Zeus from God of War
Zeus- King of the gods, husband to Hera, father to numerous beings including the heroes Heracles, Perseus, the gods and goddesses Athena, Apollo and Artemis, Hermes, Persephone, Dionysus, Ares, Hebe, the Muses, the Moirae, the Charites and Hephaestus, Helen of Troy, the kings Minos, Rhadamanthus and Sarpedon, and Aeacus (three of these, not Sarpedon, became the three Judges of the Dead), and others. He was known for his frivolous relationships and constant adultery and going to great lengths to abduct women and them hide them from Hera.
Cronus
He was saved from being devoured by his father Cronus when his mother Rhea switched him with a stone. She then hid Zeus in a cave on Mt. Ida. He was suckled by either a goat called Amalthea/Amaltheia or by a goat belonging to a nymph called Amalthea/Amaltheia, with her sister Melissa who gave him honey, or a nymph called Adamanthea who owned the goat Amalthea/Amaltheia, or the nymphs Cynosura and Helike, or Gaia herself.
The nymph dangled him from a tree thus placing him between earth, sky and sea and rendering him invisible to Cronus. When Zeus cried the Korybantes/Corybantes/Kuretes, armed dancers who worshipped Cybele, danced, sang and clashed their shields to drown out his noise.
When grown he caused Cronus to throw up the stone and his siblings with a potion Metis or Gaia gave to him. He then freed the Cyclopes (who gave him his thunderbolt), the Gigantes, and the Hecatonchires, after killing their guardian Campe/Kampe. With them he fought in the Titanomachy, which he and the others won. After he drew the lot of the heavens and skies he became king of the gods.
When he imprisoned the Titans Gaia turned on him birthing Typhon and Echidna to fight him, along with the giants/Gigantes but all of them failed. He killed the Gigantes king Porphyrion after he tried to rape Hera. Typhon cut his sinews and had them guarded by the half-woman half-dragon Delphyne but Apollo slayed her and Hermes stole his sinews back.
His first wife was Metis, the Titan of wisdom and cunning, he devoured her in the form of a fly when it was prophesised that she would birth a son more powerful than him. She was pregnant at the time and inside Zeus Athena was birthed and grown and was released from his head by Hephaestus fully grown and armed. His second wife was Themis the Titan of good counsel, order and divine law. With her he had the Horai/Horae and the Moirae/Fates. His third wife was Mnemosyne, the Titaness of memory, with whom he had the nine Muses/Mousai, and finally he married Hera, the goddess of marriage and his sister.
Zeus from The Immortals
Several people felt his wrath. Ixion was the king of the Lapiths, he killed his father-in-law Deioneus in revenge for Deioneus stealing his horses after Ixion refused to pay the bride-price for his daughter Dia. Ixion went mad and was shunned but Zeus took pity on him and invited him to dine with the Olympians. Ixion lusted after Hera and when Zeus found out about this (possibly because Hera told him) he fashioned a cloud, Nephele, in Hera's form as bait. Ixion had sex with it and in punishment was banished from Olympus with a thunderbolt and then bound to a flaming wheel by Hermes at Zeus' behest (which later ended up in Tartarus). The result of his union with Nephele was Centaurus, the first of the Centaurs.
He turned Pandareus, a favourite of Demeter's to stone for stealing a bronze/golden dog from Zeus' temple at Tantalus' urging.
He punished his own son Tantalus/Tantalos after he stole ambrosia and nectar from the gods and betrayed their secrets, thus betraying their hospitality, and tried to feed them his own son Pelops, who he had murdered. Zeus had him put in Tatarus where he had to stand in a pool of water beneath a fruit tree, every time he wanted fruit the branches were out of reach and when he wanted water it receded.
He had King Sisyphus/Sisyphos punished for telling the river god Asopus that it was Zeus who had abducted his daughter Aegina. He ordered Thanatos to chain up Sisyphus and drag him to Tartarus, Thanatos was tricked into binding himself with his chains and was later freed by Ares.
He punished Sisyphus' brother Salmoneus, king of Elis, for pretending to be Zeus and calling himself that. He rode in a chariot with torches over a bridge of brass. Zeus struck him with a thunderbolt, destroyed his town and sent him to Tartarus.
