Zeus, king of Olympus and god of thunder and the skies, was known by almost all of the gods as their Father. In many cases, this was literal, and not just for gods, either! The total count of his children usually comes out at about one hundred, most of whom were not with his wife, Hera.
The following list is just a selection of the offspring of Zeus, whether divine or semi-divine. In many cases, sources vary on parentage – but when there’s doubt, it’s usually safe to assume that Zeus and his voracious sexual appetite were involved! Each of Zeus’s children had their own powerful legacy, and each served their own important purpose.
Contents
- The Children of Zeus
- 1. Children of Hera and Zeus
- 2. Athena
- 3. Apollo and Artemis
- 4. Hermes
- 5. Dionysus
- 6. Perseus
- 7. Heracles
- 8. Persephone
- 9. Children of Leda and Zeus
- 10. Arcas
- 12. The Boeotian Muses
- 13. The Nine Muses
- 14. Tantalus
- 15. Amphion and Zethus
- 16. Children of Io and Zeus
- 17. Lacedaemon
- 18. Orion
- 19. Children of Pandora II and Zeus
- 20. Son of Pyrrha
The Children of Zeus
1. Children of Hera and Zeus
With his wife and queen, Zeus was the father of around ten children, though the number varies depending on the myth. Their daughters were Angelia (an Underworld deity), Arge (a nymph), Eilethieya (a childbirth goddess), Eleftheria (goddess of liberty), Enyo (a minor war goddess), Eris (goddess of discord), Hebe (a goddess of youth, and sometimes the Curetes, dancers and worshippers of the Titan Rhea. Their only son was usually the Olympian god of war, Ares. Zeus is also sometimes the father of the Olympian Hephaestus, god of the forge.
2. Athena
Athena was Zeus’s favorite child, and no wonder – she was born directly from Zeus’s forehead! Athena, goddess of wisdom and strategic warfare, was conceived by Zeus and his Titan wife Metis. When a prophecy declared that Zeus would fall to his son, he swallowed Metis whole. However, Athena continued to gestate, and she was born of Zeus, fully-grown and armored for battle.
3. Apollo and Artemis
These twins were born of the Titans’ daughter Leto, who was targeted by Hera in retribution for the affair. Apollo was the god of music, the sun, poetry, and healing, while Artemis was the goddess of the hunt, wild animals, the wilderness, and the moon. Despite Hera’s animosity toward their mother, both would become Olympians.
4. Hermes
This wily and much favored messenger of the gods was the product of Zeus and a Pleiad nymph, Maia. He was one of the few of Zeus’s children to gain acceptance from Hera, as just after he was born, he tricked her into letting him suckle at her breast. As well as a messenger, Hermes was an Olympian, and was god of travelers, thieves, tricksters, and more.
5. Dionysus
The god of wine, chaos, and revelry had the distinction of being the only half-human amongst the Olympians. He was the thirteenth to take a seat on Olympus, accepting Hestia’s place after she conceded it to him. Dionysus’s mother, Semele, was killed when a jealous Hera tricked Zeus into showing her his true form. Zeus saved the fetus by sewing it into his thigh, and Dionysus was born shortly afterward. Later, Dionysus would retrieve his mother from the Underworld.
6. Perseus
This great hero was the son of Zeus and the mortal princess of Argos, Danaë. He was conceived after his grandfather locked his mother away in a bronze chamber to keep her virginal, but Zeus, who desired her, came upon her in a shower of golden rain. As an adult, Perseus enlisted help from much of his divine family, especially his half-sister Athena, on his adventures. Most famously, he slayed the Gorgon, Medusa.
7. Heracles
Heracles, or Hercules, was Zeus’s son by the mortal Alcmene. He was born Alcaeus, and was despised by Hera and often targeted in his infancy and youth by the jealous goddess’s attempts to kill him. His name was changed to honor her and keep her content, but it didn’t work! As an adult, Heracles took on many trials, including his infamous Twelve Labors. He became the greatest of Greek heroes.
8. Persephone
Originally a goddess of spring and flowers and later the Queen of the Underworld and wife of Zeus’s brother, Hades, Persephone was usually the daughter of Zeus and his sister Demeter. Demeter, an Olympian, was the goddess of the seasons and the harvest. Persephone’s abduction from Olympus to the Underworld was sanctioned by Zeus, and there she ruled equally at Hades’s side.
