After the epic battle with the Titans, a new era came to the heavens of Greece…

ZeusThe Supreme God

•He was lord of the sky, the rain god and the cloud gatherer. •His weapon was a thunderbolt which he hurls at those who displease him. He was married to Hera, but was famous for his many affairs•An eagle attended him as a minister of his will and for page and cup-bearer he had Ganymede, a boy so beautiful that Zeus had him stolen from Mount Ida to make him immortal in heaven•He was also known to punish those that lie or break oaths•His tree was the oak

PoseidonGod of the Sea

Brother of ZuesHis weapon was a trident, which could shake the earth, and shatter any objectHe was second only to Zeus in power amongst the gods Under the ocean, he had a marvelous golden palace, its grottos adorned with corals and the sea-flowers, and lit with a phosphorescent glow. He rose forth in a chariot drawn by dolphins, sea-horses other marine creaturesMarried to Amphitrite a nereid

HadesGod of the Underworld

•Brother to Zeus•Rules over the dead •Not considered an Olympian•He was a greedy god who was greatly concerned with increasing his subjects• Those whose calling increase the number of dead were seen favorably by him •He was also the god of wealth, due to the precious metals mined from the earth•He had a helmet that made him invisible•He rarely left the underworld•He was unpitying and terrible, but not capricious. His wife was Persephone whom Hades abducted •He was the King of the dead but, death itself is another god, Thantos

HeraQueen of the Gods

•Zeus’ wife and sister•From ancient religion Hera used to be the great goddess who ruled over the earth•Goddess of marriage and married women•Known for her temper and jealous ways•Said to have created the Milky Way with her breast milk feeding baby Hercules•The pomegranate is her fruit (symbol of fertility)•Sacred animals are the crow and the peacock•Had a wagon pulled by peacocks

Hestia Goddess of the Hearth

•Zues’ sister•She was a virgin goddess •She was the Goddess of the Hearth, the symbol of the house around which a new born child was carried before it was received into the family. •In the Greek and Roman households, the hearth fire was not allowed to go out, unless it was ritually extinguished and ritually renewed, accompanied by impressive rituals of completion, purification and renewal. Each city also had a public hearth sacred to Hestia. •Hestia symbolizes the alliance between the colonies and their mother-cities. •Figures very little in stories as she was tending to the fires of Olympus

AresThe God of War

•Son of Zeus and Hera•Disliked by both parents•God of war and battle lust•A bloodthirsty god – he is considered the idea of slaughter personified•Considered cowardly by the Greeks and favored by the Romans•Lover of Aphrodite•Symbolized by the vulture and the dog•Had a quadriga which is a chariot drawn by 4 fire-breathing horses•Children by Aphrodite: Deimos (terror) and Phobos (fear) accompanied him on the battlefield

AthenaGoddess of Wisdom

•Daughter of Zeus•She sprang full grown in armor from his forehead, thus has no mother (Metis). •She was fierce and brave in battle but, only fights to protect the state and home from outside enemies. •She was the goddess of the city, handicrafts, and agriculture.• She invented the bridle, which permitted man to tame horses, the trumpet, the flute, the pot, the rake, the plow, the yoke, the ship, and the chariot. •She was the embodiment of wisdom, reason, and purity. •She was Zeus's favorite child and was allowed to use his weapons including his thunderbolt. •Her tree was the olive.• The owl was her bird.• She was a virgin goddess.

ApolloGod of Music

•Son of Zeus and Titan Grand-daughter Leto•Twin brother to Artemis•He was the god of music, playing a golden lyre. •He was the god of the archer, far shooting with a silver bow. •The god of healing who taught man medicine. The god of light. •The god of truth, who can not speak a lie. Apollo was considered to have dominion over disease, beauty, light, healing, colonists, medicine, archery, poetry, prophecy, dance, reason, intellectualism, and shamans, and was the patron defender of herds and flocks.•One of Apollo's more important daily tasks was to harness his chariot with four horses an drive the Sun (Helios) across the sky.•He was famous for his oracle at Delphi. People traveled to it from all over the Greek world to divine the future.•His tree was the laurel.• The crow was his bird. •The dolphin was his animal.

