|-|-|-|v|-|-|-|-|v|-|-|-|v|-|-|-|.}}
{{chart| | | |:| |EUN| |DIK | |EIR | | |CLO | |LAC | |ATR | |EUN=[[Eunomia (goddess)|Eunomia]]|DIK=[[Dike (mythology)|Dike]]|EIR=[[Eirene (goddess)|Eirene]]|CLO=[[Clotho]]|LAC=[[Lachesis (mythology)|Lachesis]]|ATR=[[Atropos]]}}
{{chart|border=0| | | |:|L|~|~|~|~|HOR |~|~|~|~|J|L|~|~|~|~|MOI|~|~|~|~|J|HOR=<small>The [[Horae]]</small>|MOI=<small>The [[Moirai]]</small><ref>At [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/hesiod-theogony/2018/pb_LCL057.21.xml 217] the Moirai are the daughters of Nyx.</ref>}}
{{chart| | | |:}}
{{chart| | | |D|~|~|~|y|~|~|EUR | | | | | |F|~|~|y|DEM |EUR=[[Eurynome (Oceanid)|Eurynome]]<ref name="www.loebclassics.com">One of the [[Oceanid]] daughters of [[Oceanus]] and [[Tethys (mythology)|Tethys]], at [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/hesiod-theogony/2018/pb_LCL057.31.xml 358].</ref>|DEM=[[Demeter]]}}
{{chart| | | |:| | |,|^|-|-|v|-|-|-|.| | | |:| | |!|}}
{{chart| | | |:| |AGL| |EUP | |THA | | |:| |PER|AGL=[[Aglaia (Grace)|Aglaea]]|EUP=[[Euphrosyne (mythology)|Euphrosyne]]|THA=[[Thalia (Grace)|Thalia]]|PER=[[Persephone]]}}
{{chart|border=0| | | |:|L|~|~|~|~|CHA |~|~|~|~|J| |:|CHA=<small>The [[Charites]]</small>}}
{{chart| | | |D|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|J}}
{{chart| | | |D|~|~|~|y|~|~|MNE|MNE=[[Mnemosyne]]}}
{{chart| | | |:| | |,|^|v|-|v|-|v|-|v|-|v|-|v|-|v|-|.}}
{{chart| | | |:| |CLI|!|THA |!|TER |!|POL |!|CAL |CLI=[[Clio]]|THA=[[Thalia (Muse)|Thaleia]]|TER=[[Terpsichore]]|POL=[[Polyhymnia]]|CAL=[[Calliope]]}}
{{chart| | | |:| | | | |!| | | |!| | | |!| | | |!}}
{{chart| | | |:| | | |EUT| |MEL| |ERA | |URA |EUT=[[Euterpe]]|MEL=[[Melpomene]]|ERA=[[Erato]]|URA=[[Urania]]|}}
{{chart|border=0| | | |:|L|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|MUS |~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|J|MUS=<small>The [[Muses]]</small>}}
{{chart| | | |:}}
{{chart| | | |L|~|~|~|y|~|~|LET |LET=[[Leto]]}}
{{chart| | | | | | |,|^|-|-|.|}}
{{chart| | | | | |APO | |ART |APO=[[Apollo]]|ART=[[Artemis]]}}
{{chart/end}}
{{chart bottom}}

=== Marriage to Hera ===
[[File:Wall painting - wedding of Zeus and Hera - Pompeii (VI 8 3) - Napoli MAN 9559 - 01.jpg|thumb|Wedding of Zeus and Hera on an antique fresco from [[Pompeii]]]]

While Hera is Zeus's last wife in Hesiod's version, in other accounts she is his first and only wife.<ref>Hard 2004, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA78 p. 78].</ref> In the ''Theogony'', the couple has three children, [[Ares]], [[Hebe (mythology)|Hebe]], and [[Eileithyia]].<ref>Hard 2004, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA79 p. 79]; [[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1:901-937 921&ndash;3]; so too [[Bibliotheca (Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:1.3.1 1.3.1]. In the ''Iliad'', [[Eris (mythology)|Eris]] is called the sister of Ares ([http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-eng1:4.401-4.445 4.440&ndash;1]), and Parada, s.v. Eris, p. 72 places her as a daughter of Zeus and Hera.</ref> While Hesiod states that Hera produces Hephaestus on her own after Athena is born from Zeus's head,<ref>Hard 2004, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA79 p. 79]; Gantz, p. 74; [[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1:901-937 924&ndash;9]; so too [[Bibliotheca (Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:1.3.5 1.3.5].</ref> other versions, including Homer, have Hephaestus as a child of Zeus and Hera as well.<ref>Hard 2004, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA79 p. 79]; Gantz, p. 74; [[Homer]], ''[[Iliad]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-eng1:1.568 1.577&ndash;9], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-eng1:14.270-14.311 14.293&ndash;6], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-eng1:14.312-14.351 14.338], ''[[Odyssey]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg002.perseus-eng1:8.295-8.342 8.312]; Scholia bT on [[Homer]]'s ''[[Iliad]]'', 14.296; see also [[Bibliotheca (Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:1.3.5 1.3.5].</ref>

Various authors give descriptions of a youthful affair between Zeus and Hera. In the ''Iliad'', the pair are described as having first lay with each other before Cronus is sent to Tartarus, without the knowledge of their parents.<ref>Gantz, p. 57; Pirenne-Delforge and Pironti, p. 24; Hard 2004, pp. [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA78 78], [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA78 136]; [[Homer]], ''[[Iliad]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-eng1:14.270-14.311 14.293&ndash;6]. Gantz points out that, if in this version Cronus swallows his children as he does in the ''Theogony'', the pair could not sleep with each other without their father's knowledge before Zeus overthrows Cronus, and so suggests that Homer may have possibly been following a version of the story in which only Cronus's sons are swallowed.</ref> A scholiast on the ''Iliad'' states that, after Cronus is banished to Tartarus, [[Oceanus]] and [[Tethys (mythology)|Tethys]] give Hera to Zeus in marriage, and only shortly after the two are wed, Hera gives birth to [[Hephaestus]], having lay secretly with Zeus on the island of [[Samos]] beforehand; to conceal this act, she claimed that she had produced Hephaestus on her own.<ref>Gantz, p. 57; Scholia bT on [[Homer]]'s ''[[Iliad]]'', 14.296. Cf. Scholia A on [[Homer]]'s ''[[Iliad]]'', [https://archive.org/details/scholiagraecainh01homeuoft/page/68/mode/2up?view=theater 1.609 (Dindorf 1875a, p. 69)]; see Pirenne-Delforge and Pironti, p. 20; Hard 2004, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA136 p. 136].</ref> According to another scholiast on the ''Iliad'', [[Callimachus]], in his ''[[Aetia (Callimachus)|Aetia]]'', says that Zeus lay with Hera for three hundred years on the island of Samos.<ref>Hard 2004, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA136 p. 136]; [[Callimachus]], [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/callimachus-aetia/2022/pb_LCL421.153.xml fr. 48 Harder, pp. 152, 153] [= Scholia A on [[Homer]]'s ''[[Iliad]]'', [https://archive.org/details/scholiagraecainh01homeuoft/page/68/mode/2up?view=theater 1.609 (Dindorf 1875a, p. 69)]]; see also Pirenne-Delforge and Pironti, p. 20.</ref>

According to a scholion on [[Theocritus]]' ''Idylls'', Zeus, one day seeing Hera walking apart from the other gods, becomes intent on having intercourse with her, and transforms himself into a cuckoo bird, landing on Mount Thornax. He creates a terrible storm, and when Hera arrives at the mountain and sees the bird, which sits on her lap, she takes pity on it, laying her cloak over it. Zeus then transforms back and takes hold of her; when she refuses to have intercourse with him because of their mother, he promises that she will become his wife.<ref>Hard 2004, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA137 p. 137]; Scholia on [[Theocritus]], [https://archive.org/details/scholiaintheocr00wendgoog/page/310/mode/2up 15.64 (Wendel, pp. 311&ndash;2)] [= ''[[FGrHist]]'' 33 F3]; Gantz, p. 58. The scholiast attributes the story to the work ''On the Cults of Hermione'', by an Aristocles.</ref> [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] similarly refers to Zeus transforming himself into a cuckoo to woo Hera, and identifies the location as Mount Thornax.<ref>''[[Brill's New Jacoby|BNJ]]'', [https://scholarlyeditions.brill.com/reader/urn:cts:greekLit:fgrh.0033.bnjo-2-comm3-eng:f3 commentary on 33 F3]{{Dead link|date=August 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}; [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.perseus-eng1:2.17.4 2.17.4], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.perseus-eng1:2.36.1 2.36.1].</ref>

