Literature-Mythology
Greek
The Hecatonchires (Hundred Handed Ones):
 The oldest set of children of Gaea and Uranus
 Thrown into the depths of Tartarus after their birth because their father saw them
as monsters
 Giants superior to even the titans
 They are:
 Briareus the Vigorous, also called Aigaion the Sea Goat
 Cottus the Striker or the Furious
 Gyges the big limbed
The Cyclopes:
 Children of Gaea and Uranus
 One eyed Giants
 Thrown into Tartarus (See Hecatonchires)
 They are:
 Arges
 Brontes
 Steropes
 A fourth cyclops (of a later generation), Polyphemus, was mentioned by
Homer in The Odyssey.
The Titans:
 Youngest set of children of Mother Earth (Gaea) and Father Sky (Uranus)
 They are (By Age):
 Oceanus (The World Ocean)
 Coeus (Titan of Intelligence)
 Crius (The Ram)
 Hyperion (God of Observation)
 Iapetus (Father of Atlas, Prometheus, Epimetheus, and Menoetius, and
thus the human race)
 Theia (Goddess or Divine)
 Rhea (Wife to Cronus, Mother of Demeter, Hades, Hera, Hestia, Poseidon,
and Zeus.
 Themis (Law of Nature)
 Mnemosyne (Personification of Memory)
 Phoebe (Golden Wreathed)
 Tethys (Mother of the Chief Rivers)
 Cronus (Overthrew his father, Uranus, husband to Rhea.)
 Later Generations of Titans also exist (Notably Eos, Helios, Selene, Leto,
Asteria, Atlas, Prometheus, Epimetheus, and Menoetius)
The Olympians:
 Principal Gods of the Greek Pantheon
 Dwell on Mount Olympus
 Won supremacy in the Titanomachy (War of the Titans) in which they allied with
the Cyclopes and Hecatonchires to overthrow the Titans.
 They are:
 Zeus (King of the Gods, Ruler of Mount Olympus)
 Hera (Queen of the Gods and of the Heavens, Goddess of women,
marriage and motherhood)
 Poseidon (Lord of the Sea, god of the seas, horses and eathquakes)
 Demeter (Goddess of fertility, agriculture, nature and seasons)
 Hestia (Goddess of hearth and home)
 Aphrodite (Goddess of love, beauty, desire and fertility)
 Apollo (God of the Sun, of light, healing, music, poetry, prophecy, archery
and truth)
 Ares (God of war, frenzy and bloodshed)
 Artemis (Goddess of the hunt, of maidens and the moon)
 Athena (Goddess of wisdom, crafts and strategic battle)
 Hephaestus (God of fire and the forges. Blacksmith to the Gods)
 Hermes (The Messenger of the Gods, God of commerce, thieves and
trade)
 Also of Note is Hades, Lord of the Underworld and a child of Cronus,
however, because he dwells in the underworld, he is not technically an
Olympian
Other Important Figures:
 Bia, the personification of Violence.
 Cratus is power.
 Dione, also known as the mother of Aphrodite, by Zeus.
 Dionysus, God of wine, the vine and merriment
 Eros is the personification of Love.
 Ganymedes is the cupbearer of Heaven.
 Hebe, Goddess of youth, also Cupbearer of Ambrosia and Nectar
 Heracles, the greatest hero of the Greek myths.
 Horae are the Wardens of Olympus.
 Eilythia, the goddess of childbirth, daughter of Hera and Zeus.
 Iris is the Rainbow, the messenger of Olympus, together with Hermes.
 Moirae, the three Fates (Clotho, the spinner, Lachesis, the allotter, and Atropos,
the Inevitable)
 Muses (Calliope, Clio, Erato, Euterpe, Melpomene, Polymnia, Terpsichore,
Thalia and Urania) are the nine ladies of science and arts.
 Nemesis is the Greek goddess of Retribution.
 Nike is Victory.
 Paean is the universal Healer.