When King Haemus and his wife Queen Rhodope of Thrace called themselves Zeus and Hera, Zeus and Hera changed them into mountains.
He, Poseidon or Apollo killed the Telchines, children of Pontus and Gaia, Tartarus and Nemesis, or Ouranos, for using the magic wickedly. They were metalworkers, described as having flippers and dogs' heads, and they mixed Stygian water with sulphur and used this to kill plants and animals. They were killed by a lightning bolt, a flood, Poseidon's trident or Apollo in wolf form.
Some sources say he blinded the prophet Phineus and had him tormented by harpies because he had revealed too much to people.
He killed Iasion/Iasus/Eetion out of jealousy. Demeter made love to him at Cadmus and Harmonia's wedding and when Zeus saw the mudstains on her back he guessed what had happened and killed Iasion with a thunderbolt.
The Titan Prometheus suffered his wrath for tricking Zeus into taking bones wrapped in fat for a sacrifice, leaving meat hidden in the stomach for mortals, and then for stealing fire and giving it to mankind. For these offences Zeus had Hephaestus chain him to rock and had him daily tormented by an eagle that ate his liver, which regenerated over night. He remained like this until Heracles rescued him.
Zeus could be kind too. He turned a priest of Apollo Periphas into an eagle and his wife into a bird at Apollo's request, instead of killing him because he was honoured equally to Zeus. He also give the prophet Tiresias/Teiresias long life and foresight after Hera blinded him for agreeing with Zeus in that women enjoyed sex more than men.
As mentioned, Zeus had many lovers and children. Here is a complete list of them. With Aega, granddaughter of Hephaestus and a nurse to the infant Zeus with her sister Aex, he had a son, Aegipan. Aegipan was heavily linked to Pan and in some sources was his father, some sources say he was half-fish and half-goat, and with Hermes helped find and restore Zeus' sinews. In other versions, Aegipan is a son of Apollo. His Roman counterpart was Silvanus, also considered a Roman counterpart for Pan and linked to Faunus. Aega in other sources is a daughter of the Cretan king Melisseus, and was a nymph who nursed Zeus with her sister Adrasteia, though this may have been Ide, or a daughter of Helios and Perse, so bright she frightened the Titans and was concealed in a cave by Gaia, where she nursed Zeus. Sometimes she is said to be the goat that suckled Zeus instead of Amalthea.
With his sister Demeter, the goddess of the harvest, he was father to the maiden Kore who became Persephone. He allowed his brother Hades to take Persephone for a wife without Demeter or Persephone's permission but when Demeter let the earth die, refusing to let the crops go, he compelled Hermes to fetch Persephone out of the Underworld. Finding out that she had eaten pomegranate seeds there, Zeus said she would spend either half the year or three months of it with Hades, and the rest with Demeter.
With his daughter Persephone, in the form of a serpent, he had Zagreus/Zagreos, a son linked to Dionysus. Hera had the Titans kill Zagreus out of jealousy, attacking him while he was distracted with a mirror. He tried to flee in bull form and was ripped apart. Zeus, Persephone, Hermes, Athena or Rhea recovered his heart and Zeus took it and placed it in Semele and in her he was reformed as Dionysus. In other sources Hades is Zagreus' father with Persephone.
It was with Semele, Cadmus and Harmonia's daughter, that he had Dionysus. Hera disguised herself as an old woman and asked Semele how she really knew it was a god who was her lover, compelling Semele to ask Zeus to appear to her as he did to Hera, when he granted her a boon. Zeus was forced to agree to this and when he appeared Semele died of fright. Zeus took the infant within her and sewed it into his leg, from this Dionysus was born. Dionysus then went to the Underworld and brought his mother up as a goddess- Thyone.
In some versions Zeus is the father of Aphrodite with an earth and mother goddess Dione who was sometimes said to be a daughter of Gaia and Ouranos, or with the sea goddess Thalassa, daughter of Aether and Hemera and consort to Pontus. Sometimes Aphrodite is a daughter of Thalassa and Ouranos but more commonly she sprang from his blood when he was castrated.