According to a version from [[Plutarch]], as recorded by [[Eusebius]] in his ''[[Praeparatio evangelica]]'', Hera is raised by a nymph named Macris<ref>According to Sandbach, Macris is another name for [[Euboea (mythology)|Euboea]], who [[Plutarch]] calls Hera's nurse at ''[[Moralia]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/plutarch-moralia_table_talk/1961/pb_LCL424.269.xml 657 E (pp. 268&ndash;71)] (Sandbach, [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/plutarch-moralia_fragments_other_named_works_lives/1969/pb_LCL429.289.xml p. 289, note b to fr. 157]).</ref> on the island of [[Euboea]] when Zeus kidnaps her, taking her to Mount [[Cithaeron]], where they find a shady hollow, which serves as a "natural bridal chamber". When Macris comes to look for Hera, Cithaeron, the [[tutelary deity]] of the mountain, stops her, saying that Zeus is sleeping there with Leto.<ref>Hard 2004, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA137 p. 137]; [[Plutarch]] [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/plutarch-moralia_fragments_other_named_works_lives/1969/pb_LCL429.287.xml fr. 157 Sandbach, pp. 286&ndash;9] [= ''[[FGrHist]]'' 388 F1 = [[Eusebius]], ''[[Praeparatio evangelica]]'' 3.1.3 ([https://archive.org/details/evangelicaepraep01euse/page/112/mode/2up?view=theater Gifford 1903a, pp. 112&ndash;3]; [https://archive.org/details/eusebius-preparation-for-the-gospel-full-work-gifford-1903-trans/page/91/mode/2up?view=theater Gifford 1903b, p. 92])].</ref> [[Photius]], in his ''[[Bibliotheca (Photius)|Bibliotheca]]'', tells us that in [[Ptolemaeus Chennus|Ptolemy Hephaestion]]'s ''New History'', Hera refuses to lay with Zeus, and hides in a cave to avoid him, before an earthborn man named Achilles convinces her to marry Zeus, leading to the pair first sleeping with each other.<ref>[[Ptolemaeus Chennus|Ptolemy Hephaestion]] ''apud'' [[Photius]], ''[[Bibliotheca (Photius)|Bibliotheca]]'' 190.47 (Harry, pp. 68&ndash;9; [https://topostext.org/work/237#190.47 English translation]).</ref> According to [[Stephanus of Byzantium]], Zeus and Hera first lay together at the city of [[Hermione (Argolis)|Hermione]], having come there from Crete.<ref>[[Stephanus of Byzantium]] [https://archive.org/details/STEPHANUSVONBYZANZMargaretheBillerbeckChristianZublerSTEPHANIBYZANTIIENICAIIpdf/page/159/mode/2up?view=theater s.v. ''Hermion'' (II pp. 160, 161)].</ref> Callimachus, in a fragment from his ''Aetia'', also apparently makes reference to the couple's union occurring at [[Naxos]].<ref>Hard 2004, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA136 pp. 136&ndash;7]; [[Callimachus]] [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/callimachus-aetia/2022/pb_LCL421.209.xml fr. 75 Clayman, pp. 208&ndash;17] [= ''[[Oxyrhynchus papyri|P. Oxy.]]'' [https://archive.org/details/pt7oxyrhynchuspa00grenuoft/page/24/mode/2up?view=theater 1011 fr. 1 (Grenfell and Hunt, pp. 24&ndash;6)]]. Callimachus seems to refer to some form of liaison between Zeus and Hera while describing a Naxian premarital ritual; see Hard 2004, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA136 pp. 136&ndash;7]; Gantz, p. 58. Cf. Scholia on [[Homer]]'s ''[[Iliad]]'', 14.296; for a discussion on the relation between the Callimachus fragment and the passage from the scholion, see Sistakou, p. 377.</ref>

Though no complete account of Zeus and Hera's wedding exists, various authors make reference to it. According to a scholiast on [[Apollonius of Rhodes]]' ''[[Argonautica]]'', [[Pherecydes of Athens|Pherecydes]] states that when Zeus and Hera are being married, [[Gaia]] brings a tree which produces golden apples as a wedding gift.<ref>Gantz, p. 58; ''[[FGrHist]]'' 3 F16a [= Scholia on [[Apollonius of Rhodes]]' ''[[Argonautica]]'' [https://books.google.com/books?id=0lkhbarJcukC&pg=PA315 4.1396&ndash;9b (Wendel, pp. 315&ndash;6)]]; ''[[FGrHist]]'' 3 F16b [= Scholia on [[Apollonius of Rhodes]]' ''[[Argonautica]]'' [https://books.google.com/books?id=0lkhbarJcukC&pg=PA317 2.992 (Wendel, p. 317)]].</ref> [[Eratosthenes]] and Hyginus attribute a similar story to Pherecydes, in which Hera is amazed by the gift, and asks for the apples to be planted in the "garden of the gods", nearby to [[Mount Atlas]].<ref>Fowler 2013, [https://books.google.com/books?id=scd8AQAAQBAJ&pg=PA292 p. 292]; [[Eratosthenes]], ''[[Catasterismi]]'' 3 (Hard 2015, [https://books.google.com/books?id=7IMSBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA12 p. 12]; Olivieri, [https://archive.org/details/mythographigrae00olivgoog/page/3/mode/2up?view=theater pp. 3&ndash;4]) [= [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''[[De astronomia]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/207#2.3.1 2.3.1] = ''[[FGrHist]]'' 3 F16c].</ref> [[Bibliotheca (Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]] specifies them as the golden apples of the [[Hesperides]], and says that Gaia gives them to Zeus after the marriage.<ref>[[Bibliotheca (Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:2.5.11 2.5.11].</ref> According to [[Diodorus Siculus]], the location of the marriage is in the land of the [[Knossos|Knossians]], nearby to the river Theren,<ref>Hard 2004, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA136 p. 136]; [[Diodorus Siculus]], [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/5D*.html#72.4 5.72.4].</ref> while [[Lactantius]] attributes to [[Varro]] the statement that the couple are married on the island of Samos.<ref>[[Varro]] ''apud'' [[Lactantius]], ''[[Divine Institutes]]'' [https://archive.org/details/lactantiusdivine0000lact/page/98/mode/2up?view=theater 1.17.1 (p. 98)].</ref>

There exist several stories in which Zeus, receiving advice, is able to reconcile with an angered Hera. According to Pausanias, Hera, angry with her husband, retreats to the island of Euboea, where she was raised, and Zeus, unable to resolve the situation, seeks the advice of Cithaeron, ruler of [[Plataea]], supposedly the most intelligent man on earth. Cithaeron instructs him to fashion a wooden statue and dress it as a bride, and then pretend that he is marrying one "Plataea", a daughter of [[Asopus]]. When Hera hears of this, she immediately rushes there, only to discover the ruse upon ripping away the bridal clothing; she is so relieved that the couple are reconciled.<ref>Hard 2004, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA137 p. 137&ndash;8]; Pirenne-Delforge and Pironti, p. 99; [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.perseus-eng1:2.36.1 9.3.1&ndash;2].</ref> According to a version from Plutarch, as recorded by Eusebius in his ''Praeparatio evangelica'', when Hera is angry with her husband, she retreats instead to Cithaeron, and Zeus goes to the earth-born man Alalcomeneus, who suggests he pretend to marry someone else. With the help of Alalcomeneus, Zeus creates a wooden statue from an oak tree, dresses it as a bride, and names it Daidale. When preparations are being made for the wedding, Hera rushes down from Cithaeron, followed by the women of [[Plataia]], and upon discovering the trick, the couple are reconciled, with the matter ending in joy and laughter among all involved.<ref>[[Plutarch]] [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/plutarch-moralia_fragments_other_named_works_lives/1969/pb_LCL429.293.xml fr. 157 Sandbach, pp. 292, 293] [= ''[[FGrHist]]'' 388 F1 = [[Eusebius]], ''[[Praeparatio evangelica]]'' 3.1.6 ([https://archive.org/details/evangelicaepraep01euse/page/114/mode/2up?view=theater Gifford 1903a, pp. 114&ndash;5]; [https://archive.org/details/eusebius-preparation-for-the-gospel-full-work-gifford-1903-trans/page/93/mode/2up?view=theater Gifford 1903b, p. 93])].</ref>

{{chart top|Children of Zeus and Hera<ref>[[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' 921&ndash;9 (Most, [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/hesiod-theogony/2018/pb_LCL057.75.xml pp. 76, 77]); Caldwell, [https://archive.org/details/hesiodstheogony00hesi/page/12/mode/2up?view=theater p. 12, table 14].</ref>|}}
{{chart/start}}
{{chart}}
{{chart| | | | | | | |ZEU |~|~|y|~|~|~|HER |ZEU='''ZEUS'''|HER=[[Hera]]}}
{{chart| | | | | | | | |,|-|-|-|+|-|-|-|.|`|-|.}}
{{chart| | | | | | | |HEB | |ARE | |EIL | |HEP |HEB=[[Hebe (mythology)|Hebe]]|ARE=[[Ares]]|EIL=[[Eileithyia]]|HEP=[[Hephaestus]]<ref>According to Hesiod, Hera produces Hephaestus on her own, without a father (''[[Theogony]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/hesiod-theogony/2018/pb_LCL057.77.xml 927&ndash;9]). In the ''[[Iliad]]'' and the ''[[Odyssey]]'', however, he is the son of Zeus and Hera; see Gantz, p. 74; [[Homer]], ''[[Iliad]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-eng1:1.568 1.577&ndash;9], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-eng1:14.270-14.311 14.293&ndash;6], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-eng1:14.312-14.351 14.338], ''[[Odyssey]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg002.perseus-eng1:8.295-8.342 8.312].</ref>}}
{{chart/end}}
{{chart bottom}}

=== Affairs ===
[[File:20190507 061 olympia museum.jpg|thumb|300px|''[[Group of Zeus and Ganymede|Zeus carrying away Ganymede]]'' ([[Archaic Greece|Late Archaic]] terracotta, 480&ndash;470 BC)]]