 Selene is the Moon.
 Zelos is Emulation.
Norse
The Nine Worlds or Homelands
 Unified by Yggdrasill, the World Tree
 Represent all that exists in Ginnungagap (The infinite abyss; the universe)
 The Nine worlds are:
 Miðgarðr (Homeland of the Humans)
 Ásgarðr or Iðavöllr (Homeland of the Æsir (Gods))
 Vanaheimr (Homeland of the Vanir (Gods))
 Jötunheimr or Utgarðr (Homeland of the Jötnar (Giants))
 Álfheimr (Homeland of the Álfar (Elves))
 Hel (Land of the Dead)
 Svartálfaheimr or Niðavellir (Homeland of the Dvergar (Dwarves))
 Niflheimr (Realm of the Primordial element of Ice)
 Muspell (Realm of the Primordial element of Fire)
 Also worth mentioning is Gimle ('gem leanto'), a place so remote it will
survive the damage to Yggdrasil during Ragnarök. The Prose Edda says it
is only inhabited by Álfar that seem to be conceived as beings of light and
purity, similar to Christian angels
Gods and Godesses
 Divided between the Æsir and the Vanir. The distinction is a difficult one to
make. It is generally accepted that the Æsir were warrior gods, while the Vanir
were fertility gods.
 A list:
 Baldr - God of radiance, peace, and rebirth. Consort: Nanna
 Borr - Father of Óðinn, Vili and Ve. Consort: Bestla
 Bragi - God of poetry. Consort: Iðunn
 Búri - The first god and father of Borr.
 Dagr - God of the daytime, son of Delling and Nótt.
 Delling - God of dawn and father of Dagr by Nótt.
 Eir - Goddess of healing.
 Forseti - God of justice, peace and truth. Son of Baldr and Nanna.
 Freya - Goddess of fertility, wealth, love, beauty, magic, prophecy, war,
battle, and death. Consort: Óðr
 Freyr - God of the masculine virility. Consort: Gerð
 Frigg - Goddess of marriage and motherhood. Consort: Óðinn
 Fulla - Frigg´s handmaid.
 Gefjun - Goddess of fertility and plough.
 Hel - Queen of Hel, the Norse underworld.
 Heimdallr (Rígr) - One of the Æsir and guardian of Ásgarð, their realm.
 Hermóðr - Óðinn's son.
 Hlín - Goddess of consolation.
 Höðr - God of winter.
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Hœnir - The silent god.
Iðunn - Goddess of youth. Consort: Bragi.
Jörð - Goddess of the Earth. Mother of Þórr by Óðinn.
Kvasir - God of inspiration.
Lofn - Goddess of love.
Loki - Trickster and god of mischief, strife and fire. Consort: Sigyn (also
called Saeter)
Máni - God of Moon.
Mímir - Óðinn´s uncle.
Nanna - An Ásynja married with Baldr and mother to Forseti.
Nerþus - A goddess mentioned by Tacitus. Her name is connected to that
of Njörðr.
Njörðr - God of sea, wind, fish, and wealth.
Norns - The three goddesses of destiny; Urd(Fate), Skuld(Being, or
Future), Verdandi(Necessity, or Present).
Nótt - Goddess of night, daughter of Narvi and mother of Auð, Jörð and
Dagr by Naglfari, Annar and Delling, respectively.
Óðinn (Wodan) - Lord of the Æsir. God of both wisdom and war. Consort:
Frigg.
Sága - An obscure goddess, possibly another name for Frigg.
Sif - Wife of Thor.
Sjöfn - Goddess of love.
Skaði - Goddess of winter Njörðr's wife.
Skirnir- Frey's shield man.
Skuld - (Being or Future) one of the three goddesses of fate called Norns
who foresee at the base Yggdrasill(The World Tree).
Snotra - Goddess of prudence.
Sol (Sunna) - Goddess of Sun.
Thor (Donar) - God of thunder and battle. Consort: Sif.
