Greek Gods

HERA Hera  is the goddess of women and marriage in Greek mythology and religion . She is the daughter of the Titans Cronus and Rhea . Hera is married to her brother Zeus and is titled as the Queen of Heaven. One of her characteristics is her jealous and vengeful nature against Zeus's other lovers and offspring and against the mortals who cross her. Hera is commonly seen with the animals she considers sacred including the cow , lion and the peacock . Portrayed as majestic and solemn, often enthroned, and crowned with the polos (a high cylindrical crown worn by several of the Great Goddesses ), Hera may hold a pomegranate in her hand, emblem of fertile blood and death and a substitute for the narcotic capsule of the opium poppy. Scholar of Greek mythology Walter Burkert writes in Greek Religion, "Nevertheless, there are memories of an earlier aniconic representation, as a pillar in Argos and as a plank in Samos."

HERMES Hermes is an Olympian god in Greek religion and mythology , the son of Zeus and the Pleiad Maia , and the second youngest of the Olympian gods ( Dionysus being the youngest). Hermes is considered a god of transitions and boundaries. He is described as quick and cunning, moving freely between the worlds of the mortal and divine. He is also portrayed as an emissary and messenger of the gods;an intercessor between mortals and the divine, and conductor of souls into the afterlife. He has been viewed as the protector and patron of herdsmen , thieves, oratory and wit, literature and poetry, athletics and sports, invention and trade, roads, boundaries and travelers. In some myths, he is a trickster and outwits other gods for his own satisfaction or for the sake of humankind. His attributes and symbols include the herma , the rooster , the tortoise , satchel or pouch, winged sandals , and winged cap . His main symbol is the Greek kerykeion or Latin caduceus , whic...

DIONYSUS Dionysus is the god of the grape harvest, winemaking and wine, of ritual madness, fertility, theatre and religious ecstasy in ancient Greek religion and myth . Wine played an important role in Greek culture, and the cult of Dionysus was the main religious focus for its unrestrained consumption. He may have been worshipped as early as c. 1500–1100 BC by Mycenean Greeks ; traces of Dionysian-type cult have also been found in ancient Minoan Crete . His origins are uncertain, and his cults took many forms; some are described by ancient sources as Thracian, others as Greek. In some cults, he arrives from the east, as an Asiatic foreigner; in others, from Ethiopia in the South. He is a god of epiphany , "the god that comes", and his "foreignness" as an arriving outsider-god may be inherent and essential to his cults. He is a major, popular figure of Greek mythology and religion , becoming increasingly important over time, and included in some lists of...

HEPHAESTUS Hephaestus is the Greek god of blacksmiths , craftsmen , artisans , sculptors , metals , metallurgy , fire and volcanoes .  Hephaestus' Roman equivalent is Vulcan . In Greek mythology, Hephaestus was the son of Zeus and Hera , the king and queen of the gods. In another version, he was Hera's parthenogenous child, rejected by his mother because of his deformity and thrown off Mount Olympus and down to earth. As a smithing god, Hephaestus made all the weapons of the gods in Olympus. He served as the blacksmith of the gods, and was worshipped in the manufacturing and industrial centers of Greece, particularly Athens . The cult of Hephaestus was based in Lemnos .  Hephaestus' symbols are a smith's hammer , anvil , and a pair of tongs .

APHRODITE Aphrodite is the Greek goddess of love , beauty , pleasure , and procreation . She is identified with the planet Venus ; her Roman equivalent is the goddess Venus . Myrtle , roses, doves , sparrows and swans were sacred to her. In Hesiod 's Theogony , Aphrodite was created from the sea foam ( aphros ) produced by Uranus 's genitals, which had been severed by Cronus . In Homer 's Iliad , however, she is the daughter of Zeus and Dione . In Plato ( Symposium , 180e), these two origins are said to be of hitherto separate entities: Aphrodite Ourania (a transcendent, "Heavenly" Aphrodite) and Aphrodite Pandemos (Aphrodite common to "all the people"). She had many other names, each emphasising a different aspect of the same goddess, or used by a different local cult. Thus she was also known as Cytherea ( Lady of Cythera ) and Cypris ( Lady of Cyprus ), both of which claimed to be her place of birth. In Greek myth, the other gods fear...

ARTEMIS Artemis was one of the most widely venerated of the Ancient Greek deities. Her Roman equivalent is Diana . Some scholars believe that the name, and indeed the goddess herself, was originally pre-Greek. Homer refers to her as Artemis Agrotera, Potnia Theron : "Artemis of the wildland, Mistress of Animals". The Arcadians believed she was the daughter of Demeter . In the classical period of Greek mythology , Artemis was often described as the daughter of Zeus and Leto , and the twin sister of Apollo . She was the Hellenic goddess of the hunt , wild animals , wilderness , childbirth , virginity and protector of young girls, bringing and relieving disease in women; she often was depicted as a huntress carrying a bow and arrows. The deer and the cypress were sacred to her. In later Hellenistic times, she even assumed the ancient role of Eileithyia in aiding childbirth.

