The Gods of Ancient Greece
The people of ancient Greece believed in many gods and goddesses.
They thought gods and goddesses inhabited the underworld, the sea, land, and
the heavens.
The Greeks were the first people to create gods in their own image.
These gods looked like men and had many of the traits and feelings of men—
anger, love, fear, strength, jealousy, loyalty—but they always had them in large
godly proportions. The Greek people thought the gods watched over them—
rewarding the good men and punishing the bad. Sometimes the Greeks feared
the gods and offered them sacrifices to appease them. Sometimes they prayed
to gods for help. Other times they laughed at them and loved them.
Believing in the gods made the Greeks feel more secure about a puzzling
world. They could understand a sea storm if they thought an angry god had
caused it. They could explain the failure of their crops by saying the gods were
punishing man for some evil he had done. They could attribute pleasant
1
weather to the kindness of a god. With these explanations, the Greeks could
cope with a world which otherwise seemed too strange, too fearful, and too
uncertain. The Greeks loved to listen to stories about their gods. These stories
explained happenings in nature and told of marvelous adventures. Often there
were several versions of the same story. Sometimes the versions were quite
similar; sometimes they were contradictory.
The twelve most important gods and goddesses of ancient Greece, called
the Olympians, belonged to the same large, quarrelsome family. Thought
thinking little of the smaller, old-fashioned gods over whom they ruled, they
thought even less of mortals. All the Olympians lived together in an enormous
palace, set well above the usual level of clouds at the top of Mount Olympus,
the highest mountain in Greece. Great walls, too steep to climb, protected the
Palace. The Palace included the Council Hall where the Olympians met at
times to discuss mortal affairs—such as which army on earth should be allowed
to win a war, and whether they ought to punish some king or queen who had
been behaving too proudly or disgustingly. But for the most part they were too
busy with their own quarrels and lawsuits to take much notice of mortal affairs.
2
The Twelve Olympians
Zeus
ZEUS (zoose or zyoose; Roman
name Jupiter) was the supreme god
of the Olympians. He was the father
of the heroes Perseus and Heracles,
the latter of who once wrestled him
to a draw.
Zeus was the youngest son of the
Titans Cronus and Rhea. When he
was born, his father Cronus
intended to swallow him as he had
all of Zeus's siblings: Poseidon,
Hades, Hestia, Demeter and Hera.
But Rhea hid the newborn in a cave
on Mount Dicte in Crete. When he
had grown up, Zeus caused Cronus
to vomit up his sisters and brothers,
and these gods joined him in
fighting to wrest control of the
universe from the Titans and
Cronus, their king. Having
vanquished his father and the other
Titans, Zeus imprisoned most of
them in the underworld of Tartarus.
Then he and his brothers Poseidon and
Hades divided up creation.
Poseidon received the sea as his
domain, Hades got the Underworld
and Zeus took the sky. Zeus also
was accorded supreme authority on
earth and on Mount Olympus.
When Zeus first asked Hera to
marry him, she refused and
continued to refuse for three
hundred years. But one springtime
Zeus disguised himself as a poor
cuckoo caught in a storm, and
tapped at her window. Hera let the
cuckoo in, stroked its wet wings and
whispered, “Poor bird, I love you.”
At once Zeus changed back again
into his true shape and said, “Now
you must marry me!”
3
Hera
HERA (HEE-ruh; Roman name
Juno) was the goddess of marriage.
Hera was the wife of Zeus and
Queen of the Olympians.
In Greek mythology, Hera was the
reigning female goddess of
Olympus because she was Zeus's
wife. But her worship is actually far
older than that of her husband. It
goes back to a time when the
creative force we call "God" was
conceived of as a woman. The
Goddess took many forms, among
them that of a bird.
Hera was worshipped throughout
Greece, and the oldest and most
important temples were consecrated
to her. Her subjugation to Zeus and
depiction as a jealous shrew are
mythological reflections of one of
the most profound changes ever in
human spirituality.
Tens of thousands of years ago, as
the evidence of cave art and
artifacts makes clear, humanity was
focused on the female body, either
pregnant or fit to bear children.
Childbirth was the closest humans
came to the great power that caused
the earth to bring forth new life in
the spring. To the extent that these
distant ancestors of ours were
evolved enough to think of
worshipping this power, we may
safely conclude that they thought of
it as female.