After his marriage to Hera, different authors describe Zeus's numerous affairs with various mortal women.<ref>Grimal, [https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofclas0000grim/page/468/mode/2up?view=theater s.v. Zeus, p. 468] calls his affairs "countless".</ref> In many of these affairs, Zeus transforms himself into an animal, someone else, or some other form. According to a scholion on the ''Iliad'' (citing Hesiod and [[Bacchylides]]), when [[Europa (consort of Zeus)|Europa]] is picking flowers with her female companions in a meadow in Phoenicia, Zeus transforms himself into a bull, lures her from the others, and then carries her across the sea to the island of Crete, where he resumes his usual form to sleep with her.<ref>Hard 2004, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA337 p. 337]; Gantz, p. 210; Scholia Ab on [[Homer]]'s ''[[Iliad]]'', [https://archive.org/details/scholiagraecainh01homeuoft/page/426/mode/2up?view=theater 12.292 (Dindorf 1875a, pp. 427&ndash;8)] [= [[Hesiod]] [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/hesiod-catalogue_women/2018/pb_LCL503.173.xml fr. 89 Most, pp. 172&ndash;5] = Merkelbach-West fr. 140, p. 68] [= [[Bacchylides]] [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/bacchylides-fragments/1992/pb_LCL461.263.xml fr. 10 Campbell, pp. 262, 263]].</ref> In [[Euripides]]' ''[[Helen (play)|Helen]]'', Zeus takes the form of a swan, and after being chased by an eagle, finds shelter in the lap of [[Leda (mythology)|Leda]], subsequently seducing her,<ref>Gantz, pp. 320&ndash;1; Hard 2004, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA439 p. 439]; [[Euripides]], ''[[Helen (play)|Helen]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/euripides-helen/2002/pb_LCL011.15.xml 16&ndash;21 (pp. 14, 15)].</ref> while in Euripides's lost play ''Antiope'', Zeus apparently took the form of a [[satyr]] to sleep with [[Antiope (mother of Amphion)|Antiope]].<ref>Hard 2004, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA303 p. 303]; [[Euripides]] [https://archive.org/details/tragicorumgraeco00naucuoft/page/410/mode/2up?view=theater fr. 178 Nauck, pp. 410&ndash;2].</ref> Various authors speak of Zeus raping [[Callisto (mythology)|Callisto]], one of the companions of [[Artemis]], doing so in the form of Artemis herself according to Ovid (or, as mentioned by Apollodorus, in the form of [[Apollo]]),<ref>Hard 2004, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA541 p. 541]; Gantz, p. 726; [[Ovid]], ''[[Metamorphoses]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0959.phi006.perseus-eng1:2.401-2.465 2.409&ndash;530]; see also [[Amphis]] ''apud'' [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''[[De astronomia]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/207#2.1.2 2.1.2]. According to [[Bibliotheca (Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:3.8.2 3.8.2] he took the form "as some say, of Artemis, or, as others say, of Apollo".</ref> and Pherecydes relates that Zeus sleeps with [[Alcmene]], the wife of [[Amphitryon]], in the form of her own husband.<ref>Gantz, p. 375; ''[[FGrHist]]'' 3 F13b [= Scholia on [[Homer]]'s ''[[Odyssey]]'', 11.266]; ''[[FGrHist]]'' 3 F13c [= Scholia on [[Homer]]'s ''[[Iliad]]'', [https://archive.org/details/scholiagraecainh04homeuoft/page/62/mode/2up?view=theater 14.323 (Dindorf 1875b, p. 62)]].</ref> Several accounts state that Zeus approached the [[Argos, Peloponnese|Argive]] princess [[Danae]] in the form of a shower of gold,<ref>Hard 2004, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA238 p. 238]; Gantz, p. 300; [[Pindar]], ''Pythian'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0033.tlg002.perseus-eng1:12 12.17&ndash;8]; [[Bibliotheca (Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:2.4.1 2.4.1]; ''[[FGrHist]]'' 3 F10 [= Scholia on [[Apollonius of Rhodes]]' ''[[Argonautica]]'', [https://books.google.com/books?id=0lkhbarJcukC&pg=PA305 4.1091 (Wendel, p. 305)]].</ref> and according to Ovid he abducts [[Aegina]] in the form of a flame.<ref>Gantz, p. 220; [[Ovid]], ''[[Metamorphoses]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0959.phi006.perseus-eng2:6.87-6.145 6.113]. In contrast, [[Nonnus]], ''[[Dionysiaca]]'' [https://archive.org/details/dionysiaca01nonnuoft/page/252/mode/2up?view=theater 7.122 (pp. 252, 253)], [https://archive.org/details/dionysiaca01nonnuoft/page/252/mode/2up?view=theater 7.210&ndash;4 (pp. 260, 261)] states that he takes the form of an eagle.</ref>

In accounts of Zeus's affairs, Hera is often depicted as a jealous wife, with there being various stories of her persecuting either the women with whom Zeus sleeps, or their children by him.<ref>Gantz, p. 61; Hard 2004, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA138 p. 138].</ref> Several authors relate that Zeus sleeps with [[Io (mythology)|Io]], a priestess of Hera, who is subsequently turned into a cow, and suffers at Hera's hands: according to Apollodorus, Hera sends a gadfly to sting the cow, driving her all the way to Egypt, where she is finally transformed back into human form.<ref>Gantz, p. 199; Hard 2004, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA231 p. 231]; [[Bibliotheca (Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:2.1.3 2.1.3].</ref> In later accounts of Zeus's affair with [[Semele]], a daughter of [[Cadmus]] and [[Harmonia]], Hera tricks her into persuading Zeus to grant her any promise. Semele asks him to come to her as he comes to his own wife Hera, and when Zeus upholds this promise, she dies out of fright and is reduced to ashes.<ref>Hard 2004, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA170 pp. 170&ndash;1]; Gantz, p. 476.</ref> According to Callimachus, after Zeus sleeps with Callisto, Hera turns her into a bear, and instructs Artemis to shoot her.<ref>Gantz, p. 726.</ref> In addition, Zeus's son by Alcmene, the hero [[Heracles]], is persecuted continuously throughout his mortal life by Hera, up until his apotheosis.<ref>Grimal, s.v. Hera, p. 192; Tripp, s.v. Hera, p. 274.</ref>

According to [[Diodorus Siculus]], Alcmene, the mother of Heracles, was the very last mortal woman Zeus ever slept with; following the birth of Heracles, he ceased to beget humans altogether, and fathered no more children.<ref>[[Diodorus Siculus]], ''[[Bibliotheca historica|Library of History]]'' [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/4B*.html#p391 4.14.4].</ref>

====List of disguises used by Zeus====
{|class="wikitable sortable mw-collapsible" 
!Disguise
!When desiring
!class="unsortable"|
|-
|Eagle or flame of fire
|[[Aegina (mythology)|Aegina]]
|<ref>Gantz, p. 220.</ref>
|-
|[[Amphitryon]]
|[[Alcmene]]
|<ref>Hard 2004, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA247 p. 247]; [[Bibliotheca (Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:2.4.8 2.4.8].</ref>
|-
|[[Satyr]]
|[[Antiope (mother of Amphion)|Antiope]]
|<ref>Hard 2004, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA303 p. 303]; ''[[Brill's New Pauly]]'', [https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/brill-s-new-pauly/antiope-e124830 s.v. Antiope]; Scholia on [[Apollonius of Rhodes]], 4.1090.</ref>
|-
|Artemis or Apollo
|[[Callisto (mythology)|Callisto]]
|<ref>Gantz, p. 726; ''[[Brill's New Pauly]]'', [https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/brill-s-new-pauly/callisto-e607100 s.v. Callisto]; Grimal, s.v. Callisto, p. 86; [[Bibliotheca (Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:3.8.2 3.8.2] (Artemis or Apollo); [[Ovid]], ''[[Metamorphoses]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0959.phi006.perseus-eng2:2.401-2.465 2.401&ndash;530]; [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''[[De astronomia]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/207#2.1.2 2.1.2].</ref>
|-
|Shower of gold
|[[Danaë]]
|<ref>Hard 2004, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA238 p. 238]</ref>
|-
|Bull
|[[Europa (consort of Zeus)|Europa]]
|<ref>Hard 2004, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA337 p. 337]; Lane Fox, p. 199.</ref>
|-
|Eagle
|[[Ganymede (mythology)|Ganymede]]
|<ref>Hard 2004, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA522 p. 522]; [[Ovid]], ''[[Metamorphoses]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0959.phi006.perseus-eng1:10.143-10.219 10.155&ndash;6]; [[Lucian]], ''[[Dialogues of the Gods]]'' [https://archive.org/details/lucianvolviiloeb00luci/page/n295/mode/2up?view=theater 10 (4)].</ref>
|-
|Cuckoo
|[[Hera]]
|<ref>Hard 2004, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA137 p. 137]</ref>
|-
|Swan
|[[Leda (mythology)|Leda]]
|<ref>Hard 2004, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA439 p. 439]; [[Euripides]], ''[[Helen (play)|Helen]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0006.tlg014.perseus-eng1:1-30 16&ndash;22].</ref>
|-
|Goose
|[[Nemesis]]
|<ref>Hard 2004, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA438 p. 438]; ''[[Cypria]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/greek_epic_fragments_trojan_cycle_cypria/2003/pb_LCL497.89.xml fr. 10 West, pp. 88&ndash;91] [= [[Athenaeus]], ''[[Deipnosophists]]'' 8.334b&ndash;d].</ref>
|}

