The Greek God's and Goddess

In Greek mythology the Twelve Olympians, were the principal gods of the
Greek pantheon, residing atop Mount Olympus. There were, at various
times, fourteen different gods recognized as Olympians, though never
more than twelve at one time. Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Ares, Hermes,

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Hephaestus, Aphrodite, Athena, Apollo, and Artemis are always
considered Olympians. Hestia, Demeter, Dionysus, and Hades are the
variable gods among the Twelve. Hestia gave up her position as an
Olympian to Dionysus in order to live among mankind (eventually she was
assigned the role of tending the fire on Mount Olympus). Persephone
spent six months of the year in the underworld (causing winter), and was
allowed to return to Mount Olympus for the other six months in order to be
with her mother, Demeter. And, although Hades was always one of the
principal Greek gods, his home in the underworld of the dead made his
connection to the Olympians more tenuous. The Olympians gained their
supremacy in the world of gods after Zeus led his siblings to victory in war
with the Titans; Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Demeter, Hestia, and Hades were
siblings; all other Olympians (with the exception of foam-born Aphrodite)
are usually considered the children of Zeus by various mothers, except for
Athena, who in some versions of the myth was born of Zeus alone.
Additionally, some versions of the myth state that Hephaestus was born of
Hera alone as Hera's revenge for Zeus' solo birth of Athena.

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 Greek goddess of love and beauty
Worship
The epithet Aphrodite Acidalia was occasionally added to her name, after
the spring she used to bathe in, located in Boeotia (Virgil I, 720). She was
also called Kypris or Cytherea after her alleged birth-places in Cyprus and
Cythera, respectively. The island of Cythera was a center of her cult. She
was associated with Hesperia and frequently accompanied by the Oreads,
nymphs of the mountains.
Aphrodite had a festival of her own, the Aphrodisia, which was celebrated
all over Greece but particularly in Athens and Corinth. In Corinth,
intercourse with her priestesses was considered a method of worshipping
Aphrodite.Aphrodite was associated with, and often depicted with
dolphins, doves, swans, pomegranates and lime trees.
Her Roman analogue is Venus. Her Mesopotamian counterpart was Ishtar.
Her Egyptian counterpart is Hathor, and her Syro-Palestinian counterpart
was ŒAshtart (in standard Greek spelling Astarte); her Etruscan equivalent
was Turan.
Venus was often referred to with epithet Venus Erycina ("of the heather")
after Mount Eryx, Sicily, one of the centers of her cult.
Birth

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 "Foam-arisen" Aphrodite was born of the sea foam near Paphos, Cyprus
after Cronus cut off Uranus' genitals and the elder god's blood and semen
dropped on the sea, where they began to foam. Aphrodite was born fully
grown out of the foam. Thus Aphrodite is of an older generation than
Zeus. Iliad (Book V) expresses another version of her origin, by which she
was considered a daughter of Dione, who was the original oracular
goddess ("Dione" being simply "the goddess," etymologically an equivalent
of "Diana") at Dodona.
In Homer, Aphrodite, venturing into battle to protect her son, Aeneas, who
has been wounded by Diomedes and returns to her mother, to sink down
at her knee and be comforted. "Dione" seems to be an equivalent of Rhea,
the Earth Mother, whom Homer has relocated to Olympus. After this story,
Aphrodite herself was sometimes referred to as "Dione". Once Zeus had
usurped the oak-grove oracle at Dodona, some poets made him out to be
the father of Aphrodite.
Aphrodite's chief center of worship remained at Paphos, on the
south-western coast of Cyprus, where the goddess of desire had long
been worshipped as Ishtar and Ashtaroth. It is said that she first tentatively
came ashore at Cytherea, a stopping place for trade and culture between
Crete and the Peloponesus. Thus perhaps we have hints of the track of
Aphrodite's original cult from the Levant to mainland Greece.
Plato considered that Aphrodite had two manifestations, reflecting both
stories, Aphrodite Ourania ("heavenly" Aphrodite), and Aphrodite Pandemos
("Common" Aphrodite). According to Plato these two manifestations
represented her role in homosexuality and heterosexuality, respectively
(homosexuality being more divine for Plato).Alternatively, Aphrodite was a
daughter of Thalassa (for she was born of the Sea) and Zeus.
Adulthood
Aphrodite, in many of the myths involving her, is characterized as vain,
ill-tempered and easily offended. Though she is one of the few gods of the
Greek Pantheon to be actually married, she is frequently unfaithful to her
husband. Hephaestus, of course, is one of the most even-tempered of the
Hellenic deities; Aphrodite seems to prefer Ares, the volatile god of war. In
Homer's Iliad she surges into battle to save her son, but abandons him (in

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 fact, drops him as she flies through the air) when she herself is hurt (Ares
does much the same thing). And she is the original cause of the Trojan
War itself: not only did she start the whole affair by offering Helen of Troy
to Paris, but the abduction was accomplished when Paris, seeing Helen
for the first time, was inflamed with desire to have her - which is
Aphrodite's realm. Her domain may involve love, but it does not involve
romance; rather, it tends more towards lust, the human irrational longing.
Marriage with Hephaestus
Due to her immense beauty, Zeus was frightened she'd be the cause of
violence between the other gods. He married her off to Hephaestus, the
dour, humorless god of smithing. Hephaestus was overjoyed at being
married to the goddess of beauty and forged her beautiful jewelry,
including the cestus, a girdle that made her even more irresistible to men.
Her unhappiness with her marriage caused Aphrodite to seek out
companionship from others, most frequently Ares, but also Adonis,
Anchises and more. Hephaestus once cleverly caught Ares and Aphrodite
in bed with a net, and brought all the other Olympian gods together to
mock them. Hephaestus would not free them until Poseidon promised
Hephaestus that Ares would pay reparations, but both escaped as soon as
the net was lifted and their promise was not kept.
Aphrodite and Psyche
Aphrodite was jealous of the beauty of a mortal woman named Psyche.
She asked Eros to use his golden arrows to cause Psyche to fall in love
with the ugliest man on earth. Eros agreed but then fell in love with Psyche
on his own, or by accidentally pricking himself with a golden arrow.
Meanwhile, Psyche's parents were anxious that their daughter remained
unmarried. They consulted an oracle who told them she was destined for
no mortal lover, but a monster who lived on top of a particular mountain.
Psyche was resigned to her fate and climbed to the top of the mountain.
There, Zephyrus, the west wind, gently floated her downwards. She
entered a cave on the appointed mountain, surprised to find it full of
jewellery and finery. Eros visited her every night in the cave and they made
love; he demanded only that she never light any lamps because he did not
want her to know who he was (having wings made him distinctive). Her two

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 sisters, jealous of Psyche, convinced her to do so one night and she lit a
lamp, recognizing him instantly. A drop of hot lamp oil fell on Eros' chest
and he awoke, then fled.
When Psyche told her two jealous elder sisters what had happened; they
rejoiced secretly and each separately walked to the top of the mountain
and did as Psyche described her entry to the cave, hoping Eros would
pick them instead. Zephyrus did not pick them and they fell to their deaths
at the base of the mountain.Psyche searched for her lover across much of
Greece, finally stumbling into a temple to Demeter, where the floor was
covered with piles of mixed grains. She started sorting the grains into
organized piles and, when she finished, Demeter spoke to her, telling her
that the best way to find Eros was to find his mother, Aphrodite, and earn
her blessing.
Psyche found a temple to Aphrodite and entered it. Aphrodite assigned
her a similar task to Demeter's temple, but gave her an impossible
deadline to finish it by. Eros intervened, for he still loved her, and caused
some ants to organize the grains for her. Aphrodite was outraged at her
success and told her to go to a field where golden sheep grazed and get
some golden wool.
Psyche went to the field and saw the sheep but was stopped by a
river-god, whose river she had to cross to enter the field. He told her the
sheep were mean and vicious and would kill her, but if she waited until
noontime, the sheep would go the shade on the other side of the field and
sleep; she could pick the wool that stuck to the branches and bark of the
trees. Psyche did so and Aphrodite was even more outraged at her
survival and success.
Finally, Aphrodite claimed that the stress of caring for her son, depressed
and ill as a result of Psyche's unfaithfulness, had caused her to lose some
of her beauty. Psyche was to go to Hades and ask Persephone, the queen
of the underworld, for a bit of her beauty in a black box that Aphrodite
gave to Psyche. Psyche walked to a tower, deciding that the quickest way
to the underworld would be to die.
A voice stopped her at the last moment and told her a route that would
allow her to enter and return still living, as well as telling her how to pass

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 Cerberus, Charon and the other dangers of the route. She pacified
Cerberus, the three-headed dog, with a sweet honey-cake and paid Charon
an obolus to take her into Hades. Once there, Persephone offered her a
feast but Psyche refused, knowing it would keep her in the underworld
forever.
Psyche left the underworld and decided to open the box and take a little
bit of the beauty for herself. Inside was a "Stygian sleep" which overtook
her. Eros, who had forgiven her, flew to her body and healed her, then
begged Zeus and Aphrodite for their consent to his wedding of Psyche.
They agreed and Zeus made her immortal. Aphrodite danced at the
wedding of Eros and Psyche and their subsequent child was named (in the
Roman mythology) Volupta.
Adonis
Aphrodite was Adonis' lover and had a part in his birth. She urged Myrrha
or Smyrna to commit incest with her father, Theias, the King of Assyria.
Another version says Myrrha's father was Cinyras of Cyprus. Myrrha's
nurse helped with the scheme. When Theias discovered this, he flew into a
rage, chasing his daughter with a knife. The gods turned her into a myrrh
tree and Adonis eventually sprang from this tree. Alternatively, Aphrodite
turned her into a tree and Adonis was born when Theias shot the tree with
an arrow or when a boar used its tusks to tear the tree's bark off.
Once Adonis was born, Aphrodite took him under her wing, seducing him
with the help of Helene, her friend, and was entranced by his unearthly
beauty. She gave him to Persephone to watch over, but Persephone was
also amazed at his beauty and refused to give him back. The argument
between the two goddesses was settled either by Zeus or Calliope, with
Adonis spending four months with Aphrodite, four months with Persephone
and four months of the years with whomever he chose. He always chose
Aphrodite because Persephone was the cold, unfeeling goddess of the
underworld.
Adonis was eventually killed by a jealous Ares. Aphrodite was warned of
this jealousy and was told that Adonis would be killed by a bull that Ares
transformed into. She tried to persuade Adonis to stay with her at all
times, but his love of hunting was his downfall. While Adonis was hunting,

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 Ares found him and gored him to death. Aphrodite arrived just in time to
hear his last breath.
The Judgement of Paris
The gods and goddesses as well as various mortals were invited to the
marriage of Peleus and Thetis (the eventual parents of Achilles). Only the
goddess Eris (Discord) was not invited, but she arrived with a golden apple
inscribed with the words "to the fairest," which she threw among the
goddesses. Aphrodite, Hera, and Athena all claimed the apple, and the
matter was put before Paris, the most handsome mortal. Hera tried to
bribe Paris with an earthly kingdom, while Athena offered great military
skill, but Aphrodite was judged most beautiful when she offered Paris the
most beautiful mortal woman as a wife. This woman was Helen, and her
abduction by Paris led to the Trojan War.
Pygmalion and Galatea
Pygmalion was a sculptor who had never found a woman worthy of his
love. Aphrodite took pity on him and decided to show him the wonders of
love. One day, Pygmalion was inspired by a dream of Aphrodite to make a
woman out of ivory resembling her image, and he called her Galatea. He
fell in love with the statue and decided he could not live without her. He
prayed to Aphrodite, who carried out the final phase of her plan and
brought the exquisite sculpture to life. Pygmalion loved Galatea and they
were soon married.
Another version of this myth tells that the women of the village in which
Pygmalion lived grew angry that he had not married. They all asked
Aphrodite to force him to marry. Aphrodite accepted and went that very
night to Pygmalion, and asked him to pick a woman to marry. She told him
that if he did not pick one, she would do so for him. Not wanting to be
married, he begged her for more time, asking that he be allowed to make
a sculpture of Aphrodite before he had to choose his bride.
Flattered, she accepted.Pygmalion spent a lot of time making small clay
sculptures of the Goddess, claiming it was needed so he could pick the
right pose. As he started making the actual sculpture he was shocked to
discover he actually wanted to finish, even though he knew he would have
to marry someone when he finished. The reason he wanted to finish it was

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that he had fallen in love with the sculpture. The more he worked on it, the
more it changed, until it no longer resembled Aphrodite at all.
At the very moment Pygmalion stepped away from the finished sculpture
Aphrodite appeared and told him to choose his bride. Pygmalion chose the
statue. Aphrodite told him that could not be, and asked him again to pick a
bride. Pygmalion put his arms around the statue, and asked Aphrodite to
turn him into a statue so he could be with her. Aphrodite took pity on him
and brought the statue to life instead.
Other Stories
In one version of the story of Hippolytus, Aphrodite was the catalyst for his
death. He scorned the worship of Aphrodite for Artemis and, in revenge,
Aphrodite caused his step-mother, Phaedra, to fall in love with him,
knowing Hippolytus would reject her. In the most popular version of the
story, Phaedra seeks revenge against Hippolytus by killing herself and, in
her suicide note, telling Theseus, her husband and Hippolytus' father, that
Hippolytus had raped her. Theseus then murdered his own son before
Artemis told him the truth.
King Glaucus of Corinth angered Aphrodite and she made her horses
angry during the funeral games of King Pelias. They tore him apart. His
ghost supposedly frightened horses during the Isthmian Games.Aphrodite
was often accompanied by the Charites.In book III of Homer's Iliad,
Aphrodite saves Paris when he is about to be killed by Menelaos.
Aphrodite was very protective of her son, Aeneas, who fought in the
Trojan War. Diomedes almost killed Aeneas in battle but Aphrodite saved
him. Diomedes wounded Aphrodite and she dropped her son, fleeing to
Mt. Olympus. Aeneas was then enveloped in a cloud by Artemis, who took
him to Pergamos, a sacred spot in Troy. Apollo healed Aeneas there.She
turned Abas to stone for his pride.
She turned Anaxarete to stone for reacting so dispassionately to Iphis'
pleas to love him, even after his suicide.
Aphrodite helps Hippomenes to win a footrace against Atalanta to win
Atalanta's hand in marriage, giving him three golden apples to distract her
with. However, when the couple fails to thank Aphrodite, she has them
turned into lions.

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 Aphrodite in Neopaganism
In many modern Neopagan sects, particularly New Age Hellenistic sects in
the United States, Aphrodite takes on the role of the goddess of passion.
Not all passion Aphrodite inspires is lustful, much of it is believed to take
the form of artistic passion and even passion in argument. Worship of
Aphrodite is uncommon and is typically held by individual writers and
artist. How she is worshipped often depends on what other gods a sect
includes. For example, sects that worship Hera and/or Themis may
include worship of Aphrodite, but encourage monogamy and stress her
role in committed relationships and marriage. Sects that worship Dionysus
and Aphrodite may be entirely hedonistic and include orgiastic rituals (such
sects are often considered cults even by Neopagan standards). As such
worship of Aphrodite varies between sects.

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 Apollo - God of the Sun and Music

Apollo is considered to have dominion over plague, light, healing,

colonists, medicine, archery, poetry, prophecy, dance, reason,
intellectualism, Shamans, and as the patron defender of herds and flocks.
Apollo had a famous oracle in Crete and other notable ones in Clarus and
Branchidae.
Apollo is known as the leader of the Muses ("musagetes") and director of
their choir. His attributes include: swans, wolves, dolphins, bows and
arrows, a laurel crown, the cithara (or lyre) and plectrum. The sacrificial
tripod is another attribute, representative of his prophetic powers.
The Pythian Games were held in his honor every four years at Delphi.
Paeans were the name of hymns sung to Apollo.
The most usual attributes of Apollo were the lyre and the bow; the tripod
especially was dedicated to him as the god of prophecy. Among plants,
the bay, used in expiatory sacrifices and also for making the crown of
victory at the Pythian games, and the palm-tree, under which he was born

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in Delos, were sacred to him; among animals and birds, the wolf, the roe,
the swan, the hawk, the raven, the crow, the snake, the mouse, the
grasshopper and the griffin, a mixture of the eagle and the lion evidently of
Eastern origin.
The swan and grasshopper symbolize music and song; the hawk, raven,
crow and snake have reference to his functions as the god of
prophecy.The chief festivals held in honour of Apollo were the Carneia,
Daphnephoria, Delia, Hyacinthia, Pyanepsia, Pythia and Thargelia.
Among the Romans the worship of Apollo was adopted from the Greeks.
There is a tradition that the Delphian oracle was consulted as early as the
period of the kings during the reign of Tarquinius Superbus, and in 430 a
temple was dedicated to Apollo on the occasion of a pestilence, and
during the Second Punic War (in 212) the Ludi Apollinares were instituted
in his honour.
It was in the time of Augustus, who considered himself under the special
protection of Apollo and was even said to be his son, that his worship
developed and he became one of the chief gods of Rome. After the battle
of Actium, Augustus enlarged his old temple, dedicated a portion of the
spoil to him, and instituted quinquennial games in his honour.
He also erected a new temple on the Palatine hill and transferred the
secular games, for which Horace composed his Carmen Saeculare, to
Apollo and Diana. As god of colonization, Apollo gave guidance on
colonies, especially during the height of colonization, 750-550 BC.
According to Greek tradition, he helped Cretan or Arcadian colonists find
the city of Troy.
However, this story may reflect a cultural influence which had the reverse
direction: Hittite cuneiform texts mention a Minor Asian god called
Appaliunas or Apalunas in connection with the city of Wilusa, which is now
regarded as being identical with the Greek Illios by most scholars.
In this interpretation, Apollo's title of Lykegenes can simply be read as
"born in Lycia", which effectively severs the god's supposed link with
wolves (possibly a folk etymology).Apollo popularly (e.g., in literary
criticism) represents harmony, order, and reason - characteristics
contrasted by those of Dionysus, god of wine, who popularly represents

