The lovers of Zeus

Read this excerpt by Sappho, a Greek poetess in the 7th-6th century BC, and answer the following questions.  

Close beside me now as I pray appearing 
Lady Hera, gracious in all your majesty 
you whom the Atreídai invoked to help them, 
glorious princes, 
while they were completing their many labors, 
first at Ilion, and then on the ocean 
sailing for this island: they hadn’t power to 
finish their journey 
till they called on you, on the god of strangers 
Zeus, and on Thyónë’s delightful son: 
Now I too entreat you, O goddess, help me 
as in the old days. 

Sappho, Fr. 17 

The Poetry of Sappho. Translation and Notes by Jim Powell. (retrevied on 06/09/2022) <http://www.projethomere.com/ressources/Sappho/Poetry-of-Sappho.pdf>  

Before doing the activities, we are going to review some of Zeus' affairs. 

Zeus had an official wife, his sister Hera (Juno) with whom she had Hephaestus (Vulcano), Ares (Mars) and Hebe. Zeus was unfaithful and slept with other goddesses and mortals with whom he had other gods, heroes and benevolent beings.  

With Themis, daughter of Uranus and Gaia, he had the Moirai (Fates) and the Three Graces; with Mnemosyne, daughter of Uranus and Gaia, he had the Nine Muses; from his affair with Demeter, daughter of Cronus and Rhea, Persephone was born.   

Ha also fathered several Olympian gods: with Leda, a titan daughter of Coeus, he had Apollo and Artemis (Diana); from his union with Maia came Hermes (Mercury); he devoured Metis, daughter of Oceanus and Thetys, after finding out she was pregnant and from her head, Athena (Minerva) was born; he had Bacchus with Semele after it grew in his thigh, since his mother, daughter of Cadmus, died when she saw Zeus in all his splendour after being tricked by Hera. 

He had more offspring with some mortal women he tricked: transformed into a shower of gold he deceived Danaë, princess of Argos and from this union, Perseus was born; in the form of a swan he united with Leda to conceive Pollux and Helen of Troy; to abduct Europa he transformed himself into a beautiful bull, took her to Crete where their son Minos was born; to seduce Alcmene he disguised himself as Amphitryon, her husband, and conceived the hero Heracles; transformed into a cloud he deceived Io and Epaphos, king of Egypt, was born; in the form of Artemis he conquered Callisto and Arcas was born; disguised as a satyr he took the opportunity to deceive Antiope and from this relationship Zetho and Amphion were born. 

Metamorphosed into an eagle, he abducted the handsome young Trojan prince Ganymede, whom he took to Olympus and made cupbearer to the gods with his daughter Hebe.  

Answer the following questions:

1- Who is Thyónë? Who did Zeus father with her? How was this child born? 

2- Complete the following table with information about Zeus' children from the name of his lovers. 

3- Complete this table as the one above. 

4- Connect his lovers to his metamorphoses  

LOVER                            METAMORPHOSIS 

Antiope                                swan 
Danaë                                    bull 
Europe                                  satyr 
Ganymede                            cloud
Leda                                      golden rain  
Io                                           eagle 
Alcmene                               Artemis 
Callisto                                  Amphitryon 

5- Make a collage using different images you find to illustrate all of Zeus' lovers and offspring. 

6- Using Zeus' attitude as a basis, do you think that there was gender-based violence in Greek and Latin mythology? Give reasons for your answer.