The Greek Pantheon
Semester Ancient Mythology, Period 03
APHRODITE/VENUS
GODDESS OF LOVE, BEAUTY, AND
SEXUALITY
• Domain- Daughter of Zeus. Born when Cronus cut off Zeus’s genitals
and threw them into the sea and she arose from the sea foam.
• Relationship- had many affairs with many gods and mortals. She was
the main reason for causing the Trojan War.
• Flaws- damaged personality- weak, frightened, ill-tempered, and
easily offended.
• Fact- most beautiful Goddess in terms of appearance.
Apollo (Phoebus)/Apollo
-God of the SunTwin brother of Artemis
Problems with Artemis
Competitive and quick to anger when his mother is insulted
He specialized in archery, playing music, healing others, and far
shooting
• His claim to fame was killing the Python
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Ares – God of War
Ares – God of war
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Domain: Greek god of war
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Relationship: He is the son of Zeus and Hera
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Problems with others: Ares was the lover of Aphrodite even though she was
already married to Hephaestus
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Character flaws: He is said to be difficult, moody, and impulsive
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Fascinating facts: Ares represents the violent and physical untamed
aspect of war
Greek: Artemis
Roman: Diana
 goddess of chastity, virginity, the hunt, the moon, and the natural
environment
 daughter of Zeus and Leto, twin sister of Apollo
 helped women with childbirth and protected young girls until marriage
 brought sudden death to women with her arrows
 generally depicted with a bow, quiver of arrows, and a bear or stag
 hunted frequently with Orion until Apollo tricked her into shooting an
arrow into his skull
 she and Apollo killed Niobe’s children after the mortal said that she
was better than Leto
 flaws: dislikes men (orders them to be torn apart if they see her
bathing), opposes marriage because it steals women’s freedom
 had the powers of transformation, prophecy, healing, poetry, music,
magic, purification, death and hunter of souls, action and temperance
Athena/
Minerva
The Goddess of wisdom, war
strategy, and justice
– Relationships: Father is Zeus. Instead of being delivered by her mother Metis,
Athena broke free from Zeus’s forehead already full grown and dressed in
armor.
– Conflicts: She turned the mortal weaver, Arachne, into a spider after the woman
insulted Athena.
– Flaw: Lack of emotions and compassion
– Claim to Fame: Unlike her brother Ares, Athena only entered war to defend
against enemies and was regarded as a great peacekeeper.
Demeter / Ceres
Goddess of the Harvest
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Daughter of Cronos and Rhea
Conflicts with Hades
Aliance with Poseidon
Commits to her role of mother for her
daughter over role of being harvest goddess
• Creats winter when her daughter Persephone,
has to stay with Hades in the underworld for
three months
Dionysus (Bacchus)
Dionysus
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God of wine, vegetation, pleasure, fertility, and festivity.
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He is the son of the Zeus and the mortal Semele
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Semele was killed by Zeus due to Hera
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Born from the thigh of Zeus
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Hera had the Titans kill Dionysus
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Zeus sent him to be raised my mountain nymphs
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He had a dual nature: divine joy and ecstasy or brutal rage; reflecting wine
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He could bring back the dead
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Created wine and viticulture
Gaea/Terra
Gaea
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Ge, Earth, Terra
• Gaea AKA Mother Earth
• Parents: Aether (god of upper sky) and Hemera (goddess of
daytime)
• She represented earth and was worshipped as a universal
mother
• Gave birth to titans and the first humans
• She is the spiritual embodiment of the Earth
Hades/Pluto
God of the Underworld…
• Eldest son of Cronus and Rhea
• Married to Persephone (Not consensual)
• Heracles’ final labor was to Cerberus
• Winter months are explained by the 1/3 of each year Persephone
must spend with her husband
Helios / Sol
The Titan of the Sun
Relationship: Father-Titan Hyperion, Mother- the Titaness Theia, Siblings- Selene and Eos
Problem: His son Phaëton attempted to drive his father's chariot but lost control and set the earth on fire.
Flaw: sometimes characterized with the epithet Panoptes ("the all-seeing").
Claim to Fame: He drove the chariot of the sun across the sky each day to earth-circling Oceanus.