It is said that it was only when
humanity discovered man's role in
procreation that male gods began to
be worshipped. There is no reason
to doubt, though, that male gods
were worshipped before the mystery
of birth was fully known. In all
probability the greatest powers were
thought of as female but there were
male deities as well.
4
Poseidon
POSEIDON
(puh-SYE-dun or poh-SYE-dun;
Roman name Neptune) was the
god of the sea, earthquakes and
horses. Although he was officially
one of the supreme gods of Mount
Olympus, he spent most of his time
in his watery domain.
Poseidon was brother to Zeus and
Hades. These three gods divided up
creation. Zeus was ruler of the sky,
Hades had dominion of the
Underworld and Poseidon was
given all water, both fresh and salt.
Although there were various rivers
personified as gods, these would
have been technically under
Poseidon's sway. Similarly, Nereus,
the Old Man of the Sea, wasn't
really considered on a par with
Poseidon, who was known to drive
his chariot through the waves in
unquestioned dominance. Poseidon
had married Nereus's daughter, the
sea-nymph Amphitrite.
In dividing heaven, the watery realm
and the subterranean land of the
dead, the Olympians agreed that the
earth itself would be ruled jointly,
with Zeus as king. This led to a
number of territorial disputes
among the gods. Poseidon vied with
Athena to be patron deity of
Athens. The god demonstrated his
power and benevolence by striking
the Acropolis with his threepronged spear, which caused a
spring of salt water to emerge.
Athena, however, planted an olive
tree, which was seen as a more
useful favor. Her paramount
importance to the Athenians is seen
in her magnificent temple, the
Parthenon, which still crowns the
Acropolis. The people of Athens
were careful, all the same, to honor
5
Poseidon as well (as soon as his
anger calmed down and he
withdrew the flood of seawater with
which he ravaged the land after his
loss in the contest with Athena).
Poseidon was father of the hero
Theseus, although the mortal
Aegeus also claimed this distinction.
Theseus was happy to have two
fathers, enjoying the lineage of each
when it suited him. Thus he became
king of Athens by virtue of being
Aegeus's son, but availed himself of
Poseidon's parentage in facing a
challenge handed him by King
Minos of Crete. This monarch
threw his signet ring into the depths
of the sea and dared Theseus to
retrieve it. The hero dove beneath
the waves and not only found the
ring but was given a crown by
Poseidon's wife, Amphitrite.
Poseidon was not so well-disposed
toward another famous hero.
Because Odysseus blinded the
Cyclops Polyphemus, who was
Poseidon's son, the god not only
delayed the hero's homeward return
from the Trojan War but caused
him to face enormous perils. At one
point he whipped up the sea with
his trident and caused a storm so
severe that Odysseus was
shipwrecked.
Poseidon similarly cursed the wife
of King Minos. Minos had proved
his divine right to rule Crete by
calling on Poseidon to send a bull
from the sea, which the king
promised to sacrifice. Poseidon sent
the bull, but Minos liked it too
much to sacrifice it. So Poseidon
asked Aphrodite, the goddess of
love, to make Minos's queen,
Pasiphae, fall in love with the bull.
The result was the monstrous
Minotaur, half-man, half-bull.
As god of horses, Poseidon often
adopted the shape of a steed. It is
not certain that he was in this form
when he wooed Medusa. But when
Perseus later killed the Gorgon, the
winged horse Pegasus sprang from
her severed neck.
Poseidon sometimes granted the
shape-shifting power to others. And
he ceded to the request of the
maiden Caenis that she be
transformed into the invulnerable,
male warrior Caeneus.
6
Demeter
DEMETER
(dee-MEE-tur; Roman name Ceres)
was the goddess of agriculture.
Demeter was the sister of Zeus and
the mother of Persephone.
Persephone was gathering flowers
in a meadow one day when a huge
crack opened up in the earth and
Hades, King of the Dead, emerged
from the Underworld. He seized
Persephone and carried her off in
his chariot, back down to his realm
below, where she became his queen.
Demeter was heartbroken. She
wandered the length and breadth of
the earth in search of her daughter,
during which time the crops
withered and it became perpetual
winter.
At length Hades was persuaded to
surrender Persephone for one half
of every year, the spring and
summer seasons when flowers
bloom and the earth bears fruit
once more. The half year that
Persephone spends in the
Underworld as Hades' queen
coincides with the barren season.
When depicted in art, Demeter is
often shown carrying a sheaf of
grain.
7
Hephaestus
HEPHAESTUS
(he-FEE-stus or he-FESS-tus;
Roman name Vulcan) was the lame
god of fire and crafts or the two
together, hence of blacksmiths.