APOLLO Apollo  is one of the most important and complex of the Olympian deities in classical Greek and Roman religion and Greek and Roman mythology . The ideal of the kouros (a beardless, athletic youth), Apollo has been variously recognized as a god of music, truth and prophecy, healing, the sun and light, plague, poetry, and more. Apollo is the son of Zeus and Leto , and has a twin sister, the chaste huntress Artemis . Apollo is known in Greek-influenced Etruscan mythology as Apulu. As the patron of Delphi (Pythian Apollo), Apollo was an oracular god—the prophetic deity of the Delphic Oracle . Medicine and healing are associated with Apollo, whether through the god himself or mediated through his son Asclepius , yet Apollo was also seen as a god who could bring ill-health and deadly plague . Amongst the god's custodial charges, Apollo became associated with dominion over colonists , and as the patron defender of herds and flocks. As the leader of the Muses (Apo...

ARES Ares is the Greek god of war . He is one of the Twelve Olympians , and the son of Zeus and Hera . In Greek literature , he often represents the physical or violent and untamed aspect of war, in contrast to his sister the armored Athena , whose functions as a goddess of intelligence include military strategy and generalship . The Greeks were ambivalent toward Ares: although he embodied the physical valor necessary for success in war, he was a dangerous force, "overwhelming, insatiable in battle, destructive, and man-slaughtering." His sons Phobos (Fear) and Deimos (Terror) and his lover, or sister, Enyo (Discord) accompanied him on his war chariot . In the Iliad , his father Zeus tells him that he is the god most hateful to him. An association with Ares endows places and objects with a savage, dangerous, or militarized quality. His value as a war god is placed in doubt: during the Trojan War , Ares was on the losing side, while Athena, often depicted in Gr...

ATHENA Athena or Athene often given the epithet Pallas is the goddess of wisdom, craft, and war in ancient Greek religion and mythology . In later times, Athena was syncretized with the Roman goddess Minerva . Athena was portrayed as having a calm temperament, and moving slowly to anger. She was believed to only fight for just causes and never fight without a purpose. [4] In ancient Greek literature , Athena is portrayed as the astute companion of heroes and as the patron goddess of heroic endeavour. She is also the patroness of Athens . The Athenians constructed the Parthenon atop their Acropolis as a temple to Athena; it takes its name from her epithet Parthenos, which means " Virgin ".

HADES Hades was the ancient Greek chthonic god of the underworld , which eventually took his name. In Greek mythology , Hades was regarded as the oldest son of Cronus and Rhea , although the last son regurgitated by his father .  He and his brothers Zeus and Poseidon defeated their father's generation of gods, the Titans , and claimed rulership over the cosmos . Hades received the underworld, Zeus the sky, and Poseidon the sea, with the solid earth—long the province of Gaia —available to all three concurrently. Hades was often portrayed with his three-headed guard dog Cerberus . The Etruscan god Aita and Roman gods Dis Pater and Orcus were eventually taken as equivalent to the Greek Hades and merged as Pluto , a Latinization of his euphemistic Greek name Plouton . [

POSEIDON Poseidon was one of the Twelve Olympians in ancient Greek religion and myth . He was god of the Sea and other waters; of earthquakes; and of horses. In pre-Olympian Bronze Age Greece , he was venerated as a chief deity at Pylos and Thebes . Poseidon was protector of seafarers, and of many Hellenic cities and colonies. In Homer 's Iliad , Poseidon supports the Greeks against the Trojans during the Trojan War . In the Odyssey , during the sea-voyage from Troy back home to Ithaca , the Greek hero Odysseus provokes Poseidon's fury by blinding his son the Cyclops Polyphemus , resulting in Poseidon punishing him with storms, the complete loss of his ship and companions, and a ten-year delay. Poseidon is also the subject of a Homeric hymn . In Plato 's Timaeus and Critias, the island of Atlantis was Poseidon's domain. His Roman equivalent is Neptune .

ZEUS Zeus is the sky and thunder god in ancient Greek religion , who ruled as king of the gods of Mount Olympus . His name is cognate with the first element of his Roman equivalent Jupiter . His mythologies and powers are similar, though not identical, to those of the Indo-European deities such as Indra , Jupiter , Perun , Thor , and Odin . Zeus is the child of Cronus and Rhea , the youngest of his siblings to be born, though sometimes reckoned the eldest as the others required disgorging from Cronus's stomach. In most traditions, he is married to Hera , by whom he is usually said to have fathered Ares , Hebe , and Hephaestus . At the oracle of Dodona , his consort was said to be Dione , by whom the Iliad states that he fathered Aphrodite . Zeus was also infamous for his erotic escapades. These resulted in many godly and heroic offspring, including Athena , Apollo , Artemis , Hermes , Persephone , Dionysus , Perseus , Heracles , Helen of Troy , Minos , and the Mus...