=== Offspring ===
The following is a list of Zeus's offspring, by various mothers. Beside each offspring, the earliest source to record the parentage is given, along with the century to which the source dates.
{| class="wikitable sortable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"
! scope="col" style="width: 100pt;" | Offspring
! scope="col" style="width: 95pt;" | Mother
! scope="col" style="width: 55pt;" | Source
! scope="col" style="width: 70pt;" | Date
! class="unsortable" scope="col" style="width: 10pt;" |
|-
| [[Heracles]]
| [[Alcmene]]
| [[Hesiod|Hes.]] ''[[Theogony|Theog.]]''
| data-sort-value=1 | 8th cent. BC
| <ref>Hard 2004, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA244 p.244]; [[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1:938-962 943].</ref>
|-
| [[Persephone]]
| [[Demeter]]
| [[Hesiod|Hes.]] ''[[Theogony|Theog.]]''
| data-sort-value=1 | 8th cent. BC
| <ref>Hansen, p. 68; Hard 2004, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA78 p. 78]; [[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1:901-937 912].</ref>
|-
| rowspan=3 | {{Collapsible list
 | title = [[Charites]]
 | bullets = true
 | titlestyle = font-weight: normal
 | [[Aglaia (Grace)|Aglaea]]
 | [[Euphrosyne (mythology)|Euphrosyne]]
 | [[Thalia (Grace)|Thalia]]
}}
| [[Eurynome (Oceanid)|Eurynome]]
| [[Hesiod|Hes.]] ''[[Theogony|Theog.]]''
| data-sort-value=1 | 8th cent. BC
| <ref>Hard 2004, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA78 p. 78]; [[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1:901-937 901&ndash;911]; Hansen, p. 68.</ref>
|-
| [[Eunomia]]
| ''[[Orphic Hymns]]''
| data-sort-value=20 | 2nd/3rd cent. AD
| <ref>West 1983, p. 73; ''[[Orphic Hymn]] to the [[Charites|Graces]]'' (60), 1–3 (Athanassakis and Wolkow, [https://books.google.com/books?id=TTo3r8IHy0wC&pg=PA49 p. 49]).</ref>
|-
| [[Euanthe (Greek myth)|Euanthe]] or [[Eurydome]] or [[Eurymedousa|Eurymedusa]]
| [[Lucius Annaeus Cornutus|Cornutus]]
| data-sort-value=17 | 1st cent. AD
| <ref>[[Lucius Annaeus Cornutus|Cornutus]], ''Compendium Theologiae Graecae'', 15 (Torres, pp. 15&ndash;6).</ref>
|-
| [[Ares]], [[Eileithyia]], [[Hebe (mythology)|Hebe]]
| [[Hera]]
| [[Hesiod|Hes.]] ''[[Theogony|Theog.]]''
| data-sort-value=1 | 8th cent. BC
| <ref>Hard 2004, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA79 p. 79]; [[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1:901-937 921].</ref>
|-
| [[Apollo]], [[Artemis]]
| [[Leto]]
| [[Hesiod|Hes.]] ''[[Theogony|Theog.]]''
| data-sort-value=1 | 8th cent. BC
| <ref>Hard 2004, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA78 p. 78]; [[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1:901-937 912&ndash;920]; Morford, p. 211.</ref>
|-
| [[Hermes]]
| [[Maia]]
| [[Hesiod|Hes.]] ''[[Theogony|Theog.]]''
| data-sort-value=1 | 8th cent. BC
| <ref>Hard 2004, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA80 p. 80]; [[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1:938-962 938].</ref>
|-
| [[Athena]]
| [[Metis (mythology)|Metis]]
| [[Hesiod|Hes.]] ''[[Theogony|Theog.]]''
| data-sort-value=1 | 8th cent. BC
| <ref>Hard 2004, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA77 p. 77]; [[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1:886-900 886&ndash;900].</ref>
|-
| data-sort-value=Muses | {{Collapsible list
 | title = [[Muses]]
 | bullets = true
 | titlestyle = font-weight: normal
 | [[Calliope]]
 | [[Clio]]
 | [[Euterpe (mythology)|Euterpe]]
 | [[Erato]]
 | [[Melpomene]]
 | [[Polyhymnia]]
 | [[Terpsichore]]
 | [[Thalia (Muse)|Thalia]]
 | [[Urania]]
}}
| [[Mnemosyne]]
| [[Hesiod|Hes.]] ''[[Theogony|Theog.]]''
| data-sort-value=1 | 8th cent. BC
| <ref>Hard 2004, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA78 p. 78]; [[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1:53-62 53&ndash;62]; Gantz, p. 54.</ref>
|-
| [[Dionysus]]
| [[Semele]]
| [[Hesiod|Hes.]] ''[[Theogony|Theog.]]''
| data-sort-value=1 | 8th cent. BC
| <ref>Hard 2004, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA80 p. 80]; [[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1:938-962 940].</ref>
|-
| data-sort-value=Horae | {{Collapsible list
 | title = [[Horae]]
 | bullets = true
 | titlestyle = font-weight: normal
 | [[Dike (mythology)|Dike]]
 | [[Eirene (goddess)|Eirene]]
 | [[Eunomia]]
}}
| rowspan=2 | [[Themis]]
| [[Hesiod|Hes.]] ''[[Theogony|Theog.]]''
| data-sort-value=1 | 8th cent. BC
| <ref name="901–905">[[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1:901-937 901&ndash;905]; Gantz, p. 52; Hard 2004, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA78 p. 78].</ref>
|-
| data-sort-value=Moirai | {{Collapsible list
 | title = [[Moirai]]
 | bullets = true
 | titlestyle = font-weight: normal
 | [[Atropos]]
 | [[Clotho]]
 | [[Lachesis (mythology)|Lachesis]]
}}
| [[Hesiod|Hes.]] ''[[Theogony|Theog.]]''
| data-sort-value=1 | 8th cent. BC
| <ref name="901–905"/>
|-
| [[Aphrodite]]
| [[Dione (Titaness)|Dione]]
| [[Homer|Hom.]] ''[[Iliad|Il.]]''
| data-sort-value=1 | 8th cent. BC
| <ref>[[Homer]], ''[[Iliad]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0134%3Abook%3D5%3Acard%3D363 5.370]; [[Bibliotheca (Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:1.3.1 1.3.1]</ref>
|-
| [[Perseus]]
| [[Danaë]]
| [[Homer|Hom.]] ''[[Iliad|Il.]]''
| data-sort-value=1 | 8th cent. BC
| <ref>[[Homer]], ''[[Iliad]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-eng1:14.312-14.351 14.319&ndash;20]; Smith, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0104:entry=perseus-bio-1 s.v. Perseus (1)].</ref>
|-
| [[Pirithous]]
| [[Dia (mythology)|Dia]]
| [[Homer|Hom.]] ''[[Iliad|Il.]]''
| data-sort-value=17 | 8th cent. BC
| <ref>[[Homer]], ''[[Iliad]]'' 14.317–18; Smith, s.v. Peirithous.</ref>
|-
| [[Minos]]
| rowspan=3 | [[Europa (mythology)|Europa]]
| [[Homer|Hom.]] ''[[Iliad|Il.]]''
| data-sort-value=1 | 8th cent. BC
| <ref>Gantz, p. 210; ''[[Brill's New Pauly]]'', [https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/brill-s-new-pauly/minos-e805850 s.v. Minos]; [[Homer]], ''[[Iliad]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-eng1:14.312-14.351 14.32&ndash;33]; [[Hesiod]], ''[[Catalogue of Women]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/hesiod-catalogue_women/2018/pb_LCL503.173.xml fr. 89 Most, pp. 172&ndash;5] [= fr. 140 Merkelbach-West, p. 68].</ref>
|-
| [[Rhadamanthus]]
| [[Homer|Hom.]] ''[[Iliad|Il.]]''
| data-sort-value=1 | 8th cent. BC
| <ref>[[Homer]], ''[[Iliad]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-eng1:14.312-14.351 14.32&ndash;33]; [[Hesiod]], ''[[Catalogue of Women]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/hesiod-catalogue_women/2018/pb_LCL503.173.xml fr. 89 Most, pp. 172&ndash;5] [= fr. 140 Merkelbach-West, p. 68]; Gantz, p. 210; Smith, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0104:entry=rhadamanthus-bio-1 s.v. Rhadamanthus].</ref>
|-
| [[Sarpedon (brother of Minos)|Sarpedon]]
| [[Hesiod|Hes.]] ''[[Catalogue of Women|Cat.]]''
| data-sort-value=5 | 6th cent. BC
| <ref>Smith, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0104:entry=sarpedon-bio-1 s.v. Sarpedon (1)]; ''[[Brill's New Pauly]]'', [https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/brill-s-new-pauly/sarpedon-e1101800 s.v. Sarpedon (1)]; [[Hesiod]], ''[[Catalogue of Women]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/hesiod-catalogue_women/2018/pb_LCL503.173.xml fr. 89 Most, pp. 172&ndash;5] [= fr. 140 Merkelbach-West, p. 68].</ref>
|-
| [[Amphion]], [[Amphion and Zethus|Zethus]]
| Antiope
| [[Homer|Hom.]] ''[[Odyssey|Od.]]''
| data-sort-value=1 | 8th cent. BC
| <ref>[[Homer]], ''[[Odyssey]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg002.perseus-eng1:11.225-11.270 11.260&ndash;3]; ''[[Brill's New Pauly]]'' [https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/brill-s-new-pauly/amphion-e118730 s.v. Amphion]; Grimal, s.v. Amphion, p. 38.</ref>
|-
| [[Angelos (Greek mythology)|Angelos]]
| rowspan=4 | [[Hera]]
| [[Sophron]]
| data-sort-value=7 | 5th cent. BC
| <ref>''[[Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft|RE]]'', [https://de.wikisource.org/wiki/RE:Angelos_1 s.v. Angelos 1]; [[Sophron]] ''apud'' Scholia on [[Theocritus]], ''Idylls'' 2.12.</ref>
|-
| [[Eleutheria]]
| 
| data-sort-value=50 |
| <ref>Eleutheria is the Greek counterpart of [[Libertas]] (Liberty), daughter of [[Jove]] and [[Juno (mythology)|Juno]] as cited in [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''Fabulae'' [https://topostext.org/work/206#0.2 Preface].</ref>
|-
| [[Eris (mythology)|Eris]]
| [[Homer|Hom.]] ''[[Iliad|Il.]]''
| data-sort-value=1 | 8th cent. BC
| <ref>Parada, s.v. Eris, p. 72. [[Homer]], ''[[Iliad]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-eng1:4.401-4.445 4.440&ndash;1] calls Eris the sister of Ares, who is the son of Zeus and Hera in the ''Iliad''.</ref>
|-
| [[Hephaestus]]
| [[Homer|Hom.]] ''[[Iliad|Il.]]''
| data-sort-value=1 | 8th cent. BC
| <ref>Hard 2004, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA79 p. 79], [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA141 141]; Gantz, p. 74; [[Homer]], ''[[Iliad]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-eng1:1.568 1.577&ndash;9], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-eng1:14.270-14.311 14.293&ndash;6], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-eng1:14.312-14.351 14.338], ''[[Odyssey]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg002.perseus-eng1:8.295-8.342 8.312]; Scholia bT on [[Homer]]'s ''[[Iliad]]'', 14.296.</ref>
|-
| [[Sarpedon (Trojan War hero)|Sarpedon]]
| [[Laodamia]]
| [[Homer|Hom.]] ''[[Iliad|Il.]]''
| data-sort-value=1 | 8th cent. BC
| <ref>[[Homer]], ''[[Iliad]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-eng1:6.191-6.231 6.191&ndash;199]; Hard 2004, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA349 p. 349]; Smith, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0104:entry=sarpedon-bio-2 s.v. Sarpe'don (2)].</ref>
|-
| [[Helen of Troy|Helen]], [[Castor and Pollux]]
| [[Leda (mythology)|Leda]]
| [[Homer|Hom.]] ''[[Iliad|Il.]]''
| data-sort-value=1 | 8th cent. BC
| <ref>Gantz, pp. 318&ndash;9. Helen is called the daughter of Zeus in [[Homer]], ''[[Iliad]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-eng1:3.191-3.224 3.199], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-eng1:3.381-3.420 3.418], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-eng1:3.421 3.426], ''[[Odyssey]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg002.perseus-eng1:4.183-4.218 4.184], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg002.perseus-eng1:4.219-4.264 4.219], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg002.perseus-eng1:23.181-23.230 23.218], and she has the same mother (Leda) as Castor and Pollux in ''[[Iliad]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-eng1:3.225-3.263 3.236&ndash;8].</ref>
|-
| [[Helen of Troy]]
| [[Nemesis (mythology)|Nemesis]]
| ''[[Cypria]]''
| data-sort-value=3 | 7th cent. BC
| <ref>''[[Cypria]]'', [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/greek_epic_fragments_trojan_cycle_cypria/2003/pb_LCL497.89.xml fr. 10 West, pp. 88&ndash;91]; Hard 2004, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA438 p. 438].</ref>