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 emotion and chaos.
The contrast between the roles of these gods is reflected in the adjectives
Apollonian and Dionysian. However, Greeks thought of the two qualities as
complementary: the two gods are brothers, and when Apollo at winter left
for Hyperborea he would leave the Delphi Oracle to Dionysus.
Together with Athena, Apollo (under the name Phevos) was controversially
designated as a mascot of the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens.The
worship of Apollo has revived with the rise of Hellenismos, and the
contemporary Pagan movement. One example of this revival is the group,
Kyklos Apollon.
Apollo Delphinios
A recent study published in 2005 by researchers at the University of
Leicester has unravelled a 2,700 year old mystery concerning The Oracle
of Delphi. In ancient times, the constellation Delphinus would have been
rising in the eastern sky in late December and early January, the same
time that some cities were sacrificing to Apollo Delphinios. In Delphi, this
sacrifice took place about a month later. The researchers have confirmed
that this is because the temple of Apollo at Delphi is overlooked by huge
cliffs to the east. These block out the view of the lower part of the eastern
sky, thus delaying the appropriate time of sacrifice for almost a full month
compared to other cities on the greek plains.
Birth - When Hera discovered that Leto was pregnant and that Hera's
husband, Zeus, was the father, she banned Leto from giving birth on
"terra-firma", or the mainland, or any island at sea. In her wanderings, Leto
found the newly created floating island of Delos, which was neither
mainland nor a real island, and gave birth there. The island was
surrounded by swans. Afterwards, Zeus secured Delos to the bottom of
the ocean. This island later became sacred to Apollo. Alternatively, Hera
kidnapped Ilithyia, the goddess of childbirth, to prevent Leto from going
into labor. The other gods tricked Hera into letting her go by offering her a
necklace, nine yards long, of amber. Either way, Artemis was born first
and then assisted with the birth of Apollo. Another version states that
Artemis was born one day before Apollo, on the island of Ortygia and that
she helped Leto cross the sea to Delos the next day to give birth to

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Apollo. Apollo was born on the 7th day of the month Thargelion according
to Delian tradition or of the month Bysios according to Delphian tradition.
The 7th and 20th, the days of the new and full moon, were ever
afterwards held sacred to him.
Youth - In his youth, Apollo killed the vicious dragon Python, which lived in
Delphi beside the Castalian Spring, according to some because Python
had attempted to rape Leto while she was pregnant with Apollo and
Artemis.This was the spring which emitted vapors that caused the Oracle
at Delphi to give her prophesies. Apollo killed Python but had to be
punished for it, since Python was a child of Gaia.
Apollo and Admetus - As punishment, Apollo was banned from Olympus for
nine years. During this time he served as shepherd or cowherd for King
Admetus of Pherae in Thessaly. Since Admetus was good to Apollo, the
god promised him that when time came for King Admetus to die, another
would be allowed to take his place instead. Admetus then fell in love with
Alcestis. Her father, though, King Pelias would only give permission if
Admetus rode a chariot pulled by lions and boars and other wild animals.
Apollo helped Admetus accomplish this, and the pair wed. When time
came for Admetus to die, Alcestis agreed to die for him. Heracles
intervened and both of the pair were allowed to live. When he returned
after the nine years, Apollo came disguised as a dolphin and brought
Cretan priests to help found his cult in Delphi. He also blessed the
priestess of the Oracle at Delphi, making her one of the most famous and
accurate oracles in Greece. He had other oracles, including Clarus and
Branchidae.
Apollo During the Trojan War - Apollo shot arrows infected with the plague
into the Greek encampment during the Trojan War in rage because the
Greeks had kidnapped Chryseis, the daughter of Apollo's priest. He
demanded her return, and the Greeks eventually complied. When
Diomedes injured Aeneas during the Trojan War, Apollo rescued him. First,
Aphrodite tried to rescue Aeneas but Diomedes injured her as well.
Aeneas was then enveloped in a cloud by Apollo, who took him to
Pergamos, a sacred spot in Troy. Artemis healed Aeneas there. Apollo
had aided Paris in the killing of Achilles. If he did not accomplish the task

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 himself.
Niobe - A Queen of Thebes and wife of Amphion, Niobe boasted of her
superiority to Leto because she had fourteen children (Niobids), seven
male and seven female, while Leto had only two. Apollo killed her sons as
they practiced athletics, with the last begging for his life, and Artemis her
daughters. Apollo and Artemis used poisoned arrows to kill them, though
according to some versions of the myth, a number of the Niobids were
spared (Chloris, usually). Amphion, at the sight of his dead sons, either
killed himself or was killed by Apollo after swearing revenge. A devastated
Niobe fled to Mt. Siplyon in Asia Minor and turned into stone as she wept,
or committed suicide. Her tears formed the river Achelous. Zeus had
turned all the people of Thebes to stone and so no one buried the Niobids
until the ninth day after their death, when the gods themselves entombed
them.
Apollo's romantic life and children[edit]Heterosexual relationships
Daphne - Apollo chased the nymph Daphne, daughter of Peneus, who had
scorned him. His infatuation was caused by an arrow from Eros, who was
jealous because Apollo had made fun of his archery skills. Eros also
claimed to be irritated by Apollo's singing. Simultaneously, however, Eros
had shot a hate arrow into Daphne, causing her to be repulsed by Apollo.
Following a spirited chase by Apollo, Daphne prayed to Mother earth
(alternatively, her father- a river god) to help her and he changed her into a
Lauraceae tree, which became sacred to Apollo.
Leucothea - Apollo had an affair with a mortal princess named Leucothea,
daughter of Orchamus and sister of Clytia. Leucothea loved Apollo who
disguised himself as Leucothea's mother to gain entrance to her
chambers. Clytia, jealous of her sister because she wanted Apollo for
herself, told Orchamus the truth, betraying her sister's trust and
confidence in her. Enraged, Orchamus ordered Leucothea to be buried
alive. Apollo refused to forgive Clytia for betraying his beloved, and a
grieving Clytia wilted and slowly died. Apollo changed her into an incense
plant, either heliotrope or sunflower, which follows the sun every day.
Marpessa was kidnapped by Idas but was loved by Apollo as well. Zeus
made her choose between them, and she chose Idas on the grounds that

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 Apollo, being immortal, would tire of her when she grew old.
Castalia was a nymph whom Apollo loved. She fled from him and dived
into the spring at Delphi, at the base of Mt. Parnassos, which was then
named after her. Water from this spring was sacred; it was used to clean
the Delphian temples and inspire poets.
By Cyrene, Apollo had a son named Aristaeus, who became the patron
god of cattle, fruit trees, hunting, husbandry and bee-keeping. He was also
a culture-hero and taught humanity dairy skills and the use of nets and
traps in hunting, as well as how to cultivate olives.
With Hecuba, wife of King Priam of Troy, Apollo had a son named Troilius.
An oracle prophesied that Troy would not be defeated as long as Troilius
reached the age of twenty alive. He and his sister, Polyxena were
ambushed and killed by Achilles.
Cassandra - Apollo also fell in love with Cassandra, daughter of Hecuba
and Priam, and Troilius' half-sister. He promised Cassandra the gift of
prophecy to seduce her, but she rejected him afterwards. Enraged, Apollo
indeed gifted her with the ability to know the future, with a curse that no
one would ever believe her.
Coronis, daughter of Phlegyas, King of the Lapiths, was another of
Apollo's liaisons. Pregnant with Asclepius, Coronis fell in love with Ischys,
son of Elatus. A crow informed Apollo of the affair. When first informed he
disbelieved the crow and turned all crows black (where they were
previously white) as a punishment for speading untruths. When he found
out the truth he sent his sister, Artemis, to kill Coronis. As a result he also
made the crow sacred and gave them the task of announcing important
deaths. Apollo rescued the baby and gave it to the centaur Chiron to raise.
Phlegyas was irate after the death of his daughter and burned the Temple
of Apollo at Delphi. Apollo then killed him for the slight.
Homosexual Relationships
Apollo, the eternal beardless youth himself, had the most male lovers of all
the Greek gods, as could be expected from a god who was god of the
palaestra, the athletic gathering place for youth, who all competed in the
nude. Many of Apollo's young beloveds died "accidentally", a reflection on
the function of these myths as part of rites of passage, in which the youth

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 died in order to be reborn as an adult.
Hyacinth was one of his male lovers. Hyacinthus was a Spartan prince,
beautiful and athletic. The pair were practicing throwing the discus when
Hyacinthus was struck in the head by a discus blown off course by
Zephyrus, who was jealous of Apollo and loved Hyacinthus as well. When
Hyacinthus died, Apollo is said in some accounts to have been so filled
with grief that he cursed his own immortality, wishing to join his lover in
mortal death. Out of the blood of his slain lover Apollo created the
hyacinth flower as a memorial to his death, and his tears stained the
flower petals with, meaning alas. The Festival of Hyacinthus was a
celebration of Sparta.
Acantha - One of his other liaisons was with Acantha, the spirit of the
acanthus tree. Upon his death, he was transformed into a sun-loving herb
by Apollo, and his bereaved sister, Acanthis, was turned into a thistle finch
by the other gods.
Cyparissus - Another male lover was Cyparissus, a descendant of
Heracles. Apollo gave the boy a tame deer as a companion but
Cyparissus accidentally killed it with a javelin as it lay asleep in the
undergrowth. Cyparissus asked Apollo to let his tears fall forever. Apollo
turned the sad boy into a cypress tree, which was said to be a sad tree
because the sap forms droplets like tears on the trunk.
Apollo and the Birth of Hermes - Hermes was born on Mt. Cyllene in
Arcadia. The story is told in the Homeric Hymn to Hermes. His mother,
Maia, had been secretly impregnated by Zeus, in a secret affair. Maia
wrapped the infant in blankets but Hermes escaped while she was asleep.
Hermes ran to Thessaly, where Apollo was grazing his cattle. The infant
Hermes stole a number of his cows and took them to a cave in the woods
near Pylos, covering their tracks. In the cave, he found a tortoise and
killed it, then removed the insides. He used one of the cow's intestines
and the tortoise shell and made the first lyre. Apollo complained to Maia
that her son had stolen his cattle, but Hermes had already replaced
himself in the blankets she had wrapped him in, so Maia refused to believe
Apollo's claim. Zeus intervened and, claiming to have seen the events,
sided with Apollo. Hermes then began to play music on the lyre he had

18
 invented. Apollo, a god of music, fell in love with the instrument and
offered to allow exchange the cattle for the lyre. Hence, Apollo became a
master of the lyre and Hermes invented a kind of pipes-instrument called a
syrinx.Later, Apollo exchanged a caduceus for a syrinx from Hermes.
Other Stories
Musical contests
Once Pan had the audacity to compare his music with that of Apollo, and
to challenge Apollo, the god of the lyre, to a trial of skill. Tmolus, the
mountain-god, was chosen to umpire. Pan blew on his pipes, and with his
rustic melody gave great satisfaction to himself and his faithful follower,
Midas, who happened to be present. Then Apollo struck the strings of his
lyre. Tmolus at once awarded the victory to Apollo, and all but Midas
agreed with the judgment. He dissented, and questioned the justice of the
award. Apollo would not suffer such a depraved pair of ears any longer,
and caused them to become the ears of a donkey.
Marsyas was a satyr who challenged Apollo to a contest of music. He had
found an aulos on the ground, tossed away after being invented by Athena
because it made her cheeks puffy. Marsyas lost and was flayed alive in a
cave near Calaenae in Phrygia for his hubris to challenge a god. His blood
turned into the river Marsyas.
Miscellaneous
When Zeus killed Asclepius for raising the dead and violating the natural
order of things, Apollo killed the Cyclopes in response. They had fashioned
Zeus' thunderbolts, which he used to kill Apollo's son, Asclepius. Apollo
also had a lyre-playing contest with Cinyras, his son, who committed
suicide when he lost.
In the Odyssey, Odysseus and his surviving crew landed on an island
sacred to Helios the sun god, where he kept sacred cattle. Though
Odysseus warned his men not to (as Tiresias and kirke had told him), they
killed and ate some of the cattle and Helios had Zeus destroy the ship and
all the men save Odysseus.
Apollo killed the Aloadae when they attempted to storm Mt.
Olympus.Apollo gave the order, through the Oracle at Delphi, for Orestes
to kill his mother, Clytemnestra, and her lover, Aegisthus. Orestes was

19
 punished fiercely by the Erinyes for this crime.
It was also said that Apollo rode on the back of a swan to the land of the
Hyperboreans during the winter months.
Apollo turned Cephissus into a sea monster.

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 n Greek mythology, Ares is the son of Zeus (ruler of the gods) and Hera.
Though often incorrectly referred to as the Olympian god of war, he is
more accurately the god of savage war, or bloodlust, or slaughter
personified. The Romans identified him as Mars, the Roman god of war
(whom they had inherited from the Etruscans), but among them, Mars
stood in much higher esteem.
Among the Hellenes, Ares was always mistrusted. Though Ares' half-sister
Athena was also considered to be a war deity, Athena's stance was that of
strategic warfare while Ares' tended to be the unpredictable violence of
war. His birthplace and true home was placed far off, among the
barbarous and warlike Thracians (Iliad 13.301; Ovid, Ars Amatoria, II.10;),
to whom he withdrew after he was discovered on a couch with Aphrodite.
"Ares" remained an adjective and epithet in Classical times: Zeus Areios,
Athena Areia, even Aphrodite Areia. In Mycenaean times, inscriptions
attest to Enyalios, a name that survived into Classical times as an epithet
of Ares. Vultures and dogs are sacred to him.
Ares Symbols
Ares had a quadriga drawn by four gold-bridled (Iliad v.352) fire-breathing
immortal stallions. Among the gods, Ares was recognized by his brazen
armour; he brandished a spear in battle. His sacred birds were the barn

21
 owl, woodpecker, the eagle owl and, especially in the south, the vulture.
According to Argonautica (ii.382ff and 1031ff; Hyginus, Fabulae 30) the
birds of Ares (Ornithes Areioi) were a flock of feather-dart-dropping birds
that guarded the Amazons' shrine of the god on a coastal island in the
Black Sea. In Sparta, the chthonic night-time sacrifice of a dog to Enyalios
became assimilated to the cult of Ares. Sacrifice might be made to Ares
on the eve of battle to enlist his support.
Ares in Cult
Although important in poetry, Ares was rarely included in cult in ancient
Greece, save at Sparta, where he was propitiated before battle, and,
though involved in the founding myth of Thebes, he appeared in few myths
(Burkert 1985, p.169).
At Sparta there was a statue of the god in chains, to show that the spirit
of war and victory was never to leave the city; dogs (and some believe
even humans[citation needed]) were sacrificed to him. The temple to Ares
in the agora of Athens that Pausanias saw in the second century AD had
only been moved and rededicated there during the time of Augustus; in
essence it was a Roman temple to Mars. The Areopagus, the "hill of Ares"
where Paul of Tarsus preached, is sited at some distance from the
Acropolis; from archaic times it was a site of trials. Its connection with
Ares, perhaps based on a false etymology, may be purely etiological.
Attendants
Deimos and Phobos were his children by Aphrodite and were the spirits of
terror and fear. The sister and companion of murderous Ares was Eris,
goddess of bloodshed and violence. The presence of Ares was
accompanied by Kydoimos, the demon of the din of battle, as well as the
Makhai (Battles), the Hysminai (Manslaughters), Polemos (a minor spirit of
war; probably an epithet of Ares, as he had no specific dominion), and
Polemos' daughter, Alala, goddess/personification of the Greek war-cry,
whose name Ares used as his own war-cry. His sister Hebe also drew
baths for him.
The Founding of Thebes
One of the many roles of Ares that was sited in mainland Greece itself was
in the founding myth of Thebes: Ares was the progenitor of the

22
 water-dragon slain by Cadmus, and hence the ancestor of the Spartans
(the dragon's teeth were sown into the ground, and sprung up as the fully
armored autochthonic Spartans). From the dragon's teeth, sown as if a
crop, arose a race of fighting men, the descendants of Ares. To propitiate
Ares, Cadmus took as a bride Harmonia, daughter of Ares' union with
Aphrodite, thus harmonizing all strife and founding the city of Thebes.
Consorts and Children
There are accounts of a son of Ares, Cycnus of Macedonia, who was so
murderous that he attempted to build a temple with the skulls and the
bones of travellers. Heracles slaughtered this abominable monstrosity,
engendering the wrath of Ares, whom the hero wounded (Apollodorus
2.114).
Ares in Mythology
In the myth sung by the bard in the hall of Alcinous (Odyssey 8.300) the
Sun-God Helios once spied Ares and Aphrodite enjoying each other
secretly in the hall of Hephaestus and how he promptly reported the
incident to Aphrodite's Olympian consort. Hephaestus contrived to catch
the couple in the act, and so he fashioned a net with which to snare the
illicit lovers. At the appropriate time, this net was sprung, and trapped
Ares and Aphrodite locked in very private embrace. But Hephaestus was
not yet satisfied with his revenge - he invited the Olympian gods and
goddesses to view the unfortunate pair. For the sake of modesty, the
goddesses demurred, but the male gods went to witness the sight. Some
commented on the beauty of Aphrodite, others remarked that they would
eagerly trade places with Ares, but all mocked the two. Once the couple
were loosed, Ares, embarrassed, sped away to his homeland, Thrace.
In a much later interpolated detail, Ares put the youth Alectryon by his
door to warn them of Helios' arrival, as Helios would tell Hephaestus of
Aphrodite's infidelity if the two were discovered, but Alectryon fell asleep.
Helios discovered the two and alerted Hephaestus. Ares was furious and
turned Alectryon into a rooster, which now never forgets to announce the
arrival of the sun in the morning.
Ares and the Giants
In one Bronze Myth, related in the Iliad by the goddess Dione to her