9. Children of Leda and Zeus
Leda was a human woman whom Zeus seduced while he was in the form of a swan. That same night she lay with her husband, and afterward produced two eggs. From these hatched four children, two of whom carried Zeus’s blood. His son was Polydeuces or Pollux, who made up one half of the Dioscuri and the Gemini constellation with his brother, Castor. The other was the beautiful Helen of Troy, whose loveliness caused the Trojan War.
10. Arcas
Arcas was the son of Calisto, a companion of Artemis. Zeus desired her, and so tricked her into copulation by appearing to her as Artemis. When she became pregnant, Hera responded angrily by turning her into a bear. As a bear, she gave birth to Arcas, who became the King of Arcadia. Arcas taught his people how to weave and bake bread.
12. The Boeotian Muses
The three original muses were Aoede, the muse of vocalizing and song, Melete, muse of thought and practice, and Mneme, the muse of memory. Their mother was Mnemosyne, the goddess of memory, who also mothered the later Nine Muses.
13. The Nine Muses
These nine goddesses were creatures of inspiration, each dedicated to a single task. Their mother as Mnemosyne and their father Zeus. Their names were Calliope (epic poetry and eloquence), Clio (history and the lyre), Euterpe (lyric poetry), Erato (erotic poetry and mimicry), Melpomene (chorus and tragedy), Polyhymnia (sacred song, poetry, and dance, and pantomime), Terpsichore (dance), Thalia (comedy and whimsical poetry), and Urania (astronomy).
14. Tantalus
Son of Zeus and the nymph Pluoto, Tantalus has the dubious honor of being most remembered for his punishment after death. In life, Tantalus was welcomed to the table of the gods, and from there he stole nectar, ambrosia, and secrets. If this wasn’t enough, he also made a brutal sacrifice from his own son, Pelops. Pelops was brought back to life, and Tantalus was sentenced to Tartarus, the darkest pit of the Underworld. There, he was forced to stand in a clear pool of water and filled with an unquenching thirst. Every time he bent to take a drink, however, the water would move away.
15. Amphion and Zethus
These twin sons of Antiope became the founders of Thebes. After she was raped by Zeus, she fled in shame, but was captured and forced to leave them to die, then made a slave. When Antiope finally escaped, she relocated her now-adult sons and they killed her captors in retribution, claiming Thebes as their own. Both later committed suicide due to the deaths of their own children.
16. Children of Io and Zeus
Io was another of Zeus’s lovers treated badly by Hera. Zeus transformed Io into a cow to protect her from Hera’s multiple assassination attempts. From Zeus and Io’s union came Epaphus, who was conceived by a touch of Zeus’s hand and was the father of Libya, and his older sister Ceroessa, who later became a consort of her uncle, Poseidon, and a heroine in the foundation of Byzantium.
17. Lacedaemon
The son of the nymph Taygete, a companion of Artemis, and Zeus, Lacedaemon gave his name to the city-state now known as Sparta, which was actually a settlement within the city. Lacedaemon married Sparta, and they had several children of their own, including Orpheus’s wife Eurydice.
18. Orion
Though Orion in Homer and Hesiod was the son of Poseidon, other myths have him as a combined son of Zeus, Poseidon, and Hermes with no mother. In these versions of the story, King Hyreius cooked a bull for the three gods, who then offered to repay him. He claimed he wanted a son, and so the three gods urinated into the hide of the bull and buried it in the earth. Ten months later, Hyreius dug up the hide and found Orion. Orion became a giant hunter, who eventually was placed in the sky as a constellation.
19. Children of Pandora II and Zeus
The second Pandora was named after her grandmother, the original Pandora who released sin into the world. Pandora II became a lover of Zeus, and the two had several children. Graecus, Pandorus, and Latinus were their sons who founded tribes and were associated with heroes. Their daughter was named Melera.
20. Son of Pyrrha
Pyrrha and her husband Deucalion were the heroes of the Greek version of the flood myth. They sailed on an ark and afterwards repopulated the earth by throwing stones. Pyrrha was also a lover of Zeus. She had three daughters – Pandora II, Protogenia, and Thyia – and three sons, Hellen, Amphictyon, and Orestheus. Hellen was the son of Zeus and the progenitor of all of the Greek (or Hellenistic) people. He was sometimes alternately named as or entirely replaced by Helmetheus, who was also Zeus and Pyrrha’s son and shared a similar role.
