The Three Brothers- Hades

Hades- the god of the underworld and wealth within the earth i.e jewels, metals etc. He is most famous for abducting Persephone, a goddess of nature who was the daughter of Zeus and Demeter. Hades fell for her when he saw her with her nymphs picking flowers and abducted her. It is said that either Hecate/Hekate or Helios witnessed this and informed Demeter and the nymphs with her became the Sirens. Demeter in her grief let the earth fade away causing famine, unable to ignore this Zeus asked Hades to return Persephone. Persephone however had eaten pomegranate seeds and thus was forever bound to the Underworld, as a result she had to spend either three months with Hades and nine with Demeter or six with Hades and six with Demeter. Demeter's grief as a result of her daughter's departure and her joy at being reunited with her led to the seasons. According to some versions of the tale Zeus actually encouraged the abduction and was aware of it, and that Persephone actually fell in love with Hades.

Hades and Persephone from Hercules: The Legendary Journeys

He was sometimes known as Pluton the god of wealth and owned a helmet of invisibility/ Helm of Darkness. He was associated with dogs, black sheep, the screech owl the cypress, the asphodel and the narcissus plant.

He tried to take Leuce/Leuka the Oceanid as a lover, in one version he succeeds and she remains with him until she dies and he turns her into the poplar tree but in another version Persephone intervenes before he can abduct her by killing her or turning her into the poplar. He also tried to take the naiad Mentha/Menthe/Minthe as a lover but Persephone turned her into mint/mentha plant.

When Theseus and Pirithous came to abduct Persephone to be Pirithous' wife Hades pretended to offer them hospitality but when they sat down snakes bound them to their seats. Theseus was rescued by Heracles but Pirithous could not be freed as his crime of coveting a god's wife was too great.
He also brought about the death of Apollo's son Asclepius/Asklepios, accusing him of raising the dead or preventing too many from going to the Underworld, he compelled Zeus to fix this so Zeus killed him with a lightning bolt and Apollo killed the Cyclopes that made the lightning bolt in response. Alternatively, Zeus killed Asclepius without being provoked by Hades.

When King Neleus of Pylos refused to cleanse Heracles of the murder of Iphitos Heracles marched on him and Pylos. Hera, Ares, Poseidon (Neleus' father) and Hades sided with Neleus whilst only Athena, or Athena and Zeus, sided with Heracles. Heracles wounded Ares with his spear, Hera with a three pronged arrow to her breast and Hades in the shoulder with an arrow. As the arrows had been poisoned with blood from the Hydra the gods were in immense pain until Asclepius healed them. Heracles may have also wounded Apollo with an arrow after he tried to heal Ares.

He had the three headed dog Cerebus/Kerberos, a child of Echidna and Typhon and brother to the two headed hound Orthrus to guard the entrance of the Underworld, which was divided into Tartarus for the damned, Asphodel for those who were neither good nor bad and the Elysium Fields for the good, the Isles of the Blessed were there and were for heroes. Charon/Kharon was the ferryman who took souls across the rivers Styx and Acheron in exchange for coin. It was Hermes who as a psychopomp, guided the souls to the Underworld, after Thanatos had ended them. There were three judges of the dead- kings Minos, Aiakos and Rhadamanthys.

He allowed Heracles to take Cerebus for his final labour, providing he used no weapons and returned the dog. Heracles complied with this, strangling the dog into submission. In some versions Heracles shot the god with an arrow and he had to be healed by Asclepius.

Hades from Xena

He was also touched by Orpheus' music enough to allow his wife Eurydice to return from the Underworld with him, providing Orpheus did not look back at her on the way out. As Eurydice was slow from her injury (death by snakebite ), Orpheus feared she was not with him and looked back. He witnessed her shade vanishing from him. Alternatively, it was Persephone who showed him mercy and compelled her husband to do the same.
He or Persephone also allowed Sisyphus to return to the living as his wife had not performed his funerary rites (deliberately as Sisyphus had requested she not). Once he returned he refused to go back to the Underworld, forcing Hermes to drag him back.
When Aonia, part of Boeotia, was inflicted with a plague (possibly sent by Hades and Persephone), the daughters of Orion- Menippe and Metioche (known as the Coronides/Koronides) who were taught weaving by Athena and given beauty by Aphrodite, killed themselves with their shuttles and were turned into comets by Persephone and Hades out of pity. Alternatively, just Persephone changed them.


He was depicted in a golden chariot pulled by black horses, usually wearing his helmet of invisibility and carrying a sceptre. He was linked with the Erinyes, the three goddesses of vengeance whom he and Persephone were sometimes given as parents of, otherwise they were daughters of Ouranos, sprung from his blood, and the Keres, daughters of Nyx who were death demons.

Sometimes he was given children with Persephone- Macaria/Makaria, a goddess of blessed death. Melinoe the goddess of offerings to the dead who wandered with a train of ghosts, it was said it was she who made dogs barked at in the night. She was depicted as half light and half dark either because Persephone was light and Hades dark or because she was actually a daughter of Zeus (light) and Persephone (dark) when Zeus seduced Persephone in the form of Hades. Zagreus a child of either Hades and Persephone or Zeus and Persephone who is linked to Dionysus. As a child of Persephone and Zeus he was said to have been murdered by Titans incited by a jealous Hera, they left his heart which was placed in the mortal Semele and from her was reborn.