23
 daughter Aphrodite, two chthonic giants, the Aloadae, named Otus and
Ephialtes, threw Ares into chains and put him in a bronze urn, where he
remained for thirteen months, a lunar year. "And that would have been the
end of Ares and his appetite for war, if the beautiful Eriboea, the young
giants' stepmother, had not told Hermes what they had done," she related
(Iliad 5.385·391). "In this one suspects a festival of licence which is
unleashed in the thirteenth month." Ares remained screaming and howling
in the urn until Hermes rescued him and Artemis tricked the Aloadae into
slaying each other.
The Iliad
In the Iliad, Homer represented Ares as having no fixed allegiances nor
respect for Themis, the right ordering of things: he promised Athena and
Hera that he would fight on the side of the Achaeans, but Aphrodite was
able to persuade Ares to side with the Trojans (Iliad V.699). During the
war, Diomedes fought with Hector and saw Ares fighting on the Trojans'
side. Diomedes called for his soldiers to fall back slowly. Hera, Ares's
mother, saw his interference and asked Zeus, his father, for permission to
drive Ares away from the battlefield. Hera encouraged Diomedes to attack
Ares, so he threw a spear at Ares and his cries made Achaeans and
Trojans alike tremble. Athena then drove the spear into Ares's body, who
bellowed in pain and fled to Mt. Olympus, forcing the Trojans to fall back
(XXI.391). Later when Zeus allows the gods to fight in the war again, Ares
tries to fight Athena to avenge himself for his previous injury, but is once
again badly injured when she tosses a huge boulder on him.
Ares During the Renaissance
In Renaissance and Neoclassical works of art, Ares' symbols are a spear
and helmet, his animal is the dog, and his bird is the vulture. In literary
works of these eras, Ares appears as cruel, aggressive, and blood-thirsty,
reviled by both gods and humans, much as he was in the ancient Greek
myths.
Ares in Neopaganism
Many modern Neopagans maintain a somewhat traditional view of Ares.
Far from the glory that the Romans attributed to him however, most
modern Neopagan sects, particularly Hellenistic sects in the United

24
 States, discourage worship of Ares altogether. Many sects even forbid
Ares worship. Ares is often seen as a cruel, malevolent god who relishes
in mortal suffering and feeds on strife. Many modern neopagans believe
that ancient civilizations believed much the same, but worshipped Ares out
of necessity rather than out of devotion. It is believed that Ares inspires
feelings of malevolence and invincibility, sometimes coupled with delusions
of grandeur, fueling acts of cruelty and strife. Acts of senseless violence,
particularly absent of recognizable motive, are sometimes attributed to
the influence of Ares.
Some neopagans today do worship Ares, though sects that worship him
are considered out of the mainstream and even called cults by Neopagan
standards. It is commonly believed that Ares can grant his followers boons
of unnatural strength and physical stamina, but that he always exacts a
price on the spirit. Though worship of Ares is exceedingly rare, it can exist
in many forms. The most common form of worship is in the form of animal
sacrifices, particularly the sacrifice of goats which has been documented
by police authorities. Most neopagans actively discouraged animal
sacrifice, and most consider it cruel and inhumane. There are also laws
against animal sacrifice in the United States and Canada.
Temple of Ares

The Temple of Ares was a building located in the northern part of the
Ancient Agora of Athens. The Temple was identified as such by Pausanias
but the ruins present today indicate a complex history. The foundations

25
 are of early Roman construction and date but fragments of the
superstructure now located at the western end of the temple can be dated
to the 5th century BCE. From the remaining fragments archaeologists are
confidant that the belonged to a Doric peripteral temple of a similar size,
plan and date to the Temple of Hephaestus. Marks on the remaining
stones indicate that the temple may have originally stood elsewhere and
was dismantled, moved and reconstructed on the Roman base - a practice
common during the Roman occupation of Greece.
The temple probably came from the sanctuary of Athena Pallenis at
modern Stavro, where foundations have been found but no temple
remains are present.

In Greek mythology, Artemis was the daughter of Zeus and Leto and the

26
 twin sister of Apollo. She was usually depicted as the maiden goddess of
the hunt, bearing a bow and arrows. Later she became associated with
the moon, as her brother was with the sun.
She was one of the most widely venerated of the gods and manifestly one
of the oldest deities (Burkert 1985:149). In later times she was associated
and considered synonymous with the Roman goddess Diana. In Etruscan
mythology, she took the form of Artume. Deer and cypress are sacred to
her.
She was the virgin moon goddess of the hunt, wild animals, healing,
wilderness, chastity, and childbirth. She was worshipped as a
fertility/childbirth goddess in many places since, according to some
myths, she assisted her mother in the delivery of her twin.
At some point in the Classical period, she was identified by some with
Hecate, the primal, pre-Olympian feral goddess. She much later became
more identified with and eventually supplanted Selene as the moon
goddess to complement her twin's identification with and supplantation of
Helios as the sun god.
Artemis also assimilated Caryatis (Carya). Her priestesses were
addressed with the title Melissa, which means "bee".
Artemis was not worshipped heavily in much of mainland Greece. In Asia
Minor, however, she was a principal deity. The city of Ephesus is probably
the best known of the Asian centers of her worship, from the story in the
Acts of the Apostles, where the Ephesian metalsmiths who feel threatened
by Paul's preaching of the new faith, zealously riot in her defense,
shouting "Great is Diana of the Ephesians!"
In Rome, she was heavily venerated at Mount Tifata near Capua and in
holy forests (such as Aricia, Latium) Her high priest lived in Aricia; his
position was passed to the person who was able to kill him with a bough,
picked from a tree in the forest.
Festivals in honor of Artemis include Brauronia, held in Brauron and the
festival of Artemis Orthia in Sparta.
Young girls were initiated into the cult of Artemis at puberty. However,
before marrying (an event in which they had little say, and which occurred
shortly after puberty), they were asked to lay all the accoutrements of

27
 virginity (toys, dolls, locks of their hair) on an altar to Artemis.
Diana
Diana was worshipped in a temple on the Aventine Hill where mainly
lower-class citizens and slaves worshipped her. Slaves could ask for and
receive asylum in her temples. She was worshipped at a festival on August
13. Her name may have come from diviana (the shining one).
It is often presumed that defeated peoples become a substratum beneath
that of their conquerors. It seems plausible that the association of Diana
worship with slaves may reflect the conquest of Goddess worshippers by,
presumably, the early Romans.

28
 Artemis in Art
In art, she was typically portrayed with a crescent moon above her head
and her bow and arrows, created by Hephaestus and the Cyclopes. These
arrows, in contrast to her role as goddess of childbirth, were said to be
the cause of women dying in childbirth. Her brother Apollo exhibited
contradiction as well, as he was a god of healing who brought leprosy,
rabies and gout.

29
In Ephesus, the Temple of Artemis became one of the Seven Wonders of
the World. In Ephesus, and elsewhere in Asia Minor, she was worshipped
primarily as an Earth and fertility goddess, akin to Cybele, unlike in
mainland Greece. Statues in Greece depict her with her bow and arrow. In
Asia Minor, she was often depicted with multiple rounded protuberances
on her chest. They were formerly believed to be multiple breasts but are
now known to have represented bull testes.

30
 Appellations
As Agrotora, she was especially associated as the patron goddess of
hunters. Artemis was often associated with the local Aeginian goddess,
Aphaea. As Potnia Theron, she was the patron of wild animals; Homer
used this title. As Kourotrophos, she was the nurse of youths. As Locheia,
she was the goddess of childbirth and midwives. She was sometimes
known as Cynthia, from her birthplace on Mount Cynthus on Delos. She
sometimes used the name Phoebe, the feminine form of her brother,
Apollo's, Phoebus.
Birth
When Hera discovered that Leto was pregnant and that Hera's husband,
Zeus, was the father, she banned Leto from giving birth on terra firma, or
the mainland, or any island at sea. Leto found the floating island of Delos,
which was neither mainland nor a real island and gave birth there. The
island was surrounded by swans. As a gesture of gratitude, Delos was
secured with four pillars. The island later became sacred to Apollo.

31
 Alternatively, Hera kidnapped Ilithyia, the goddess of childbirth, to prevent
Leto from going into labour. The other gods forced Hera to let her go.
Either way, Artemis was born first and then assisted with the birth of
Apollo. Another version states that Artemis was born one day before
Apollo, on the island of Ortygia and that she helped Leto cross the sea to
Delos the next day to give birth to Apollo.
Childhood
At three years old, Artemis asked her father, Zeus, while sitting on the god
king's knee, to grant her several wishes. She asked for perpetual virginity,
lop-eared hounds, does to lead her chariot, and nymphs as her hunting
companions. He granted her wishes. All of her companions remained
virgins, and she guarded her chastity very closely.
Men
Actaeon
She was once bathing nude in the woods when the Theban prince and
hunter Actaeon stumbled across her. He stopped and stared, amazed at
her ravishing beauty. He was so stunned that he accidentally stepped on a
twig, and Artemis noticed him. She was so disgusted at his stares that
she changed him to a stag and set his own hounds to kill him. He was torn
apart by the deadly hunting dogs, who never knew that the stag they were
hunting was their own master. Alternatively, Actaeon boasted that he was
a better hunter than she and Artemis turned him into a stag and he was
eaten by his hounds.
Adonis
In some versions of the story of Adonis, Artemis or Ares (her lover in this
story) sent a wild boar to kill Adonis. This version is suspect because it
implies that Artemis had lain with Ares and by virtually all accounts, she
remained chaste throughout time.
Siproites
A Cretan, Siproites, saw Artemis bathing nude and was changed by her
into a woman. (The complete story does not survive in any mythographer's
works, but is mentioned offhand by Antoninus Liberalis.)
Orion
After leaving Eos, Orion became a follower of Artemis. She eventually

32
 killed him, though the reasons given vary:
1. Orion and Artemis were engaged. Her brother, Apollo didn't
believe it was appropriate for her to marry a mortal. Apollo
convinced Orion to walk out into the water and then dared Artemis to
try to hit the barely visible speck (actually Orion's head) with an
arrow from the shore. She succeeded, killing him.
2. Orion raped one of Artemis' female followers. She sent Scorpio, a
scorpion, to kill him and both were placed in the stars as
constellations. This legend explains why the constellation Scorpio
rises just after Orion begins to set -- the scorpion still chases him.
Orion's dog became Sirius, the dog-star.
Other stories
Callisto

Artemis and

Callisto

33
 Artemis killed any of her companions who lost their virginity, such as
Maera and Callisto.One of Artemis' companions, Callisto, lost her virginity
to Zeus, who had come disguised as Artemis. Enraged, Artemis changed
her into a bear. Callisto's son, Arcas, nearly killed his mother while
hunting, but Zeus or Artemis stopped him and placed them both in the sky
as Ursa Major and Ursa Minor.
Agamemnon and Iphigenia
Artemis punished Agamemnon after he killed a sacred deer in a sacred
grove and boasted he was a better hunter. On his way to Troy to
participate in the Trojan War, Agamemnon's ships were suddenly
motionless as Artemis stopped the wind. An oracle named Calchis told
Agamemnon that the only way to appease Artemis was to sacrifice
Iphigenia, his daughter. According to some versions, he did so, but others
claims that he sacrificed a deer in her place and Iphigenia was taken to
Crimea to prepare others for sacrifice to Artemis.
Niobe
A Queen of Thebes and wife of Amphion, Niobe boasted of her superiority
to Leto because she had fourteen children (Niobids), seven male and
seven female, while Leto had only two. Apollo killed her sons as they
practiced athletics, with the last begging for his life, and Artemis her
daughters. Apollo and Artemis used poisoned arrows to kill them, though
according to some versions a number of the Niobids were spared (Chloris,
usually). Amphion, at the sight of his dead sons, either killed himself or
was killed by Apollo after swearing revenge. A devastated Niobe fled to
Mount Siplyon in Asia Minor and turned into stone as she wept, or
committed suicide. Her tears formed the river Achelous. Zeus had turned
all the people of Thebes to stone and so no one buried the Niobids until
the ninth day after their death, when the gods themselves entombed them.
Taygete
Zeus pursued Taygete, one of the Pleiades, who prayed to Artemis. The
goddess turned Taygete into a doe but Zeus raped her when she was
unconscious. She thus conceived Lacedaemon, the mythical founder of
Sparta.
Otus and Ephialtes

34
 Otus and Ephialtes were a pair of brothers and giants. At one point, they
wanted to storm Mt. Olympus. They managed to kidnap Ares and hold him
in a jar for thirteen months. He was only released when Artemis offered to
sleep with Otus. This made Ephialtes envious and the pair fought. Artemis
changed herself into a doe and jumped between them. The Aloadae, not
wanting her to get away, threw their spears and killed each other.
The Meleagrids
After the death of Meleager, Artemis turned her grieving sisters, the
Meleagrids into guineafowl.
Chione
Artemis killed Chione for her pride and vanity.
Atalanta and Oeneus
Artemis saved the infant Atalanta from dying of exposure after her father
abandoned her. She sent a female bear to suckle the baby, who was then
raised by hunters.
Among other adventures, Atalanta participated in the hunt for the
Calydonian Boar, which Artemis had sent to destroy Calydon because King
Oeneus had forgotten her at the harvest sacrifices.
Artemis in Neopaganism

Many Neopagans, particularly Hellenistic sects in the United States, that

worship Artemis today seem to omit many of the ancient myths. Those
myths which are accepted by modern Neopagans seem to be interpreted
rather abstractly, as mostly metaphor. Artemis is believed to be rather
concerned with her follower's well being, but to reserve her boons to
those who respect nature.

35
 Artemis, in modern worship, is often seen as the goddess of wealth,
magic, abundance, fertility, hunting, and longevity. While many who
practice magic worship Hecate more favor Artemis for her supposed
benevolence. Worship of Artemis may often include the burning of oils and
incense, prayer, ritual nocturnal hunts, the burning of bread, and
prostration. Artemis is thought to grant numerous boons and blessings on
her followers, and is commonly worshipped by both men and women.

36
 In Greek mythology, Athena, the shrewd companion of heroes, became
the goddess of wisdom, as philosophy became applied to cult in the later
fifth century. She remained the patroness of weaving, crafts and the more
disciplined side of war. Athena's wisdom also includes the cunning
intelligence (metis) of such figures as Odysseus. She is attended by an
owl, and is often accompanied by the goddess of victory, Nike. Wearing a
goatskin breastplate called the Aegis given to her by her father, Zeus, she
is often shown helmeted and with a shield bearing the Gorgon Medusa's
head, a votive gift of Perseus.
Athena is an armed warrior goddess, and appears in Greek mythology as
a helper of many heroes, including Heracles, Jason, and Odysseus. In
classical myth she never had a consort or lover, and thus was often
known as Athena Parthenos ("Athena the virgin"), hence her most famous
temple, the Parthenon, on the Acropolis in Athens. In a remnant of archaic
myth, she was the mother of Erichthonius by an attempted rape, which
failed.
In her role as a protector of the city, Athena was worshiped throughout the
Greek world as Athena Polias ("Athena of the city"). She had a special
relationship with Athens, as is shown by the etymological connection of
the names of the goddess and the city.
Mythology

37
 Birth of Athena, Daughter of Zeus
Athena is most commonly described as the daughter of Zeus. It is also
often implied that she is his first-born child, which accords her special
status: the weapons for which she is so famous are weapons she and he
share exclusively, including the thunderbolt.
The Olympian Version
In the Olympian pantheon, Athena was remade as the favorite daughter of
Zeus, born fully armed from his forehead after he swallowed her mother,
Metis.The story of her birth comes in several versions. In the one most
commonly cited, Zeus lay with Metis, the goddess of crafty thought and
wisdom, but immediately feared the consequences. It had been
prophesied that Metis would bear children more powerful than the sire,
even Zeus himself. In order to forestall these dire consequences, after
lying with her, Zeus "put her away inside his own belly;" he "swallowed her
down of a sudden," He was too late: Metis had already conceived a child.
When it came time, Zeus was in great pain; Prometheus, Hephaestus,
Hermes or Palaemon (depending on the sources examined) cleaved
Zeus's head with the double-headed Minoan axe, the labrys. Athena leaped
from Zeus's head, fully grown and armed with a shout, "and pealed to the
broad sky her clarion cry of war. And Ouranos trembled to hear, and
Mother Gaia" {Pindar, Seventh Olympian Ode).
Hera was so annoyed at Zeus producing a child apparently on his own that
she caused herself to conceive and bear Hephaestus by herself. Metis
never bore any more children, and Zeus persisted as supreme ruler of
Mount Olympus.
Other Origin Tales
Fragments attributed by the Christian Eusebius of Caesarea to the
semi-legendary Phoenician historian Sanchuniathon, which Eusebius
thought had been written before the Trojan war, make Athena instead the
daughter of Cronus, a king of Byblos who is said to have visited 'the
inhabitable world' and bequeathed Attica to Athena.
The Parthenon at Athens is her most famous shrine.

38
39
 Pallas Athens
In Greek mythology, Pallas was an epithet for Athena. There are, however,
several Pallades (feminine plural) and Pallantes (masculine plural).
Pallas was the playmate of Athena, a daughter of the god Triton (or
Tritonis), her foster-father. One day, while Pallas and Athena were
sparring, Zeus appeared between them with the aegis and Pallas, in her
fear, forgot to parry a blow from Athena. She was killed and Athena
mourned her by becoming "Pallas Athena". She also carved from a tree
trunk a statue of Pallas, the Palladium, which she left with Zeus. Later
Electra, whom Zeus seduced, took refuge behind this palladium; Zeus
tossed it away and it fell on the land of Ilium (Troy), where Ilus had a
temple built for it.
Pallas was also a Titan, son of Crius and Eurybia, husband of Styx. He was
the father of Zelus, Nike, Cratos, and Bia (and sometimes, Eos or Selene).

