Zagreus was the "first-born Dionysos," a god of the Orphic Mysteries. He was a son of Zeus and Persephone, who the god seduced in the guise of a serpent.
Mythology
Early Life
In the Orphic myths, Demeter, mother of Persephone, worried about her daughter after many gods tried to court her, so she went to the house of Astraios, the god of astrology. Astraios told Demeter to guard her daughter against a robber-bridegroom and before marriage a false and secret bedfellow will come unforeseen, a half monster and cunning mind. Demeter hid her gorgeous young daughter, in a cave deep under ground and two dragons were placed to gard the cave. Zeus was bewitched by Persephone beauty and somehow found out the cave where Demeter had hid her. Zeus transformed himself into a serpent, lulled the two dragons into sleep, who were guarding the cave, and managed to get inside the cave. Where the maiden goddess Persephone, was seduced by Zeus in the form of a serpent. The result of their union was Zagreus.
Zeus had intended Zagreus to be his heir and bestow him on him unlimited power, after he saw Zagreus playing with his lightning bolts upon the throne of heaven, but Hera out of jealously urged the Titans to attack the child. The Titans, who were opposed to Zeus' power, sneaked into Olympos, took the child to the woods and beguiled him with toys, then dismembered him and consumed the child except for his heart. Zeus recovered the child's heart and making it into a potion, fed it to one of his many lovers: Semele. From the drink she conceived the younger Dionysos, as a reincarnation of the first.
In another tale, the genitals of Zagreus were recovered by the Kabeiroi gods of Samothrake. They deposited them in a sacred cave on the isle and instituted the Samothrakian Mysteries in his honour.
Parents
Persephone (mother) & Zeus (father)