The best known myths of Zeus

In the vast majority of mythologies there is a figure that is considered the most important, being generally the god with the greatest power of all and possessing in some a kind of position as sovereign of the gods. In Greek mythology this god is Zeus, this being the reason why the king of the gods appears in so many mythological stories. To know some of the most important in this lesson from a TEACHER, we are going to talk about the best known myths of Zeus.

When we talk about the myths of Zeus, the first thing we usually think about is the abductions, these being mythological events in which the king of the gods he went down to the mortal world and kidnapped a woman of her to have offspring with her.

It must be taken into account that the abducted woman was never a goddess, being generally mortals or nymphs, from whose relationship great heroes or kings were born. These descendants generally had to face revenge from Zeus's wifeHera, who paid for her husband's adventures with her descendants.

There are a large number of abductions of Zeus, but below we must mention some of the most important, either because of the great influence they have had on art, or because of the great consequences that the rapture had in question.

The Rape of Europa

Possibly the most famous rapture of all what Zeus did, or at least the one that has been represented the most times in art. Europe was a Phoenician woman from the city of Tire, which gives its name to the present continent. Zeus fell in love with Europa upon seeing her, so he became a bull and he hid with the rest of the animals of the young woman's father and she, seeing that the bull was meek, decided to ride on it.

Zeus in the form of a bull led Europe to the city of Crete, where he demonstrated his true form and made his beloved the first queen of the island. From the love between Zeus and Europe the first dynasty of kings of Crete was born.

Danae

Danae was the daughter of Acrisio and Eurídice, kings of Argos, who had received the visit of an oracle that announced that the son of Dánae would kill Acrisio. To avoid this, the young woman's father hid her in a kind of underground chamber in which it seemed impossible to enter, although it was not an impediment for someone as powerful as Zeus. The king of the gods managed to penetrate the walls of the chamber turned into golden shower, and made the young woman pregnant, born of this union the famous hero Perseus.

Gives

Leda was the daughter of the kings of Aetolia, and was married to Tindáreo, king of Lacedaemon. People say that Leda turned into a goose to flee from the seduction of Zeus, but the god turned into a swan to maintain relations with her. Leda laid two eggs a little later, each of them being born two twins, one of these children being the famous Helena of Troy.

To continue with the lesson we must talk about the myths related to the sons of Zeus, since the Greek supreme being is one of the deities with the greatest offspring of all mythology and in many cases with very interesting myths regarding the birth of her children.

The birth of Athena

There are many myths about the birth of Athena, but the most common is the one that says that she was born straight out of the head of Zeus, after eating the mother of the goddess of wisdom, Metis. It is said that the favorite daughter of Zeus was born directly adult and armed, as a good goddess of war that she was.

Dionisio

Dionysus's mother, Semele was one of Zeus's first mortal lovers. This made Zeus's wife, Hera, plot revenge against her, convincing her that the man she was a lover of was not really Zeus. Semele to demonstrate the veracity of Hera's lie asked Zeus to demonstrate her power but the sample was too much for Semele, who died. Even with this Zeus managed to save the child that Semele was carrying, this being the god of wine Dionisio.

To conclude this lesson on the most well-known myths of Zeus, we must talk about those Greek stories related to Zeus that have nothing to do with his offspring or relationships loving.

Chronos

Before Zeus was born, the world was ruled by the titans, being the kings the parents of Zeus, Cronos and Rea. A prophecy had told Cronos that he would be killed by one of his children, so every time Rhea gave birth to Cronos she would eat one of her children. Rea fed up with this situation she decided to save one of her children, giving her husband a stone and hiding the infant from her, this being Zeus. Years later Zeus returned, forcing Cronos to free his brothers swallowed up by him, defeating the titan, and becoming king of Olympus.

The myth of Prometheus

It is said that one of the most important resources of Olympus was fire, this being the reason why men were cold. Seeing this, Prometheusdecided to fix the situation and he stole the fire to give it to men. Zeus, unhappy with the situation, chained Prometheus to a rock and made an eagle eat his liver every day.