12 Olympian Gods and Goddesses

There were 12 Olympian gods and goddesses in Greek mythology, although you may run across 14 different names. Hestia, Demeter, Dionysus, Hephaestus, and Hades are variable. The remaining are: Apollo, Ares, Hermes, Poseidon, and Zeus, among the gods; Aphrodite, Athena, Artemis, and Hera, among the goddesses.

The Roman versions of the Greek names are: Apollo, Mars, Mercury, Neptune, and Jupiter, among the canonical males; Venus, Minerva, Diana, and Juno, among the canonical females. The alternates are Vesta, Ceres, Bacchus, Vulcan, and Pluto.

The twelve Olympian gods and goddesses were the major deities with prominent roles in Greek mythology. Although Being an Olympian god meant a throne on Mt. Olympus, some of the major Olympians spent most of their time elsewhere. Poseidon lived in the sea and Hades in the Underworld.

Demeter - Greek Goddess of Agriculture and Wheat

Who Is Demeter?:Demeter is a goddess of fertility, grain, and agriculture. She is pictured as a mature

motherly figure. Although she is the goddess who taught mankind about agriculture, she is also the goddess responsible for creating winter and a mystery religious cult. Demeter is usually accompanied by her daughter Persephone.

Family of Origin:Demeter was a daughter of the Titans Cronus and Rhea. Demeter was a sister of the

goddesses Hestia and Hera, and the gods Poseidon, Hades, and Zeus.

Demeter in Roman Mythology:Ceres.

Attributes:The attributes of Demeter are a sheaf of grain, a conical headdress, a scepter, a

torch, and a sacrificial bowl.

Hermes - Greek Messenger of the Gods

Who Is Hermes?:Hermes is familiar as the messenger god in Greek mythology. In a related capacity,

he brought the dead to the Underworld in his role of "Psychopompos". Zeus made his thieving son Hermes god of commerce. Hermes invented various devices, especially musical ones, and possibly fire. He is known as a helpful god.

Family of Origin:Hermes is the son of Zeus and Maia (one of the Pleiades).

Roman Equivalent:

Mercury.

Attributes:Hermes is sometimes shown as young and sometimes bearded. He wears a hat, winged sandals, and short

cloak. Hermes has a tortoise-shell lyre and the staff of a shepherd. In his role as psychopompos, Hermes is the "herdsman" of the dead. Hermes is referred to as luck-bringing (messenger), giver of grace, and the Slayer of Argus.

Powers:Hermes is called Psychopompos (Herdsman of the dead or guider of souls), messenger, bringer of dreams, thief,

trickster. Hermes is a god of commerce and music. Hermes is the messenger or Herald of the gods and was known for his cunning and as a thief from the day of his birth. Hermes is the father of Pan and Autolycus.

Hades - Greek God of the Underworld

Who Is Hades?:Although Hades (the Unseen One) is an Olympian god, he is the Lord of the

Underworld and ruler of the dead. Hades is not the god of death, however -- that's Thanatos. Hades rules those given proper funeral rites and brought over by Charon. Hades complained about Apollo's son, the healer Asclepius because he restored people to life, thereby reducing Hades' dominions. Hades inflicted Thebes with plague probably because they weren't burying the slain and therefore were denying bodies for Hades to have dominion over.

The name Hades is generally applied to the realm of the Underworld. Hades is feared and hated. An oath taken on his name is especially binding. There are few stories about Hades since he spends most of his time among the non-living.

Family of Hades:Hades was a son of the Titans Cronus and Rhea. His brothers are Zeus and

Poseidon. Hestia, Hera, and Demeter are Hades' sisters.

Children of Hades The Erinyes (Furies), Zagreus (Dionysus), and Makaria (goddess of a blessed death)

Other Names for Hades:Sometimes people say Pluto is the Roman equivalent of Hades, but Pluto was a god of wealth, not of the

Underworld. Sometimes, however, the Greeks themselves called Hades Plouton (Pluto is the Latin for the Greek word Plouton), so it seems prissy to demand greater precision. (More on the names Hades, Pluto, and Dis.) Hades is also called Haides, Aides, Aidoneus, Zeus Katachthonios (Zeus under the earth), and Orcus (Roman).

Persephone:Hades is best known for abducting Demeter's daughter Persephone, keeping her with him in the Underworld

where no one knew where she was, and then, when found out, tricking her into eating some pomegranate seeds. By eating in the land of Hades, Persephone was bound to Hades. A deal was made to let Persephone join her mother half the year, but she always returns.

