THE Greek Gods & godesses
What is the hidden power which lies behind the unfolding of nature and the events of our own lives?
HephaestusHephaestus is the god of blacksmiths, sculptures, metallurgy, fires and volcanos.
Hephaestus was the son of Hera, he was conceived by Hera’s
will power without the help of a man, in retaliation against Zeus, after the
birth of Athena. After Hephaestus was born, due to physical disabilities Hera
cast him of the edge of mount Olympus causing him to become a cripple. He was rescued by Thetis (a goddess of the
sea), whom provided him with his first forge. In this forge Hephaestus created
exquisite jewellery to the incredible standard that allowed him to return to
Olympus.
When Hephaestus returned to Olympus, he gained revenge against his mother and bought with him a throne. Once Hera sat upon the throne it held her so she was unable to move. Hephaestus only agreed to let her free, after Dionysus had helped him to get drunk. Hephaestus was married to Aphrodite, however Aphrodite was unhappy in the match which was forced upon her by Hera and Zeus. After the marriage Aphrodite had an affair with Ares. Hephaestus learnt about the affair from the Titan Helios, and decided to enact his revenge. Hephaestus made an invisible net of bronze which fell upon the bed and trapped Aphrodite and Ares. Hephaestus then invited the gods to witness the scene, humiliating Ares and Aphrodite. Hephaestus spoke angrily, demanding a divorce, and once it was granted he reluctantly released the couple from the net. HERMES
The god of travel and anyone who
used the roads (merchants, messengers, herders, ambassadors, thieves, bandits)
Hermes is the son of Zeus and the Titan Maia (the daughter of Atlas). When she was pregnant she hid in a cave on Mt Cyllene in central Greece. After he was born he found a turtle and made the lyre- inventing the first stringed instrument. Soon after he stole some of Apollo’s sacred cows, and as payment he had to give Apollo the lyre. Hermes was the god that often did the bidding of Zeus and other gods, such as taking messages, thieving and being deceitful. Dionysus
Dionysius is the Greek god of wine.
Dionysius’ story is unique. Originally he was a demigod, the son of Zeus and a mortal woman Semele. Whilst Semele was pregnant, Zeus struck her down with a lightning bolt. Zeus rescued Dionysius and placed him into his thigh until he was ready to be born under the orders of Zeus and was raised by Nymphs. When he was older Dionysus had the ability to produce a drink by crushing plant matter. One day he found a strange vine and a satyr named Ampelos climbed the tree to get it for him. On the way down from the tree, he lost his balance and died. Dionysus was upset and cursed the vine to bear sweet fruit. Instantly the satyrs’ blood soaked into the plant and ripe fruit was produced. This was how Dionysus created the first grape vine. Dionysus then using the grapes and created the beverage called wine. Wine was an important part of Greek culture because alcohol was safer to drink then water due to its disinfectant properties. Soon Dionysus was famous and his followers urged him to go to the nearest major city and become their patron god. However, the king of the city was cruel and did not hear him out, scaring Dionysus’ followers away. Dionysus returned, demanding the return of his followers that were being kept prisoner and threatened that he would turn the land barren and inflict the king with madness. After the king refused, Dionysus caused the king to go mad, which caused him to kill his own son. Dionysus told the people that the land would suffer if the king was still in power. Eventually Dionysus received his wishes and received his first temple. This is an example of how the gods would react if mortals didn’t serve them or worship them. It was a belief that refusing them would only cause turmoil. From that moment, Dionysus continued acquiring cities all over Greece. Dionysus even tried to invade India, however, he was unsuccessful in this venture and so eventually he decided to stop, finally building two pillars on the banks of the Ganges to prove he had been there. Dionysus married a young princess named Aridene and when he ascended to Olympus he took her as his queen. |
the eight Major male godszeusZeus is the god of sky.
Zeus was the last child born to Kronos and Rhea, and he was
the one who overthrew his father, Kronos. After casting lots with his brothers,
Zeus won he was given the Sky to rule. Zeus’ weapon was the thunderbolt, with this he
could incinerate mortals and create havoc. Zeus had control of the sky and in turn could
create storms, tempests and darkness.
Zeus was the ruler of the Olympian council, so there for out of all the
gods he had the most power, and what he said the others had to obey. Zeus was
married to Hera.
Zeus had lots of children with lots of different ladies. The humans worshipped him, fearing him because he was seen to be the supreme leader. POSEIDONPoseidon is the god of sea.
His temper was reflected in the ocean. When he was angry he
summoned tsunamis and hurricanes. The people of ancient Greece tried to make
him happy because if Poseidon was angry, it was deadly.
Poseidon expected all sailors to sacrifice one bull per ship before they set sail. If they did not sacrifice to him, the boat would most likely get smashed on the rocks. Poseidon lived on the ocean floor. Whilst Poseidon was competing to be the patron god of Athens he created the horse from sea foam, unfortunately the people of Athens chose Athena to be their patron goddess. Poseidon eventually married a Nereid named Amphitrite and they had three children, Triton (a merman with two fish tales who acted as Poseidon’s herald), Rhode (patron goddess of the Island Rhode) and Kymopoleie (the goddess of violent sea storms). HADES
The god of the underworld and riches.
