Zeus was born to the brother-sister duo of Titans Kronos and Rhea.
Like his father Uranus, Kronos had heard a prophecy that one of his sons would dethrone him. Rather than take a risk of being bested, Kronos did what any logical father would do every time his wife gave birth: He took the newborn and swallowed him whole, swaddling clothes and all.
Baby Zeus wasn’t the only one to become dinner for dear old dad. Thanks to that unsettling strategy, the couple’s other kids — Hera, Poseidon, Hades, Hestia and Demeter — all spent their first years in the belly of Kronos.
Rhea (unsurprisingly) wasn’t super-stoked about the situation, so when she gave birth to their sixth child, Zeus, she smuggled him to Crete and swapped in a blanket-wrapped stone to fool Kronos.
Kronos swallowed the stone and infant Zeus went on to be raised by nymphs on the island of Crete. Eventually, Zeus decided to work with Rhea and get Kronos to vomit up the other kids. So Zeus freed his siblings and led them in a revolt to overthrow Kronos and the Titans.
When they won, Zeus, Hades and Poseidon divvied up the world amongst themselves: The underworld went to Hades and Poseidon scored the seas and oceans, which let Zeus rule the skies.