Attributes:Hades is shown as a dark-bearded man, with a crown, scepter, and key. He has a three-headed dog (Cerberus).

Hades has a helmet of invisibility and a chariot.

Hestia - Greek Goddess of the Hearth

Who Is Hestia?The honored, first born of the Olympian gods, the Greek goddess Hestia is also called the

last born because her father swallowed his children and then regurgitated them in reverse order. Hestia has power over altars, hearths, town halls and states. In return for a vow of chastity, Zeus assigned honor to Hestia in human homes.

Family of Origin:Hestia was the first born child of Cronos and Rhea. Her brothers were Zeus, Hades, and

Poseidon. Her sisters were Demeter and Hera.

Roman Equivalent:Vesta

Attributes:Hestia is associated with the hearth. Hestia almost never leaves home. She swore a vow of

eternal chastity.

Hera - Greek Goddess of Marriage and Women

Who Is Hera?Hera is the queen of the gods. She is usually plotting either to favor the Greeks over

the Trojans, as in Homer's Iliad, or against one of the females who has caught the roving eye of her philandering husband, Zeus. At other times, Hera is shown plotting mischief against Heracles.

Family of Origin:The Greek goddess Hera is one of the daughters of Cronus and Rhea. She is the sister and wife of the king of the gods, Zeus.

Roman Equivalent:Juno

Attributes of Hera:

Peacock, cow, crow and pomegranate for fertility. She is described as cow-eyed.

Powers of Hera:Hera is the queen of the gods and the wife of Zeus. She is the goddess of marriage and is one of the childbirth

goddesses. She created the Milky Way when she was lactating.

Children of Hera:Hera was the mother of Hephaestus. Sometimes she is credited with giving birth to him without the input of a male

as a response to Zeus' giving birth to Athena from his head. Hera was not pleased with the clubfoot of her son. Either she or her husband threw Hephaestus from Olympus. He fell to earth where he was tended by Thetis, the mother of Achilles, for which reason he created Achilles' great shield.

Hera was also the mother, with Zeus, of Ares and Hebe, the cupbearer of the gods who marries Heracles.

Artemis - Greek Goddess of the Hunt

Who Is Artemis?Artemis is the twin sister of Apollo. She is a goddess of transitions, a hunter, a

virgin, and one of the goddesses who assists at childbirth. She was on the Trojan side in Homer's Iliad.

Powers:Artemis is the goddess of the hunt and wild animals. Although a virgin herself,

Artemis helps women in childbirth. Artemis watches over streets and harbors.

Family of Origin:Artemis was the twin sister of Apollo. Their parents were Zeus and Leto. Artemis

was born on Delos.

Roman Equivalent:Diana.

Attributes:Golden arrows, bow, and fawn.

Temple of Artemis:One of the 7 Wonders of the Ancient World was the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, built around 550 B.C. The

temple of Artemis was deliberately burned down by Herostratus in an attempt to gain fame in 356 B.C.

Aphrodite - Greek Goddess of Love and Beauty

Who Is Aphrodite?:Aphrodite is the goddess of beauty, love, and sexuality. She is sometimes known as the

Cyprian because there was a cult center of Aphrodite on Cyprus. Aphrodite is the mother of the god of love, Eros (more familiar as Cupid). She is the wife of the ugliest of the gods, Hephaestus. Unlike the powerful virginal goddesses, Athena and Artemis, or the faithful goddess of marriage, Hera, she has love affairs with gods and mortals. Aphrodite's birth story makes her relation to the other gods and goddesses of Mt. Olympus ambiguous.

Family of Origin:Hesiod says Aphrodite arose from the foam that gathered around the genitals of Uranus.

They just happened to be floating in the sea -- after his son Cronus castrated his father.

The poet known as Homer calls Aphrodite the daughter of Zeus and Dione. She is also described as the daughter of Oceanus and Tethys (both Titans).

If Aphrodite is the cast-offspring of Uranus, she is of the same generation as Zeus' parents. If she is the daughter of the Titans, she is Zeus' cousin.

Roman Equivalent:Venus

Attributes And Associations:Mirror, of course -- she is the goddess of beauty. Also, the apple, which has lots of associations with love or

beauty (as in Sleeping Beauty) and especially the golden apple. Aphrodite is associated with a magic girdle (belt), the dove, myrrh and myrtle, the dolphin, and more. In the famous Botticelli painting, Aphrodite is seen rising from a clam shell.