With the Titaness of the moon, Selene, he had a daughter Ersa/Herse, goddess of the dew, and Pandia/Pandeia, goddess of the full moon, and sometimes the Nemean lion, which was also considered a child of the Chimera, Typhon and Echidna, or Orthrus and Echidna.
With the Okeanid Eurynome he had the Charites/Graces, rarely their mother was sometimes given to be a mortal Eurymedousa, Eurydome or Euanthe, sometimes their parents were Dionysus and Aphrodite or Helios and Zeus' daughter, the naiad Aegle. They were usually thought to be three- Aglaea (Splendor), Euphrosyne (Mirth) and Thalia (Good Cheer), other sources mention Cleta, Auxo, Charis, Hegemone, Phaenna and Pasithea.
The giant Orion may have been created by his, Hermes' and Poseidon's urine and semen, a son in thanks to king Hyrieus who treated them hospitably, alternatively Orion was a son of Poseidon and Euryale.
With Gaia he had a son, the first king of Lydia Manes.
Zeus from Fantasia
With the Pleiade Maia, who avoided the gods and stayed in a cave on Mt. Cyllene, he had the trickster and thief god Hermes who became his herald.
With his first wife Metis, Titaness of wisdom and deep thought, he had Athena/Athene. He swallowed Metis while she was pregnant after Ouranos and Gaia warned him that she would birth a son who would be more powerful than him. He transformed her into a fly and swallowed him and she conceived and birthed Athena inside him. Athena sprung from his head fully formed and grown when it was split open after he complained of pains.
Zeus is sometimes given as the father of the Moirai with Ananke/Anance/Anangke/Anagke, the primordial goddes of inevitability, necessity and fate, or with Themis, the Titaness of divine order, good counsel and law, and his second wife. With Themis he also had the Horae/Horai/Hours, goddesses of the seasons, they were Thallo, Auxo and Carpo, or Eunomia, Dike and Eirene, and Nemesis, the goddess of revenge, who was sometimes a daughter of Oceanus, or usually of Nyx and Erebus, and Astraea/Astrea, who was usually thought to be a daughter of Astraeus and Eos.
With his third wife Mnemosyne, the Titaness of memory, he had the nine Muses/Mousai- Calliope/Kalliope (epic poetry), Clio/Kleio (history), Erato (love poetry), Euterpe (music), Melpomene (tragedy), Polyhymnia (hymns), Terpsichore/Terpsikhore (dance), Thalia/Thaleia (comedy), and Urania/Ourania (astronomy).
With the Titaness Leto, his fourth wife, he had the twins Apollo, god of the sun, archery, poetry and medicine, and Artemis, goddess of the moon, hunting and animals.
With his final wife Hera he had Ares, the god of war, Hebe, the goddess of youth, Eileithyia, the goddess of childbirth and possibly Hephaestus the god of crafting and fire (alternatively Hera had him without a father in response to Zeus having Athena without a mother), Eris the goddess of Strife (usually seen as a daughter of Nyx), and Angelos, whose story was only mentioned in one source, she was a daughter raised by nymphs who stole Hera's anointments and gave them to Europa. She hid from Hera with a woman in labour and then people carrying a dead man. Zeus had the Cabeiri cleanse her, which they did in the Underworld turning her into an Underworld deity. She could be linked to Hecate.
He seized the nymph Thalia, daughter of Hephaestus, in the form of an eagle and with her had twins, the Palici/Palaci, alternatively they were Thalia's brothers, children of Hephaestus and the nymph Aetna, or Zeus fathered them with Aetna, a daughter of Ouranos and Gaia.
He abducted the nymph Aegina/Aigina, daughter of the river god Asopus, in the form of an eagle, Sisyphus saw this and betrayed Zeus to Asopus and for this offence Zeus commanded Thanatos to chain him and take him to Tartarus. Zeus chased off Asopus with lightning bolts and with the nymph he had a son, King Aeacus/Aiakos.
Alcemene/Alcemena, was a granddaughter of Zeus' own son Perseus, a princess who refused to wed Amphitryon who killed her father Electryon until he avenged her brothers who had been by the Taphians. While Amphitryon was away doing this Zeus visited Alcemene one night in Amphitryon's form, the result of this was the hero Heracles.