ArtemisGoddess of the Hunt

•Daughter of Zeus and Leto•Twin sister to Apollo•She was the lady of the wild things• She was the huntsman of the gods•She was the protector of the young Like Apollo, she hunted with silver arrows• She became associated with the moon •She was a virgin goddess, and the goddess of chastity •She also presided over childbirth, which may seem odd for a virgin, but goes back to the myth of causing her mother no pain when she was born •The cypress was her tree •All wild animals were scared to her, especially the deer.

HermesMessenger of the Gods

•Son of Zeus and Maia (daughter of Titan Atlas)•He was the fastest of the gods• He wore winged sandals, a winged hat, and carried a magic wand• He was the god of boundaries and of the travelers who cross them, of shepherds and cowherds, of orators, literature and poets, of athletics, of weights and measures and invention and commerce in general, of liars, and of the cunning of thieves.• He was the guide for the dead to go to the underworld •He invented the lyre, the pipes, the musical scale, astronomy , weights and measures, boxing, and gymnastics

Hephaestus God of the Forge

•Brother to Ares

•Son of Zeus and Hera

•Sometimes, it was said that Hera alone produced

him and that he had no father

•He was the only god to be physically ugly

•He was also crippled due to being thrown off Mt.

Olympus twice by his parents

•He was the god of fire and the forge. He was the

smith and armorer of the gods.

•He used a volcano as his forge.

•He was the patron god of both smiths and weavers.

•He was kind and peace loving.

•His wife was Aphrodite (given to him by Zeus) who

did not love him

AphroditeGoddess of Love, Lust and Beauty

•Two creations myths: one as the creation of sea foam, the other as the daughter of Zeus•goddess of love, desire and beauty •In addition to her natural gifts, she had a magical girdle that compelled anyone she wished to desire her. Aphrodite, in many of the myths involving her, is characterized as vain, ill-tempered and easily offended.•She was the wife of Hephaestus whom she hated because he was ugly•The myrtle was her tree•The dove, the swan, and the sparrow were her birds.•She had an on-going affair with Ares the God of War causing her eventual divorce from her husband – Eros is said to be their son

DemeterGoddess of the Harvest

•Sister to Zeus•Demeter was the goddess of corn, grain, and the harvest•It was Demeter that makes the crops grow each year. The first loaf of bread from the harvest was sacrificed to her.•Demeter was intimately associated with the seasons. •Her daughter, Persephone was abducted by Hades to be his wife in the underworld•In her anger at her daughter's loss, Demeter laid a curse on the world that caused plants to wither and die, the land became desolate. Zeus became alarmed and sought Persephone's return. •It was decreed that Persephone would spend four months each year in the underworld. During these months Demeter grieved her daughter's absence, and withdrew her gifts from the world, creating winter. Her return brought the spring.

DionysusGod of Wine and Revelry

•Son of Zeus and mortal Semele

•Dionysus was the god of the vine. He invented wine and spread the art of tending grapes.

•He had a dual nature. On one hand, he brought joy and divine ecstasy. On the other hand, he brought brutality, thoughtlessness and rage. This reflected both sides of wine's nature

•Dionysus wandered the world encouraging his cult. He was accompanied by the Maenads, wild women, flush with wine, shoulders draped with a fawn skin, carrying rods tipped with pine cones. While other gods had temples, the followers of Dionysus worshipped him in the woods. Here, they might go into mad states where they would rip apart and eat raw any animal they came upon.

•He became associated with several key concepts. One was rebirth after death. The other is the idea that under the influence of wine, one could feel possessed by a greater power. Unlike the other gods, Dionysus was not only outside his believers but, also within them. At these times, a man might be greater then himself and do works he otherwise could not.

ErosGod of Love

•Son of Aphrodite and Ares

•Married to Psyche (Soul)

•Has wings

•Sometimes depicted as a beautiful young man, others as a young boy

•In particular he is the god of erotic, romantic and love

• He is often represented blindfolded because, love is often blind.

•His "weapon" was darts or arrows. In either case, the tips have been magically treated to produce either uncontrollable love or insurmountable disinterest in the first person seen be Eros' victim after wounding.

•In Roman times, Eros became Cupid.