Athena - Greek Goddess of Warfare

Who Is Athena?:Athena is the name of an important goddess for the Greeks. She is the patron

goddess of Athens, the goddess of wisdom, a goddess of arts and crafts (agriculture, navigation, spinning, weaving, and needlework), and as a war goddess with a focus on strategy more than bloodshed, an active participant in the Trojan War. She gave Athens the gift of the olive tree, providing oil, food, and wood.

Athena's Family and the Birth of Athena:The Greek goddess Athena is said to be the offspring of Zeus alone, but that was

only after the Oceanid Metis became pregnant and Zeus swallowed her. By swallowing the Oceanid and her unborn child, Zeus became pregnant with Athena. Zeus wasn't built to deliver a baby, so he seems to have gestated the baby in his head. The solution to the lack of an opening in Zeus that would serve for the birth canal: Hephaestus (or Prometheus) struck open Zeus' head with an axe to release the goddess Athena. Athena emerged from her father's head fully armed.

Roman Equivalent of Athena:Minerva

Attributes of Athena:Aegis, spear, pomegranate, owl, distaff, helmet. Athena is described as grey-eyed (glaukos).

Powers of Athena:Athena is the goddess of wisdom and crafts. She is the patron of Athens.

Son of the Virgin Goddess Athena:Athena is a virgin goddess, but she has a son. Athena is credited with being part-mother of Erichthonius through

an attempted rape by Hephaestus, whose seed spilled on her leg. When Athena wiped it off, it fell to earth (Gaia) who became the other part-mother. The offspring of Gaia, Athena, and Hephaestus is Erichthonius. Thus, Erichthonius, a half-snake half-man creature, has two mothers and one father. He is a mythological ancestor of the Athenians.

Parthenon:Athena was the patron goddess of Athens, a city named for the goddess. The people of Athens built a great

temple for Athena on the acropolis (or high point) of their city. The temple is known as the Parthenon. In it was a colossal gold and ivory statue of the goddess Athena Parthenos, Athena the Maiden. During the annual Panathenaia festival, a procession was made to the statue for the purpose of providing the statue of the goddess with new clothes.

Apollo - Greek God of Music

Who Is Apollo?:Apollo is a many-talented Greek god of prophecy, music, intellectual pursuits, healing,

plague, and sometimes, the sun. Writers often contrast the cerebral, beardless young Apollo with his half-brother, the hedonistic Dionysus, god of wine.

Leto (Latona) and Zeus (Jupiter) are the parents of the versatile god Apollo and his twin sister Artemis (Diana), the virgin hunter.

Roman Equivalent:

ApolloUnlike most of the Olympian gods, there was no special Latin variant of Apollo's name, so the Romans also called him Apollo.

Phoebus ApolloSometimes the Romans referred to him as Phoebus, either alone or combined, as in Phoebus Apollo.

SolAs sun god, Apollo was also called by the Latin word for sun, Sol.

Apollo's Attributes, Animals, and Powers:Apollo is depicted as a beardless young man (ephebe). His attributes are the tripod, omphalos, lyre, bow and

arrows, laurel, hawk, raven or crow, swan, fawn, roe, snake, mouse, grasshopper, and griffin.

Although often associated with the sun, Apollo was not originally a sun god. In Homer, Apollo is god of prophecy and plagues. He is also a warrior in the Trojan War. Elsewhere Apollo is also a god of healing and the arts -- especially music (Apollo taught Orpheus to play the lyre) -- archery, agriculture . His arrows could send plague, as happens in the Iliad Book I.

Apollo's Mates:Apollo mated with many women and a few men. It wasn't safe to resist his advances. When the seer Cassandra

rejected him, he punished her by making it impossible for people to believe her prophecies. When Daphne sought to reject Apollo, her father "helped" her by turning her into a laurel tree.

Apollo sired mostly males, including Asclepius. Apollo never married.

Ares - Greek God of War and Bloodshed

Who Is Ares?Ares is a war and violence god in Greek mythology. He was not well-liked or trusted by

the Greeks and there are few tales about him. Cults of Ares were found mainly in Crete and the Peloponnese. Athena is also a war goddess, but was well-respected, as a polis protector and goddess of strategy instead of mayhem.