Týr (Ziu, Saxnot) - God of war and justice.
Ullr - God of skill, hunt, and duel. Son of Sif.
Urd - (Fate) one of the three goddesses of fate called Norns who foresee at
the base Yggdrasill(The World Tree).
Váli - God of revenge.
Vár - Goddess of contract.
Vé - One of the three gods of creation. Brother of Óðinn and Vili.
Verdandi - (Present, or Necessity) one of the three goddesses of fate called
Norns who foresee at the base Yggdrasill(The World Tree).
Víðarr- Son of Odin and the giantess Gríðr.
Vili - One of the three gods of creation. Brother of Óðinn and Vé.
Vör - Goddess of wisdom.
Lesser Figures of Norse Mythology:
 A list:
 Ægir - Ruler of the sea. Consort: Rán
 Andhrímnir - Cook of the gods.
 Aurvandil - A minor character in the Skáldskaparmál with cognates in
other Germanic tales.
 Elli - Personification of old age.
 Fenrir- Son of Loki and the giantess Angrboða. Destined to grow too large
for his bonds and devour Odin during the course of Ragnarök.
 Magni - Son of Þórr and Járnsaxa.
 Meili - Þórr's brother.
 Móði - Son of Þórr.
 Rán - Keeper of the drowned. Consort: Ægir
 Þrúðr - Daughter of Þórr and Sif.
Ragnarök:
 The final battle between the Æsir (Gods), led by Odin and the Jötnar (Giants)
including Loki
 The destruction and subsequent rebirth of the world will follow
 Most of the participants will die, and almost everything in the universe will be
destroyed.
 The Harbingers of Ragnarök:
 Three beings will be born of Loki and the giantess Angrboda: Fenrir, the
wolf who is destined to devour Odin, Jörmungandr, the Midgard Serpent
or World Serpent, and Hel, Queen of the Underworld. The gods will take
actions to confine them.
 Baldr, the Second son of Odin, will die, and Loki will be bound.
 Fimbulvetr (a period of three years winter) will occur.
 The Portents of Ragnarök:
 The wolves Sköll and Hati will finally devour Sól (the Sun) and her
brother Máni (the Moon), and the stars will burn out and disappear.
 Loki and Fenrir will be freed, and Jörmungandr will come onto shore.
 The ship of the giants, Naglfar (which is made from the nails of the dead),
Loki and a legion of the dead, and the fire giants of Muspelheim will
converge on Asgard from the East, North, and the sky, respectively.
 The Battle:
 Freyr will be the first to fall (to the fire giant Surtr)
 Tyr and Garmr (the monstrous hound) will battle and kill each other
 Thor will kill Jörmungandr with his hammer, Mjolnir, but will himself die
from the serpent’s poison after staggering back nine steps
 Odin will be killed by Fenrir
 Odin’s son Vidar will avenge his father by killing Fenrir
 Heimdallr and Loki will battle, neither will survive
 Surtr will unleash his fire upon the world, destroying everything, including
himself and most of the other participants
 The land will sink completely into the sea
 The Aftermath:
 A new Earth will arise
 Odin's sons Vidar and Váli, who survived, will dwell on the field of
Idavoll where Asgard once was
 Thor’s sons Magni and Modi, the inheritors of their father's hammer, will
then arrive, bringing Mjolnir
 Baldr and his brother Höd will be reborn
 The new generation of mortals will worship the new pantheon of gods, led
by Baldr, Odin’s heir
Roman
The Basics:
 Roman mythology differs from Greek in that, rather than focusing on narratives, it
primarily focuses on the interrelations of the gods and the humans
 Much is lifted from Greek Mythology
 “Flamens” were priests assigned to a state-supported god or goddess
 There were fifteen in the Roman Republic
 The most important three were the flamines maiores (or "major priests"),
who served the three chief Roman gods of the Archaic Triad (Jupiter,
Mars and Quirinus)
 The remaining twelve, two of whom are unknown, were the flamines
minores ("lesser priests")
The Gods:
 A list:
 Apollo - god of the sun, poetry, music, and oracles, and an Olympian
 Bona Dea - goddess of fertility, healing, virginity, and women. Also
known as Fauna
 Bacchus - god of wine and sensual pleasures, not considered an Olympian
by the Romans
 Carmenta - goddess of childbirth and prophecy, and assigned a flamen
minor. The leader of the Camenae.
