Zeus, king of the gods and his problematic love life

[Music] Hello and welcome to the podcast Myths and Stuff. The podcasts where I, Lisa, tell you, listener, all the crazy stories and Greek mythology. I hope you all are doing well. If you are new to this podcast, welcome. I'm so glad that you're listening in. I have another episode out for this one about the creation myth and if you enjoy this episode, I would love if you could go check it out. Also, two weeks ago, I told you all that I was, so I have a few house cleaning stuff. Basically, two weeks ago, I told you all that I would be doing, I would have another episode out last week. But obviously, that did not happen because I just, I had a lot going on and I had absolutely no way of being able to research and write and record it all last week. And so I split it up over these two weeks that I was gone. But now I set up a system where I should hopefully be able to give you an episode a week from here on out. On to the next thing. Basically, last week or two weeks ago, oh my gosh, again, I said that I was going to be doing one big episode on all the Olympians. But that was insane of me because it could have, like, making one big episode on the Olympians would have gone one of two routes. A, you know, I would have had an hour long, maybe even longer, an hour long episode of just rambling on about the Olympians and their stories and just all the nitty gritty stuff. Or I could have been doing just brief rundowns at each God, but that would have been boring. And so instead I decided I was going to do an episode per God and that episode was going to include, like, basic information about the God, but also it was going to have, like, myths, like, famous myths or, like, defining myths from the God. So anyway, on to the actual content of this episode. This week is all about the King of the Gods, God of Lightning and the Sky Zeus, of course. So basically this episode is going to be about Zeus and his key defining feature, his whorballness to woman because yes, that is a defining feature for Zeus and is like, just there are a whole lot of myths about him being horrible to women because he meant in Greek mythology. Okay, so without further ado, welcome to myths and stuff Zeus, King of the Gods and his problematic love life. [Music] As I mentioned last week, Zeus became King of the Gods after he had freed his siblings beside in the 80s to meet her here at Hescha from their father's chronosystemic and they had to feed the Titans in the Titanomarchy. They made their home on Mount Olympus and the three brothers decided who got what domain of the world they got to roll over. The woman didn't get anything, of course, because they're women and Zeus got the sky. Okay, so now that we've pretty much recapped on to the fun stuff. Now, if you know even the slightest thing about Greek mythology, you probably know about Zeus' lightning bolt. Made by the Cyclops, as a thank you for freeing them from Tardarus and you also probably know that Zeus' wife is Hera. But if you remember last week's episode, I said that his wife was Metis. That's because Zeus has actually had many wives and flings in his lifetime, with Hera being his longest and most famous wife. Of course, Metis was his first wife. She was a Titan's daughter and had helped Zeus defeat Kronos. But before Metis gave birth to her and Zeus' first kid, it was foretold that if Metis bore a son, he would be more powerful than overthrow Zeus. Of course, Zeus could not have this. So, taking after his father, swallowed Metis' whole because that has always worked before in the past. We will get more into Metis and her child Athena later, but not right now because this isn't Athena's episode. Though I am a cabin six girly for life. What does Zeus no longer with Metis? Zeus' second wife is Thymus, the Titan. If you recall from last week, again, Thymus was one of the Titans that chose to side with the Olympians during the Titanomarchy, and she is the Titan goddess of law and justice. Together Zeus and Thymus had quite a few children, including the Horae, a trio of goddesses, which are either the goddesses of the seasons or the goddesses of law and order, depending on the version of the story. Not entirely sure why they're interchangeable because law and order and seasons aren't similar at all, but whatever. The Horae included Unomia, Degay, and Irene, which I think I pronounced incorrectly. Zeus and Thymus also had the Moira, or the Fates. They were the three sisters, Klaatho, Lachasace, and Achops, which to be completely honest, I don't know if I'm pronouncing that as correctly either, but whatever. The Fates job was to make sure every mortal and immortal on earth lived out their destiny or their fate, as they were supposed to. I can't find exactly why Zeus leaves Thymus, but he does, and is once again single and ready to marry. Zeus then gets with every norma and has the three charities or the graces, goddesses of charm, beauty, and nature. The graces included Algea, Ufrazone, and Talia. Now this is where it gets confusing because Talia is also said to be a muse, and the musees are all daughters of Minesumne. So yeah, you know, Wake with Ology is confusing, and the Greeks were incredibly contradictory to their own stories, but well, what can you do? Zeus's next love interest is Demeter, which he has Persephone with. Persephone is the goddess of spring. She later becomes queen