40
This Pallas was the god of wisdom. Aeson or Aethon was the name of his
horse.
An archaic winged god is also named Pallas, with wings attached either to
the ankles or to his back, like the archaic winged goddesses. He was,
according to one tradition, the father of Pallas Athena and tried to rape
her. She killed him and tore his skin off to make the Aegis.
Yet another Pallas, a goatish Giant, confronted Athena during the
Gigantomachy; she killed him and also turned his skin into the aegis.
The last Pallas is the son of Lycaon and founder of the Arcadian town of
Pallantion. He was the teacher of Athena, yet also the father of Nike and
Chryse, two manifestations of Athena. The incest motif appears yet again,
in the form of a consummated marriage between her and her teacher.
History
Athena has no Greek etymology, and probably was already a goddess in
the Aegean before the coming of the Greeks, although her name is not
attested in Eteocretan. She has been compared to Anatolian mother
goddesses like Cybele, her name possibly of Lydian origin (G. Neumann,
Kadmos 6, 1967), and her byname Pallas has been compared to Hittite
palahh, a divine raiment.
In Mycenaean Greek, A-ta-na-po-ti-ni-ja /Athana potniya/ (Mistress Athena)
is referred to in the Knossos Linear B text V 2. and A-ta-no-dju-wa-ja
/Athana diwya/, the final part being the Linear B spelling of what we know
from ancient Greek as Diwia (Mycenaean di-u-ja or di-wi-ja) "divine" (see
dyeus). There is evidence that in early times, Athena was an owl herself,
or a bird goddess in general. In book 3 of the Odyssey, she takes the
form of a sea-eagle. Her tassled aegis may be the remnants of wings.
Athena is associated with Athens, a plural name because it was the place
where she presided over her sisterhood, the Athenai, in earliest times.
In the Olympian pantheon, Athena was remade as the favorite daughter of
Zeus, born from his forehead. The story of her birth comes in several
versions. In the one most commonly cited, Zeus lay with Metis, the
goddess of crafty thought, but immediately feared the consequences. It
had been prophesied that Metis would bear children more powerful than
Zeus himself. In order to forestall these dire consequences, Zeus

41
transformed Metis into a fly and swallowed her immediately after lying with
her. He was too late: Metis had already conceived a child. Metis
immediately began making a helmet and robe for her fetal daughter. The
hammering as she made the helmet caused Zeus great pain and
Prometheus, Hephaestus, Hermes or Palaemon (depending on the
sources examined) cleaved Zeus's head with the double-headed Minoan
axe (labrys). Athena leaped from Zeus's head, fully grown and armed, and
Zeus was none the worse for the experience.
Athena was patron of the art of weaving and other crafts, wisdom and
battle. Unlike Ares, who was hot-headed and undependable in battle,
Athena's domain was strategy and tactics. Having taken the side of the
Greeks in the war against Troy, Athena assisted the wily Odysseus on his
journey home.
Athena in Art
Athena was depicted on the obverse side of the Coin of Attalus I, depicting
the head of Attalus' great uncle Philetaerus. Athena is classically portrayed
wearing full armor, carrying a lance and a shield with the head of the
gorgon Medusa mounted on it. It is in this posture that she was depicted
in Phidias's famous gold and ivory statue of her, now lost to history, in the
Parthenon on the Athenian Acropolis. Athena is also often depicted with an
owl (a symbol of wisdom) sitting on one of her shoulders. The Mourning
Athena is a relief sculpture that dates around 460 BC and portrays a tired,
emotional Athena. In earlier, archaic portraits of Athena in vase-paintings,
the goddess retains some of her Minoan character, such as great
birdwings.
Episodes
Erichthonius
According to Apollodorus, Hephaestus attempted to rape Athena but was
unsuccessful. His semen fell on the ground, and Erichthonius was born
from the earth. Athena then raised the baby as a foster mother.
Alternatively, the semen landed on Athena's leg, and she wiped it off with a
piece of wool which she tossed on the ground. Erichthonius arose from
the ground and the wool. Another version says that Hephaestus wanted
Athena to marry him but she disappeared on his bridal bed; he ejaculated

42
onto the ground instead. Athena gave three sisters, Herse, Pandrosus and
Aglaulus the baby in a small box and warned them to never open it.
Aglaulus and Herse opened the box which contained the infant and
future-king, Erichthonius. The sight caused Herse and Aglaulus to go
insane and they threw themselves off the Acropolis.
An alternative version of the same story is that while Athena was gone to
bring a mountain to use in the Acropolis, the two willful sisters opened the
box. A crow witnessed the opening and flew away to tell Athena, who fell
into a rage and dropped the mountain (now Mt. Lykabettos). Once again,
Herse and Aglaulus went insane and threw themselves to their deaths off a
cliff.
Erichthonius later became King of Athens and implemented many
beneficial changes to Athenian culture. During this time, Athena frequently
protected him.
Athens
Athena competed with Poseidon to be the patron deity of Athens. They
agreed that each would give the Athenians one gift and the Athenians
would choose whichever gift they preferred. Poseidon struck the ground
with his trident and a spring sprung up; the water was salty and not very
useful, whereas Athena offered them the first domesticated olive tree. The
Athenians (or their king, Cecrops) accepted the olive tree and along with it
Athena as their patron, for the olive tree brought wood, oil and food. This
is thought to remember a clash between the inhabitants during Mycenaean
times and newer immigrants. It is interesting to note that Athens at its
height was a significant sea power, defeating the Persian fleet at the
Battle of Salamis near Salamis Island in 480 BC. Athena was also the
patron goddess of several other cities, notably Sparta. In an alternate
version, Poseidon invents the first horse. Athena's gift is still chosen.
Perseus and Medusa
Athena guided Perseus in eliminating Medusa, a dangerous unreformed
relic of the old pre-Olympian order, and she was awarded the grisly trophy
that turned men to stone, for her shield.
Heracles
Athena instructed Heracles how to remove the skin from the Nemean Lion,

43
by using the lion's own claws to cut through its thick hide. The lion's hide
became Heracles' signature garment, along with the olive-wood club he
used in the battle. Athena also assisted Heracles on a few other labors.
She also helped Heracles defeat the Stymphalian Birds, along with
Hephaestus.

This red-figure vase from ca. 420 BC, depicts the birth of the 'Earth-born
One' (Erichthonios). Earth (Gaia) presents the new-born child to Athena,
who represents the reborn serpent-friendly Eve after the Flood. The figure
to the left of Gaia and the child is Hephaistos, the eldest son of Zeus and
Hera, the deified Kain. According to the myth surrounding this event,
Athena obtained the sperm, or seed, of Hephaistos (Kain), and placed it
into the Earth, and out of Earth sprang the rejuvenated line of Kain after
the Flood. The essence of ancient Greek religion is very simple. After the
Flood which caused the line of Kain to disappear into the earth, Athena,
the reborn serpent-friendly Eve, nurtures the reborn line of Kain which
re-emerges from the earth into which it had disappeared.
Medusa and Tiresias
Medusa, unlike her two sister-Gorgons, was mortal and extremely
beautiful. But she had sex with - or was raped by Poseidon in a temple of
Athena. Upon discovering the desecration of her temple, Athena changed
Medusa's form to match that of her sister Gorgons as punishment.
Medusa's hair turned into snakes, her lower body was transformed, and

44
meeting her gaze would turn any living creature to stone. In one version of
the Tiresias myth, Tiresias stumbled upon Athena bathing, and was blinded
by her nakedness. To compensate him for his loss, she sent serpents to
lick his ears, which gave him the gift of prophecy.
Lady of Athens
Athena competed with Poseidon to be the patron deity of Athens, which
was yet unnamed in this telling. They agreed that each would give the
Athenians one gift and that the Athenians would choose the gift they
preferred. Poseidon struck the ground with his trident and a spring sprang
up; this gave them a means of trade and water, but it was salty and not
very good for drinking.
In an alternate version, Poseidon offered the first horse. Athena, however,
offered them the first domesticated olive tree. The Athenians (or their
king, Cecrops) accepted the olive tree and along with it Athena as their
patron, for the olive tree brought wood, oil and food. This is thought to
commemorate a clash between the inhabitants during Mycenaean times
and newer immigrants. It is interesting to note that Athens at its height
was a significant sea power, defeating the Persian fleet at the Battle of
Salamis near Salamis Island in 480 BC. Athena was also the patron
goddess of several other cities, notably Sparta.
Counselor
Athena guided Perseus in his quest to behead Medusa. She instructed
Heracles to skin the Nemean Lion by using its own claws to cut through its
thick hide. She also helped Heracles to defeat the Stymphalian Birds, and
to navigate the underworld so as to capture Cerberos.
Odysseus' cunning and shrewd nature quickly won Athena's favor, though
she is largely confined to aiding him only from afar (implanting thoughts in
his head) during his journey home from Troy. It is not until he washes up
on the shore of an island where Nausicaa is washing her clothes that
Athena can actually arrive herself to provide more tangible assistance.
She appears in Nausicaa's dreams to ensure the princess rescues
Odysseus and eventually sends him to Ithaca. Athena, herself, appears in
disguise to Odysseus upon his arrival. She initially lies and tells him
Penelope, his wife, has remarried and Odysseus is believed to be dead,

45
though Odysseus lies to her, seeing through her disguise. Pleased with his
resolve and shrewdness, she reveals herself to him and tells him
everything he needed to know in order to win back his kingdom. She
disguises him as an elderly man so that he will not be noticed by the
Suitors or Penelope and she helps Odysseus defeat his suitors and end
the feud against their relatives.
Cult and Attributes
Her epithets included Atrytone (= the unwearying), Parthénos (= virgin),
and Promachos (the pre-fighter/-tress, i. e. the person who fights in front).
In poetry from Homer onward, Athena's most common epithet is
glaukopis, which is usually translated "bright-eyed" or "with gleaming eyes".
It is a combination of glaukos ("gleaming," "silvery," and later,
"bluish-green" or "gray") and ops ("eye," or sometimes, "face").
It is interesting to note that glaux "owl") is from the same root, presumably
because of its own distinctive eyes. The bird which sees in the night is
closely associated with the goddess of wisdom: in archaic images, she is
frequently depicted with an owl perched on her head. In earlier times,
Athena may well have been a bird goddess, similar to the unknown
goddess depicted with owls, wings and bird talons on the Burney relief, a
Mesopotamian terracotta relief of the early second millennium BC.
In the Iliad (4.514), the Homeric Hymns and in Hesiod's Theogony, she is
given the curious epithet Tritogeneia. The meaning of this term is unclear.
It seems to mean "Triton-born," perhaps indicating that the sea-god was
her father according to some early myths, or, less likely, that she was
born near Lake Triton in Africa. Another possible meaning is "triple-born" or
"third-born," which may refer to her status as the third daughter of Zeus or
the fact she was born from Metis, Zeus and herself; various legends list
her as being the first child after Artemis and Apollo, though other legends
identify her as Zeus' first child.
In her role as judge at Orestes' trial on the murder of his mother,
Clytemnestra (which he won), Athena won the epithet Athena Areia.
Athena was later associated with the application of philosophy to cult in
the fifth century. She remained the patroness of weaving, crafts and the
more disciplined side of war. Athena's wisdom encompasses the technical

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 knowledge employed in weaving, metal-working, but also includes the
cunning intelligence (metis) of such figures as Odysseus.
The owl and the olive tree are sacred to her. She is attended by an owl,
and is often accompanied by the goddess of victory, Nike. Wearing a
goatskin breastplate called the Aegis given to her by her father, Zeus, she
is often shown helmeted and with a shield bearing the Gorgon Medusa's
head, a votive gift of Perseus. Athena is an armed warrior goddess, and
appears in Greek mythology as the counselor of many heroes, including
Heracles, Jason, and Odysseus.
Athena was given many other cult titles. She had the epithet Athena
Ergane as the patron of craftsmen and artisans. With the epithet Athena
Parthenos ("virgin"), Athena was worshiped on the Acropolis, especially in
the festival of the Panathenaea. With the epithet Athena Promachos she
led in battle. With the epithet Athena Polias ("of the city"), Athena was the
protectress of Athens and its Acropolis, but also of many other cities,
including Argos, Sparta, Gortyn, Lindos, and Larisa. She was given the
epithet Athena Hippeia or Athena Hippia as the inventor of the chariot, and
was worshipped under this title at Athens, Tegea and Olympia. As Athena
Hippeia she was given an alternative parentage: Poseidon and Polyphe,
daughter of Oceanus.. In each of these cities her temple was frequently
the major temple on the acropolis.
Athena was often equated with Aphaea, a local goddess of the island of
Aegina, located near Athens, once Aegina was under Athenian's power.
Plutarch also refers to an instance during the Parthenon's construction of
her being called Athena Hygieia ("healer"):
"A strange accident happened in the course of building, which
showed that the goddess was not averse to the work, but was aiding
and co-operating to bring it to perfection. One of the artificers, the
quickest and the handiest workman among them all, with a slip of his
foot fell down from a great height, and lay in a miserable condition,
the physicians having no hope of his recovery. When Pericles was in
distress about this, the goddess [Athena] appeared to him at night in
a dream, and ordered a course of treatment, which he applied, and
in a short time and with great ease cured the man. And upon this

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 occasion it was that he set up a brass statue of Athena Hygeia, in
the citadel near the altar, which they say was there before. But it
was Phidias who wrought the goddess's image in gold, and he has
his name inscribed on the pedestal as the workman of it."
In Classical Art
Athena is classically portrayed wearing full armor, with the helmet raised
high on the forehead like a hat; she carries a spear and a shield with the
head of the gorgon Medusa mounted on it. It is in this standing posture
that she was depicted in Phidias's famous lost gold and ivory statue of
her, 36 m tall, the Athena Parthenos in the Parthenon. Athena is also often
depicted with an owl (a symbol of wisdom) sitting on one of her shoulders.
The Mourning Athena is a relief sculpture that dates around 460 BC and
portrays a weary Athena resting on a staff. In earlier, archaic portraits of
Athena in Black-figure pottery, the goddess retains some of her Minoan
character, such as great bird wings, though this is not true of archaic
sculpture such as those at Aphaea. Other common types of Athena statue
may be found here.
Apart from her attributes, there seems to be a relative consensus in
sculpture from the fifth century onward as to what Athena looked like.
Most noticeable in the face is perhaps a high nose with a high bridge that
almost seems like a natural extension of the forehead. The eyes are
typically somewhat deeply set. The lips are usually full but the mouth is
fairly narrow, usually just slightly wider than the nose. The neck is
somewhat longish. The net result is a serene, somewhat aloof beauty.
Arachne
The fable of Arachne is a late addition to Greek mythology, that does not
appear in the myth repertory of the Attic vase-painters. Arachne's name
simply means "spider". Arachne was the daughter of a famous dyer in
Tyrian purple in Hypaipa of Lydia. She became so conceited of her skill as
a weaver that she began claiming that her skill was greater than that of
Athena herself.
Athena gave Arachne a chance to redeem herself by assuming the form of
an old woman and warning Arachne not to offend the gods. Arachne
scoffed and wished for a weaving contest, so she could prove her skill.

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 Athena wove the scene of her victory over Poseidon that had inspired her
patronage of Athens. According to the Latin narrative, Arachne's tapestry
featured twenty-one episodes of the infidelity of the gods: Jupiter being
unfaithful with Leda, with Europa, with Danae.
Even Athena admitted that Arachne's work was flawless, but was outraged
at Arachne's disrespectful choice of subjects that displayed the failings
and transgressions of the gods. Finally losing her temper, Athena
destroyed Arachne's tapestry and loom, striking it with her shuttle,
Arachne realized her folly and hanged herself. In Ovid's telling, Athena took
pity on Arachne who was changed into a spider. The story suggests that
the origin of weaving lay in imitation of spiders and that it was considered
to have been perfected first in Asia Minor.

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 In Greek mythology Dêmêtêr ("mother-earth" or possibly
"distribution-mother") is the goddess of grain and fertility, the pure
nourisher of the youth and the green earth, the health-giving cycle of life
and death, and preserver of marriage and the sacred law.
She is invoked as the "bringer of seasons" in the Homeric hymn, a subtle
sign that she was worshiped long before the Olympians arrived. Another
story states that she was one of the twelve Olympians. The Homeric Hymn
to Demeter has been dated to sometime around the Seventh Century BC.
She and her daughter Persephone were the central figures of the
Eleusinian Mysteries that also predated the Olympian pantheon. The
Roman equivalent is Ceres, from whom the word "cereal" is derived.
Demeter is easily confused with Gaia or Rhea, and with Cybele. The
goddess's epithets reveal the span of her functions in Greek life. Demeter
and Kore ("the maiden") are usually invoked as to theo ('"The Two
Goddesses"), and they appear in that form in Linear B graffiti at
Mycenaean Pylos in pre-classical times. A connection with the
goddess-cults of Minoan Crete is quite possible.
According to the Athenian rhetorician Isocrates, the greatest gifts which
Demeter gave were cereal (also known as corn in modern Britain) which
made man different from wild animals; and the Mysteries which give man

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 higher hopes in this life and the afterlife.
Demeter and Poseidon
Demeter and Poseidon's names are linked in the earliest scratched notes
in Linear B found at Mycenaean Pylos, where they appear as
PO-SE-DA-WO-NE and DA-MA-TE in the context of sacralized lot-casting.
The 'DA' element in each of their names is seemingly connected to an
Proto-Indo-European root relating to distribution of land and honors
(compare Latin dare "to give"). Poseidon (his name seems to signify
"consort of the distributor") once pursued Demeter, in her archaic form as
a mare-goddess. She resisted Poseidon, but she could not disguise her
divinity among the horses of King Onkios. Poseidon became a stallion and
covered her. Demeter was literally furious ("Demeter Erinys") at the
assault, but washed away her anger in the River Ladon ("Demeter Lousia").
She bore to Poseidon a Daughter, whose name might not be uttered
outside the Eleusinian Mysteries, and a steed named Arion, with a black
mane. In Arcadia, Demeter was worshiped as a horse-headed deity into
historical times.
Demeter and Persephone
The central myth of Demeter, which is at the heart of the Eleusinian
Mysteries is her relationship with Persephone, her daughter and own
younger self. In the Olympian pantheon, Persephone became the consort
of Hades (Roman Pluto, the underworld god of wealth). Demeter had a
large scope of abilities, besides being the goddess of the harvest she also
controlled the seasons and because of that was capable of destroying all
life on earth. In fact her powers were able to influence Zeus into making
Hades bring her daughter Persephone up from the underworld.
Persephone became the goddess of the underworld when Hades
abducted her from the earth and brought her into the underworld. She had
been playing with some nymphs, whom Demeter later changed into the
Sirens as punishment for having interfered, and the ground split and she
was taken in by Hades. Life came to a standstill as the depressed
Demeter searched for her lost daughter.
Finally, Zeus could not put up with the dying earth and forced Hades to
return Persephone by sending Hermes to retrieve her. But before she was