 Ceres - goddess of the harvest and mother of Proserpina, and an
Olympian, and assigned a flamen minor
 Cybele - earth mother
 Diana - goddess of the hunt, the moon, virginity, and childbirth, twin sister
of Apollo and an Olympian
 Flora - goddess of flowers, and assigned a flamen minor
 Fortuna - goddess of fortune
 Janus - two-headed god of beginnings and endings and of doors
 Juno - Queen of the Gods and goddess of matrimony, and an Olympian
 Jupiter - King of the Gods and the storm, air, and sky god, and an
Olympian, and assigned a flamen maior
 Mars - god of war and father of Romulus, the founder of Rome, and an
Olympian, and assigned a flamen Maior
 Mercury - messenger of the gods and bearer of souls to the underworld,
and an Olympian
 Minerva - goddess of wisdom and war, and an Olympian
 Neptune - god of the sea, earthquakes, and horses, and an Olympian
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Ops - goddess of plenty
Pluto - King of the Dead
Pomona - goddess of fruit trees, and assigned a flamen minor.
Portunes - god of keys, doors, and livestock, he was assigned a flamen
minor.
Proserpina - Queen of the Dead and a grain-goddess
Volturnus- a god of water, was assigned a flamen minor.
Quirinus - Romulus, the founder of Rome, was deified as Quirinus after
his death. Quirinus was a war god and a god of the Roman people and
state, and was assigned a flamen maior.
Saturn - a titan, god of harvest and agriculture, the father of Jupiter,
Neptune, Juno, and Pluto
Venus - goddess of love and beauty, mother of the hero Aeneas, and an
Olympian
Vesta - goddess of the hearth and the Roman state, and an Olympian.
Vulcan - god of the forge, fire, and blacksmiths, and an Olympian, and
assigned a flamen minor
Egyptian
The Pantheons:
 In the Old Kingdom, the third through sixth dynasties dated between 2,686 to
2,134 BCE, the pantheons of individual Egyptian cities varied by region. Beliefs
can be split into five distinct localized groups during that time:
 The Ennead of Heliopolis, meaning the nine - consisted of Atum, Geb,
Isis, Nut, Osiris, Nephthys, Set, Shu, and Tefnut,
 The Ogdoad of Hermopolis, a changing myth which began with eight
deities who were worshipped in four female-male pairs; the females were
associated with snakes and the males with frogs: Naunet and Nu, Amaunet
and Amun, Kauket and Kuk, Hauhet and Huh; first being a cult having
Hathor and her son, Ra (and later, Horus as the son of Isis, who was an
aspect of Hathor); later changing to a cult where Hathor and Thoth were
the main deities over a much larger number of deities; and even later, Ra
was assimilated into Atum-Ra through a merger with Atum of the Ennead
cosmogeny; in the final version of the creation myth a lotus, a symbol held
by Hathor. was said to have arisen from the waters after an explosive
interaction, the lotus was said to have opened and revealed Ra, who later
became identified as Horus also
 The Khnum-Satet-Anuket triad of Elephantine, which was the dwelling
place of Khnum, the ram-headed god of the cataracts, who controlled the
origin of the waters of the Nile from caves beneath the island: in
Elephantine he was worshipped along with his counterpart, Satis, who
performed the same duties, and their daughter Anuket, the deification of
the Nile. Other versions identify Khnum with the creation of bodies in
association with Heket, the goddess who breathed life into the bodies. In
another variant Khnum is identified as the counterpart of Menhit and the
father of Heka, a personification of majic.
