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sparklightI recently realized some things about Zeus and at least some of his sexual escapades. Aside from the fact that there's way too much assumption and generalizing it all as rape (some of it certainly was, unequivocally so! but not all of it), there's the fact that both Aphrodite and Eros have induced lust for at the very least a number of mortals, but probably some of the semi-divine lovers as well.
Aphrodite explicitly says in the Homeric hymn that deals with her love to Anchises that Zeus has made her fall in love with Anchises as retaliation for all the times she's forced him [which can't be literally every single time he's fallen in love, married a goddess or had sex with someone]. There's also the very clear implication that it's still somewhat unseemly (only for goddesses?) for the gods to sleep with mortals, since Aphrodite warns Anchises not to tell anyone (and he's punished with lameness when he finally does tell) who he's slept with.
So there's a number of Zeus' affairs that could have been unwilling from both sides, unwilling from only one - either the woman or Zeus himself - or entirely consensual for both.
I figure that Zeus was probably the first one Aphrodite did this to, and it serves as a sort of "allowance" for everything that comes later, by Zeus or any of the other gods even if it's not entirely correct and maybe a little insulting in truth for them to do this, which means there was probably some resistance and attempt at keeping it secret at first. Which might be why Zeus reacts so harshly when Demeter sleeps with Iasion. Sure, some of it is probably a bit of jealousy, but mostly it's probably meant as a way both to punish an insult to a great goddess (even with it having been entirely consensual), and a warning, both to the gods and humans, since I think, going by some vague timeline, Demeter & Iasion are the first goddess/human coupling.
Aphrodite explicitly says in the Homeric hymn that deals with her love to Anchises that Zeus has made her fall in love with Anchises as retaliation for all the times she's forced him [which can't be literally every single time he's fallen in love, married a goddess or had sex with someone]. There's also the very clear implication that it's still somewhat unseemly (only for goddesses?) for the gods to sleep with mortals, since Aphrodite warns Anchises not to tell anyone (and he's punished with lameness when he finally does tell) who he's slept with.
So there's a number of Zeus' affairs that could have been unwilling from both sides, unwilling from only one - either the woman or Zeus himself - or entirely consensual for both.
I figure that Zeus was probably the first one Aphrodite did this to, and it serves as a sort of "allowance" for everything that comes later, by Zeus or any of the other gods even if it's not entirely correct and maybe a little insulting in truth for them to do this, which means there was probably some resistance and attempt at keeping it secret at first. Which might be why Zeus reacts so harshly when Demeter sleeps with Iasion. Sure, some of it is probably a bit of jealousy, but mostly it's probably meant as a way both to punish an insult to a great goddess (even with it having been entirely consensual), and a warning, both to the gods and humans, since I think, going by some vague timeline, Demeter & Iasion are the first goddess/human coupling.