51
 released, Hades tricked her into eating six pomegranate seeds, which
forced her to return for six months each year. When Demeter and her
daughter were together, the earth flourished with vegetation. But for six
months each year, when Persephone returned to the underworld, the earth
once again became a barren realm. Summer, autumn, and spring by
comparison have heavy rainfall and mild temperatures in which plant life
flourishes. It was during her trip to retrieve Persephone from the
underworld that she revealed the Eleusinian Mysteries.
In an alternate version, Hecate rescued Persephone. In other alternative
versions, Persephone was not tricked into eating the pomegranate seeds
but chose to eat them herself, or ate them accidentally, that is, not
knowing the effect it would have or perhaps even recognize it for what it
was. In the latter version it is claimed that Ascalaphus, one of Hades'
gardners, claimed to have witnessed her do so, at the moment that she
was preparing to return with Hermes. Regardless, the result is the
occurrence of the unfruitful seasons of the ancient Greek calendars.
Persephone is not only the younger self of Demeter, she is in turn also
one of three guises of Demeter as the Triple Goddess. The other two
guises are Kore (the younger one, signifying green young corn, the
maiden) and Hekate (the elder of the three, the harvested corn, the crone)
with Demeter in between, signifying the ripe oars, the nymph, waiting to
be plucked, which to a certain extent reduces the name and role of
Demeter to that of groupname. Before Persephone was abducted by
Hades, an event witnessed by the shepherd Eumolpus and the swineherd
Eubuleus (they saw a girl being carried of into the earth which had violently
opened up, in a black charriot, driven by an invisible driver), she was
called Kore. It is when she is taken that she becomes Persephone ('she
who brings destruction'). Hekate was also reported to have told Demeter
that she had heard Kore scream that she was being raped.
Demeter's stay at Eleusis
Demeter was searching for her daughter Persephone (also known as
Kore). Having taken the form of an old woman called Doso, she received a
hospitable welcome from Celeus, the King of Eleusis in Attica (and also
Phytalus). He asked her to nurse Demophon and Triptolemus, his sons by

52
 Metanira.
As a gift to Celeus, because of his hospitality, Demeter planned to make
Demophon as a god, by coating and anointing him with Ambrosia,
breathing gently upon him while holding him in her arms and bosom, and
making him immortal by burning his mortal spirit away in the family hearth
every night. She put him in the fire at night like a firebrand or ember
without the knowledge of his parents.
Demeter was unable to complete the ritual because his mother Metanira
walked in and saw her son in the fire and screamed in fright, which
angered Demeter, who lamented that foolish mortals do not understand
the concept and ritual.
Instead of making Demophon immortal, Demeter chose to teach
Triptolemus the art of agriculture and, from him, the rest of Greece
learned to plant and reap crops. He flew across the land on a winged
chariot while Demeter and Persephone cared for him, and helped him
complete his mission of educating the whole of Greece on the art of
agriculture. Later, Triptolemus taught Lyncus, King of the Scythians the
arts of agriculture but he refused to teach it to his people and then tried to
murder Triptolemus. Demeter turned him into a lynx.
Some scholars believe the Demophon story is based on an earlier
prototypical folk tale.
Children
Persephone (by Zeus)
Zagreus (by Zeus)
Despoina (by Poseidon)
Arion (by Poseidon)
Plutus (by Iasion)
Philomelus (by Iasion)
Eubolus by (Carmanor)
Portrayals
Demeter was usually portrayed on a chariot, and frequently associated
with images of the harvest, including flowers, fruit, and grain. She was
also sometimes pictured with Persephone.
Demeter is not generally portrayed with a consort: the exception is Iasion,

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 the youth of Crete who lay with Demeter in a thrice-ploughed field, and
was sacrificed afterwards · by a jealous Zeus with a thunderbolt, Olympian
mythography adds, but the Cretan site of the myth is a sign that the
Hellenes knew this was an act of the ancient Demeter.
Demeter placed Aethon, the god of famine, in Erysichthon's gut, making
him permanently famished. This was a punishment for cutting down trees
in a sacred grove.
Demeter in Astronomy
Demeter is a main belt asteroid 26km in diameter, which was discovered
in 1929 by K. Reinmuth at Heidelberg.

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 Hephaestus was the Greek god whose Roman equivalent was Vulcan; he
was the god of technology, blacksmiths, craftsmen, artisans, sculptors,
metals and metallurgy, and fire. He was worshipped in all the
manufacturing and industrial centers of Greece, especially Athens.
Though his forge traditionally lay in the heart of Lemnos, Hephaestus was
quickly identified by Greek colonists in southern Italy with the volcano gods
Adranus of Mount Etna and Vulcanus of the Lipara islands, and his forge
moved here by the poets. The first-century sage Apollonius of Tyana is
said to have observed, "there are many other mountains all over the earth
that are on fire, and yet we should never be done with it if we assigned to
them giants and gods like Hephaestus" (Life of Apollonius of Tyana, book
v.16).
Hephaestus and his brother Ares were sons of Hera, with or without the
cooperation of Zeus. In classic and late interpretations, Hera bore him
alone, in jealousy for Zeus's solo birth of Athena, but as Hera is older than
Zeus in terms of human history, the myth may be an inversion. Indeed, in
some versions of Athena's birth, the goddess only enters the world after
Zeus' head is split open by a hammer-wielding Hephaestus. Either way, in
Greek thought, the fates of the goddess of wisdom and war (Athena) and
the god of the forge that makes the weapons of war were linked. In Attica,

55
 Hephaestus and Athena Ergane (Athena as patroness of craftsmen and
artisans), were honored at a festival called Chalceia on the 30th day of
Pyanepsion. Hephaestus crafted much of Athena's weaponry, along with
those of the rest of the gods and even of a few mortals who received their
special favor.
An Athenian founding myth tells that Athena refused a union with
Hephaestus, and that when he tried to force her she disappeared from the
bed, and Hephaestus ejaculated on the earth, impregnating Gaia, who
subsequently gave birth to Erichthonius of Athens; then the surrogate
mother gave the child to Athena to foster, guarded by a serpent.
Hyginus made an etymology of strife (Eri-) between Athena and
Hephaestus and the Earth-child (chthonios). Some readers may have the
sense that an earlier, non-virginal Athena is disguised in a convoluted
re-making of the myth-element. At any rate, there is a Temple of
Hephaestus (Hephaesteum or the so-called "Theseum") located near the
Athens agora, or marketplace.

The Temple of Hephaestus (Hephaesteum or the so-called "Theseum"),

located at near the Athens agora, or

marketplace.
Hephaestus also crafted much of the other magnficent equipage of the

56
gods, and almost any finely-wrought metalwork imbued with powers that
appears in Greek myth is said to have been forged by Hephaestus:
Hermes's winged helmet and sandals, the Aegis breastplate, Aphrodite's
famed girdle, Achilles's armor, Heracles's bronze clappers, Helios's
chariot, the shoulder of Pelops, Eros's bow and arrows and Hades's
helmet of invisibility. Hephaestus worked with the help of the chthonic
Cyclopes, his assistants in the forge.
He also built automatons of metal to work for him. He gave to blinded
Orion his apprentice Cedalion as a guide.
Prometheus stole the fire that he gave to man from Hephaestus' forge.
Hephaestus also created the gift that the gods gave man, the woman
Pandora and her famous box.

57
 In Rubens' gritty Vulcan [Hephaestus] forging the thunderbolts of Jove,
only the title is mythic in an essay in realism illuminated by the firelight of
the forge.In Iliad i.590, Zeus threw Hephaestus from Olympus because he
released his mother Hera who was suspended by a golden chain between
earth and sky, after an argument she had with Zeus.
Hephaestus fell for nine days and nights before landing on the island of
Lemnos where he grew to be a master craftsman and was allowed back
into Olympus when his ability and usefulness became known to the
gods.Hephaestus was quite ugly; he was crippled and misshapen at birth:
in the vase-paintings, his feet are sometimes back-to-front. In art,

58
 Hephaestus was shown lame and bent over his anvil.
He walked with the aid of a stick. Hera, mortified to have brought forth
such grotesque offspring, promptly threw him from Mount Olympus. He
fell, as he tells it himself in the Iliad (xviii.395) many days and nights and
landed in the Ocean where he was brought up by the Oceanids Thetis
(mother of Achilles) and Eurynome.
(Hephaetus¹s physical appearance indicates Arsenicosis, low levels of
arsenic poisoning result in lameness and skin cancers. Arsenic was added
to bronze to harden it and most smiths of the Bronze Age would have
suffered from chronic workplace poisoning).
Hephaestus gained revenge against Hera for rejecting him by making her
a magical golden throne which, when she sat on it, didn't allow her to
leave it. The other gods begged Hephaestus to return to Olympus to let
her go but he repeatedly refused. Dionysus got him drunk and took him
back to Olympus on the back of a mule. Hephaestus released Hera after
being given Aphrodite, the goddess of love, as his wife.
Hephaestus and Aphrodite
In the Olympian order, Hephaestus was formally paired with Aphrodite,
whom no one could possess. Although married to Hephaestus, Aphrodite
gave herself in secret to Ares, according to a tale in the Odyssey. When
Hephaestus found out about it from Helios, the Sun, who sees all, he
surprised them during one of their trysts ensnared in his invisibly fine and
unbreakable net and left them exposed for all of Olympus to see.
The Thebans told that the union with Ares produced Harmonia, as lovely
as a second Aphrodite. But of her union with Hephaestus, there was no
issue, unless Virgil was serious when he said that Eros was their child
(Aeneid i.664). But in Homer's Illiad the consort of Hephaestus is a lesser
Aphrodite, Aglaia "the glorious," the youngest of the Graces, and Hesiod
agrees.
Hephaestus fathered several children with mortals and immortals alike.
One of those children was the robber Periphetes. With Thalia, Hephaestus
was sometimes considered the father of the Palici.
Hephaestus was somehow connected with the archaic, pre-Greek Phrygian
and Thracian mystery cult of the Kabeiroi, who were also called the

59
Hephaistoi, "the Hephaestus-men," in Lemnos.

60
In the Olympian pantheon of classical Greek Mythology, Hera, or Here was
the wife and older sister of Zeus. Her chief function was as goddess of
marriage. Her equivalent in Roman mythology was Juno. The cow and later
the peacock are sacred to her. In late symbolic interpretations of the
gods, she was identified as the upper air.
Portrayed as majestic and solemn, often enthroned and crowned with the
polos, the high cylindrical crown worn by several of the Great Goddesses,
Hera may bear in her hand the pomegranate, emblem of fertile blood and
death and a substitute for the narcotic capsule of the opium poppy (Ruck
and Staples 1994). "Nevertheless, there are memories of an earlier,
aniconic representation, as a pillar in Argos and as a plank in Samos"
(Burkert 1985:131).

Etymology and Early History

Unlike some Greek gods, such as Zeus and Poseidon, Hera's name is not
analyzable as a Greek or Indo-European word. She therefore seems to be
a survival of a pre-Greek "great goddess" figure - perhaps one of the

61
powerful female divinities of the Minoan pantheon, or of some unidentified
pre-Greek ("Pelasgian") people.
Hera's importance in the early archaic period is attested by the large
building projects undertaken in her honor.

Hera's importance in the early archaic period is attested by the large

building projects undertaken in her honor. The temples of Hera in the two
main centers of her cult, the Heraion of Samos and the Heraion of Argos
in the Argolid, were the very earliest monumental Greek temples
constructed, in the 8th century BC.
Sometimes this devolved role is as clear as a simple substitution can
make it. According to the Homeric Hymn III to Delian Apollo, Hera detained
Eileithyia, to already prevent Leto from going into labor with Artemis and
Apollo, because the father was Zeus. The other goddesses present at the
birthing on Delos sent Iris to bring her. As she stepped upon the island,
the divine birth began. In the myth of the birth of Heracles, it is Hera
herself who sits at the door instead, delaying the birth of Heracles until her
protegé, Eurystheus, has been born first.
The Homeric Hymn to Pythian Apollo makes the monster Typhaon the
offspring of archaic Hera in her Minoan form, produced out of herself, like
a monstrous version of Hephaestus, and whelped in a cave in Cilicia (Iliad,
ii. 781-783). She gave the creature to Gaia to raise.

62
 At Olympia, Hera's seated cult figure was older than the warrior figure of
Zeus that accompanied it. Homer expressed her relationship with Zeus
delicately in the Iliad, in which she declares to Zeus, "I am Cronus' eldest
daughter, and am honourable not on this ground only, but also because I
am your wife, and you are king of the gods."
Though Zeus is often called Zeus Heraios ("Zeus, consort of Hera"),
Homer's treatment of Hera is less than respectful, and in late anecdotal
versions of the myths (see below) she appeared to spend most of her time
plotting revenge on the nymphs seduced by her Consort, for Hera upheld
all the old right rules of Hellene society and sorority.
Hera was born of Cronos and Rhea, and was abruptly swallowed after
birth due to a prophesy that one of Cronos's children will take over his
throne. Zeus was spared and when he grew older he saved all of his
siblings, then banished Cronos, because the gods were immortal and
could not be killed.
The Cult of Hera
Hera was especially worshipped, as "Argive Hera" (Hera Argeia), at her
sanctuary that stood between the former Mycenaean city-states of Argos
and Mycenae, where the festivals in her honor called Heraia were
celebrated. "The three cities I love best," the ox-eyed Queen of Heaven
declares (Iliad, book iv) "are Argos, Sparta and Mycenae of the broad
streets." Her other main center of cult was at Samos. There were also
temples to Hera in Olympia, Corinth, Tiryns, Perachora and the sacred
island of Delos. In Magna Graecia, the temple long called the Temple of
Poseidon among the group at Paestum was identified in the 1950s as a
second temple there of Hera.
Greek altars of Classical times were always under the open sky. Hera may
have been the first to whom an enclosed roofed temple sanctuary was
dedicated, at Samos about 800 BC. (It was replaced later by the Heraion,
one of the largest Greek temples anywhere.)
Earlier sanctuaries, whose dedication is less secure, were of the
Mycenaean type called "house sanctuaries". Samos excavations have
revealed votive offerings, many of them late 8th and 7th century, which
reveal that Hera at Samos was not merely a local Greek goddess of the

63
 Aegean: the museum there contains figures of gods and suppliants and
other votive offerings from Armenia, Babylon, Iran, Assyria, Egypt,
testimony to the reputation which this sanctuary of Hera enjoyed and to
the large influx of pilgrims - and a general reminder to us that Greek myths
did not evolve in a cultural vacuum (Burkert 1998).
In Euboea the festival of the Great Daedala, sacred to Hera, was
celebrated on a sixty-year cycle.In Hellenistic imagery, Hera's wagon was
pulled by peacocks, birds not known to Greeks before the conquests of
Alexander: Alexander's tutor, Aristotle, refers to it as "the Persian bird."
The peacock motif was revived in the Renaissance iconography that
unified Hera and Juno, and which European painters have kept familiar to
us (Seznec 1953). A bird that had been associated with Hera on an
archaic level, where most of the Aegean goddesses were associated with
"their" bird, was the cuckoo, which appears in mythic fragments
concerning the first wooing of a virginal Hera by Zeus.
Her archaic association was primarily with cattle, as a Cow Goddess, who
was especially venerated in "cattle-rich" Euboea. Her familiar Homeric
epithet boôpis, is always translated "cow-eyed", for, like the Greeks of
Classical times, we reject its other natural translation "cow-faced" or at
least "of cow aspect".
A cow-headed Hera, like a Minotaur would make a dark demon of fear. But
on Cyprus, very early archaeological sites contain bull skulls that have
been adapted for use as masks (see Bull (mythology)).
The pomegranate, an ancient emblem of the Great Goddess, remained an
emblem of Hera: many of the votive pomegranates and poppy capsules
recovered at Samos are made of ivory, which survives burial better than
the wooden ones that must have been more common. Like all goddesses,
Hera may be displayed wearing a diadem and be veiled.
Emblems of the Presence of Hera
In Hellenistic imagery, Hera's wagon was pulled by peacocks, birds not
known to Greeks before the conquests of Alexander: Alexander's tutor,
Aristotle, refers to it as "the Persian bird." The peacock motif was revived
in the Renaissance iconography that unified Hera and Juno, and which
European painters have kept familiar to us (Seznec 1953). A bird that had

64
been associated with Hera on an archaic level, where most of the Aegean
goddesses were associated with "their" bird, was the cuckoo, which
appears in mythic fragments concerning the first wooing of a virginal Hera
by Zeus.
Her archaic association was primarily with cattle, as a Cow Goddess, who
was especially venerated in "cattle-rich" Euboea. Her familiar Homeric
epithet boopis, is always translated "cow-eyed", for, like the Greeks of
Classical times, we reject its other natural translation "cow-faced" or at
least "of cow aspect". A cow-headed Hera, like a Minotaur would make a
dark demon of fear. But on Cyprus, very early archaeological sites contain
bull skulls that have been adapted for use as masks.
The pomegranate, an ancient emblem of the Great Goddess, remained an
emblem of Hera: many of the votive pomegranates and poppy capsules
recovered at Samos are made of ivory, which survives burial better than
the wooden ones that must have been more common. Like all goddesses,
Hera may be displayed wearing a diadem and be veiled.
Matriarchy?
There has been considerable scholarship, reaching back to Johann Jakob
Bachofen, about the possibility that Hera, whose early importance in
Greek religion is firmly established, was originally the goddess of a
matriarchal people, presumably inhabiting Greece before the Hellenes. In
this view, her activity as goddess of marriage established the patriarchal
bond of her own subordination: her resistance to the conquests of Zeus is
rendered as Hera's "jealousy", the main theme of literary anecdotes that
undercut her ancient cult.
Hera and Her Children
Hera presides over the right arrangements of the marriage and is the
archetype of the union in the marriage bed, but she is not notable as a
mother. The legitimate offspring of her union with Zeus is Ares, Hebe (the
goddess of youth), Eris (the goddess of discord) and Eileithyia (goddess of
childbirth). Hera was jealous of Zeus' giving birth to Athena without
recourse to her (actually with Metis), so she gave birth to Hephaestus
without him. (An alternate version discounts this and says Zeus and Hera
were both parents of Hephaestus) Zeus and/or Hera herself were then

65
 disgusted with Hephaestus' ugliness and threw him from Mount Olympus.
As another alternative version, Hera gave birth to all of the children usually
accredited to her and Zeus together, alone by beating her hand on the
Earth, a solemnizing action for the Greeks, or by eating lettuce.
Hephaestus gained revenge against Hera for rejecting him by making her
a magical throne which, when she sat on it, didn't allow her to leave it. The
other gods begged Hephaestus to return to Olympus to let her go but he
repeatedly refused. Dionysus got him drunk and took him back to Olympus
on the back of a mule. Hephaestus released Hera after being given
Aphrodite as his wife.
Hera the Nemesis of Heracles
Hera was the enemy of Heracles, the hero who, more than even Perseus,
Cadmus or Theseus, introduced the Olympian ways in Greece (Ruck and
Staples 1994). When Alcmene was pregnant with Heracles, Hera tried to
prevent the birth from occurring. She was foiled by Galanthis, her servant,
who told Hera that she had already delivered the baby. Hera turned her
into a weasel.
While Heracles was still an infant, Hera sent two serpents, to kill him as he
lay in his cot, the mythographers interpreted the event. Heracles throttled
a single snake in each hand and was found by his nurse playing with their
limp bodies as if they were child's toys. The anecdote is built upon a
representation of the hero gripping a serpent in each hand, precisely as
the familiar Minoan snake-handling goddesses had once done.
One account of the origin of the Milky Way is that Zeus had tricked Hera
into nursing the infant Heracles: discovering who he was, she had pulled
him from her breast, and a spurt of her milk formed the smear across the
sky that can be seen to this day.
The Twelve Labors
Hera assigned Heracles to labor for King Eurystheus at Mycenae. She
attempted to make almost each of Heracles' twelve labors more difficult.
When he fought the Lernaean Hydra, she sent a crab to bite at his feet in
the hopes of distracting him. To annoy Heracles after he took the cattle of
Geryon, Hera sent a gadfly to bite the cattle, irritate them and scatter
them. Hera then sent a flood which raised the water level of a river so

66
much Heracles could not ford the river with the cattle. He piled stones into
the river to make the water shallower. When he finally reached the court of
Eurystheus, the cattle were sacrificed to Hera.
Eurystheus also wanted to sacrifice Cretan Bull to Hera, who hated
Heracles. She refused the sacrifice because it reflected glory on Heracles.
The bull was released and wandered to Marathon, becoming known as the
Marathonian Bull.