|-
| [[Graecus]], [[Latinus]]
| [[Pandora II|Pandora]]
| [[Hesiod|Hes.]] ''[[Catalogue of Women|Cat.]]''
| data-sort-value=5 | 6th cent. BC
| <ref>Gantz, p. 167; [[Hesiod]], ''[[Catalogue of Women]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/hesiod-catalogue_women/2018/pb_LCL503.43.xml fr. 2 Most, pp. 42&ndash;5] [= fr. 5 Merkelbach-West, pp. 5&ndash;6 = [[John the Lydian|Ioannes Lydus]], ''De Mensibus'' 1.13].</ref>
|-
| [[Hellen]]
| [[Pyrrha]]
| [[Hesiod|Hes.]] ''[[Catalogue of Women|Cat.]]''
| data-sort-value=5 | 6th cent. BC
| <ref>Parada, s.vv. Hellen (1), p. 86, Pyrrha (1), p. 159; [[Bibliotheca (Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:1.7.2 1.7.2]; [[Hesiod]], ''[[Catalogue of Women]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/hesiod-catalogue_women/2018/pb_LCL503.47.xml fr. 5 Most, pp. 46, 47] [= Scholia on [[Homer]]'s ''[[Odyssey]]'' 10.2]; West 1985, pp. 51, 53, 56, 173, table 1.</ref>
|-
| [[Magnes (mythology)|Magnes]], [[Makedon (mythology)|Makednos]]
| [[Thyia of Thessaly|Thyia]]
| [[Hesiod|Hes.]] ''[[Catalogue of Women|Cat.]]''
| data-sort-value=5 | 6th cent. BC
| <ref>[[Hesiod]], ''[[Catalogue of Women]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/hesiod-catalogue_women/2018/pb_LCL503.49.xml fr. 7 Most, pp. 48, 49] [= [[Constantine Porphyrogenitus]], ''De Thematibus'', 2].</ref>
|-
| [[Tyche]]
| [[Aphrodite]]
| [[Pindar]]
| data-sort-value=7 | 5th cent. BC
| <ref>[[Pindar]], ''Olympian'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0033.tlg001.perseus-eng1:12 12.1&ndash;2]; Gantz, p. 151.</ref>
|-
| [[Targitaos]]
| [[Borysthenis]]
| [[Herodotus|Hdt.]]
| data-sort-value=7 | 5th cent. BC
| <ref>[[Herodotus]], ''[[Histories (Herodotus)|Histories]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0016.tlg001.perseus-eng1:4.5.1 4.5.1].</ref>
|-
| [[Carius]]
| [[Torrhebia]]
| [[Hellanicus of Lesbos|Hellanicus]]
| data-sort-value=7 | 5th cent. BC
| <ref>[[Stephanus of Byzantium]], ''Ethnica'' s.v. ''[https://topostext.org/work/241#T628.22 Torrhēbos]'', citing [[Hellanicus of Lesbos|Hellanicus]] and Nicolaus</ref>
|-
| [[Tityos]]
| [[Elara (mythology)|Elara]]
| [[Pherecydes of Athens|Pherecydes]]
| data-sort-value=7 | 5th cent. BC
| <ref>''[[Brill's New Pauly]]'', [https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/brill-s-new-pauly/tityus-e1216260 s.v. Tityus]; Hard 2004, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA147 pp. 147&ndash;148]; ''[[FGrHist]]'' 3 F55 [= Scholia on [[Apollonius of Rhodes]], 1.760&ndash;2b (Wendel, [https://books.google.com/books?id=0lkhbarJcukC&pg=PA65 p. 65])].</ref>
|-
| [[Coria (mythology)|Coria]] (Athene)
| [[Coryphe]]
| [[Cicero|Cic.]] ''[[De Natura Deorum|DND]]''
| data-sort-value=15 | 1st cent. BC
| <ref>[[Cicero]], ''[[De Natura Deorum]]'' [https://archive.org/stream/denaturadeorumac00ciceuoft#page/342/mode/2up?view=theater 3.59].</ref>
|-
| [[Cronius (mythology)|Cronius]], [[Spartaeus (mythology)|Spartaios]], [[Cytus (mythology)|Cytus]]
| [[Himalia (mythology)|Himalia]]
| [[Diodorus Siculus|Diod. Sic.]]
| data-sort-value=15 | 1st cent. BC
| <ref>[[Diodorus Siculus]], ''[[Bibliotheca historica]]'' [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/5D*.html#55.5 5.55.5]</ref>
|-
| [[Saon (mythology)|Saon]]
| [[Nymphe (mythology)|Nymphe]]
| [[Dionysius of Halicarnassus|Dion. Hal.]]
| data-sort-value=15 | 1st cent. BC
| <ref>[[Dionysius of Halicarnassus]], [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/5D*.html#48.1 5.48.1]; Smith, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0104:entry=saon-bio-1 s.v. Saon].</ref>
|-
| Heracles
| [[Lysithoe]]
| [[Cicero|Cic.]] ''[[De Natura Deorum|DND]]''
| data-sort-value=15 | 1st cent. BC
| <ref>[[Cicero]], ''[[De Natura Deorum]]'' [https://archive.org/details/denaturadeorumac00ciceuoft/page/324/mode/2up?view=theater 3.42].</ref>
|-
| [[Aegipan]]
| [[Aega (goddess)|Aega]], Aix or Boetis
| [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyg.]] ''[[Fabulae|Fab.]]''
| data-sort-value=17 | 1st cent. AD
| <ref>[[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''[[Fabulae]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/206#155 155]</ref>
|-
| [[Korybantes|Corybantes]]
| [[Calliope]]
| [[Strabo]]
| data-sort-value=17 | 1st cent. AD
| <ref>[[Strabo]], ''[[Geographica]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/144#10.3.19 10.3.19]</ref>
|-
| [[Colaxes (mythology)|Colaxes]]
| Hora
| [[Gaius Valerius Flaccus|Valer. Flacc.]]
| data-sort-value=17 | 1st cent. AD
| <ref>Valerius Flaccus, ''Argonautica'' 6.48ff., 6.651ff</ref>
|-
| [[Tantalus]]
| [[Pluto (mother of Tantalus)|Pluto]]
| [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyg.]] ''[[Fabulae|Fab.]]''
| data-sort-value=17 | 1st cent. AD
| <ref>[[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]] ''[[Fabulae]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/206#82 82]; [[Antoninus Liberalis]], [https://topostext.org/work/216#36 36]; [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.perseus-eng1:2.22.3 2.22.3]; Gantz, p. 536; Hard 2004, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA502 p. 502].</ref>
|-
| [[Asopus]]
| [[Eurynome (Oceanid)|Eurynome]]
| [[Bibliotheca (Apollodorus)|Apollod.]]
| data-sort-value=18 | 1st/2nd cent. AD
| <ref>[[Bibliotheca (Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:3.12.6 3.12.6]; Grimal, s.v. Asopus, p. 63; Smith, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0104:entry=asopus-bio-1 s.v. Asopus].</ref>
|-
| [[Pan (god)|Pan]]
| [[Hybris (mythology)|Hybris]]
| [[Bibliotheca (Apollodorus)|Apollod.]]
| data-sort-value=18 | 1st/2nd cent. AD
| <ref>[[Bibliotheca (Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:1.4.1 1.4.1]; Hard 2004, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA216 p. 216].</ref>
|-
| [[Arcas]]
| [[Callisto the Greek myth|Callisto]]
| [[Bibliotheca (Apollodorus)|Apollod.]]
| data-sort-value=18 | 1st/2nd cent. AD
| <ref>[[Bibliotheca (Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:3.8.2 3.8.2]; [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.perseus-eng1:8.3.6 8.3.6]; Hard 2004, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA540 p. 540]; Gantz, pp. 725&ndash;726.</ref>
|-
| [[Endymion (mythology)|Endymion]]
| [[Calyce (mythology)|Calyce]]
| [[Bibliotheca (Apollodorus)|Apollod.]]
| data-sort-value=18 | 1st/2nd cent. AD
| <ref>''[[Brill's New Pauly]]'', [https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/brill-s-new-pauly/calyce-e607490 s.v. Calyce (1)]; Smith, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0104:entry=endymion-bio-1 s.v. Endymion]; [[Bibliotheca (Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:1.7.5 1.7.5].</ref>
|-
| [[Argus (king of Argos)|Argus]], [[Pelasgus]]
| [[Niobe (Argive)|Niobe]]
| [[Bibliotheca (Apollodorus)|Apollod.]]
| data-sort-value=18 | 1st/2nd cent. AD
| <ref>[[Bibliotheca (Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:2.1.1 2.1.1]; Gantz, p. 198.</ref>
|-
| [[Dardanus (son of Zeus)|Dardanus]]
| rowspan=4 | [[Electra (Pleiad)|Electra]]
| [[Bibliotheca (Apollodorus)|Apollod.]]
| data-sort-value=18 | 1st/2nd cent. AD
| <ref name="3.12.1">[[Bibliotheca (Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:3.12.1 3.12.1]; Hard 2004, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA521 521].</ref>
|-
| [[Emathion]]
| [[Nonnus]]
| data-sort-value=21 | 5th cent. AD
| <ref>[[Nonnus]], ''[[Dionysiaca]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/529#3.195 3.195].</ref>
|-
| [[Iasion]] or [[Eetion (disambiguation)|Eetion]]
| [[Bibliotheca (Apollodorus)|Apollod.]]
| data-sort-value=18 | 1st/2nd cent. AD
| <ref name="3.12.1"/>
|-
| [[Harmonia (mythology)|Harmonia]]
| [[Diodorus Siculus|Diod. Sic.]]
| data-sort-value=15 | 1st cent. BC
| <ref>[[Diodorus Siculus]], ''[[Bibliotheca historica]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/133#5.48.1 5.48.2].</ref>
|-
| [[Aeacus]]
| rowspan=2 | [[Aegina (mythology)|Aegina]]
| [[Bibliotheca (Apollodorus)|Apollod.]]
| data-sort-value=18 | 1st/2nd cent. AD
| <ref>[[Bibliotheca (Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:3.12.6 3.12.6]; Hard 2004, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA530 p. 530&ndash;531].</ref>
|-
| [[Damocrateia]]
| Pythaenetus
| data-sort-value=50 |
| <ref>''[[FGrHist]]'' 299 F5 [= Scholia on [[Pindar]]'s ''Olympian'' 9.104a].</ref>
|-
| [[Britomartis]]
| [[Carme (mythology)|Carme]]
| [[Pausanias (geographer)|Paus.]]
| data-sort-value=19 | 2nd cent. AD
| <ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.perseus-eng1:2.30.3 2.30.3]; March, [https://archive.org/details/casselldictionar00jenn/page/87/mode/2up?view=theater s.v. Britomartis, p. 88]; Smith, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0104:entry=britomartis-bio-1 s.v. Britomartis].</ref>
|-
| [[Hecate]]
| rowspan=2 | [[Asteria]]
| [[Musaeus of Athens|Musaeus]]
| data-sort-value=50 |
| <ref>Gantz, pp. 26, 40; [[Musaeus of Athens|Musaeus]] [https://archive.org/details/diefragmenteder02diel/page/182/mode/2up?view=theater fr. 16 Diels, p. 183]; [[Scholia]]st on ''[[Apollonius of Rhodes|Apollonius Rhodius]], [[Argonautica]]'' 3.467</ref>
|-
| [[Heracles]]
| [[Athenaeus]]
| data-sort-value=21 | 3rd cent. AD
| <ref>[[Cicero]], ''[[De Natura Deorum]]'' [https://archive.org/details/denaturadeorumac00ciceuoft/page/324/mode/2up?view=theater 3.42]; [[Athenaeus]], ''[[Deipnosophistae|Deipnosophists]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/atheneus_grammarian-learned_banqueters/2007/pb_LCL235.321.xml 9.392e (pp. 320, 321)].</ref>
|-
| [[Acragas (mythology)|Acragas]]
| [[Asterope (Greek myth)|Asterope]]
| [[Stephanus of Byzantium|Steph. Byz.]]
| data-sort-value=27 | 6th cent. AD
| <ref>[[Stephanus of Byzantium]], s.v. [https://topostext.org/work/241#A62.1 ''Akragantes'']; Smith, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0104:entry=acragas-bio-1 s.v. Acragas].</ref>
|-
| [[Dionysus]]
| [[Demeter]]
| 
| data-sort-value=50 |
| <ref>[[Scholia]]st on [[Pindar]], ''Pythian Odes'' 3.177; [[Hesychius of Alexandria|Hesychius]]</ref>
|-
| [[Dodon (mythology)|Dodon]]
| [[Europa (Greek myth)|Europa]]
| [[Acestodorus]]
| data-sort-value=50 |
| <ref>''[[FGrHist]]'' 1753 F1b.</ref>
|-
| [[Agdistis]]
| rowspan=3 | Earth
| [[Pausanias (geographer)|Paus.]]
| data-sort-value=19 | 2nd cent. AD
| <ref>Smith, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0104:entry=agdistis-bio-1 s.v. Agdistis]; [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.perseus-eng1:7.17.10 7.17.10]. Agdistis springs from the earth in a place where Zeus's seed landed.</ref>
|-
| [[Manes of Lydia|Manes]]
| [[Dionysius of Halicarnassus|Dion. Hal.]]
| data-sort-value=15 | 1st cent. BC
| <ref>[[Dionysius of Halicarnassus]], ''[[Roman Antiquities]]'' [https://topostext.org/work.php?work_id=139#1.27.1 1.27.1]; Grimal, s.v. Manes, p. 271.</ref>
|-
| [[Centaur|Cyprian Centaurs]]
| [[Nonnus]]
| data-sort-value=25 | 5th cent. AD
| <ref>[[Nonnus]], ''[[Dionysiaca]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/529#14.193 14.193].</ref>
|-
| [[Melinoë]]
| rowspan=3 | [[Persephone]]
