“Latona and the Lycian Peasants” by David Teniers II. (17th century).

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Leto (which means”the hidden one”. Roman equivalent: Latona) was daughter of the Titans Coeus (Polus) and Phoebe and the sister of Asteria.
In the Olympian scheme, Zeus is the father of her twins, Apollo and Artemis, (The Letoides).

Zeusmarried is sister Hera while Leto was already pregnant. While the pregnancy started before the marriage, Hera was still jealous of Leto.

Hence, as Hyginus, in his book “Fabulae” states, Hera banned Leto from giving birth on any island at sea, or any place under the sun.

Finally, she found an island (Delos, that wasn’t attached to the ocean floor so it wasn’t considered land and she could give birth there.

Leto easily brought forth Artemis, the elder twin.  By contrast, Leto labored for nine nights and nine days in order to give birth to…

“Jupiter and Europe” by Gustave Moreau (1868).

 

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Zeus was the supreme god in Ancient Greece, the father of the Olympian gods and the ruler of mankind. He was identified with the Roman god Jupiter and associated with other deities, such as the Egyptian god Ammon and the Etruscan god Tinia. 

He was regarded by the Greeks as the god of all natural phenomena on the sky; the personification of the laws of nature; the ruler of the state; and finally, the father of gods and men.

Zeus was the last child of the Titans Cronus and Rhea. Zeus had five older siblings. Two brothers (Poseidon and Hades), and three sisters (Hestia, Hera and Demeter).

Cronus had learnt that he was destined to be overthrown by his son as he had previously overthrown Uranus, his own father. His wife Rhea, knew that he would kill the baby so…

“The Peacock complaining to Juno”, by Gustave Moreau (1881).

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Hera (Roman equivalent: Juno) was Zeus’ wife and sister, and was raised by the Titans Oceanus and Tethys. She was the supreme goddess, patron of marriage, family and childbirth, having a special interest in protecting married women. 

Hera, like her siblings, was swallowed by her father Cronos (Rhea‘s husband) as soon as she was born.

Zeus with the help of Metis later tricked Cronos into a swallowing a potion that forced him to disgorge his offspring.

The legitimate offspring of her union with Zeus are Ares (the god of war), Hebe (the goddess of youth), Eris (the goddess of discord) and Eileithvia (goddess of childbirth).  

Johann Jakob Bachofen (“An Investigation of the Religious and Juridical Character of Matriarchy in the Ancient [1861]), considered that Hera, was originally the goddess of a matriarchal people, presumably inhabiting Greece before the…

“Minerva, the Goddess of Wisdom and Knowledge” by Willem De Poorter. (17th century).

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Athena (Roman Equivalent: Minerva) was the city protectress of Athens and goddess of war, handicraft, wisdom and practical reason.

She was the daughter of Zeus and Metis, but she was born produced without a mother, so that she emerged full-grown from his forehead. The story of Athena’s birth is perfectly told in the post “The Weirdest Births of Mythology”~ Micromythos. It is said that while Metis was pregnant, Zeus ate the fetus following Uranos’ and Gea’s advice, who told him that if a boy was born, he would snatch his father’s power. The fetus was then carried in Zeus’ skull during nine months. After that time, the god had a terrible headache and ask the blacksmith god Hephaestus to split his head with an axe in order to relieve him from his pain. Then Athena, already as…

►Greek Mythology: “Aphrodite, Goddess of Love and Beauty”:

“Venus Verticordia” (“Venus the Changer of Hearts”) by Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1868).-

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Aphrodite (In ancient greek Ἀφροδίτη”arisen from the foam”. Roman equivalent: Venus) was the goddess of Love, Beauty and Eternal Youth, arousing desire to gods and humans. In addition, she was connected to the death/rebirth of nature and was also considered a protectress of sailors.

Aphrodite’s symbols were the girdle. the seashell and the mirror. Her sacred animal was the dove.

According to Hesiod’s “Theogony”, she was created from the foam of the waters of the sea, in the fragrant island of Cyprus, when the Titan Cronos  slew his father, the major Titan Ouranos, and threw then his genitals into the sea.

Hesiod’s reference to Aphrodite’s having been born from the sea inspired the Renaissance artist Botticelli’s famous painting of the goddess on a giant scallop shell. 

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“The Birth…

“Arachne or Dialectics” by Paolo Veronese. 1520.

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In Greek Mythology, Arachne was a Lydian woman, the daughter of a famous Tyrian purple wool dyer, who was highly gifted in the art of weaving.

Soon news of Arachne’s artistry spread far and wide and it is said that nymphs from the forests left their frolicking and gathered around Arachne to watch her weave.

All this adulation was more than Arachne could handle and being an ordinary mortal who was quite vulnerable to human failings, she became quite arrogant about her superior skills. She was annoyed at being regarded as a pupil of Athena, the Goddess of Wisdom, and began bragging about her skills, proclaiming herself to be far more superior to even Athena.

“Athena and Arachne” by Antonio Tempesta. 1599.

Athena took offense and set up a contest between them. Presenting herself as an old woman. 

When they finally met…