Hera's Jealousies
Echo
For a time, a nymph named Echo had the job of distracting Hera from
Zeus' affairs by incessantly talking. When Hera discovered the deception,
she cursed Echo to only speak the words of others (hence our modern
word "echo").
Leto and Artemis/Apollo
When Hera discovered that Leto was pregnant and that Hera's husband,
Zeus, was the father, she banned Leto from giving birth on "terra-firma", or
the mainland, or any island at sea. She found the floating island of Delos,
which was neither mainland nor a real island and gave birth there. The
island was surrounded by swans. As a gesture of gratitude, Delos was
secured with four pillars. The island later became sacred to Apollo.
Alternatively, Hera kidnapped Ilithyia, the goddess of childbirth, to prevent
Leto from going into labor. The other gods forced Hera to let her go.
Either way, Artemis was born first and then assisted with the birth of
Apollo. Another version states that Artemis was born one day before
Apollo, on the island of Ortygia and that she helped Leto cross the sea to
Delos the next day to give birth to Apollo.
Callisto/Arcas
Hera also figures in the myth of Callisto and Arcas.
A follower of Artemis, Callisto took a vow to remain a virgin. But Zeus fell
in love with her and disguised himself as Apollo in order to lure her into his

67
 embrace. Hera then turned Callisto into a bear out of revenge. Later,
Callisto's son with Zeus, Arcas, nearly killed her in a hunt but Zeus placed
them both in the sky as the constellations Ursa Major and Ursa Minor.
An alternate version: One of Artemis' companions, Callisto lost her virginity
to Zeus, who had come disguised as Artemis. Enraged, Artemis changed
her into a bear. Callisto's son, Arcas, nearly killed his mother while
hunting, but Zeus or Artemis stopped him and placed them both in the sky
as Ursa Major and Ursa Minor.
Another alternate version: Artemis killed Callisto in bear form, deliberately.
Hera was not pleased with the placement of Callisto and Arcas in the sky,
so she asked her nurse, Tethys, to help. Tethys, a marine goddess,
cursed the constellations to forever circle the sky and never drop below
the horizon, hence explaining why they are circumpolar.
Semele/Dionysus
Dionysus was a son of Zeus by a mortal woman. A jealous Hera again
attempted to kill the child, this time by sending Titans to rip Dionysus to
pieces after luring the baby with toys. Though Zeus drove the Titans away
with his thunderbolts but only after the Titans ate everything but the heart,
which was saved, variously, by Athena, Rhea, or Demeter. Zeus used the
heart to recreate Dionysus and implant him in the womb of Semele, hence
he was again "the twice-born". Sometimes it was said that he gave Semele
the heart to eat to impregnate her.
Io
Hera almost caught Zeus with a mistress named Io, a fate avoided by
Zeus turning Io into a beautiful white heifer. However, Hera was not
completely fooled and demanded Zeus give her the heifer as a present.
Once Io was given to Hera, she placed her in the charge of Argus to keep
her separated from Zeus. Zeus then commanded Hermes to kill Argus,
which he did by lulling all one-hundred eyes to sleep. Hera sent a gadfly to
sting Io as she wandered the earth.
Alternate version: Io was transformed back into a nymph by Hera in Egypt.
The Egyptians saw her, and worshipped her as a goddess and her former
form, the cow.
Lamia

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 Lamia was a queen of Libya, whom Zeus loved. Hera turned her into a
monster and murdered their children. Or, alternately, she killed Lamia's
children and the grief turned her into a monster. Lamia was cursed with
the inability to close her eyes so that she would always obsess over the
image of her dead children. Zeus gave her the gift to be able to take her
eyes out to rest, and then put them back in. Lamia was envious of other
mothers and ate their children.

Other Myths Involving Hera

Cydippe
Cydippe, a priestess of Hera, was on her way to a festival in the goddess'
honor. The oxen which was to pull her cart were overdue and her sons,
Biton and Cleobis pulled the cart the entire way (45 stadia, 8 kilometers).
Cydippe was impressed with their devotion to her and her goddess and
asked Hera to give her children the best gift a god could give a person.
Hera ordained that the brothers would die in their sleep.
Tiresias
Tiresias was a priest of Zeus, and as a young man he encountered two
snakes mating and hit them with a stick. He was then transformed into a
woman. As a woman, Tiresias became a priestess of Hera, married and
had children, including Manto. According to some versions of the tale,
Lady Tiresias was a prostitute of great renown. After seven years as a
woman, Tiresias again found mating snakes, struck them with her staff,
and became a man once more.
As a result of his experiences, Zeus and Hera asked him to settle the
question of which sex, male or female, experienced more pleasure during
intercourse. Zeus claimed it was women; Hera claimed it was men. When
Tiresias sided with Zeus, Hera struck him blind. Since Zeus could not undo
what she had done, he gave him the gift of prophecy. An alternative and
less commonly told story has it that Tiresias was blinded by Athena after
he stumbled onto her bathing naked. His mother, Chariclo, begged her to

69
 undo her curse, but Athena couldn't; she gave him prophecy instead.
Chelone - At the marriage of Zeus and Hera, a nymph named Chelone was
disrespectful (or refused to attend). Zeus condemned her to eternal
silence.
The Iliad
During the Trojan War, Diomedes fought with Hector and saw Ares fighting
on the Trojans' side. Diomedes called for his soldiers to fall back slowly.
Hera, Ares' mother, saw Ares' interference and asked Zeus, Ares' father,
for permission to drive Ares away from the battlefield. Hera encouraged
Diomedes to attack Ares and he threw his spear at the god. Athena drove
the spear into Ares' body and he bellowed in pain and fled to Mt. Olympus,
forcing the Trojans to fall back.
The Golden Fleece - Hera hated Pelias for having murdered Sidero, his
step-grandmother, in a temple to Hera. She later attempted to manipulate
Jason and Medea to kill Pelias and succeeded.
The Metamorphoses - In Thrace, as Ovid tells in Metamorphoses 6.87,
Hera and Zeus turned King Haemus and Queen Rhodope into mountains,
the Balkan (Haemus Mons) and Rhodope mountain chain respectively for
their hubris in comparing themselves to the gods.
Hera in Neopaganism
Hera is one of the most popular gods among modern Neopagan sects in
the United States, particularly among Hellenistic Neopagans. While most
mythology regarding Hera seems to be conveniently omitted by most
modern Neopagans, her roles remain much the same as they were in
classical Hellenistic Paganism.
Hera is seen as the goddess of the home and monogamy, and is believed
to inspire love, loyalty, and happiness. Hera is also believed to inspire
jealousy and is most commonly worshipped by women. All sects that
include the worship of Hera encourage monogamy and the fulfillment of
domestic duties. Worship of Hera may include or inspire the collecting of
fragrances and ornaments, extravagant home decoration, the burning of
oils and incense (particularly within the home), and the spilling of drinks or
the burning of bread and other foods as sacrifice. Some have jested that
the most common form of worship is the spilling of drinks and the burning

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of food within the home.

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Hermes in Greek mythology, is the Olympian god of boundaries and of the
travelers who cross them, of shepherds and cowherds, of orators and wit,
of literature and poets, of athletics, of weights and measures, of invention,
of commerce in general, and of the cunning of thieves and liars.
As a translator, Hermes is a messenger from the gods to humans, sharing
this with Iris. An interpreter who bridges the boundaries with strangers is a
hermeneus. Hermes gives us our word "hermeneutics" for the art of
interpreting hidden meaning. In Greek a lucky find was a hermaion.
Hermes, as an inventor of fire, is a parallel of the Titan, Prometheus. In
addition to the syrinx and the lyre, Hermes was believed to have invented
many types of racing and the sport of boxing, and therefore was a patron
of athletes. Modern mythographers have connected Hermes with the
trickster gods of other cultures.
Hermes also served as a psychopomp, or an escort for the dead to help
them find their way to the afterlife (the Underworld in the Greek myths).
There he is depicted as the only god besides Hades and Persephone who
could enter and leave the Underworld without hindrance. Among the
Hellenes, as the related word Herma Œa boundary stone, crossing point¹
would suggest, Hermes is the Spirit of Crossing-Over. As such he was
seen to be manifest in any kind of interchange, transfer, transgressions,
transcendence, transition, transit or traversal, all of which activities involve
some form of crossing in some sense. This explains his connection with
transitions in one¹s fortunes, with the interchanges of goods, words and
information involved in trade, interpreting, oratory, writing, with the way in

72
 which the wind may transfer objects from one place to another, and with
the transition to the afterlife.
In the Olympian pantheon, Hermes was the son of Zeus and the Pleiade
Maia, a daughter of the Titan Atlas. Hermes was born on Mount Cyllene in
Arcadia to Maia. As the story is told in the Homeric Hymn, the Hymn to
Hermes, Maia was a nymph, but Greeks generally applied the name to a
midwife or a wise and gentle old woman; so the nymph appears to have
been an ancient one, or more probably a goddess. At any rate, she was
one of the Pleiades, daughters of Atlas, taking refuge in a cave of Mount
Cyllene in Arcadia.
The infant Hermes was precocious. His first day he invented the lyre. By
nightfall, he had rustled the immortal cattle of Apollo. For the first
sacrifice, the taboos surrounding the sacred kine of Apollo had to be
transgressed, and the trickster god of boundaries was the one to do it.
Hermes drove the cattle back to Greece and hid them, and covered their
tracks. When Apollo accused Hermes, Maia said that it could not be him
because he was with her the whole night. However, Zeus entered the
argument and said that Hermes did steal the cattle and they should be
returned. While arguing with Apollo, Hermes began to play his lyre. The
instrument enchanted Apollo and he agreed to let Hermes keep the cattle
in exchange for the lyre.
Hermes' symbols were the rooster and the tortoise. He can be recognized
by his purse or pouch, winged sandals, winged cap, and the herald's staff,
the kerykeion.
Hermes was the god of thieves because he was very cunning and shrewd
and was a thief himself from the night he was born, when he slipped away
from Maia and ran away to steal his elder brother Apollo's cattle.
Hermes was loyal to his father Zeus. When the nymph Io, one of Zeus'
consorts, was trapped by Hera and guarded over by the many-eyed giant
Argus Panoptes, Hermes saved her by lulling the giant to sleep with
stories and then decapitating him with a crescent-shaped sword.
In the Roman adaptation of the Greek religion, Hermes was identified with
the Roman god Mercury, who, though inherited from the Etruscans,
developed many similar characteristics, such as being the patron of

73
 commerce.
A syncretic conflation of Hermes with the Egyptian god of wisdom Thoth
produced the figure of Hermes Trismegistus, to whom a body of arcane
lore was attributed in the Greco-Roman culture of Alexandria. The writings
attributed to Hermes Trismegistus were edited and published in the Italian
Renaissance.
Hermes is a Greek mythological figure who is a son of Zeus and Maia. The
name Hermes was derived from the Greek word herma which is a square
or rectangular pillar in either stone or bronze, with the head of Hermes
(usually with a beard), which adorned the top of the pillar, and male
genitals near to the base of the pillar. These were used in Athens to ward
off evil and also as road and boundary markers all over Greece markers.
Due to the fact that these statues were used as road markers Hermes
was the god of land travel. He was also the god of shepherds, merchants,
weights and measurements, oratory, literature, athletics, and thieves. His
symbols were the cock, tortoise, purse or pouch, winged sandals, winged
cap, and the heralds staff. Hermes was the god of thieves because he
was very cunning and shrewd and was a thief himself from the night he
was born. The night Hermes was born he snuck away from his mother and
ran away to steal his Brother Apollo's cattle.
He drove the cattle back to Greece and hid them and covered their tracks.
When Apollo accused Hermes, Maia said that it could not be him because
he was with her the whole night, however Zeus entered into the argument
and said that Hermes did steal the cattle and they should be returned.
While arguing with Apollo, Hermes began to play his lyre. The instrument
enchanted Apollo and he agreed to let Hermes keep the cattle in
exchange for the lyre.
Hermes was the herald to the gods (messenger of the gods) so he had to
guide the souls of the dead to the underworld, the person who does this is
called a psychopomp. Hermes was very loyal to his father Zeus, when
Zeus fell in love with the nymph Io, Hermes saved her from the many-eyed
Argus by lulling him to sleep with stories and songs, decapitating him with
a crescent-shaped sword. Some say that is representative of killing the
disapproving eyes of the community, always policing good conduct in a

74
 shame-based society through their disapproving gaze.
Cult of Hermes
Though temples to Hermes existed throughout Greece, a major center of
his cult was at Pheneos in Arcadia, where festivals in his honor were called
Hermoea.
As a crosser of boundaries, Hermes Psychopompos' ("conductor of the
soul") was a psychopomp, meaning he brought newly-dead souls to the
Underworld and Hades. In the Homeric Hymn to Demeter, Hermes
conducted Persephone the Kore (young girl or virgin), safely back to
Demeter. He also brought dreams to living mortals.
Among the Hellenes, as the related word herma ("a boundary stone,
crossing point") would suggest, Hermes embodied the spirit of
crossing-over: He was seen to be manifest in any kind of interchange,
transfer, transgressions, transcendence, transition, transit or traversal, all
of which involve some form of crossing in some sense. This explains his
connection with transitions in one¹s fortune - with the interchanges of
goods, words and information involved in trade, interpretion, oration,
writing - with the way in which the wind may transfer objects from one
place to another, and with the transition to the afterlife.
Many graffito dedications to Hermes have been found in the Athenian
Agora, in keeping with his epithet of Agoraios and his role as patron of
commerce.
Originally, Hermes was depicted as an older, bearded, phallic god, but in
the 6th century BCE, the traditional Hermes was reimagined as an athletic
youth. Statues of the new type of Hermes stood at stadiums and
gymnasiums throughout Greece.
Hermai - Herms
In very ancient Greece, Hermes was a phallic god of boundaries. His
name, in the form herma, was applied to a wayside marker pile of stones;
each traveller added a stone to the pile. In the 6th century BCE,
Hipparchos, the son of Pisistratus, replaced the cairns that marked the
midway point between each village deme at the central agora of Athens
with a square or rectangular pillar of stone or bronze topped by a bust of
Hermes with a beard. An erect phallus rose from the base. In the more

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 primitive Mount Kyllini or Cyllenian herms, the standing stone or wooden
pillar was simply a carved phallus. In Athens, herms were placed outside
houses for good luck. "That a monument of this kind could be transformed
into an Olympian god is astounding," Walter Burkert remarked (Burkert
1985).
In 415 BCE, when the Athenian fleet was about to set sail for Syracuse
during the Peloponnesian War, all of the Athenian hermai were vandalized.
The Athenians at the time believed it was the work of saboteurs, either
from Syracuse or from the anti-war faction within Athens itself. Socrates'
pupil Alcibiades was suspected to have been involved, and Socrates
indirectly paid for the impiety with his life. From these origins, hermai
moved into the repertory of Classical architecture.
Hermes Iconography
Hermes was usually portrayed wearing a broad-brimmed traveler's hat or
a winged cap (petasus), wearing winged sandals (talaria), and carrying his
Near Eastern herald's staff -- either a caduceus entwined by copulating
serpents, or a kerykeion topped with a symbol similar to the astrological
symbol of Taurus the bull. Hermes wore the garments of a traveler,
worker, or shepherd. He was represented by purses or bags, roosters,
and tortoises. When depicted as Hermes Logios, he was the divine symbol
of eloquence, generally shown speaking with one arm raised for
emphasis.
Birth
Hermes was born on Mount Cyllene in Arcadia to Maia. As the story is told
in the Homeric Hymn, the Hymn to Hermes, Maia was a nymph, but
Greeks generally applied the name to a midwife or a wise and gentle old
woman, so the nymph appears to have been an ancient one, one of the
Pleiades taking refuge in a cave of Arcadia.
The god was precocious: on the day of his birth, by midday he had
invented the lyre, using the shell of a tortoise, and by nightfall he had
rustled the immortal cattle of Apollo. For the first Olympian sacrifice, the
taboos surrounding the sacred kine of Apollo had to be transgressed, and
the trickster god of boundaries was the one to do it.
His epithet Argeiphontes, or Argus-slayer, recalls his slaying of the

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many-eyed giant Argos who was watching over the heifer-nymph Io in the
sanctuary of Lady Hera herself in Argos. Putting Argos to sleep, Hermes
dispatched him with a cast stone, like a hero faced by a giant in the land
of Canaan.
Hermes' Offspring
Pan - The satyr-like Greek god of nature, shepherds and flocks, Pan was
often said to be the son of Hermes through the nymph Dryope. In the
Homeric Hymn to Pan, Pan's mother ran away from the newborn god in
fright over his goat-like appearance.
Hermaphroditus was an immortal son of Hermes through Aphrodite. He
was changed into an intersex person when the gods literally granted the
nymph Salmacis's wish that they never separate.
The god Priapus was a son of Hermes and Aphrodite. In Priapus,
Hermes' phallic origins survived. According to other sources, Priapus was
a son of Dionysus and Aphrodite
Eros - According to some sources, the mischievous winged god of love
Eros, son of Aphrodite, was sired by Hermes, though the gods Ares and
Hephaestus were also among those said to be the sire, whereas in the
Theogeny, Hesiod claims that Eros was born of nothing before the Gods.
Eros' Roman name was Cupid.
Tyche - The goddess of luck, Tyche, or Fortuna, was sometimes said to
be the daughter of Hermes and Aphrodite.
Abderus was a son of Hermes who was devoured by the Mares of
Diomedes. He had gone to the Mares with his friend Heracles.
Autolycus, the Prince of Thieves, was a son of Hermes and grandfather
of Odysseus.