His Roman counterparts were Pluto, Dis Pater or Orcus. Orcus was a god of the underworld who punished broken oaths and viewed as a bearded giant who tormented evil doers. Dis Pater was a god of the underworld associated with riches, fertility and minerals, he was initially just a god of wealth who was linked to the underworld due to metals and jewels coming from the earth. Pluto took on most of Hades' myths and was largely another name for him, tying in with his name Pluton, a god of wealth.

The Three Brothers- Poseidon

Poseidon from The Immortals

Poseidon- God of the seas and earthquakes, husband to Amphitrite and father to Aeolus/Aiolos the wind god, Despoine, a goddess of mystery, Triton, a sea god, the Aloadae/Aloadai (giants Otus and Ephialtes), Charybdis/Kharbydis, a naiad who became a sea monster or whirlpool after winning too much land for her father and angering Zeus as a result, Khyrsaor/Chrysaor a giant or winged boar who was a son of Medusa and brother to Pegasus, Pegasus, the winged horse, Polyphemos, a cyclops, Arion/Areion, a swift, talking horse, Chrysomallus/Khrysomallos, the flying golden ram who saved Phrixus/Phrixos and whose fleece Jason and the Argonauts sought, the hero Bellerophon, the hero Theseus, the queen Lamia who had an affair with Zeus and was driven to kill and eat her children by Hera as a result, the giant Sinis who bound travellers to pine trees and had them wrenched apart by them, the robber Sciron who kicked people off cliffs to be eaten by a giant turtle, and the bandit Procrustes who stretched or cut people to make them fit his bed.

His wife Amphitrite was an Oceanid or a Nereid whose chariot was drawn by hippocampi/hippocamps/hippokampoi, beasts who had the front half of horses and the back half of fish, they also drew Poseidon's chariot. With Poseidon she was parent to the minor sea deity Triton, who was depicted like a merman, the sea nymph Rhode who was wife to Helios, the sea nymph Cymopoleia/Kymopoleia, who was the wife of the Hekantonkherie, Briareus/Briareos who was also given as a god of sea storms, and Benthesicyme/Benthesikyme a sea nymph and goddess of the waves.

Poseidon was known as the earth-shaker and the horse was sacred to him. He is depicted usually as bearded with his triton in hand. He made love to Demeter in the form of a stallion while she took the form of a mare in an attempt to escape him and together they created the talking horse Arion as well as the mysterious goddess Despoine. With Medusa he created the winged horse Pegasus as well as the winged boar or giant Chrysaor. He seduced the princess Melantho in the form of a dolphin and turned princess Theophane into a ewe after abducting her, to hide her, and coupled with her in the form of a ram, resulting in Khrysomallos the golden ram.

He was also associated with dolphins, the conch shell, and the bull. He sent a white bull from the sea to Minos in response to his request for proof of his right to rule as king of Crete but when Minos failed to sacrifice it he caused his wife Pasiphae to fall in love with it, the result was the Minotaur. The bull later became known as the Marathonian Bull and was first captured by Heracles and then released before being captured and sacrificed by Theseus.

Poseidon from God of War

He rivalled with Athena over the naming of Athens, he offered them a salty spring whilst she offered them an olive tree, they picked her gift and named the city after them. Poseidon sent a flood in revenge. He also had a contest with Hera for Argos and when the river gods picked Hera as the winner, Poseidon dried up the springs.
 He was on the side of the Greeks in the Trojan War as he was not paid for building Troy's walls with Apollo, he had to build them as he and Apollo were sent into servitude of King Laomedon for offending Zeus. Poseidon was being punished for plotting to overthrow Zeus and Apollo was being punished for murdering the Cyclopes who had made Zeus' thunderbolt.

Poseidon plotted with Hera and Athena to overthrow Zeus, they succeeded in chaining him but were foiled by Thetis who got Briraeos to help him. In punishment Poseidon was banished, it was during this time that he built the walls of Troy with Apollo for King Laomedon. When Laomedon refused to pay the gods as promised, Poseidon sent a sea monster to attack Troy. He later sided against the Trojans during The Trojan War.

He punished Queen Cassiopeia for her boasts that she was prettier than the Nereids by sending the sea monster Cetus to plague Ethiopia. Her daughter Andromedea was demanded as a sacrifice by the Oracle of Apollo but she was saved by Perseus who slayed Cetus.

When Odysseus blinded Polyphemus, the cyclops son of Poseidon, he showed his wrath by plaguing Odysseus on his journey home.

Like his brother Zeus he had many lovers and children.

His Roman counterpart is Neptune the god of water and the seas. Initially Neptune was not that important and it was Portunes or Fortunus who was associated with naval victories. His wife was Salacia goddess of salt water.

The Three Brothers- Zeus

Zeus, Hades and Poseidon, after winning the war against the Titans divided the world up amongst themselves by picking lots, Zeus picked the longest and won the skies and the heavens, Hades picked the shortest and got the Underworld, and Poseidon got the seas.

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.