FAQs
Who are the children of Zeus? ›
His most famous divine daughters include Aphrodite, goddess of love, Athena, goddess of war, and Persephone, the goddess of spring. Zeus's celebrated sons are also many, and include Apollo, god of the sun, light, music and poetry, Ares, god of war, and Hermes, messenger to the gods.
Who are Zeus demigod children? ›Zeus has many children, Demigod and Godly. Some of his children are Apollo. Athena, Persephone, Ares, Hephaestus, Hermes, Henry, Hercules, Perceus and Hebe. Hebe and Hephaestus are the only children Zeus and Hera had, the rest are illegitimate.
Who are Zeus most famous children? ›Zeus fathered many children. Among the most well-known are Athena, the goddess of war; Perseus, the hero known for slaying Medusa; and Persephone, Demeter's daughter and wife to Hades.
Who was Zeus first child? ›In most myths, Athena is the eldest child of Zeus. Athena's mother, Metis, was a powerful Titaness whom Zeus either seduced or raped, depending on the version of the story.
Who is Zeus youngest child? ›KAIROS (Caerus) The god of opportunity was the youngest divine son of Zeus.
Who did Zeus have 9 daughters with? ›Mnemosyne spent nine nights with Zeus, and on each of these nights, he fathered a child. The nine children were born in the same birth and were known as the nine muses, the goddesses of artistic inspiration. The nine daughters of Mnemosyne and Zeus were: Calliope, muse of epic poetry.
Who did Zeus get pregnant? ›Impregnation by Zeus
Nonnus classifies Zeus's affair with Semele as one in a set of twelve, the other eleven women on whom he begot children being Io, Europa, Plouto, Danaë, Aigina, Antiope, Leda, Dia, Alcmene, Laodameia, the mother of Sarpedon, and Olympias.
The Prince of Power has arrived! In the final post-credit scene of Thor: Love and Thunder, a humiliated Zeus (Russell Crowe) plots his revenge against Thor and the other superheroes who take the worship due to gods. He sends them a god in the form of a hero with his son, Hercules, played by Ted Lasso's Brett Goldstein.
Who is Zeus Halfblood child? ›He's the son of Kronos and Rhea, and the brother of Hades, Poseidon, Chiron, Hera, Demeter and Hestia. He is also the father of the Greek Gods Ares, Athena, Apollo, Artemis, Hephaestus, Hermes and Persephone, and Demigods Jason and Thalia Grace.
Who is Zeus Favourite son? ›Apollo was Zeus's favorite son, and next to Zeus, the most important Greek god.
Who is Zeus strongest child? ›
Hercules was considered to be the strongest child of Zeus with his strength being comparable to the God of Thunder himself.
Who had 3 children with Zeus? ›Zeus is the Greek god of the skies, and Hera is the Greek goddess of marriage and birth. Hera is also known as Queen of the Gods because of her matriarchal role in Greek mythology. Together, Zeus and Hera had three children: Ares, Hebe, and Hephaestus.
How many god children did Zeus have? ›In total, Zeus is believed to have fathered more than 50 children! That's not unheard of in ancient Greek mythology. But what's interesting about Zeus' offspring is their prominence in the Greek Pantheon. His offspring include the Muses, the Graces, and even the Horae.
Who is Zeus twin sister? ›...
| Artemis | |
|---|---|
| Mount | A golden chariot driven by four golden-horned deer |
| Personal information | |
| Born | Island of Delos, Greece |
| Parents | Zeus and Leto |
Zeus' breedings yield 19 daughters, all virgins. The Olympics were held in his honor. The history of the gods started out with Gaea as a goddess giving birth alone to her sons and ends with Zeus who can give birth to a daughter by himself.
How many baby mamas does Zeus have? ›Many of Zeus's most publicised love affairs were with divine goddesses, and this meant their children would inherit their parents' almighty powers. Stories suggest at least 41 of Zeus's children were gods or goddesses, sharing the family's mystical powers across Mount Olympus for many generations.
