12 Greek Gods and Goddesses You Should Know About
Aphrodite
Aphrodite, the goddess of love, sex and beauty is said to have emerged from the foam generated by the severed testicles of her father, Uranus thrown into the sea by his son, the Titan Cronus.
Athena
Athena the goddess of reason, wisdom, and war is said to have sprung fully formed from the forehead of Zeus. She is a major figure in Odyssey, the Parthenon was her chief temple in Athens, which is named in her honor.
Artemis
Artemis was the fleet-footed goddess of the hunt. She is often depicted in painting and sculpture with a deer or a hunting dog, she was both huntress and protectors of the living world.
Ares
Ares was the god of blood lust. It is noted that his fellow deities were not fond of him, nonetheless, the Spartans worshiped him by donating some prisoners of war and sacrificing dogs.
Apollo
Apollo is the twin brother of Artemis and was among the most feared of the gods, he shared the will of his divine compatriots through various means, notably oracles. The oracle at Delphi is said to have been his mouthpiece.
Demeter was an agricultural goddess, mother to Persephone, who was abducted by the underworld god, Hades to be his bride. While searching for her stolen daughter, she accepted the hospitality of the royal family of Eleusis. The Eleusinian Mysteries, are perhaps the most important religious rites in ancient Greece, are attributed to her teachings.
Dionysus was a son of Zeus born to a mortal mother. After the accidental death of his mother, he was sewn to the thigh of Zeus… after he emerged, Zeus passed him to the care of the maenads. His cult revolved around intoxication, sex, and savage ritual sacrifice. He was often symbolized by a bull due to his association with the sacrificial animal.
Hades ruled the world of the dead, with which he was sometimes synonymous. The lord of the underworld was among the few Greek gods to come across as unemotional. Nonetheless, he was not the ultimate judge of the souls that roamed his domain, neither did he mete out their punishments for sins committed during their mortal lives. He was, however, cunning; he tricked Persephone into eating enchanted pomegranate seeds that made remain with him for a portion of the year.
Hera
The queen goddess of Olympus, Hera was both sister and wife to Zeus. Though she is often depicted as reserved and austere, she was ruthlessly cruel when it came to her husband’s adulterous escapades. Unfortunately for the objects of Zeus’s godly affections, Hera tended to torment the “other women” rather than Zeus himself.
Hermes presided over multiple spheres just like other gods. He was regarded as a pastoral figure, responsible for protecting livestock, and was also associated with fertility, music, luck, and deception. In the Odyssey, he is depicted as a messenger god.
Poseidon is best known as the Greek sea god, but he was also the god of horses and of earthquakes. And he birthed quite strange children. Though humanoid, he fathered both the winged horse Pegasus and the Cyclops Polyphemus, who is blinded by Odysseus and his crew in the Odyssey.
With the assistance of Hades and Poseidon, Zeus overthrew his father, Cronus, king of the Titans, and became the chief deity in a new pantheon comprising mostly his siblings and children. In addition to controlling the weather, Zeus was noted for his chronic infidelity to his sister-wife, Hera. Among the results of his weakness for comely mortal women was Helen of Troy.
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