When he and his brothers cast lots to divide the universe, Hades
was given the Underworld. Hades presided over the dead. Hades in some mythology
was not seen as part of the twelve major gods because he was rarely present on
Mount Olympus.
Hades’ wife was Persephone. Hades loved Persephone and wanted to make her his wife so he kidnapped her and bought her down to the underworld. Whilst Persephone was in the underworld her mother Demeter demanded the return of her daughter causing all the crops to stop growing. With this demand Hades had no option but to release her, however, Persephone had eaten a third of a pomegranate from the underworld, so it was agreed she had to stay in the underworld for a third of a year. Every year this occurs during winter and Demeter doesn’t allow the plants to grow. APOLLO
Apollo is the god of music, poetry and archery.
Apollo is the twin brother of Artemis, he was the son of Zeus and Leto. Apollo took over from the oracle at Delphi. The main priestess, Pythia who told the prophecies, received them from Apollo, who spoke them in poetry or riddles. Apollo defended those he loved fiercely and without hesitation, shooting the offenders with his arrows. When his mother was insulted by Niobe, the queen of Thebes, he quickly went to defend his mother’s honour, as did Artemis. Niobe had bragged that she had fourteen children and because of this she was more courageous than Leto, whom only had two. When Apollo and Artemis descended upon Thebes, a wave of terror spread in the city and everyone except Niobe’s family turned to stone. Apollo then shot down her seven sons whilst Artemis shot down her seven daughters. When Apollo struck down her husband Niobe fled and eventually turned to stone. Zeus took pity on the townsfolk and unfroze the people of Thebes. If you insulted Apollo or his family there would always a punishment. Ares
Ares is the God of war, violence, bloodlust, manly courage
and strength.
He was the first
child between Zeus and Hera, however, his parents sent him to be raised by
Thero in the land of Thrace (located just north of Greece). Ares was fearsome
when he went into battle wearing golden armour, a war helmet and his eyes would
be full of flames. This meant that mortals would be scared to even look upon
Ares. Ares rode a war chariot pulled by four fire breathing dragons.
Ares was in a relationship with Aphrodite. The Greeks didn’t worship Ares as much as the other gods, but they tolerated and feared him. The city of Sparta, however, loved Ares and even had a statue of Ares chained down, because if Ares would never desert them they would always have courage and victory. The Spartans even made human sacrifices in Ares honour. The Amazons also worshiped Ares and built him a temple on a nearby island. |
The Five Major goddessesHERAThe goddess of family, marriage and motherhood.
Hera is the wife of Zeus, She became his wife after he changed himself into a cuckoo and got her to confess her love for him. She made him promise to be a faithful husband, however, the promise he made didn’t last. After Zeus had children with other women, Hera decided she would have a child on her own. His name was Hephaestus, and after seeing what he looked like she was so ashamed of him, she cast him off the edge of Mt Olympus. Hera always took revenge on the women whom Zeus had affairs with. For example, Leto the Mother of Apollo and Artemis, had nowhere to have her children because Hera caused the earth to shake and rumble and Leto couldn’t rest to have her children. Hera was the queen of the universe and a bad person to cross because she always got her revenge. Demeter
Demeter is the goddess of Agriculture
Demeter was the daughter of Kronos and Rhea. She was offered marriage by Zeus, Poseidon and Hades, but turned them down. However, Zeus was persistent in his pursuit and cornered Demeter. She was cornered by Zeus after turning into a snake and as a result her daughter Persephone (the future wife of Hades) was born. Poseidon was also in pursuit of Demeter and when looking for an escape turned into a horse and tried to blend in with other horses. Because Poseidon was the god of horses this camouflage did not work. As a result she had a daughter named Despoine and gave birth to an immortal, fast stallion named Arion. Later Demeter fell in love with a mortal prince name Lason, however Zeus was jealous and killed Lason. She did have her last child Plutos. Demeter protected fiercely what was sacred to her. A man named Erisikhthon was going to build a mansion from lumber from the woods sacred to Demeter. Demeter disguised herself as a mortal and warned him, however, he only was interested in the great feasts he was going to have in his new mansion. As punishment she sentenced him to eternal feasting, forever being hungry. The mortals worshiped Demeter because food is essential, it was very easy for her to bless or curse a person. athena
Athena is the Greek goddess of wisdom, warfare, arts and
literature
Athena is the daughter of Zeus and the Titan Metis. Whilst
Athena’s mother was pregnant with Athena it was said that, their first son
would gain lordship of the sky. Zeus was scared of this (as he himself had
gotten rid of his own father and didn’t want this to happen), so he swallowed
Metis whilst she was pregnant. Athena’s birth is unusual. She was born fully
armed from her father’s own head after it had been split open by the axe of
Hephaestus.