| ''[[Orphic Hymns]]''
| data-sort-value=20 | 2nd/3rd cent. AD
| <ref>Morand, p. 335; ''[[Orphic Hymn]] to [[Melinoë]]'' (71), [https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780891301196/page/56/mode/2up?view=theater 3&ndash;4 (Athanassakis and Wolkow, p. 57)].</ref>
|-
| [[Zagreus]]
| [[Nonnus]]
| data-sort-value=25 | 5th cent. AD
| <ref>Grimal, [https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofclas0000grim/page/466/mode/2up?view=theater s.v. Zagreus, p. 466]; [[Nonnus]], ''[[Dionysiaca]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/529#6.155 6.155].</ref>
|-
| [[Dionysus]]
| 
| data-sort-value=50 |
| 
|-
| Dionysus
| rowspan=4 | [[Selene]]
| [[Cicero|Cic.]] ''[[De Natura Deorum|DND]]''
| data-sort-value=15 | 1st cent. BC
| <ref>[[Cicero]], ''[[De Natura Deorum]]'' [https://archive.org/details/denaturadeorumac00ciceuoft/page/304/mode/2up?view=theater 3.21-23].</ref>
|-
| [[Ersa]]
| [[Alcman]]
| data-sort-value=3 | 7th cent. BC
| <ref>Hard 2004, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA46 p. 46]; Keightley, [https://books.google.com/books?id=JxQHAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA55 p. 55]; [[Alcman]] [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/alcman-fragments/1988/pb_LCL143.435.xml fr. 57 Campbell, pp. 434, 435].</ref>
|-
| [[Nemea (mythology)|Nemea]]
| Schol. [[Pindar|Pind.]]
| data-sort-value=50 | 
| <ref>Cook 1914, [https://archive.org/details/zeusstudyinancie01cookuoft/page/456/mode/2up?view=theater p. 456]; Smith, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0104:entry=selene-bio-1 s.v. Selene].</ref>
|-
| [[Pandia]]
| ''[[Homeric Hymns|HH]]'' 32
| data-sort-value=7 | 5th cent. BC
| <ref>''[[Homeric Hymns|Homeric Hymn to Selene]]'' (32), [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0013.tlg032.perseus-eng1:32 15&ndash;16]; [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''[[Fabulae]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/206#0.2 Preface]; Hard 2004, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA46 p. 46]; Grimal, s.v. Selene, p. 415.</ref>
|-
| rowspan="2" | Persephone
| [[Styx]]
| [[Bibliotheca (Apollodorus)|Apollod.]]
| data-sort-value=18 | 1st/2nd cent. AD
| <ref>[[Bibliotheca (Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:1.3 1.1.3].</ref>
|-
| [[Rhea (mythology)|Rhea]]
| [[Athenagoras of Athens|Athenag.]]
| data-sort-value=19 | 2nd cent. AD
| <ref>West 1983, p. 73; Orphic [https://archive.org/details/orphicorumfragme00orphuoft/page/16/mode/2up?view=theater fr. 58 Kern] [= [[Athenagoras of Athens|Athenagoras]], ''[[Athenagoras of Athens#Legatio Pro Christianis|Legatio Pro Christianis]]'' 20.2]; Meisner, [https://books.google.com/books?id=ethjDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA134 p.&nbsp;134].</ref>
|-
| [[Palici]]
| [[Thalia (nymph)|Thalia]]
| [[Maurus Servius Honoratus|Servius]]
| data-sort-value=24 | 4th/5th cent. AD
| <ref>Smith, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0104%3Aentry%3Dthaleia-bio-3 s.v. Thaleia (3)]; ''[[Oxford Classical Dictionary]]'', s.v. Palici, p. 1100; [[Maurus Servius Honoratus|Servius]], On ''[[Aeneid]]'', [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0053%3Abook%3D9%3Acommline%3D581 9.581&ndash;4].</ref>
|-
| [[Myrmidon (hero)|Myrmidon]]
| [[Eurymedousa]]
| 
| data-sort-value=50 |
| <ref>Grimal, [https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofclas0000grim/page/298/mode/2up?view=theater s.v. Myrmidon, p. 299]; Hard 2004, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA533 p. 533]</ref>
|-
| [[Cres (mythology)|Cres]]
| [[Idaea]]
| [[Stephanus of Byzantium|Steph. Byz.]]
| data-sort-value=27 | 6th cent. AD
| <ref>[[Stephanus of Byzantium]], [https://topostext.org/work/241#K383.21 s.v. ''Krētē''].</ref>
|-
|[[Epaphus]]
| rowspan=2 | [[Io (mythology)|Io]]
| [[Bibliotheca (Apollodorus)|Apollod.]]
| data-sort-value=18 | 1st/2nd cent. AD
| <ref>Grimal, [https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofclas0000grim/page/146/mode/2up?view=theater s.v. Epaphus]; [[Bibliotheca (Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:2.1.3 2.1.3].</ref>
|-
| [[Keroessa]]
| [[Nonnus]]
| data-sort-value=25 | 5th cent. AD
| <ref>[[Nonnus]], ''[[Dionysiaca]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/529#32.48 32.70]</ref>
|-
| [[Meliteus]]
| [[Othreis]]
| [[Antoninus Liberalis|Ant. Lib.]]
| data-sort-value=20 | 2nd/3rd cent. AD
| <ref>[[Antoninus Liberalis]], [https://topostext.org/work/216#13 13].</ref>
|-
| [[Lacedaemon]]
| [[Taygete]]
| [[Pausanias (geographer)|Paus.]]
| data-sort-value=19 | 2nd cent. AD
| <ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160%3Abook%3D3%3Achapter%3D1%3Asection%3D2 3.1.2].</ref>
|-
| [[Archas]]
| [[Themisto (mythology)|Themisto]]
| [[Istros the Callimachean|Istros]]
| data-sort-value=50 |
| <ref>''[[Brill's New Pauly]]'', [https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/brill-s-new-pauly/themisto-e1207620 s.v. Themisto]; [[Stephanus of Byzantium]], s.v. [https://topostext.org/work/241#A119.18 ''Arkadia''] [= ''[[FGrHist]]'' 334 F75].</ref>
|-
| [[Megarus]]
| Nymph Sithnid
| [[Pausanias (geographer)|Paus.]]
| data-sort-value=19 | 2nd cent. AD
| <ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.perseus-eng1:1.40.1 1.40.1].</ref>
|-
| [[Olenus]]
| [[Anaxithea]]
| [[Stephanus of Byzantium|Steph. Byz.]]
| data-sort-value=27 | 6th cent. AD
| <ref>[[Stephanus of Byzantium]], s.v. ''[https://topostext.org/work/241#O707.12 Ōlenos]''.</ref>
|-
| [[Milye]], [[Solymus]]
| [[Chaldene (mythology)|Chaldene]]
| [[Stephanus of Byzantium|Steph. Byz.]]
| data-sort-value=27 | 6th cent. AD
| <ref>[[Stephanus of Byzantium]], s.v. ''[https://topostext.org/work/241#P524.3 Pisidia]''; Grimal, s.v. Solymus, p. 424.</ref>
|-
|[[Arcesius]]
|[[Euryodeia]]
| 
| data-sort-value=50 |
| 
|-
| [[Orchomenus (mythology)|Orchomenus]]
| [[Hesione (mythology)|Hesione]]
| 
| data-sort-value=50 |
| <ref>Smith, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0104:entry=orchomenus-bio-3 s.v. Orchomenus (3)].</ref>
|-
| [[Agamedes]]
| [[Iocaste (mythology)|Iocaste]]
| 
| data-sort-value=50 |
| <ref>Smith, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0104:entry=agamedes-bio-1 s.v. Agamedes].</ref>
|-
| [[Acheilus]]
| [[Lamia]]
| [[Ptolemaeus Chennus|Ptol. Heph.]]
| data-sort-value=50 |
| <ref>[[Ptolemaeus Chennus|Ptolemy Hephaestion]] ''apud'' [[Photius]], ''[[Bibliotheca (Photius)|Bibliotheca]]'' 190.47 ([https://topostext.org/work/237#190.47 English translation]).</ref>
|-
| [[Libyan Sibyl]] ([[Sibyl|Herophile]])
| [[Lamia (daughter of Poseidon)|Lamia]]
| [[Pausanias (geographer)|Paus.]]
| data-sort-value=19 | 2nd cent. AD
| <ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.perseus-eng1:10.12.1 10.12.1]; Smith, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0104%3Aalphabetic+letter%3DL%3Aentry+group%3D3%3Aentry%3Dlamia-bio-1 s.v. Lamia (1)].</ref>
|-
| [[Locrus]]
| [[Maera (mythology)|Maera]]
| 
| data-sort-value=50 |
| <ref>Eustathius ad Homer, p. 1688</ref>
|-
| [[Achaeus (mythology)|Achaeus]]
| [[Phthia (mythology)|Phthia]]
| [[Maurus Servius Honoratus|Servius]]
| data-sort-value=24 | 4th/5th cent. AD
| <ref>[[Maurus Servius Honoratus|Servius]], ''Commentary on [[Virgil]]'s [[Aeneid]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Serv.+A.+1.242 1. 242]</ref>
|-
| [[Aethlius]]
| rowspan=3 | [[Protogeneia]]
| [[Bibliotheca (Apollodorus)|Apollod.]]
| data-sort-value=18 | 1st/2nd cent. AD
| <ref>[[Bibliotheca (Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.+1.7.2&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022:book=1:chapter=7&highlight=Aethlius 1.7.2]; [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.perseus-eng1:5.1.3 5.1.3]; [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''Fabulae'' [https://topostext.org/work/206#155 155].</ref>
|-
| [[Aetolus of Aetolia|Aetolus]]
| [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyg.]] ''[[Fabulae|Fab.]]''
| data-sort-value=17 | 1st cent. AD
| <ref>[[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''Fabulae'' [https://topostext.org/work/206#155 155].</ref>
|-
| [[Opus (mythology)|Opus]]
| [[Pindar]]
| data-sort-value=7 | 5th cent. BC
| <ref>[[Pindar]], ''Olympian Ode'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Pind.+O.+9&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0162:chapter=9&highlight=Opus 9.58].</ref>
|-
| [[Aegyptus (mythology)|Aegyptus]]
| rowspan=2 | [[Thebe (Greek myth)|Thebe]]
| [[Tzetzes]]
| data-sort-value=39 | 12th cent. AD
| <ref name="1206 pp. 957–962"/>
|-
| Heracles
| [[John the Lydian|John Lydus]]
| data-sort-value=27 | 6th cent. AD
| <ref>[[John Lydus]], ''De mensibus'' 4.67.</ref>
|-
| [[Thebe (Greek myth)|Thebe]]
| [[Iodame]]
| [[Tzetzes]]
| data-sort-value=39 | 12th cent. AD
| <ref name="1206 pp. 957–962">[[Tzetzes]] on [[Lycophron]], [https://archive.org/details/isaakioukaiiann00mlgoog/page/951/mode/2up?view=theater 1206 (pp. 957&ndash;962)].{{primary source inline|date=February 2024}}</ref>
|-
| [[Veritas|Aletheia]]
| rowspan=9 | ''No mother mentioned''
| 
| data-sort-value=50 |
| 
|-
| [[Atë|Ate]]
| [[Homer|Hom.]] ''[[Iliad|Il.]]''
| data-sort-value=1 | 8th cent. BC
| <ref>[[Homer]], ''[[Iliad]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-eng1:19.74-19.113 19.91].</ref>
|-
| [[Nysean]]
| [[Apollonius of Rhodes|Ap. Rhod.]]
| data-sort-value=11 | 3rd cent. BC
| <ref>{{Cite web|title=Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica, book 2, line 887|url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0001.tlg001.perseus-grc1:2.899|website=www.perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref>
|-
| [[Eubuleus]]
| ''[[Orphic Hymns]]''
| data-sort-value=20 | 2nd/3rd cent. AD
| <ref>''[[Orphic Hymn]] to [[Dionysus]]'' (30), [https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780891301196/page/26/mode/2up?view=theater 6&ndash;7 (Athanassakis and Wolkow, p. 27)]</ref>
|-
| [[Litae]]
| [[Homer|Hom.]] ''[[Iliad|Il.]]''
| data-sort-value=1 | 8th cent. BC
| <ref>[[Homer]], ''[[Iliad]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-eng1:9.492-9.537 9.502]; [[Quintus Smyrnaeus]], ''Posthomerica'' [https://archive.org/details/falloftroy00quin/page/440/mode/2up?view=theater 10.301 (pp. 440, 441)]; Smith, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0104:entry=litae-bio-1 s.v. Litae].</ref>
|-
| [[Rioni River|Phasis]]
| [[Gaius Valerius Flaccus|Valer. Flacc.]]
| data-sort-value=17 | 1st cent. AD
| <ref>[[Gaius Valerius Flaccus|Valer. Flacc.]], ''Argonautica'' 5.205</ref>
|-
| [[Calabrus]], [[Geraestus (mythology)|Geraestus]], [[Taenarus (mythology)|Taenarus]]
| [[Stephanus of Byzantium|Steph. Byz.]]
| data-sort-value=27 | 6th cent. AD
| <ref>Stephanus of Byzantium, ''Ethnica'' s.v. ''[https://topostext.org/work/241#T598.6 Tainaros]''</ref>
|-
| [[Corinthus]]
| [[Pausanias (geographer)|Paus.]]
| data-sort-value=19 | 2nd cent. AD
| <ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160%3Abook%3D2%3Achapter%3D1%3Asection%3D1 2.1.1].</ref>
|-
| [[Crinacus]]
| [[Diodorus Siculus|Diod. Sic.]]
| data-sort-value=15 | 1st cent. BC
| <ref>Diodorus Siculus, ''Bibliotheca historica'' 5.81.4</ref>
|}