 The Amun-Mut-Chons triad of Thebes
 The Ptah-Sekhmet-Nefertem triad of Memphis, which is unusual because
these deities were not associated with each other before this triad was
formalized
A Complete List of Gods:
 Amon - the hidden one, a local creator deity later married to Mut after rising in
importance
 Amunet - female aspect of the primordial concept of air in the Ogdoad
cosmogony; was depicted as a cobra snake or a snake-headed woman
 Anubis -jackal god of embalming and tomb-caretaker who watches over the dead
 Anuket, goddess of the Nile River, the child of Satis and among the Elephantine
triad of deities; temple on the Island of Seheil
 Apep (Apophis) - evil serpent of the Underworld, enemy of Ra and formed from a
length of Neith's spit during her creation of the world
 The Aten - the sun disk or globe worshipped primarily during the Amarna Period
in the Eighteenth Dynasty when representing a monotheistic deity advanced by
Amenhotep IV, who took the name Akhenaten
 Atum - a creator deity, and the setting sun
 Bast, goddess, protector of the pharaoh and a solar deity where the sun could be
seen shining in her eyes at night, a lioness, house cat, cat-bodied or cat-headed
woman, also known as Bastet when superseded by Sekhmet
 Baal, lord of the inferno
 Bat - represented the cosmos and the essence of the soul (Ba), cow goddess who
gave authority to the king, cult originated in Hu and persisted widely until
absorbed as an aspect of Hathor after the eleventh dynasty; associated with the
sistrum and the ankh
 Bes - dwarfed demigod - associated with protection of the household, particularly
childbirth, and entertainment
 The four sons of Horus- personifications of the containers for the organs of the
deceased pharaohs - Imsety in human form, contained the liver and was protected
by Isis; Hapi in baboon form, contained the lungs and was protected by Nephthys;
Duamutef in jackal form, contained the stomach and was protected by Neith;
Qebehsenuef in hawk form, contained the large intestines and was protected by
Serket
 Geb - god of the Earth and first ruler of Egypt
 Hapy - god embodied by the Nile, and who represents life and fertility
 Hathor - among the oldest of Egyptian deities - often depicted as the cow, a solar
deity who was the mother to the pharaoh, the golden "calf" of the bible, and later
goddess of Love and Music
 Heget - goddess of childbirth and fertility, who breathed life into humans at birth,
represented as a frog or a frog-headed woman
 Horus - the falcon-headed god, son of Isis, god of pharaohs and Upper Egypt
 Imhotep - god of wisdom, medicine, and magic
 Isis - goddess of magical power and healing, "She of the Throne" who was
represented as the throne, also the wife of Osiris and goddess of the underworld symbolized by tiet or tyet, meaning welfare or life, resembles an ankh, except that
its arms curve down, to represent the idea of eternal life or resurrection; an early
deity whose cults persisted into the Sixth Century CE.