Hephaestus was the son of Zeus
and Hera or, in some accounts, of
Hera alone. He limped because he
was born lame, which caused his
mother to throw him off Mount
Olympus. Or in other accounts he
interceded in a fight between Zeus
and Hera, and Zeus took him by the
foot and threw him from Olympus
to the earth far below.
Hephaestus accomplished
numerous prodigies of
craftsmanship, such as the
marvelous palaces that he built for
the gods atop Mount Olympus, or
the armor that he made for Achilles
during the siege of Troy (the
description of which occupies a
great many lines of Homer's epic of
the Trojan War).
Hephaestus also created the first
woman, Pandora, at the command
of Zeus, in retaliation for the
various tricks by which the Titan
Prometheus had benefited mortal
men at the expense of the gods.
Pandora was given to the Titan's
brother, Epimetheus, as his wife.
For her dowry she brought a jar
filled with evils from which she
removed the lid, thereby afflicting
men for the first time with hard
work and sickness. Only hope
remained inside the jar.
8
Athena
ATHENA
(a-THEE-nuh; Roman name
Minerva) was the goddess of crafts
and the domestic arts and also those
of war. She was the patron goddess
of Athens. Her symbol was the owl.
She was originally the Great
Goddess in the form of a bird. By
the late Classic, she had come to be
regarded as a goddess of wisdom.
Zeus was once married to Metis, a
daughter of Ocean who was
renowned for her wisdom. When
Metis became pregnant, Zeus was
warned by Earth that a son born to
Metis would overthrow him, just as
he had usurped his own father's
throne.
So Zeus swallowed Metis. In time
he was overcome with a splitting
headache and summoned help from
the craftsman god Hephaestus (or,
some say, the Titan Prometheus).
Hephaestus cleaved Zeus's forehead
with an ax, and Athena sprang forth
fully armed.
Athena aided the heroes Perseus,
Jason, Cadmus, Odysseus and
Heracles in their quests.
Both Athena and Poseidon wanted
to be patron deity of Athens. To
prove her worthiness for the honor,
Athena caused an olive tree to
spring up on the citadel of Athens,
the Acropolis. Poseidon sought to
outdo her by striking the ground
with his trident and causing a spring
of water to gush forth. But as he
was god of the sea, the water was
salty. Athena's gift to the Athenians
was considered to be more useful,
so she became the city's patron
deity.
Athena sponsored Perseus in his
quest to slay Medusa because she
wanted the Gorgon's head to
decorate her shield.
9
Aphrodite
APHRODITE
(a-fro-DYE-tee; Roman name
Venus) was the goddess of love,
beauty and fertility. She was also a
protectress of sailors.
The poet Hesiod said that
Aphrodite was born from sea-foam.
Homer, on the other hand, said that
she was the daughter of Zeus and
Dione.
When the Trojan prince Paris was
asked to judge who of three
Olympian goddesses was the most
beautiful, he chose Aphrodite over
Hera and Athena. The latter two
had hoped to bribe him with power
and victory in battle, but Aphrodite
offered the love of the most
beautiful woman in the world.
This was Helen of Sparta, who
became infamous as Helen of Troy
when Paris subsequently eloped
with her. In the ensuing Trojan
War, Hera and Athena were
implacable enemies of Troy while
Aphrodite was loyal to Paris and the
Trojans.
The love goddess was married to
the homely craftsman-god
Hephaestus. She was unfaithful to
him with Ares, and Homer relates in
the Odyssey how Hephaestus had his
revenge.
10
Ares
ARES
(AIR-eez; Roman name Mars) was
the god of war, or more precisely of
warlike frenzy. Though an immortal
deity, he was bested by Heracles in
battle and was almost killed when
stuffed into a jar by two giants.
When another hero wounded him
during the Trojan War, he received
scant sympathy from his father
Zeus.
In appearance, Ares was handsome
and cruel. He is often depicted
carrying a bloodstained spear. His
throne on Mount Olympus was said
to be covered in human skin.
The Roman god Mars, with whom
Ares was identified, was the father
of Romulus and Remus, the
mythological founders of Rome.
Thus he was more important to the
Romans than his Greek
counterpart. He was also more
dignified.
11
Apollo
APOLLO
(uh-POL-oh; Roman name Apollo)
was the god of prophesy, music and
healing.
