Zeus | Myths, Wife, Children, & Facts - Britannica

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Zeus’s lovers

Zeus compelled the reluctant Hera to marry him by disguising himself as a cuckoo that had been caught in a storm of his own making. When the unsuspecting Hera took the bedraggled bird to her bosom, Zeus reverted to his original form and assaulted her (in some versions, she yielded). Overcome by shame, Hera agreed to become Zeus’s wife, and their wedding was the first among the Olympian gods. The union was a tumultuous one, with husband and wife often in conflict.

Zeus was well known for his amorousness—a source of perpetual discord with Hera—and he had many love affairs with both mortal women, such as Leda, Europa, and Danaë, and immortal women, such as Metis, Themis, Demeter, Mnemosyne, Leto, Io, and Callisto. In some accounts many of these encounters were assaults rather than consensual. A liaison with Zeus often had tragic consequences for the object of his affection: He turned Io into a heifer after she was persecuted by Hera, and Callisto, who served Artemis and was required to remain chaste, was turned into a bear. Notable among Zeus’s lovers was Laomedon’s son Ganymede, who was abducted by Zeus and became the cupbearer on Olympus. As he had with Hera, Zeus frequently assumed animal forms to achieve his amorous designs, such as that of a swan when he ravished Leda or a bull when he carried off Europa.

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