With Antiope, another daughter of Asopus', or a daughter of the King Nycteus or Lycurgus, Zeus had Amphion, who was twin to her mortal son Zethus. Zeus raped her in the form of a satyr and then she was abducted by or fled to the King Epopeus who gave her up at her Uncle Lycus' (Nyceteus' brother) request. She exposed her sons on return and they were raised by shepherds, then she was given as a slave to her aunt Dirce. Later she fled Dirce and found sanctuary with her sons who were ordered by Dirce to bind their mother to a bull, they were about to until their father revealed their origins and they either punished Dirce or Dionysus drove her mad. Amphion was trained in music and song by Hermes and given a golden lyre by him, he then married Niobe and killed himself after she brought about the wrath of Artemis and Apollo upon their sons.
With Anaxithea he had a son, Olenus.
He disguised himself as Artemis to get close to her virgin follower the nymph Callisto/Kallisto, daughter of King Lycaon. He then raped Callisto and from the union a son, Arcas, was born. Callisto was then turned into a bear by Hera or shot by Artemis. Hyginus says that Lycaon sacrificed Arcas to Zeus and Zeus restored him and turned Lycaon into a wolf or werewolf as punishment, alternatively it was a son of Lycaon that was killed, and that he attempted to feed him to Zeus. Arcas became King of Arcadia and a hunter, he went to kill his own mother not realising who it was, thinking she was a mere bear, but Zeus prevented it and turned them both into constellations.
With Calyce/Kalyke/Calycia, a nymph or Protogeneia, a daughter of Pyrrha and Deucalion who founded people after the deluge, he had Aethlius/Aithlios, king of Elis and father to Endymion, who was the lover of Selene (alternatively Endymion was Zeus' son with the nymph, who was married to Aethlius), and Opus, a king.
The Cretans gave him a daughter Britomartis/Dicte/Diktynna a goddess of mountains and hunting, who he had with Carme/Karme, a helper of Demeter who was also her granddaughter or a daughter of Cassiepeia/Casiopeia and Phoenix.
With this same Cassiopeia, Queen of Phoenicia, a sister-in-law of Europa who was abducted by Zeus, she had a son, Atymnius/Atymnios a beautiful son who was said to be desired by Sarpedon and Minos, alternatively it was Miletus, son of Apollo, who was so desired.
He may have been a father of Solymus with Chaldene/Caldene/Calchedonia/Chalcea, alternatively Ares was his father. He was said to have married his own sister, Milye.
When the King of Argos Acrisius was told by an oracle that he would be killed by his daughter's son, he imprisoned her in a bronze chamber. Zeus, desiring the daughter, princess Danae, came to her in a shower of gold. The result was Perseus. Acrisius cast them at sea in a wooden crate and they arrived at Seriphos and were taken in by a fisherman Dictys, who was brother to the king, Polydectes. Polydectes desired Danae and sent her son Perseus on a quest to kill the Gorgon Medusa to get rid of him, alternatively he asked from gifts from everyone and having nothing, Perseus set out on the quest so he would not be humiliated. Perseus returned successful and turned Polydectes and his friends to stone. Dictys became king and married Danae. Perseus killed Acrisius accidentally with a javelin or discus thus fulfilling the prophecy.
With Dia, the wife of ill-fated Ixion who murdered her father and tried to sleep with Hera, Zeus had Pirithous/Perithoos/Peirithoos/Peirithous. He seduced Dia in the form of a horse. Pirithous was King of the Lapiths and it was at his wedding to Hippodamia that the centaurs and lapiths had an infamous battle when the centaurs got drunk and tried to abduct the bride. Pirithous and his friend Theseus defeated them. He and Theseus became good friends after wanting proof of Theseus' strength, Pirithous abducted his cattle and fought him when Theseus came after him. Impressed by each other, they set their arms aside and became friends. They took part in the Calydonian Boar Hunt together and desiring daughters of Zeus for brides, they abducted Helen of Troy for Theseus and went to the Underworld to take Persephone for Pirithous. Hades pretended to be hospitable and tricked them into sitting on the Chair of Forgetfulness, they were bound their by snakes and forgot their purpose. When Heracles came for Cerberus as his final labour and freed Theseus but when he tried to free Pirithous he could not for desiring a god's wife was too great a crime.