Hephaestus (Greek)/ Vulcan,Mulciber
(Roman)
By: Nicholas Gruschow
• Domain-lives in forge underneath Mount Etna in Sicily
• Relationship With Others- Son of Jupiter and Juno and the husband of
Venus. His sons are Philammon, Cecrops, Erichthonius, Corynetes,
Cercyon, Philottus and Spinther.
• Problems With Others- He was born extremely ugly, so his mother threw
him off a cliff but failed to kill him. She put him in a volcano and told
him to stay there. He grew up to be a talented blacksmith but always
despised his mother and sought revenge
• Character Flaws- He was very ugly and he captured his mother and
refused to let her go until he could marry Venus. This was only was he
could of married her as e is not physically attractive. He also broke one
of his legs falling into the ocean and it never developed properly.
• Claim to Fame- Thetis attended a dinner part on Mont Olympus wearing a
beautiful necklace. Juno found out that her son made it and realized she
rejected a talented blacksmith. He later made all the weapons and
ironware including jewelry for the gods and goddesses.
Hera/Juno
Wife of Zeus
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Goddess of women and marriage
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Daughter of Cronus and Rhea
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Jealous of Zeus’ many affairs with mortal women
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A majestic figure
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Has a chariot drawn by peacocks
Heracles/Hercules
Model of Masculinity
• Relationship: Son of Zeus and Alcmene (a
beautiful mortal)
• Problem: Driven mad by Hera, Heracles killed his
own children
• Flaw: Overuses his power
• Fame: Had to perform the Twelve Labors to atone
for murdering his children
Hermes/Mercury
God Of Commerce and Trade (Messenger of
the Gods)
• Relationships: Son of Zeus and Maia
• Had abundant love affairs with goddesses, mortals, and nymphs
• Character Flaws: He was sly and cunning and often considered a
“trickster”
• One fact or claim to fame:Hermes was sent to rescue Zeus’s
consort from Argos Panoptes (Hundred eyed giant) and
eventually slayed him.
Hestia/Vesta
Basic Information
• She is the goddess of the hearth, architecture, and the right ordering of domesticity,
the family and the state
• She is the daughter of Cronus and Rhea
• She has five siblings: Zeus, Poseidon, Demeter, Hera, and Hades
• She and her siblings engaged in a war with their father
• She also rejected the marriage suits of her brother Poseidon and Apollo
• Hestia was known as a kind and forgiving person
• One interesting fact about Hestia is that when she was first born, her father
swallowed her; soon after, her brother Zeus forced him to regurgitate her
Proserpina, Proserpine
Goddess of Underworld
Daughter of Ceres, goddess of agriculture and crop and Jupiter, the god of sky and thunder
Pluto abducted her in order to marry her and live with her in Hades (Pluto was her uncle)
Her figure inspired many artistic composition
Married to Hades
POSEIDON/
NEPTUNE
By: Shawn Scaffa
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Domain: The God of the Sea
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Relationship: Brothers-Zeus, Hades
Parents- Cronos, Rhea
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Flaws: Hates Odysseus for blinding his son Polyphemus .
Has problems with King Minos after he asked Poseidon
a bull from the sea to sacrifice to him.
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Fascinating Fact: People believe that since Poseidon controls
horses, they think he created zebras while experimenting.
Rhea / Ops
Mother of the Gods
■ Relationships: Wife and sister of Cronus, Mother of
Zeus
■ Problems: Saved Zeus by giving Cronus a swaddled
stone
■ Flaws: Did not have strong cult/ followers
■ Fact/Claim: She hid newborn Zeus in Crete (place of
her temple)
Uranus/Coelus
Uranus: the sky god
• Son and husband of Gaia, the Mother Earth goddess
• Father of the Titan gods, the Hundred-Handed Ones,
and the Cyclopes
• Imprisoned his own children
• Overthrown by his son Cronus
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Domain: Skies and Mount Olympus.
Job: Oversees the lives of all mortals, grants immortality, rules over the
other Olympians. Controls the storms that alert man to the Gods’ displeasure
with them and punishes them.
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Flaws: Easily angered, falls in love with mortals creating tension with his
godly wife, Hera. He is the father of many mortal heroes, and the majority of
the other Olympians.
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Story: Zeus was saved from being eaten by his father Cronus when his mother
fed the Titan a large rock instead of him. Zeus returned and tricked his father
into throwing them up and freeing his brothers Poseidon and Hades, who then
destroyed Cronus.