THE LESSER GODS OF
OLYMPUS & EARTH
MRS. CROWE
There were other divinities in heaven besides the twelve great
Olympians.
EROS
• Cupid in Latin
• God of Love
• Gives good gifts to men
• Often portrayed as
blindfolded because
“love is blind”
• Son of Aphrodite
• Married to Psyche
HYMEN
• God of the Wedding
Feast
• He is often depicted
with a marriage
feast torch in his
hand.
• This god was the
son of Aphrodite by
Dionysus
HEBE
• Goddess of
Youth
• Daughter of
Zeus and Hera
• Married
Hercules
IRIS
• Goddess of
the Rainbow
• Messenger to
the gods (like
Hermes)
TWO BANDS OF “LOVELY SISTERS”
•Muses and
the Graces
GRACES
• 3 daughters of Zeus and
Eurynome (child of Ocean)
• Represent Splendor, Mirth &
Good Cheer
• Aglaia (Splendor),
Euphrosyne (Mirth), and
Thalia (Good Cheer)
• Always together
• Triple incarnation of grace
and beauty, danced to
Apollo’s lyre,
• “queens of song”
MUSES
• 9 daughters of Zeus &
Mnemosyne
(Memory)
• Goddesses of music,
poetry & the arts
• Inspire men
• Each muse has a
specialty
• Calliope: muse of
epic poetry
THE GODS OF THE WATERS
• Poseidon (Neptune)
• The lord and ruler
of the sea
• Ocean (a Titan)
• Lord of the River
• Wife is Tethys
• Nereus
• Old Man of the
Sea
• “A trusty god and
gentle”
• Triton
• Trumpeter of the Sea;
• trumpet a great shell;
• son of Poseidon and
Amphitrite
• Proteus
• power of foretelling
the future and of
changing his shape
at will
• Naiads
• water nymphs
• Found ins prings,
fountains and brooks
RIVERS OF THE UNDERWORLD
• Phlegethon: the
river of fire
• Styx: the river of
unbreakable oath
by which the gods
swear
• Lethe: the river of
forgetfulness
THE LESSER GODS OF
EARTH
•Earth called
“All-Mother”
DEMETER (CERES)
• Goddess of the Corn & Harvest
• Daughter or Cronus and Rhea
• Mother of Persephone
• Lives on Earth
• Goddess of vegetation
• Had powers of growth and
resurrection
• Her symbols are the Cornucopia
(horn of plenty), wheat-ears, the
winged serpent and the lotus staff.
DIONYSUS (BACCHUS)
• God of Wine
• Lives on Earth
• Mother was mortal
• Can bring joy, but can
also cause madness &
brutality
• Symbols: the thyrsus (a
pinecone-tipped staff),
drinking cup, grape vine,
and a crown of ivy.
PAN
• Son of Hermes
• God of nature
• Part man, part goat
• Companion of the
nymphs – always
rejected by them
because he was
unattractive
• Played the pipes
SATYRS & CENTAURS
• Satyr: half man, half
goat
• Centaur: half
man, half
horse
• Chiron: known
everywhere for
his goodness
and his
wisdom
CASTOR AND POLLUX
• Said to live half their time on earth and
half their time in heaven
• A very popular pair of brothers
• Protector of sailors
• Always represented as riding snow
white horses
NYMPHS & DRYADS
• Nymphs: minor nature
goddesses that lived in
rivers, trees, caves,
etc.
• Oreads: nymphs of the
mountains
• Dryads: tree nymphs
AEOLUS
• King of the Winds
• Lives on an island,
Aeolia & earth
FOUR CHIEF WINDS
• Boreas (the North Wind-Latin: Aquilo)
• Zephyr (West Wind-Latin: Favonius)
• Notus (South Wind-Latin: Auster)
• Eurus (East Wind)
GORGONS
• Earth-dwellers
• Dragon-like
creatures with
wings
THE GRAIAE
• Sisters of the
Gorgons
• 3 old gray women
• Shared an eye
SIRENS
• Enchanting voices and their
singing lured sailors to their
death
• Not known what they looked
like because whoever saw
them never returned
THE FATES
• Clotho: the Spinner;
wove the thread of
life
• Lachesis: Disposer
of Lot; assigned to
each man his
destiny
• Atropos: cuts the
thread at death