Like most of his fellow Olympians,
Apollo did not hesitate to intervene
in human affairs. It was he who
brought about the demise of the
mighty Achilles. Of all the heroes
besieging the city of Troy in the
Trojan War, Achilles was the best
fighter by far. He had easily
defeated the Trojan captain Hector
in single combat. But Apollo helped
Hector's brother Paris slay Achilles
with an arrow.
When someone died suddenly, he
was said to have been struck down
by one of Apollo's arrows. Homer's
epic of the Trojan War begins with
the god causing a plague by raining
arrows down upon the Greek camp.
As god of music, Apollo is often
depicted playing the lyre. He did not
invent this instrument, however, but
was given it by Hermes in
compensation for cattle theft. Some
say that Apollo did invent the lute,
although he was best known for his
skill on the lyre.
He won several musical contests by
playing this instrument. In one case
he bested Pan, who competed on
his own invention, the shepherd's
pipe. On this occasion, King Midas
had the bad sense to say that he
preferred Pan's music, which caused
Apollo to turn his ears into those of
an ass.
12
Artemis
ARTEMIS
(AR-ti-mis; Roman name Diana)
was the virgin goddess of the hunt.
She helped women in childbirth but
also brought sudden death with her
arrows.
Artemis and her brother Apollo
were the children of Zeus and Leto.
In some versions of their myth,
Artemis was born first and helped
her mother to deliver Apollo.
Niobe, Queen of Thebes, once
boasted that she was better than
Leto because she had many children
while the goddess had but two.
Artemis and Apollo avenged this
insult to their mother by killing all
or most of Niobe's children with
their arrows. The weeping Niobe
was transformed into stone, in
which form she continued to weep.
When Apollo noticed that Artemis
was spending a great deal of time
hunting with the giant Orion, he
decided to put an end to the
relationship. He challenged Artemis
to prove her skill at archery by
shooting at an object floating far
out at sea. Her shot was perfect.
The target turned out to be the head
of Orion.
Artemis is generally depicted as a
young woman clad in buckskins,
carrying a bow and a quiver of
arrows. She is often accompanied
by wild creatures such as a stag or
she-bear.
13
Hermes
HERMES
(HUR-meez; Roman name
Mercury) was the messenger of the
gods and guide of dead souls to the
Underworld. A prankster and
inventive genius from birth, Hermes
aided the heroes Odysseus and
Perseus in their quests.
Hermes was the son Zeus and a
mountain nymph. As a newborn he
was remarkably precocious. On his
very first day of life, he found the
empty shell of a tortoise and
perceived its utility as a sounding
chamber. Stringing sinews across it,
he created the first lyre.
Hermes was known for his
helpfulness to mankind, both in his
capacity as immortal herald and on
his own initiative. When Perseus set
out to face the Gorgon Medusa,
Hermes aided him in the quest.
According to one version of the
myth, he loaned the hero his own
magic sandals, which conferred
upon the wearer the ability to fly.
Some say that Hermes loaned
Perseus a helmet of invisibility as
well. Also known as the helmet of
darkness, this was the same
headgear that Hermes himself had
worn when he vanquished the giant
Hippolytus. This was on the
occasion when the gargantuan sons
of Earth rose up in revolt against
the gods of Olympus.
Hermes' symbol of office as divine
messenger was his staff, or
caduceus. This was originally a
willow wand with entwined ribbons,
traditional badge of the herald. But
the ribbons were eventually
depicted as snakes. To support this
mythologically, a story evolved that
Hermes used the caduceus to
separate two fighting snakes which
forthwith twined themselves
together in peace.
It was Hermes' job to convey dead
souls to the Underworld. And as
patron of travelers, he was often
shown in a wide-brimmed sun hat
of straw. Hermes was known to the
Romans as Mercury. His most
famous depiction, a statue by
Bellini, shows him alight on one
foot, wings at his heels, the snaky
caduceus in hand and, on his head, a
rather stylized combination helmetof-darkness and sun hat.
14
Dionysus
DIONYSUS
(dye-oh-NYE-sus; Roman name
Bacchus) was the god of wine.
Dionysus was the son of Zeus and
the mortal heroine Semele.
Dionysus rescued Ariadne after she
had been abandoned by Theseus.
Dionysus also saved his mother
from the Underworld, after Zeus
showed her his true nature as storm
god and consumed her in lightning.
It was Dionysus who granted Midas
the power to turn whatever he
touched into gold, and then was
kind enough to take the power back
when it proved inconvenient.
15