With the princess Elara he had a giant, Tityos. Zeus hid Elara in the earth to keep her from Hera and it was there that she died giving birth to the giant. Tityos tried to rape Leto at Hera's behest and was killed by Apollo and Artemis. In Tartarus he was punished by two vultures feeding on his liver, which grew back every night.
With the Pleiade Electra/Elektra/Atlantis he had a son, Dardanos/Dardanus, a king and a founder of Dardania. With her or with Hemera he was also father to Iasion, alternatively Electra had him with the king Corythus. He fathered the twins Ploutos and Philomelus, and a son, Korybas with Demeter. He was struck down by Zeus for sleeping with Demeter, which he did so at Kadmus and Harmonia's wedding. Sometimes Harmonia is also given as Zeus' daughter with Electra, usually she is a daughter of Ares and Aphrodite.
He seduced the nymph Io and then covered her in clouds to hide her from Hera, and then turned her into a cow to hide her from Hera. Not fooled, Hera demanded the cow and then had the many eyed Argus guard her. Zeus had Hermes kill Argus and free Io, she then wandered the earth plagued by a gladfly sent by Hera until she found sanctuary in Egypt and was restored to her true form there. She married the Egyptian king Telegonus and he raised her children by Zeus, a son Epaphus/Epaphos/Apis who became king, she may have had him while he was wandering and he was hidden by the Curetes at Hera's request until Io found him again, and a daughter, Keroessa, who had a son, Byzas, with Poseidon.
Io's descendant Princess Europa was abducted by Zeus in the form of a white bull. Her father, King Agenor, sent her brothers Kadmus, Cilix and Phoenix to find her and not to return until they had, they failed by founded their own cities. Zeus left Europa in Crete where she married the King Asterion and had three sons to Zeus- Minos, Sarpedon and Rhadamanthus/Rhadamanthys/Rhadamanthos, Minos and Rhadamanthus became judges of the dead in the Underworld with Zeus' other son Aeacus. Minos drove his brothers from Crete and became king, Rhadamanthus fled to Boeotia where he married Heracles' mother Alcemene as her husband Amphitryon was dead, and Sarpedon fled to his Uncle Cilix and became ruler of Lycia.
With Eurymedousa, in ant form, he had Myrmidon.
With Euryodeia he had Arcesius/Arkeisios, king of Ithaca and grandfather of Odysseus. Alternatively his father was Cephalus/Kephalos who was abducted by Eos and killed his love Procris, he had her with Clymene, or with a she-bear that turned into a woman.
With the nymph Himalia Zeus had three sons- Spartaios, Kronios and Kytos.
With the nymph Idaea he had a son Cres/Kres.
With Queen Lamia of Libya he had sons Herophile and Akhilleus/Akheilos (who competed with Aphrodite over who was most beautiful and was cursed with ugliness by her). Jealous, Hera drove her mad causing her to kill her children and cursed her with the inability to close her eyes so that she would be haunted by the images of her dead children. Zeus gave her the ability to remove her eyes. She continued to murder others' children and was said to have a serpent's tail.
With Bellerophon's daughter Laodamia/Deidamia he had another son called Sarpedon, he fought in the Trojan War and was slain by Patroclus in disguise as Achilles.
With Leda Queen of Sparta he had Helen, Clytemnestra, Castor and Pollux/Polydeuces. He seduced her in the form of a swan and she had two eggs as a result. Sometimes only Helen is his child as Leda lay with her husband Tyndareus on the same night, or Helen and Castor are Zeus' children. Sometimes Nemesis is the mother of Helen, she took the form of a goose to escape Zeus and he took the form of a swan to couple with her, Leda found the egg that was the result and raised the child, Helen, as her own.
With Maera/Maira he had Locrus.
With Niobe (not the infamous one) he had sons, Argus King of Argos and Pelasgus.
The nymph Othreis had Meliteus to Zeus, she exposed him out of fear of Hera's wrath and he was nurtured by bees and found by his older brother, Apollo's Phager.
With the granddaughter of Pandora, Pandora, he had Graecus/Graikos and Latinus/Latinos.
