Editing Zeus (section)

=== 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>
|}