The Twelve Olympians:
Zeus, Hera and Their Children
Morford and Lenardon, Chapter 3

Hera: Hera at Mythmedia, Images and Texts
Hestia, Goddess of the Hearth and Its Fire

    Images and Texts

The Diverse Character of Zeus

    amoral and violent womanizer vs. god of justice

        Io (Ovid 18-23)  

        

 

Argus Panoptes Guarding the Heifer (Io), Red Figure pitcher, c. 460 BC Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Europa (Ovid 49-50)

        

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ganymede (Ovid 229-230)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Zeus and Hera

The Sanctuary of Zeus at Olympia

 

chryselephanitine statue of Zeus by Pheidias, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World

Click here to see a possible equivalent be in the modern world? Or do you think this a better equivalent?

Oracles at Olympia and Dodona

Children of Zeus and Hera:

    Eileithyia (Goddess of Childbirth)

    Hebe and Ganymede (Cupbearers to the Gods)

        Hebe at Mythmedia

    Hephaistus, the Divine Artisan

        Hephaistos at MythmediaImages and Texts

        closeness to mother Hera, sternness of father Zeus

            Iliad I.517-611

    Hephaistus, Aphrodite and Ares

            Odyssey VIII.266-366

    Ares, God of War

        Ares on Mythmedia, Images and Texts

            Iliad V.889-891

Other Children of Zeus: The Muses and the Fates

    The Nine Muses

        daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne (Memory)

    The Three Fates (Moirai)

           daughters of Zeus and Themis (Law)    

            spinning metaphor

                    Clotho (Spinner)

                    Lachesis (Apportioner)

                    Atropos (Inflexible)

This material has been published on the web by Prof. Tom Sienkewicz for his students at Monmouth College. If you have any questions, you can contact him at toms@monm.edu.
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