of the underworld, but again, story for another time. Zeus then is with the previously mentioned Minesumne, whom he has the nine muses with. Also, I just want to add, some stories say that the mentioned woman were Zeus's wives, some say it was just a fling, but it doesn't really matter. The point is he got with them and had a lot of children. It can get confusing as well when trying to make a straight timeline with these kinds of things. So I'm not entirely sure if Hera was with Zeus yet, but you know, again, it doesn't entirely matter because Greek thought she can be confusing. But oh well, the next woman Zeus gets with is a titan named Leto. Now for clarity's sake, Leto is the titan goddess of motherhood. For Leto, I know for sure that Zeus was with Hera because when Hera found out that not only Zeus had cheated and gone with Leto, but had gotten Leto pregnant with twins, she was angry, which she had every right to be. And then she, not rightfully so, made every place on land deny Leto shelter and help when it was time for her to give birth. I mean, come on girl, I understand your anger at her, but really? But then Leto found Delos, an island not connected to any mainland or the sea floor, which I guess constituted as a loophole. In Delos, she had Artemis and Apollo. Again, I won't be going into too much detail about their births because I want to save that for their respective episodes. Now, still going on to Zeus' more problematic love life, on to Io. Io was a mortal girl. She was the daughter of Anacus who was king of Argos. And one day, while she was tending to her father sheep in his meadow, Zeus caught sight of her and was just absolutely enamored because men. He disguised himself as a mortal and came down from our Olympus to "ask her out." Io, as she had every right to do, rejected Zeus. But Zeus being Zeus plunged the entire region into darkness so no one could see. Io stumbled around because, you know, she couldn't see, and as the book I'm reading says, fell into the snares of Zeus. I mean, you shouldn't be too surprised when men do this in mythology because it was ancient Greece, but still, it's just so horrible. Now, here was angry at her husband throughout the sheeding, and she was watching him like a hawk to make sure that he wasn't getting up into any funny business. And when that particular part of the world was covered in darkness and her husband was nowhere to be found, she had her suspicions. So here, it went down to the mask spot to investigate. But Zeus saw her coming, and in an effort to hide his horribleness, turned Io into a cow. But, you know, her is in an idiot, and she immediately started asking Zeus questions, like where the cow was from, and what breed it was. Zeus answered, making the cow seem like a regular old, earth cow, but again, her is no idiot. So she told her to go to the house. Zeus, she wanted the cow as a gift, and he had no other option than to oblige. So Hera got Io. Hera set her trusted servant Argus, who has 100 eyes all over his body to keep watch over her. Io could graze anywhere and do anything she liked, but she was a cow, and she was constantly being watched by Argus. And at night, Argus would weigh her down with a heavy chain. Io was a cow and act like a cow for so long that sometimes she forgot she was human. One day though, Io was grazing and found herself at a riverbank where she used to play as a child, and in the water's reflection she remembered who she was. She ran to where her father and sisters were, and tried desperately for them to recognize her. She tried many things, but none of them seemed to work. Eventually though, she started drawing and writing on the ground, which is when, finally, her family recognized her. But they couldn't do anything. She was cow, and when Argus caught up with her, he dragged her away. Zeus though, finally had enough, and he convinced Hermes to help him trick Argus. So Hermes went down to earth and started playing a shepherd's pipe. The tune was so beautiful that Argus invited Hermes to come sit by him. Whether Argus knew it was Hermes or not, I don't know, but I would assume he does not. Hermes talks and talks, and soon Argus is drifting off to sleep. When Argus was finally asleep, Hermes takes a sickle-shaped sword and cuts off Argus's head. Argus was obviously upset, and she was angered Io for escaping her watch. So Herop put something called a "gadfly" upon her. Apparently, a "gadfly" is something that terrorizes cattle, and the "gadfly" chases Io around, singing her and bringing her farther and farther away from home. Eventually, Io gives up. She pleads to Zeus for help and for Herod to enter torment. Then, she gives Zeus permission to change Io back, which she does. And after she gets changed back, Zeus and her get busy if you know what I mean. Because of course, that's exactly what a woman would want to do after being a cow for forever. Because yeah, peep withology. And after they got busy, Io bore Zeus a son named Epiphas. Okay, next up is the story of Europa, because of course they will always be more. Europa was the daughter of the King Agonor who was the King of Tyre in Scydon. One night while Europa was sleeping, she had a dream. Two women representing two continents, Asia, and an unnamed one opposite of Asia, were fighting over her. It was important to note that in Greek mythology dreams can be a way of telling Sasha predicting the future. The