=== Prometheus and conflicts with humans ===
[[File:Olympus National Park 30.jpg|thumb|Summits of [[Mount Olympus]]]]
When the gods met at Mecone to discuss which portions they will receive after a sacrifice, the titan [[Prometheus]] decided to trick Zeus so that [[humans]] receive the better portions. He sacrificed a large [[ox]], and divided it into two piles. In one pile he put all the meat and most of the fat, covering it with the ox's grotesque stomach, while in the other pile, he dressed up the bones with fat. Prometheus then invited Zeus to choose; Zeus chose the pile of bones. This set a precedent for sacrifices, where humans will keep the fat for themselves and burn the bones for the gods.

Zeus, enraged at Prometheus's deception, prohibited the use of fire by humans. Prometheus, however, stole fire from Olympus in a fennel stalk and gave it to humans. This further enraged Zeus, who punished Prometheus by binding him to a cliff, where an eagle constantly ate Prometheus's liver, which regenerated every night. Prometheus was eventually freed from his misery by [[Heracles]].<ref>[[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1:507-544 507-565]</ref>

Now Zeus, angry at humans, decides to give humanity a punishing gift to compensate for the boon they had been given. He commands [[Hephaestus]] to mold from earth the first woman, a "beautiful evil" whose descendants would torment the human race. After Hephaestus does so, several other gods contribute to her creation. [[Hermes]] names the woman '[[Pandora]]'.

