Greek Gods
1. Mount Olympus – On top of which stood a mysterious temple from which the
twelve Olympians ruled the heavens and the Earth.
2. Zeus (Jupiter) – King of the Gods and Ruler of Mount Olympus. He controlled
the sky, winds, clouds, rain, thunder, and lightning. Also, he was the god of
justice, law and order and fate.
3. Hera (Juno) – Queen of the Gods and of the heavens. Goddess of women,
marriage and motherhood. Hera was the sister of Zeus and later became his wife.
4. Poseidon (Neptune) – God of the Seas and Earthquakes. Zeus’s older brother, he
was the Ruler of the Oceans and the Seas. With the strike of his mighty Trident he
could create great Earthquakes.
5. Demeter (Ceres) – Goddess of fertility, nature and the seasons, agriculture, grain
and bread. Sister of Zeus.
6. Hestia (Vesta) – Goddess of the hearth, cooking and home. Another Sister of
Zeus, she was an extremely pure and peace-loving goddess that kept free from all
disputes and delicate situations. She left Olympus so that Dionysus could join the
twelve Olympians.
7. Hades (Pluto) – God of the Underworld and gold and silver. Hades rules the dead
with the assistance of various (demonic) helpers, such as the three-headed hound
Cerberus. He was the brother of Zeus, but not part of the twelve Olympians.
8. Aphrodite (Venus) – Goddess of love and beauty. Some legends consider her a
child of Zeus, but others say she was born from Sea foam. She was so beautiful
that the sight of her made men fall in love.
9. Ares (Mars) – God of War. He is the son of Zeus and Hera and is also the god of
chaos and confusion, as well as civil order and manly courage.
10. Apollo (Apollo) – God of light, healing, the arts (music, poetry) and Archery
(Brother of Artemis)
11. Artemis (Diana) – Goddess of hunting and the moon. (Sister of Apollo)
12. Athena (Minerva) – Goddess of wisdom, craft and strategic battle.
13. Hephaistos (Vulcan) – God of fire and the forge, blacksmith to the gods (Son of
Zeus and Hera)
14. Hermes (Mercury) – God of commerce and trade, and speed. Messenger to the
gods.
15. Dionysus (Bacchus) – God of wine, parties and merriment. (Became part of the
twelve Olympians when Hestia left.)
16. Herakles (Hurcules) – The greatest of the Greek heroes
Olympian gods, dwelt on Mount Olympus in Thessaly, which was believed to penetrate
with its lofty summit into heaven itself.
The family of the Cronidae accordingly embraces the twelve great gods of Olympus,
Zeus (the head of them all), Poseidon, Apollo, Ares, Hermes, Hephaestus, Hestia,
Demeter, Hera, Athena, Aphrodite, and Artemis. These twelve Olympian gods, who in
some places were worshipped as a body, as at Athens (Thueyd. vi. 54), were recognised
not only by the Greeks, but were adopted also by the Romans, who, in particular,
identified their Jupiter with the Greek Zeus.
Zeus (Jupiter) | god of the sky; ruler of Olympus
ZEUS (Zeus), the greatest of the Olympian gods, and the father of gods and men, was a
son of Cronos and Rhea, a brother of Poseidon, Hades (Pluto), Hestia, Demeter, Hera,
and at the same time married to his sister Hera. When Zeus and his brothers distributed
among themselves the government of the world by lot, Poseidon obtained the sea, Hades
the lower world, and Zeus the heavens and the upper regions, but the earth became
common to all (Hom. Il. xv. 187, &c., i. 528, ii. 111; Virg. Aen. iv. 372).
He is armed with thunder and lightning, and the shaking of his aegis produces storm and
tempest (Il. xvii. 593)
He was married to Hera, by whom he had two sons, Ares and Hephaestus, and one
daughter, Hebe
"queenly Hera, the Lady of Argos who walks in golden sandals"