Is Wonder Woman Zeus daughter? ›In The New 52 reboot, Wonder Woman's origin is revised, with her now being the biological daughter of Zeus. Zeus and Hippolyta engaged in combat, and their fight ended with the couple having sex, and thus Diana was conceived.
Who is Zeus first wife? ›Metis, an Oceanid or sea-nymph, was Zeus's first wife. Wise and prudent, she was endowed with the gift of prophecy. In their early years together, she was Zeus's closest ally and aide, helping him win the battle against Cronus.
Are there 7 or 9 muses? ›Who are the 9 muses ? From the from the relationship of Mnemósine with Zeus the Muses were born: Calliope, Clio, Erato, Euterpe, Melpomene, Polymnia, Terpsichore, Talia and Urania. They often accompanied Apollo, god of the arts. They inhabited Mount Helicon, but were often on Olympus to entertain the gods.
Who is Zeus favorite wife? ›Hera. The most famous wife of Zeus is Hera. She was his principal wife and the Queen of heaven.
Who are the 3 daughters of Zeus? ›
The Three Graces were three daughters of Zeus who personified grace, beauty and charm. Hesiod, in the 'Theogony', names them as Aglaia, Euphrosyne and Thalia.
Who is Zeus most powerful child? ›Heracles – Son of Zeus and Alcmene
He possessed superhuman strength and courage. Because he was a reminder of Zeus's unfaithfulness, Hera made it her mission to make his life miserable. At one point, she drove him to madness and he killed his own children. To atone for his sins, he went through his famous “Labors”.
Athena, the daughter of Zeus, was produced without a mother and emerged full-grown from his forehead. An alternative story was that Zeus swallowed Metis, the goddess of counsel, while she was pregnant with Athena so that Athena finally emerged from Zeus.
How many children Zeus had? ›Zeus is the child of Cronus and Rhea, the youngest of his siblings to be born, though sometimes reckoned the eldest as the others required disgorging from Cronus's stomach. In most traditions, he is married to Hera, by whom he is usually said to have fathered Ares, Eileithyia, Hebe, and Hephaestus.
Who are the 7 daughters of Zeus? ›The Pleiades were seven sisters: Maia, Alcyone, Asterope, Celaeno, Taygete, Electra, and Merope. Their parents were Atlas, a Titan commanded by the god Zeus to hold up the earth, and Pleione, the mythical protectress of sailors.
Who defeated Zeus son? ›The Titans, also known as the elder gods, ruled the earth before the Olympians overthew them. The ruler of the Titans was Cronus who was de-throned by his son Zeus. Most of the Titans fought with Cronus against Zeus and were punished by being banished to Tartarus.
Who is Zeus most famous daughter? ›Athena: Goddess of War (And the Most Famous Daughter of Zeus) Athena, Greek goddess of wisdom and war, is arguably Zeus's most famous daughter. She was born in extraordinary circumstances. Zeus swallowed his pregnant wife Metis, after being told that her child would try to overthrow him.
Is Zeus a boy or girl? ›Zeus is a boy's name of Greek origin. This name is a mainstay in Greek mythology, belonging to the god of the sky and thunder. It even translates to “sky” and “shine.” Zeus rules as king of the gods in Mount Olympus and acts as patriarch to all the deities throughout the pantheon.
Who was Zeus's favorite son? ›Apollo was Zeus's favorite son, and next to Zeus, the most important Greek god.
Who is Thor's daughter? ›Who Plays Love? Gorr's daughter is played by India Rose Hemsworth, the daughter of Thor himself, Chris Hemsworth, and actress Elsa Pataky. Hemsworth has talked about how his children are in the movie, saying "...Taika had his children in there. Christian Bale had his.
Who is Zeus half brother? ›
Chiron. In Greek mythology, Chiron was one of the Centaurs, the son of the Titan Cronus and Philyra, an Oceanid sea nymph. He was thus a half-brother to Zeus. Unlike other Centaurs, who were considered violent and savage creatures, he was famous for his wisdom and knowledge of medicine.
Is Odin's father Zeus? ›To answer the question right away, Zeus and Odin are not the same, nor have they ever been thought to be the same entity at any point throughout history. Zeus is the king of the gods in Greek mythology, whilst Odin is the king in Norse mythology.