Pandora was given in marriage to Prometheus's brother [[Epimetheus]]. Zeus gave her a [[Pandora's box|jar]] which contained many evils. Pandora opened the jar and released all the evils, which made mankind miserable. Only hope remained inside the jar.<ref>[[Hesiod]], ''[[Works and Days]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg002.perseus-eng1:59-82 60&ndash;105].</ref>

<!-- Since Greek mythology, as far as I understand, is essentially a loose collection of stories told by several groups in Ancient Greece where none can be considered the "official canon", this should really be prefaced with "In the writings of (Greek author)..." or "In (work)...", and several of the sentences describe details that probably vary by telling. -->
When Zeus was atop Mount Olympus he was appalled by [[human sacrifice]] and other signs of human decadence. He decided to wipe out mankind and flooded the world with the help of his brother [[Poseidon]]. After the flood, only [[Deucalion]] and [[Pyrrha]] remained.<ref>[[Ovid]], ''[[Metamorphoses]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/141#1.216 1.216&ndash;1.348]</ref> This [[Flood myth|flood narrative]] is a common motif in mythology.<ref>{{cite book|last=Leeming|first=David|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kQFtlva3HaYC&pg=PA138|title=Flood {{pipe}} The Oxford Companion to World Mythology|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2004|isbn=9780195156690|pages=138|access-date=14 February 2019}}</ref>
[[File:The Chariot of Zeus - Project Gutenberg eText 14994.png|thumb|The Chariot of Zeus, from an 1879 ''Stories from the Greek Tragedians'' by Alfred Church.]]

=== In the ''Iliad'' ===
[[File:James Barry 001.jpg|thumb|''Jupiter and Juno on Mount Ida'' by [[James Barry (painter)|James Barry]], 1773 (City Art Galleries, Sheffield.)]]

The ''[[Iliad]]'' is an [[ancient Greek]] [[epic poem]] attributed to [[Homer]] about the [[Trojan War]] and the battle over the City of [[Troy]], in which Zeus plays a major part.

Scenes in which Zeus appears include:<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://department.monm.edu/classics/Courses/CLAS210/CourseDocuments/Epic/gods_in_the_iliad.htm|title=The Gods in the Iliad|website=department.monm.edu|access-date=2 December 2015|archive-date=19 December 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151219082301/http://department.monm.edu/classics/Courses/CLAS210/CourseDocuments/Epic/gods_in_the_iliad.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=The Iliad|last=Homer|publisher=Penguin Classics|year=1990|location=South Africa}}</ref>

* Book 2: Zeus sends [[Agamemnon]] a dream and is able to partially control his decisions because of the effects of the dream
* Book 4: Zeus promises [[Hera]] to ultimately destroy the City of Troy at the end of the war
* Book 7: Zeus and [[Poseidon]] ruin the [[Achaeans (Homer)|Achaeans]] fortress
* Book 8: Zeus prohibits the other Gods from fighting each other and has to return to [[Mount Ida]] where he can think over his decision that the Greeks will lose the war
* Book 14: Zeus is seduced by [[Hera]] and becomes distracted while she helps out the Greeks
* Book 15: Zeus wakes up and realizes that his own brother, [[Poseidon]] has been aiding the Greeks, while also sending [[Hector]] and [[Apollo]] to help fight the Trojans ensuring that the City of Troy will fall
* Book 16: Zeus is upset that he could not help save [[Sarpedon (Trojan War hero)|Sarpedon]]'s life because it would then contradict his previous decisions
* Book 17: Zeus is emotionally hurt by the fate of [[Hector]]
* Book 20: Zeus lets the other Gods lend aid to their respective sides in the war
* Book 24: Zeus demands that [[Achilles]] release the corpse of [[Hector]] to be buried honourably

=== Other myths ===
When [[Hades]] requested to marry Zeus's daughter, [[Persephone]], Zeus approved and advised Hades to abduct Persephone, as her mother [[Demeter]] would not allow her to marry Hades.<ref>[[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''[[Fabulae]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/206#146 146].</ref>

In the [[Orphism (religion)|Orphic]] "Rhapsodic Theogony" (first century BC/AD),<ref>Meisner, pp. [https://books.google.com/books?id=ethjDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA1 1], [https://books.google.com/books?id=ethjDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA5 5]</ref> Zeus wanted to marry his mother [[Rhea (mythology)|Rhea]]. After Rhea refused to marry him, Zeus turned into a snake and raped her. Rhea became pregnant and gave birth to [[Persephone]]. Zeus in the form of a snake would mate with his daughter Persephone, which resulted in the birth of [[Dionysus]].<ref name=":0">West 1983, pp. 73&ndash;74; Meisner, [https://books.google.com/books?id=ethjDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA134 p.&nbsp;134]; Orphic frr. [https://archive.org/details/orphicorumfragme00orphuoft/page/16/mode/2up?view=theater 58] [= [[Athenagoras of Athens|Athenagoras]], ''[[Athenagoras of Athens#Legatio Pro Christianis|Legatio Pro Christianis]]'' 20.2] [https://archive.org/details/orphicorumfragme00orphuoft/page/192/mode/2up?view=theater 153] Kern.</ref>

Zeus granted [[Callirrhoe (daughter of Achelous)|Callirrhoe's]] prayer that her sons by [[Alcmaeon (mythology)|Alcmaeon]], [[Acarnan]] and [[Amphoterus (son of Alcmaeon)|Amphoterus]], grow quickly so that they might be able to avenge the death of their father by the hands of [[Phegeus (king of Psophis)|Phegeus]] and his two sons.<ref>[[Bibliotheca (Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [https://topostext.org/work/150#3.7.6 3.76].</ref>

Both Zeus and [[Poseidon]] wooed [[Thetis]], daughter of [[Nereus]]. But when [[Themis]] (or Prometheus) prophesied that the son born of Thetis would be mightier than his father, Thetis was married off to the mortal [[Peleus]].<ref>[[Bibliotheca (Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [https://topostext.org/work/150#3.13.5 3.13.5].</ref><ref>[[Pindar]], Isthmian odes [https://topostext.org/work/21#8.25 8.25]</ref>

Zeus was afraid that his grandson [[Asclepius]] would teach resurrection to humans, so he killed Asclepius with his thunderbolt. This angered Asclepius's father, [[Apollo]], who in turn killed the [[Cyclopes]] who had fashioned the thunderbolts of Zeus. Angered at this, Zeus would have imprisoned Apollo in Tartarus. However, at the request of Apollo's mother, [[Leto]], Zeus instead ordered Apollo to serve as a slave to King [[Admetus of Pherae]] for a year.<ref>[[Bibliotheca (Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022%3Atext%3DLibrary%3Abook%3D3%3Achapter%3D10%3Asection%3D4 3.10.4]</ref> According to [[Diodorus Siculus]], Zeus killed Asclepius because of complains from Hades, who was worried that the number of people in the underworld was diminishing because of Asclepius's resurrections.<ref>[[Diodorus Siculus]], ''[[Bibliotheca historica]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/133#4.71.1 4.71.2]</ref>

The winged horse [[Pegasus]] carried the thunderbolts of Zeus.<ref>[[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1:270-303 285]</ref>

Zeus took pity on [[Ixion]], a man who was guilty of murdering his father-in-law, by purifying him and bringing him to Olympus. However, Ixion started to lust after Hera. Hera complained about this to her husband, and Zeus decided to test Ixion. Zeus fashioned a cloud that resembles Hera ([[Nephele]]) and laid the cloud-Hera in Ixion's bed. Ixion coupled with Nephele, resulting in the birth of [[Centaurus (Greek mythology)|Centaurus]]. Zeus punished Ixion for lusting after Hera by tying him to a wheel that spins forever.<ref>Hard 2004, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA554 p. 554]; [[Bibliotheca (Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg002.perseus-eng1:e.1.20 Epitome 1.20]</ref>

Once, [[Helios]] the [[Solar deity|sun god]] gave his chariot to his inexperienced son [[Phaethon]] to drive. Phaethon could not control his father's steeds so he ended up taking the chariot too high, freezing the earth, or too low, burning everything to the ground. The earth itself prayed to Zeus, and in order to prevent further disaster, Zeus hurled a thunderbolt at Phaethon, killing him and saving the world from further harm.<ref>[[Ovid]], ''[[Metamorphoses]]'' [https://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/Latin/Metamorph.php#anchor_Toc64105482 1.747]&ndash;[https://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/Latin/Metamorph2.php#anchor_Toc64106101 2.400]; [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''De astronomia'' [https://topostext.org/work/207#2.42.2 2.42.2]; [[Nonnus]], ''[[Dionysiaca]]'' [https://archive.org/details/dionysiaca03nonnuoft/page/102/mode/2up?view=theater 38.142]–[https://archive.org/details/dionysiaca03nonnuoft/page/122/mode/2up?view=theater 435]</ref> In a satirical work, ''[[Dialogues of the Gods]]'' by [[Lucian]], Zeus berates Helios for allowing such thing to happen; he returns the damaged chariot to him and warns him that if he dares do that again, he will strike him with one of this thunderbolts.<ref>[[Lucian]], ''[[Dialogues of the Gods]]'' [http://lucianofsamosata.info/wiki/doku.php?id=home:texts_and_library:dialogues:dialogues-of-the-gods#section25 Zeus and the Sun]</ref>