 Iusaaset - the "shadow" of Atum or Atum-Ra, a goddess who was seen as the
mother and grandmother of the gods, referred to as the great one who comes forth
 Khepry - the scarab beetle, the embodiment of the dawn
 Khnum - a creator deity, god of the inundation
 Maahes - he who is true beside her, a lion prince, son of Bast in Lower Egypt and
of Sekhmet in Upper Egypt and sharing their natures, his father varied—being the
current chief male deity of the time and region, a god of war, weather, and
protector of matrilineality, his cult arrived during the New Kingdom era perhaps
from Nubia and was centred in Taremu and Per-Bast, associated with the high
priests of Amon, the knife, lotuses, and devouring captives
 Ma'at - a goddess who personified concept of truth, balance, justice, and order represented as a woman, sitting or standing, holding a sceptre in one hand and an
ankh in the other - thought to have created order out of the primal chaos and was
responsible for maintaining the order of the universe and all of its inhabitants, to
prevent a return to chaos
 Mafdet - she who runs swiftly - early deification of legal justice (execution) as a
cheetah, ruling at judgment hall in Duat where enemies of the pharaoh were
decapitated with Mafdet's claw; alternately, a cat, a mongoose, or a leopard
protecting against vermin, snakes, and scorpions; the bed upon which royal
mummies were placed in murals
 Menhit - goddess of war - depicted as a lioness-goddess and therefore becoming
associated with Sekhmet
 Meretseger - goddess of the valley of the kings, a cobra-goddess, sometimes
triple-headed, dweller on the top of or the personification of the pyramid-shaped
mountain, Al-Qurn, which overlooked the tombs of the pharaohs in the Valley of
the Kings
 Menthu - an ancient god of war - nomad - represented strength, virility, and
victory
 Mut (also spelled Mout), mother, was originally a title of the primordial waters of
the cosmos, the mother from which the cosmos emerged, as was Naunet in the
Ogdoad cosmogony, however, the distinction between motherhood and cosmic
water lead to the separation of these identities and Mut gained aspects of a creator
goddess
 Naunet - a goddess, the primal waters from which all arose, similar to Mut and
later closely related to Nu
 Neith - goddess of war, then great mother goddess - a name of the primal waters,
the goddess of creation and weaving, said to weave all of the world on her loom
 Nekhbet - goddess depicted as a white vulture - protector of Egypt, royalty, and
the pharaoh with her extended wings - referred to as Mother of Mothers, who hath
existed from the Beginning, and Creatrix of the World (related to Wadjet); always
seen on the front of pharaoh’s double crown with Wadjet
 Nephthys - goddess of death, holder of the rattle, the Sistrum - sister to Isis and
the nursing mother of Horus and the pharaohs represented as the mistress of the
temple, a woman with falcon wings, usually outstretched as a symbol of
protection
 Nut - goddess of heaven and the sky - mother of many deities as well as the sun,
the moon, and the stars
 Osiris - god of the underworld after Hathor and Anubis, fertility, and agriculture the oldest son of the sky goddess, Nut, and the Earth god, Geb, and being brother
and later, the husband of Isis - and early deity of Upper Egypt whose cult
persisted into the Sixth Century CE.
 Ptah - a creator deity, also god of craft
 Ra - the sun, also a creator deity - whose chief cult centre was based in Heliopolis
meaning "city of the sun"
 Ra-Horakhty - god of both sky and Sun, a combination of Ra and Horus - thought
to be god of the Rising Sun
 Reshep - war god who was originally from Syria
 Satis - the goddess who represented the flooding of the Nile River
 Sekhmet - goddess of destruction and war, the lioness - also personified as an
aspect of Ra, fierce protector of the pharaoh, a solar deity, and later as an aspect
of Hathor
 Seker- god of death
 Selket- scorpion goddess, protectress, goddess of magic
 Sobek - crocodile god of the Nile
 Set - god of storms, later became god of evil, desert, also Lower Egypt
 Seshat - goddess of writing, astronomy, astrology, architecture, and mathematics
depicted as a scribe
 Shu - embodiment of wind or air
 Taweret - goddess of pregnant women and protector at childbirth
 Tefnut - goddess, embodiment of rain, dew, clouds, and wet weather, depicted as
a cat and sometimes as a lioness
 Thoth - god of the moon, drawing, writing, geometry, wisdom, medicine, music,
astronomy, magic; usually depicted as ibis-headed, or as a goose; cult centered in
Khemennu
 Wadjet - the goddess - snake goddess of lower Egypt, depicted as a cobra, patron
and protector of Egypt and the pharaoh, always shown on crown of the pharaohs;
later joined by the image of Nekhbet after north and south united; other symbols:
eye, snake on staff
 Wadj-wer - fertility god and personification of the Mediterranean sea or lakes of
the Nile delta
 Wepwawet - jackal god of upper Egypt
 Wosret - a localized guardian goddess, protector of the young god Horus, an early
consort of Amun, who was later superseded by Mut