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 In Greek mythology, virginal Hestia is the goddess of the hearth, of the
right ordering of domesticity and the family, who received the first offering
at every sacrifice in the household, but had no public cult.
In Roman mythology her more civic approximate equivalent was Vesta,
who personified the public hearth, and whose cult round the ever-burning
hearth bound Romans together in the form of an extended family.
The similarity of names, apparently, is misleading: "The relationship
hestia-histie · Vesta cannot be explained in terms of Indo-European
linguistics; borrowings from a third language must also be involved,"
Walter Burkert has written (1985, III.3.1 note 2).
At a very deep level her name means "home and hearth": the household
and its inhabitants. "An early form of the temple is the hearth house; the
early temples at Dreros and Prinias on Crete are of this type as indeed is
the temple of Apollo at Delphi which always had its inner hestia".
It will be recalled that among classical Greeks the altar was always in the
open air with no roof but the sky, and that the oracle at Delphi was the

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 fane of the Goddess before it was assumed by Apollo. The Mycenaean
great hall, such as the hall of Odysseus at Ithaca was a megaron, with a
central hearthfire.
The hearth fire of a Greek or a Roman household was not allowed to go
out, unless it was ritually extinguished and ritually renewed, accompanied
by impressive rituals of completion, purification and renewal. Compare the
rituals and connotations of an eternal flame and of sanctuary lamps.
At the more developed level of the poleis Hestia symbolizes the alliance
between the colonies and their mother-cities.
Hestia is one of the three Great Goddesses of the first Olympian
generation: Hestia, Demeter and Hera. She is the oldest of the three
daughters of Rhea and Cronus, the sisters to three brothers Zeus,
Poseidon, and Hades. Originally listed as one of the Twelve Olympians,
Hestia gave up her seat in favour of new-comer Dionysus to tend to the
sacred fire on Mt. Olympus.
Her altars included every family hearth.
Immediately after their birth, Cronus swallowed Hestia and her siblings
except for the last and youngest, Zeus, who later rescued them and led
them in a war against Cronus and the other Titans. Hestia, the eldest
daughter "became their youngest child, since she was the first to be
devoured by their father and the last to be yielded up again" - the clearest
possible example of mythic inversion, a paradox that is noted in the
Homeric hymn to Aphrodite (ca 700 BCE):
"She was the first-born child of wily Cronos - and youngest too."

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 It is also recalled in the hymn that Poseidon, and Apollo of the younger
generation, each aspired to Hestia, but the goddess was unmoved by
Aphrodite's works and swore to retain her virginity. The Homeric hymns,
like all early Greek literature, are concerned to reinforce the supremacy of
Zeus, and Hestia's oath is taken upon the head of Zeus, as surety.
A measure of the goddess's ancient primacy - "queenly maid...among all
mortal men she is chief of the goddesses", in the words of the Homeric
hymn - is that she was owed the first as well as the last sacrifice at every
ceremonial assembly of Hellenes, a pious duty related by the
mythographers as the gift of Zeus, as if it had been his to bestow: another
mythic inversion if, as is likely, the ritual was too deep-seated and
essential for the Olympian reordering to overturn.
The "great hall" of Minoan-Mycenaean culture as well as the type of earliest
enclosed site built for worship on the Greek mainland is the megaron: the
name of the Goddess who was venerated in the Helladic megara is not
recorded, but at the center of each holy site laid bare by archaeologists
was normally a hearth.
Hestia does not figure in any mythic narrative: she did not roam; she had
no adventures; she simply was. The Homeric hymn To Hestia is
consequently brief, simply an invocation of five lines, a prelude:
Hestia, you who tend the holy house of the lord Apollo, the
Far-shooter at goodly Pytho, with soft oil dripping ever from your
locks, come now into this house, come, having one mind with Zeus
the all-wise: draw near, and withal bestow grace upon my song.
In the hymn, Hestia is located, not at Mount Olympus, but in ancient
Delphi, which was considered the central hearth of all the Hellenes.
That the mere concept of the violation of Hestia is grotesquely improper is
the subtext to the anecdote recounted or invented by Ovid (Fasti, vi.319ff),
in which Vesta, attending a banquet offered by Cybele on Mount Ida and
overcome with sleep afterwards was once almost raped by Priapus, a
lesser fertility god, but was saved by the braying of a donkey.

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81
 In Greek mythology, Poseidon was the god of the sea, as well as of
horses and, as "Earth-Shaker," of earthquakes. The sea gods Rodon in
Illyrian mythology, Nethuns in Etruscan, and Neptune in Roman mythology
were sea gods analogous to Poseidon. Griffiti show that Poseidon was
venerated in Bronze Age Greece but as integrated into the Olympian gods
Poseidon is the brother of Zeus and Hades and has many children. the is a
Homeric hymn to Poseidon, who was the protector of many Hellenic cities,
though he lost the contest for Athens to Athena.
Bronze Age Greece
The name seems to rather transparently stem from Greek pósis "lord,
husband" and Indo-European *don "flowing water". If surviving Linear B clay
tablets can be trusted, the name PO-SE-DA-WO-NE ("Poseidon") occurs with
greater frequency than does DI-U-JA (Zeus). A feminine variant,
PO-SE-DE-IA, is also found, indicating a lost consort goddess. Tablets from
Pylos record sacrificial goods destined for "the Two Queens and Poseidon"
and to "the Two Queens and the King". The most obvious identification for
the "Two Queens" is with Demeter and Persephone, or their precursors,
goddesses who were not associated with Poseidon in later periods.

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 Poseidon is already identified as "Earth-Shaker" in Mycenaean Knossos, a
powerful attribute where earthquakes had accompanied the collapse of
the Minoan palace-culture. In the heavily sea-dependent Mycenean culture,
no connection between Poseidon and the sea has yet surfaced; among
the Olympians it was determined by lot that he should rule over the sea
(Hesiod, Theogony 456): the god preceded his realm.
Demeter and Poseidon's names are linked in one Pylos tablet, where they
appear as PO-SE-DA-WO-NE and DA-referred to by the epithets
Enosichthon, Seischthon and Ennosigaios, all meaning "earth-shaker" and
referring to his role in causing earthquakes. Poseidon was a major civic
god of several cities: in Athens, he was second only to Athena in
importance; while in Corinth and many cities of Magna Graecia he was the
chief god of the polis. According to Pausanias, Poseidon was one of the
caretakers of the Oracle at Delphi before Olympian Apollo took it over.
Apollo and Poseidon worked closely in many realms: in colonization, for
example, Apollo provided the authorization to go out and settle from
Delphi, while Poseidon watched over the colonists on their way, and
provided the lustral water for the foundation-sacrifice. Xenophon's
Anabasis describes a group of Spartan soldiers singing to Poseidon a
paean - a kind of hymn normally sung for Apollo.
Like Dionysus and the Maenads, Poseidon also caused certain forms of
mental disturbance. One Hippocratic text says that he was blamed for
certain types of epilepsy.
Later Myths
Birth and Triumph over Cronus
Poseidon was a son of Cronus and Rhea. In most accounts, he is
swallowed by Cronus at birth. However in some versions of the story, he,
like his brother Zeus, did not share the fate of his other brother and
sisters who were eaten by Cronus. He was saved by his mother Rhea, who
is said to have fed a baby horse to Cronus, serving the same purpose as
the rock in Zeus's case.
In some variants, Poseidon was raised by the Telchines on Rhodes, just as
Zeus was raised by the Korybantes on Crete.
When the world was divided in three, Zeus received the sky, Hades the

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 underworld and Poseidon the sea.
Given Poseidon's connection with horses as well as the sea, and the
landlocked situation of the likely Indo-European homeland, some scholars
have proposed that Poseidon was originally an aristocratic horse-god who
was then assimilated to Near Eastern aquatic deities when the basis of the
Greek livelihood shifted from the land to the sea.In any case, the early
all-importance of Poseidon can still be glimpsed in Homer's Odyssey,
where Poseidon rather than Zeus is the major mover of events.
Worship
In the historical period, Poseidon was often referred to by the epithets
Enosichthon, Seischthon and Ennosigaios, all meaning "earth-shaker" and
referring to his role in causing earthquakes.Poseidon was a major civic
god of several cities: in Athens, he was second only to Athena in
importance; while in Corinth and many cities of Magna Graecia he was the
chief god of the polis.
According to Pausanias, Poseidon was one of the caretakers of the Oracle
at Delphi before Olympian Apollo took it over. Apollo and Poseidon worked
closely in many realms: in colonization, for example, Apollo provided the
authorization to go out and settle from Delphi, while Poseidon watched
over the colonists on their way, and provided the lustral water for the
foundation-sacrifice. Xenophon's Anabasis describes a groups of Spartan
soldiers singing Poseidon a paean - a kind of hymn normally sung for
Apollo.
Like Dionysus and the Maenads, Poseidon also caused certain forms of
mental disturbance. One Hippocratic text says that he was blamed for
certain types of epilepsy.Sailors prayed to Poseidon for a safe voyage,
sometimes drowning horses as a sacrifice.
In art Poseidon's chariot was pulled by a hippocampus or seahorses. He
was associated with dolphins and three-pronged fish spears (tridents). He
lived in a palace on the ocean floor, made of coral and gems.
In Rome Neptune was worshipped by the Romans primarily as a horse
god, Neptune Equester, patron of horse-racing. He had a temple near the
race tracks in Rome (built in 25 BC), the Circus Flaminius, as well as one
in the Campus Martius. Only July 23, the Neptunalia was observed at the

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 latter temple.
Mythology
Birth and childhood - Poseidon was a son of Cronus and Rhea. Like his
brothers and sisters save Zeus, Poseidon was swallowed by his father. He
was regurgitated only after Zeus forced Cronus to vomit up the infants he
had eaten. Zeus and his brothers and sisters, along with the
Hecatonchires, Gigantes and Cyclopes overthrew Cronus and the other
Titans. According to other variants, Poseidon was raised by the Telchines
on Rhodes, just as Zeus was raised by the Korybantes on Crete.
Other stories
Athena became the patron goddess of the city of Athens after a
competition with Poseidon. They agreed that each would give the
Athenians one gift and the Athenians would choose whichever gift they
preferred.
Poseidon struck the ground with his trident and a spring sprung up; the
water was salty and not very useful, whereas Athena offered them an olive
tree.
The Athenians - or their king, Cecrops - accepted the olive tree and along
with it Athena as their patron, for the olive tree brought wood, oil and
food. This is thought to remember a clash between the inhabitants during
Mycenaean times and newer immigrants.
It is interesting to note that Athens at its height was a significant sea
power, at one point defeating the Persian fleet at Salamis Island in a sea
battle. Another version of the myth says that Poseidon gave horses to
Athens.
Poseidon and Apollo, having offended Zeus, were sent to serve King
Laomedon. He had them build huge walls around the city and promised to
reward them well, a promise he then refused to fulfill. In vengeance,
before the Trojan War, Poseidon sent a sea monster to attack Troy (It was
later killed by Heracles).
In the Iliad Poseidon favors the Greeks, and on several occasion takes an
active part in the battle against the Trojan forces. However, in Book XX he
rescues Aeneas after the Trojan prince is laid low by Achilles.
In the Odyssey, Poseidon is notable for his hatred of Odysseus due to the

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 latter's having blinded the god's son Polyphemus. The enmity of Poseidon
prevents Odysseus' return home to Ithaca for many years. Odysseus is
even told, notwithstanding his ultimate safe return, that to placate the
wrath of Poseidon will require one more voyage on his part.
In the Aeneid, Neptune is still resentful of the wandering Trojans, but is not
as vindictive as Juno, and in Book I he rescues the Trojan fleet from the
goddess's attempts to wreck it, although his primary motivation for doing
this is his annoyance at Juno's having intruded into his domain.
When the world was divided in three, Zeus received the earth and sky,
Hades the underworld and Poseidon the sea.
Role in Society
Sailors prayed to Poseidon for a safe voyage, sometimes drowning
horses as a sacrifice. In his benign aspect, Poseidon created new islands
and offered calm seas. When offended or ignored, he struck the ground
with his trident and caused chaotic springs, earthquakes, drownings and
shipwrecks.
Depiction in Greek Art
Poseidon's chariot was pulled by a hippocampus or horses that could ride
on the sea. He was associated with dolphins and three-pronged fish
spears (tridents). He lived in a palace on the ocean floor, made of coral
and gems.
Lovers
His wife was Amphitrite, daughter of Nereus and Doris.
Poseidon fell in love with Pelops, a beautiful youth, son of Tantalus. He
took Pelops up to Olympus and made him his lover, even before Zeus did
the same with Ganymede. To thank Pelops for his love, Poseidon later
gave him a winged chariot, to use in the race against Oenomaus for the
hand of Hippodamia.
Poseidon once pursued Demeter. She spurned his advances, turning
herself into a mare so that she could hide in a flock of horses; he saw
through the deception and became a stallion and captured her. Their child
was a horse, Arion, which was capable of human speech.
Poseidon had an affair with Alope, his granddaughter through Cercyon,
begetting Hippothoon. Cercyon had his daughter buried alive but Poseidon

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 turned her into the spring, Alope, near Eleusis.
Poseidon rescued Amymone from a lecherous satyr and then fathered a
child, Nauplius, by her.A mortal woman named Tyro was married to
Cretheus (with whom she had one son, Aeson) but loved Enipeus, a river
god. She pursued Enipeus, who refused her advances.
One day, Poseidon, filled with lust for Tyro, disguised himself as Enipeus
and from their union was born Pelias and Neleus, twin boys.
With Medusa, Poseidon had sexual intercourse on the floor of a temple to
Athena. Medusa was changed into a monster.
When she was later beheaded by the hero Perseus, Chrysaor and Pegasus
emerged from her neck.
After raping Caeneus, Poseidon fulfilled her request and changed her into
a man.

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 Temple of
Zeus

Zeus in Greek mythology is the king of the gods, the ruler of Mount
Olympus, and god of the sky and thunder. His symbols are the
thunderbolt, eagle, bull and the oak. In addition to his Indo-European
inheritance, the classical Zeus also derives certain iconographic traits

88
 from the cultures of the ancient Near East, such as the scepter. Zeus is
frequently envisaged by Greek artists in one of two poses: standing,
striding forward, a thunderbolt leveled in his raised right hand, or seated in
majesty.
The son of Cronus and Rhea, he was the youngest of his siblings. He was
married to Hera in most traditions, although at the oracle of Dodona his
consort was Dione: according to the Iliad, he is the father of Aphrodite by
Dione. Accordingly, he is known for his erotic escapades, including one
pederastic relationship with Ganymede. His trysts resulted in many famous
offspring, including Athena, Apollo and Artemis, Hermes, Persephone (by
Demeter), Dionysus, Perseus, Heracles, Helen, Minos, and the Muses (by
Mnemosyne); by Hera he is usually said to have sired Ares, Hebe and
Hephaestus.
His Roman counterpart was Jupiter, and his Etruscan counterpart was
Tinia.

He has always been associated as being a weather god, as his main

attribute is the thunderbolt, he controlled thunder, lightning and rain.
Theocritus wrote circa 265 BCE, Sometimes Zeus is clear, sometimes he
rains. He is also known to have caused thunderstorms.
In Homer's epic poem the Iliad he sent thunderstorms against his
enemies.
His other symbols besides lightning, were the scepter, the eagle and his
aegis (the goat-skin of Amaltheia).
Prehistory
Zeus is the continuation of Dyeus, the supreme god in Indo-European
religion, also continued as Vedic Dyaus Pitar (Jupiter), and as Tyr (Ziu, Tiw,
Tiwaz) in Germanic and Norse mythology. Tyr was however supplanted by
Odin as the supreme god among the Germanic tribes and they did not

89
 identify Zeus/Jupiter with either Tyr or Odin, but with Thor.
In addition to his Indo-European inheritance, the classical Zeus also derives
certain iconographic traits from the cultures of the ancient Near East,
such as the scepter.
Art

In art, Zeus was usually portrayed as bearded, middle aged but with a
youthful figure. Artists always tried to reproduce the power of Zeus in their
work, usually by giving him a pose as he is about to throw his bolt of
lightening. There are many statues of Zeus, but without doubt the
Artemisium Zeus is the most magnificent.

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 Birth
Cronus sired several children by Rhea: Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades,
Poseidon, but swallowed them all as soon as they were born, since he had
learned from Gaia and Uranus that he was destined to be overcome by his
own son as he had overthrown his own father. But when Zeus was about
to be born, Rhea sought Uranus and Gaia to devise a plan to save him, so
that Cronus would get his retribution for his acts against Uranus and his
own children. Rhea gave birth to Zeus in Crete, handing Cronus a rock
wrapped in swaddling clothes, which he promptly swallowed.
Childhood
Rhea hid Zeus in a cave on Mount Ida in Crete. According to varying
versions of the story:
He was then raised by Gaia.