Athena was the goddess of wisdom and warfare. She was seen as intelligent and wise, providing a figure of female power and solidarity, for the Greeks to worship. Athena Chose to remain a virgin goddess, further amplifying her as a female figure that was happy without a husband in her life. However, the side of Athena that was still seen as womanly was that she was the goddess of the Arts and literature. During this time art such as sculpture was a very important part of the culture. Athena was a strong goddess, and whilst she was fair, she like all other Gods did not take kindly to mortals whom insulted them. This was shown in the myth about a mortal named Arachne. She was a talented spinner and weaver that boasted about her talent making the mistake of stating that she could win a competition against Athena herself. Athena upon hearing this disguised herself as an old lady and warned Arachne about challenging the gods, advising her to retract her words, giving her a chance to redeem herself. Arachne however didn’t heed the warning and challenged Athena again. When Athena changed into her own form, the townsfolk all kneeled. The purpose in life for mortals was to make the gods happy, serve and worship them, except for Arachne. The competition commenced immediately between the two talented spinners. Athena weaved the scene of the Parthenon and of her contest with Poseidon, and depicted images of the punishments that occurred when mortals defied the gods. Arachne however weaved a scene that made fun of the gods, showing the gods failures and errors. When Athena saw the work she was angry, destroyed Arachne’s work and cursed Arachne to spin forever, turning her into a spider. Artemis
Artemis is the goddess of childbirth, archery and hunting.
Artemis is the daughter of Leto and Zeus, and the twin sister of Apollo. When Leto was about to give birth, Hera sought her revenge by forbidding and land that had roots to allow her to rest on their soil when she was about to give birth. Eventually Leto found the Island of Delos, a floating Island with no routs, where she could have birth. After Artemis was born, she immediately started helping her mother with the birth of her brother. Artemis chose to remain a maiden goddess forever, never getting married of taking an interest in the male gender. Artemis created the wild hunt, allowing only young girls (around the age of 9) to join after they had pledged their allegiance to Artemis and swore never to become involved with the opposite gender. This was a symbol of hope for all the young girls whom never wanted to get married. |
Aphrodite
Aphrodite is the Greek goddess of love, desire, beauty and
eternal youth.
Aphrodite had no godly parents she was born from the sea foam that arose when the genitals of Ouranus which were cast into the waters of Paphos in Cyprus. After emerging from the water, Aphrodite travelled to Olympus to meet the other gods. Whilst meeting the gods, she was forced into a marriage to Hephaestus by Zeus and Hera. Aphrodite did not approve of the match so shortly after the marriage she commenced an affair with Ares. Aphrodite, was attended by erotes (miniature winged love gods), their leader being her son Eros (later known as Cupid) the god of physical attraction. Aphrodite could cause you to fall in love with anyone and because of this she was popular with mortals praised by everyone in the hope that the goddess of love would look favourably upon them and grant them a good match. Aphrodite also had a magic girdle or belt that could cause anyone to fall instantly in love with her. One time Zeus blamed Aphrodite for the affairs he was, so put a spell on Aphrodite to make her fall in love with and marry a mortal Shepherd named Anchises. After the spell wore off, Aphrodite left but was already pregnant with a son, Aeneas. Aeneas became a prince of troy, and after troy fell he sailed to Italy to become the first leader of a group of new people whom called themselves the Romans. Love can cause both joy and misery and can cause of good and terrible events to occur, getting onto Aphrodite’s bad side was never a good thing. A Greek princess named Smyrna was one such mortal, encountered Aphrodite’s bad side. Aphrodite was very proud, so when Smyrna refused to worship her and claimed to be more beautiful, Aphrodite cursed her with the horrible fate of falling in love with her father. When her father became very drunk one night, Smyrna conceived a child with him. Later when her father found out that the child was his he chased her from his house with a sword and in his rage would have killed her if Aphrodite didn’t turn her into a myrrh tree. The child grew inside the tree, and eventually the tree split open, causing a handsome baby named Adonis to emerge. Aphrodite gave the baby to Persephone whom kept the baby in a chest, in the underworld. When Adonis was older due to his great beauty, Persephone refused to give him back to Aphrodite. Zeus was asked to mediate the conflict, and it was decided he would spend one third of the year with each Aphrodite and Persephone and one third of the year on his own. However Aphrodite did not stick to the agreement wearing her girdle, which caused Adonis to fall even more in love with her and spend his third of the year with her. One day when Adonis was hunting he came across a wild boar, the cause of his death. The wild boar, is identified as Ares or belonging to Ares, but in other versions the boar is associated with Apollo or Artemis. Hestia
Hestia is the goddess of the hearth and domestic life
Hestia was the first child born to Kronos and Rhea. Immediately after she was born however she was swallowed by Kronos because he feared the godly beauty and power she possessed. Hestia however was the last to be expelled from his stomach, so she was considered the youngest. In some mythology it states that originally she was one of the major twelve gods but stepped down for Dionysus. However other mythology states that she chose never to be a part of major 12. Hestia never married, she chose to remain a virgin goddess and declined both Poseidon’s and Apollo’s offers of marriage. Hestia chose to be the goddess of the heath on Mount Olympus, tending to the flames. However after Prometheus gave fire to the humans she became the goddess of the hearth in every house hold. If a person knocked on the door of a home in Hestia’s name seeking protection the family that lived there were obligated to allow them refuge. Hestia received a share of all sacrifices that humans made to the gods because offerings were burnt in flames. |