Family of Origin:Thracian born Ares is usually counted the son of Zeus and Hera, although Ovid has Hera

produce him parthenogenically. Harmonia (whose necklace turns up in stories of the founding of Thebes), the goddess of harmony, and the Amazons Penthesilea and Hippolyte were daughters of Ares. Through Cadmus' marriage to Harmonia and the dragon Ares sired that produced the sown men (Spartoi), Ares is the mythological ancestor of the Thebans.

Roman Equivalent:Mars.

Attributes:Ares has no unique attributes, but is described as strong, harnessed in bronze, and golden helmeted. He rides a

war chariot. The serpent, owls, vultures, and woodpecker are sacred to him. Ares had unsavory companions like Phobos ("Fear") and Deimos ("Terror"), Eris ("Strife") and Enyo ("Horror"). Early depictions show him as a mature, bearded man. Later representations show him as a youth or ephebe (like Apollo).

Powers:Ares is a god of warfare and murder.

Zeus – King of the Gods

Who Is Zeus?Zeus is father of gods and men. A sky god, he controls lightning, which he uses as a

weapon, and thunder. He is king on Mount Olympus, the home of the Greek gods. He is also credited as the father of Greek heroes and the ancestor of many other Greeks. Zeus mated with many mortals and goddesses but is married to his sister Hera (Juno).

Family of Origin of Zeus:Zeus is the son of the Titans Cronus and Rhea. He is the brother of his wife Hera, his other

sisters Demeter and Hestia, and his brothers Hades, Poseidon.

Roman Equivalent of Zeus:Jupiter and sometimes Jove.

Attributes of Zeus:Zeus is shown with a beard and long hair. His other attributes include scepter, eagle, cornucopia, aegis, ram, and

lion.The cornucopia or (goat) horn of plenty comes from the story of his Zeus' infancy when he was nursed by

Amalthea.

Powers of Zeus:Zeus is a sky god with control over weather, especially of rain and lightning. He is King of the gods and a god of

oracles -- especially in the sacred oak at Dodona. In the story of the Trojan War, Zeus, as a judge, listens to the claims of other gods in support of their side. He then renders decisions on acceptable behavior. He remains neutral most of the time, allowing his son Sarpedon to die and glorifying his favorite, Hector.

Dionysus - Greek God of Wine

Who Is Dionysus?:Dionysus is the god of wine and drunken revelry in Greek mythology. He is a patron of

the theater and an agricultural/fertility god. He was sometimes at the heart of frenzied madness that led to savage murder. Writers often contrast Dionysus with his half-brother Apollo. Where Apollo personifies the cerebral aspects of mankind, Dionysus represents the libido and gratification.

Family of Origin:Dionysus was the son of the king of the Greek gods, Zeus, and Semele, the mortal

daughter of Cadmus and Harmonia of Thebes. Dionysus is called "twice born" because of the unusual manner in which he grew: not only in a womb, but also in a thigh.

Roman Equivalent:Bacchus or Liber.

Attributes:Usually visual representations, like the vase shown, depict the god Dionysus sporting a beard. He is usually ivy-

wreathed and wears a chiton and often an animal skin. Other attributes of Dionysus are thyrsus, wine, vines, ivy, panthers, leopards, and theater.

Powers:Ecstasy -- madness in his followers, illusion, sexuality, and drunkenness. Sometimes Dionysus is associated with

Hades. Dionysus is called the "Eater of Raw Flesh".

Poseidon – Greek God of the Sea

Who Is Poseidon?Poseidon is one of the three brother gods in Greek mythology who divided the

world among themselves. Poseidon's lot was the sea. As sea god Poseidon is usually seen with a trident. He is the god of water, horses, and earthquakes and was considered responsible for shipwrecks and drownings.

Family of Origin of Poseidon:The Titans Cronus and Rhea are the parents of Poseidon in Greek mythology.

Poseidon is one of their three sons; the others being Hades (Underworld) and Zeus. There were also three sisters, Hestia, Hera, and Demeter. Cronus was the horrible mythological father who so feared his own children he swallowed them soon after birth. He continued to devour the newborns until his wife got wise (or help from her own parents) and handed Cronus stones in swaddling clothes to swallow.

Roman Equivalent of Poseidon:Neptune.

Attributes of Posedon:The symbol for which Poseidon is best known is the trident. Poseidon is often shown alongside his wife Amphitrite

in a sea chariot drawn by sea creatures.

Powers of Poseidon:Poseidon was the sea god who could cause all manner of trouble on the sea; when on earth he caused

earthquakes. He was also god of horses.