women representing the country opposite of Asia was unfamiliar and strange, and the one representing Asia was like Europa and like the place she had grown up. The familiar one told her that she had cared for Europa as a child, and that Europa had grown up with her. But the one opposite of Asia grabbed and took hold of Europa and took her far away from the familiar place, Sasha woman. The odd thing was though, that Europa did not put up a fight. She went away willingly. Once Europa woke from this odd dream, she sat on her bed filled with questions. Who was this woman? Where was she taking her? And why did she go willingly? She sat with these questions throughout the night, but when the morning came and the darkness dispersed, she dispelled the thoughts from her mind. She and her friends, Sasha the other girls her age, went to the nearby meadow, which was near sea, to collect flowers and honestly just be girls together and have fun. With the flowers they plucked, they made wreaths. And I don't know, I love really like this part of the story, I think it's just a very sweet little anecdote. But then Zeus saw her. Some stories say that Zeus was shocked with Aeros' love arrow, but I just don't know if I buy that story considering Zeus was a man in Greek mythology. Zeus was enamored by Europa's beauty, but did not want to act on it, not because he is a decent person, but because he was scared of what hair would do if she found out. So he went to Hermes, his son, and the messengers of the gods, and asked him to herd King Agonor's cows from where they were on the mountain of Phoenicia, and to the sea where Europa and the other girls were sitting by. Then Zeus transformed himself into a majestic bowl, with a yellow gold fur and a silver crescent moon on his forehead, so he stood out among the other bowls. He then went down and added himself to Agonor's cattle, and with them he was heard by Hermes to the sea shore. When he got there, he walks up to where Europa was sitting and weaving the wreaths. Europa was awestruck by this beautiful bowl, and went up to pet it. If she fed him flowers and was amazed by its gentleness, she was so smitten with it, she told her friends that they should try to write it, for people at a time. The bowl, in response, lowered himself to the ground so they could climb on. Europa climbed on first, but before any of the other girls could join her, Zeus started running towards the ocean. The other girls tried to chase after her, but their efforts were in vain. Zeus was too fast. Running into the ocean, Zeus disguised as the bowl with Europa on his back, swam all through the night and into the next day. Zeus swam and swam until he finally reached the island of Crete. Once they arrived, Zeus transformed himself into a beautiful man. He told Europa that he was the king of Crete, and told her he would protect her if she gave him her hand. The book I'm reading for this tale says that Zeus asked for her consent, but let's be real. Zeus did not care if Europa consented, and after she agreed, Europa was devastated with herself. She felt guilty, like she had betrayed her father and her maidenhood. She says quoting the book Gods and Heroes, Myths and Epics of Ancient Greece by Gustave Squad, "I who have had no care for my maidenhood. What madness made me forget a child's love and devotion. And I just think that as a devastating sentiment, after Zeus forcefully brought her to the island, she still believes it to be her fault. She contemplates ending her misery, but then Aphrodite appears on the island with arrows. She tells Europa that she was the one who sent the dream to her, and that Zeus was the one to take her from her home. She then tells Europa to feel better, that she is to be the mortal wife of Zeus, and that the continent she restores into would be named Europe after her. As if that could make her feel any better at that moment. She was kidnapped, stolen from her home, and forced Mary Zeus. Her story is so heartbreaking in so many ways, especially with how her regret and grief was portrayed. And not everyone brings this episode to an end. Again, I know it was supposed to come out earlier, but I had a lot going on, but hopefully going on from this episode, I will have weekly episodes. I really hope that you enjoyed this episode, even though it was a bit heavier. I love Greek mythology, but it can be incredibly problematic, especially with its portrayal of woman. Europa's story is just so incredibly heartbreaking. Anyway, if there's anything else I could do better or anything I got wrong, please let me know as usual. I think the next episode I'm going to do is about Hades in the underworld, and I'm very excited. Such a fascinating story I'm going to focus especially on Persephone. But yeah, very excited. Also sorry, my voice sounds a little bit different. My throat has been like really sore recently, so I don't really know what's going on. But yeah, anyway, thank you so, so much for listening. I like you guys don't understand how much it means to me. And bye, thank you. A little side note, I just learned that the name Talia is in fact not pronounced Talia, but Thalia. I have been pronouncing it like Talia for my entire life. Um, I don't know, I thought the age was like silent or something. This is some big news for me. This is big, big news for me. A little side note, it is not pronounced Thalia, it is pronounced Talia. It's just yeah, bye.