With the Oceanid Plouto he was father to Tantalus who stole ambrosia and nectar, told the gods' secrets, killed his son Pelops and tried to trick the gods into eating him (Demeter ate a shoulder). Clotho restored Pelops and Tantalus was sent to Tartarus and forced to stand in a pool of water that receded when he tried to drink from it, and beneath branches bearing fruit that drew away when he tried to pluck them. He also coerced his friend Pandareus into stealing a golden/bronze dog from Zeus' temple.
With Pyrrha the daughter of Epimetheus and Pandora he may have fathered Hellene, a son and founder of the Hellenes. Alternatively, his father was Deucalion.
He pursued the Pleiade Taygete who was a follower of Artemis, Artemis either turned her into a doe to save her or as punishment for falling pregnant after Zeus raped her. The result was a son, Lacedaemon, King of Laconia.
With Deucalion and Pyrrha's daughter Thyia who had sons, Magnes who was father to Hymenaios the god of marriage ceremonies, with Calliope; and Makedon/Maedonos, king of Macedon.
With Torrhebia he had a son, Carius/Karios.
Agdistis was said to be a strange son of Zeus and Gaia, castrated by the gods it became Cybele/Kybele.
With an unknown woman he had Taenarus, Calabrus and Geraestus. He also had Crinacus, the Litae/Litai who were the wrinkled and lame personifications of prayer who followed their sister Ate/Aite, another daughter who the goddess of mischief, folly and delusion (sometimes a daughter of just Eris), and Caerus/Kairos the personification of luck and opportunity who had only one lock of hair and was Tyche/Fortuna's lover.
He seduced a woman, Phthia, in the form of a pigeon though no offspring is mentioned.
He tried to rape Aphrodite but she escaped him. Later she had an affair of him, which might be why Hera cursed her son Priapos to be deformed (alternatively it was in revenge for Paris saying Aphrodite was more beautiful than she). Zeus also pursued the Titaness Asteria, Leto's sister but she turned into a quail and jumped into the Aegean Sea to escape him and became the island Delos where Leto found sanctuary from Hera's wrath to birth her twins. He and Poseidon wooed Thetis until their was a prophecy that said her son would be greater than his father, she was then forced into marrying the mortal Peleus who loved her, with him she had the hero Achilles.
He also, in eagle form, abducted the beautiful Trojan prince Ganymede to be his cupbearer and granted him immortality and agelessness. He gave his father Tros horses to compensate him.
Zeus from Xena and Hercules the Legendary Journeys
He is the god of the heavens, skies, weather, thunderstorms and rain and is usually depicted with a beard, sceptre and thunderbolt/ lightning bolt. He is associated with the oak, the golden eagle and the bull and usually had an eagle at his side and took its form. He took the form of a bull to abduct Europa, a cuckoo to seduce Hera, a swan to seduce Leda, a satyr to abduct Antiope, and an eagle to abduct Thalia, Aegina and Ganymede. He turned Io into a cow to disguise from Hera, who was not fooled, and inadvertently killed Semele (Dionysus' mother) when Hera tricked her into demanding that Zeus come to her how he came to Hera. His favourite children were Athena and Heracles.
His Roman counterpart is Jupiter/Jove who was initially a minor god known as the day father who was associated with storms and agriculture. Jupiter was more warlike and associated with the laws and state of Rome. He was a sky god linked to oaths and punished those that broke them. In the first Capitoline Triad/Archaic Triad he was a member with Mars and Quirinus. He was guardian of the state with Minerva and Juno in the second Capitoline Triad. One myth says he and Juno were twins nursed by the goddess Fortuna Primigenia, sometimes Jupiter was even her son. Alternatively she was a daughter of Jupiter.
When bad weather affected the land King Numa got the gods Picus and Faunus drunk and imprisoned them until they evoked Jupiter. Jupiter appeared and told Numa how to avert lightning bolts in exchange for an onion bulb, hairs and a fish. He then gifted Numa with a shield he named an ancile.
White animals (mainly ox, lambs, castrated goats and rams) were sacrificed to him. The expression 'by Jove' comes from Romans saying this when calling him to witness an oath.