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 He was raised by a goat named Amalthea, while a company of Kouretes,
soldiers, or smaller gods danced, shouted and clapped their hands to
make noise so that Cronus would not hear the baby's cry.
He was raised by a nymph named Adamanthea. Since Cronus ruled over
the Earth, the heavens and the sea, she hid him by dangling him on a rope
from a tree so he was suspended between earth, sea and sky and thus,
invisible to his father.
He was raised by a nymph named Cynosura. In gratitude, Zeus placed her
among the stars after her death.
He was raised by Melissa, who nursed him with goat-milk
Zeus becomes king of the gods
After reaching manhood, Zeus forced Cronus to disgorge the other
children in reverse order of swallowing: first the stone, which was set
down at Pytho under the glens of Parnassus to be a sign to mortal men,
then the rest. In some versions, Metis gave Cronus an emetic to force him
to disgorge the babies, or Zeus cut Cronus' stomach open.
Then Zeus released the brothers of Cronus, the Gigantes, the
Hecatonchires and the Cyclopes, from their dungeon in Tartarus (The
Titans; he killed their guard, Campe. As gratitude, the Cyclopes gave him
thunder and the thunderbolt, or lightning, which had previously been
hidden by Gaia.) Together, Zeus and his brothers and sisters, along with
the Gigantes, Hecatonchires and Cyclopes overthrew Cronus and the
other Titans. The Titans were then cast into a shadowy underworld region
known as Tartarus.
After the battle with the Titans, Zeus shared the world with his elder
brothers, Poseidon and Hades, by drawing lots: Zeus got the sky and air,
Poseidon the waters, and Hades the world of the dead (the underworld).
Land was left to all three, each according to their capabilities, which
explains why Poseidon was the "earth-shaker" (the god of earthquakes)
and Hades claimed the humans that died.
Gaia was upset at the way Zeus had treated the Titans, because they were
her children. Soon after taking the throne as king of the gods, Zeus had to
fight some of Gaia's other children, the monsters Typhon and Echidna. He
vanquished Typhon and trapped him under a mountain, but left Echidna

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 and her children alive as challenges for future heroes.
Lovers
According to legend, Metis, the goddess of prudence, was the first love of
Zeus. At first she tried in vain to escape his advances, but in the end
succumbed to his endeavor, and from their union Athena was conceived.
Gaia warned Zeus that Metis would bear a daughter, whose son would
overthrow him. On hearing this Zeus swallowed Metis, the reason for this
was to continue to carry the child through to the birth himself. Hera (his
wife and sister) was outraged and very jealous of her husband's affair,
also of his ability to give birth without female participation. To spite Zeus
she gave birth to Hephaestus parthenogenetically (without being fertilized)
and it was Hephaestus who, when the time came, split open the head of
Zeus, from which Athena emerged fully armed.
Zeus and Hera

Zeus was brother and consort of Hera. The issue of their union was Ares,
though Hera produced other offspring of her own: Hephaistos, Eileithyia,
Hebe. The conquests of Zeus among nymphs and the mythic mortal
progenitors of Hellenic dynasties are famous. Olympian mythography even
credits him with unions with Demeter, Latona, Dione and Maia.
Among the mortals: Semele, Io, Europa and Leda. Mythic anecdote

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 renders Hera as jealous of his amorous conquests and a consistent
enemy of Zeus' mistresses and their children by him. For a time, a nymph
named Echo had the job of distracting Hera from his affairs by incessantly
talking: when Hera discovered the deception, she cursed Echo to repeat
the words of others.
Hera bore Zeus - Ares, Hephaestus, Hebe and Eileithyia, but Zeus had
numerous liaisons with both goddesses and mortals. He either raped
them, or used devious means to seduce the unsuspecting maidens. His
union with Leto (meaning the hidden one) brought forth the twins Apollo
and Artemis. Once again Hera showed her jealousy by forcing Leto to
roam the earth in search of a place to give birth, as Hera had stopped her
from gaining shelter on terra-firma or at sea. The only place she could go
was to the isle of Delos in the middle of the Aegean, the reason being that
Delos was, as legend states, a floating island.
In some of Zeus' human liaisons, he used devious disguises. When he
seduced the Spartan queen Leda, he transformed himself into a beautiful
swan, and from the egg which Leda produced, two sets of twins were
born: Castor and Polydeuces and Clytemnestra and Helen of Troy.
He visited princess Danae as a shower of gold, and from this union the
hero Perseus was born. He abducted the Phoenician princess Europa,
disguised as a bull, then carried her on his back to the island of Crete
where she bore three sons: Minos, Rhadamanthys and Sarpedon. Zeus
also took as a lover the Trojan prince Ganymede. He was abducted by an
eagle sent by Zeus (some legends believe it was Zeus disguised as an
eagle). The prince was taken to Mount Olympus, where he became Zeus'
cup-bearer.
Zeus also used his charm and unprecedented power to seduce those he
wanted, so when Zeus promised Semele that he would reveal himself in all
his splendor, in order to seduce her, the union produced Dionysus, but
she was destroyed when Zeus appeared as thunder and lightening.
Themis, the goddess of justice bore the three Horae, goddesses of the
seasons to Zeus, and also the three Moirae, known as these Fates. When
Zeus had an affair with Mnemosyne, he coupled with her for nine
consecutive nights, which produced nine daughters, who became known

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 as the Muses. They entertained their father and the other gods as a
celestial choir on Mount Olympus. They became deities of intellectual
pursuits.
Also the three Charites or Graces were born from Zeus and Eurynome.
From all his children Zeus gave man all he needed to live life in an ordered
and moral way.
Role and Epithets
Zeus played a huge role in the Greek Olympic pantheon. He fathered many
of the heroes and heroines and was featured in many of their stories.
Though he was the god of the sky and thunder, he was also the most
supreme cultural artifact; in some senses, he was the embodiment of
Greek religious beliefs and the archetypal Greek deity.
The epithets or titles applied to Zeus emphasized different aspects of his
wide-ranging authority:
• Olympios emphasized Zeus's kingship over both the gods and the
Panhellenic festival at Olympia.
• A related title was Panhellenios, ('Zeus of all the Hellenes') to whom
Aeacus' famous temple on Aegina was dedicated.
• As Xenios, Zeus was the patron of hospitality and guests, ready to
avenge any wrong done to a stranger.
• As Horkios, he was the keeper of oaths. Liars who were exposed
were made to dedicate a statue to Zeus, often at the sanctuary of
Olympia.
• As Agoraios, Zeus watched over business at the agora, and
punished dishonest traders.
Temples
Zeus had many Temples and festivals in his honor, the most famous of his
sanctuaries being Olympia, the magnificent "Temple of Zeus", which held
the gold and ivory statue of the enthroned Zeus, sculpted by Phidias and
hailed as one of the "Seven Wonders of the Ancient World". Also the
Olympic Games were held in his honor. The Nemean Games, which were
held every two years, were to honor Zeus. There were numerous festivals
throughout Greece: in Athens they celebrated the marriage of Zeus and
Hera with the Theogamia (or Gamelia). The celebrations were many. In all,

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Zeus had more than 150 epithets, each one being celebrated in his honor.

Statue of Zeus at Olympia

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97
 Panhellenic cults of Zeus
The major center at which all Greeks converged to pay honor to their chief
god was Olympia. The quadrennial festival there featured the famous
Games. There was also an altar to Zeus made not of stone, but of ash -
from the accumulated remains of many centuries' worth of animal victims
immolated there.
Outside of the major inter-polis sanctuaries, there were certain modes of

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 worshipping Zeus that were shared across the Greek world. Most of the
above titles, for instance, could be found at any number of Greek temples
from Asia Minor to Sicily. Certain modes of ritual were held in common as
well: sacrificing a white animal over a raised altar, for instance.
On the other hand, certain cities had Zeus-cults that operated in markedly
different ways.
Cretan Zeus
On Crete, Zeus was worshipped at a number of caves at Knossos, Ida and
Palaikastro. The stories of Minos and Epimenides suggest that these
caves were once used for incubatory divination by kings and priests. The
dramatic setting of Plato's Laws is along the pilgrimage-route to one such
site, emphasizing Cretan knowledge. On Crete, Zeus was represented in
art as a long-haired youth rather than a mature adult, and hymned as ho
megas kouros "the great youth". With the Kouretes, a band of ecstatic
armed dancers, he presided over the rigorous military-athletic training and
secret rites of the Cretan paideia.
The Hellenistic writer Euhemerus apparently proposed a theory that Zeus
had actually been a great king of Crete and that posthumously his glory
had slowly turned him into a deity. The works of Euhemerism have not
survived, but Christian patristic writers took up the suggestion with
enthusiasm.

Laconian kylix of the 6th century BC, showing Zeus Lykaios with an

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 eagle.
Zeus Lykaios in Arcadia
The title Lykaios is morphologically connected to lyke "brightness", and yet
it looks a lot like lykos "wolf". This semantic ambiguity is reflected in the
strange cult of Zeus Lykaios in the backwoods of Arcadia, where the god
takes on both lucent and lupine features. On the one hand, he presides
over Mt Lykaion ("the bright mountain") the tallest peak in Arcadia, and
home to a precinct in which, allegedly, no shadows were ever cast
(Pausanias 8.38).
On the other hand, he is connected with Lycaon ("the wolf-man") whose
ancient cannibalism was commemorated with bizarre, recurring rites.
According to Plato (Republic 565d-e), a particular clan would gather on the
mountain to make a sacrifice every eight years to Zeus Lykaios, and a
single morsel of human entrails would be intermingled with the animal's.
Whoever ate the human flesh was said to turn into a wolf, and could only
regain human form if he did not eat again of human flesh until the next
eight-year cycle had ended.
Subterranean Zeus
Although etymology indicates that Zeus was originally a sky god, many
Greek cities honored Zeuses who lived underground. Athenians and
Sicilians honored Zeus Meilichios ("kindly" or "honeyed") while other cities

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 had Zeus Chthonios ("earthy"), Katachthonios ("under-the-earth) and
Plousios ("wealth-bringing"). These deities might be represented
indifferently as snakes or men in visual art. They also received offerings of
black animal victims sacrificed into sunken pits, as did chthonic deities like
Persephone and Demeter, and also the heroes at their tombs. Olympian
gods, by contrast, usually received white victims sacrificed upon raised
altars.
In some cases, cities were not entirely sure whether the daimon to whom
they sacrificed was a hero or an underground Zeus. Thus the shrine at
Lebadaea in Boeotia might belong to the hero Trophonius or to Zeus
Trephonius ("the nurturing"), depending on whether you believe Pausanias
or Strabo. The hero Amphiaraus was honored as Zeus Amphiaraus at
Oropus outside of Thebes, and the Spartans even had a shrine to Zeus
Agamemnon.
Oracles of Zeus
Although most oracle sites were usually dedicated to Apollo, the heroes,
or various or goddesses like Themis, a few oracular sites were dedicated
to Zeus.
The Oracle at Dodona
The cult of Zeus at Dodona in Epirus, where there is evidence of religious
activity from the 2nd millennium BC onward, centered around a sacred
oak. When the Odyssey was composed (circa 750 BC), divination was
done there by barefoot priests called Selloi, who lay on the ground and
observed the rustling of the leaves and branches (Od. 14.326-7). By the
time Herodotus wrote about Dodona, female priestesses called peleiades
("doves") had replaced the male priests.
Zeus' wife at Dodona was not Hera, but the goddess Dione - whose name
is a feminine form of "Zeus". Her status as a titaness suggests to some
that she may have been a more powerful pre-Hellenic deity, and perhaps
the original occupant of the oracle.
The Oracle at Siwa
The oracle of Ammon at the oasis of Siwa in Egypt did not lie within the
bounds of the Greek world before Alexander's day, but it already loomed
large in the Greek mind during the archaic era: Herodotus mentions

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 consultations with Zeus Ammon in his account of the Persian War. Zeus
Ammon was especially favored at Sparta, where a temple to him existed
by the time of the Peloponnesian War (Pausanias 3.18).
Other oracles of Zeus - The chthonic Zeuses (or heroes) Trophonius and
Amphiaraus were both said to give oracles at the cult-sites.
Zeus and foreign gods
Zeus was equivalent to the Roman god Jupiter (from Jovis Pater or "Father
Jove") and associated in the syncretic classical imagination with various
other deities, such as the Egyptian Ammon and the Etruscan Tinia. He
(along with Dionysus) absorbed the role of the chief Phrygian god
Sabazios in the syncretic deity known in Rome as Sabazius.
Zeus in Neopaganism
Far from the role Zeus held in Ancient Mythology, modern Neopagans
typically view Zeus as a governing figurehead and little more. Most
neopagans reject ancient myths about Zeus. Zeus has relatively few
worshippers in modern neopaganism, and (unlike his roles in Mythology) is
seen as a god of governance and authority.
Though many see Zeus as the King or Figurehead as ruler over the
Olympians, they often consider him of lesser importance than the Gaia and
other popular Titan gods who are not believed to be bound to Tartarus.
The power and influence of Zeus is thought to pale in importance to Hades
and other gods more directly related to the afterlife. It is thought by many
Neopagans, for example, that Hades holds far greater power than Zeus,
and that his decisions and authority, particularly over the fate of mortals,
often overshadows Zeus. Those sects that do include worship of Zeus
often do so in passing, including him with other gods simply because of
his relation in mythology.
There is little relevance between actual mythology and modern
perceptions of Zeus by most Neopagans. It could be argued that, by and
large, modern Neopagan perceptions of Zeus are New Age and not
founded in any actual history or mythology. Worship of Zeus sometimes
includes the burning of oils, or more often a passing utterance of him as
an authority of Olympus or husband of Hera (a more popular deity in
modern neopaganism).

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Zeus was known as Jupiter in ancient Rome.

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 Twelve Titan Gods and Goddesses:
Oceanus and Tethys,
Hyperion and Theia,
Coeus and Phoebe,
Cronus and Rhea,
Mnemosyne, Themis,
Crius, Iapetus
Children of Hyperion:
Eos, Helios, Selene
Daughters of Coeus:
Leto and Asteria
Sons of Iapetus:
Atlas, Prometheus, Epimetheus, Menoetius

The 12 Titans gods, also known as the elder gods, who ruled the Earth
before the Olympians overthrew them. The ruler of the Titans was Cronus
who was dethroned by his son Zeus. Most of the Titans fought with Cronus
against Zeus and were punished by being banished to Tartarus.
In Greek mythology, the Titans were a race of powerful deities that ruled
during the legendary Golden Age. The Titans were twelve from their first
literary appearance, in Hesiod, Theogony; pseudo-Apollodorus, in

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Bibliotheke, adds a thirteenth Titan Dione, a double of Theia, aka Medusa.
The six male Titans are known as the Titanes, and the female as the
Titanides ("Titanesses"). The Titans were associated with various primal
concepts, some of which are simply extrapolated from their names: ocean
and fruitful earth, sun and moon, memory and natural law. The twelve
first-generation Titans were led by the youngest, Cronus, who overthrew
their father, Uranus ('Heaven'), at the urgings of their mother, Gaia
('Earth').
The Titans later gave birth to other Titans, notably the children of Hyperion
(Helios, Eos, and Selene), the daughters of Coeus (Leto and Asteria), and
the sons of Iapetus - Prometheus, Epimetheus, Atlas, and Menoetius; all of
these descendants in the second generation are also known as "Titans".
The Titans preceded the Twelve Olympians, who, led by Zeus, eventually
overthrew them in the Titanomachy ('War of the Titans'). The Titans were
then imprisoned in Tartarus, the depths of the underworld, with the
exception of a few.
Greeks of the Classical age knew of several poems about the war
between the gods and many of the Titans, the Titanomachy ("War of the
Titans"). The dominant one, and the only one that has survived, was in the
Theogony attributed to Hesiod. A lost epic Titanomachy attributed to the
blind Thracian bard Thamyris, himself a legendary figure, was mentioned
in passing in an essay On Music that was once attributed to Plutarch. And
the Titans played a prominent role in the poems attributed to Orpheus.
Although only scraps of the Orphic narratives survive, they show
interesting differences with the Hesiodic tradition.
These Greek myths of the Titanomachy fall into a class of similar myths of
a War in Heaven throughout Europe and the Near East, where one
generation or group of gods by and large opposes the dominant one.
Sometimes the Elder Gods are supplanted. Sometimes the rebels lose,
and are either cast out of power entirely or incorporated into the
pantheon. Other examples might include the wars of the Æsir with the
Vanir and Jotuns in Scandinavian mythology, the Babylonian epic Enuma
Elish, the Hittite "Kingship in Heaven" narrative, and the obscure
generational conflict in Ugaritic fragments. The rebellion of Lucifer from

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 Christianity could also fall under this category.
In Hesiod's Theogony the twelve Titans follow the Hundred-handers and
Cyclopes as children of Ouranos, heaven, and Gaia, the Earth. Ouranos
considers Cronus monsterous, and so imprisons him in the bowels of the
Earth. Cronus, aided by the Hundred-handers and Cyclopes, then sets
upon his father, castrates him, and sets himself up as king of the gods,
with Rhea as his wife and queen.
Rhea bears a new generation of gods to Cronus, but in fear that they will
overthrow him, he swallows them all one by one. Only Zeus is saved: Rhea
gives Cronus a stone in swaddling clothes in his place, and places him in
Crete to be guarded by the Kouretes.
Once Zeus reaches adulthood, he subdues Cronus by force. Using a
potion concocted with the help of Gaia, his grandmother, forcibly cause
Cronus to vomit up Zeus's siblings. A war between the younger and many
of older gods commences, in which Zeus is aided by the Hundred-handers,
Gigantes, and Cyclopes, who have once again been freed from Tartarus.
Zeus wins after a long struggle, and casts many of the Titans down into
Tartarus.
And yet the older gods leave their mark on the world. Some of them - like
Mnemosyne, Gaia, Rhea, Hyperion, Themis and Metis - had not fought the
Olympians, and become key players in the new administration. The Titans
also leave behind a number of offspring, some of whom may also be
counted as Titans, most notably the sons of Iapetus - Prometheus,
Epimetheus, Atlas, and Menoetius. Many ancient sources follow Hesiod
closely, with minor variations: Apollodorus adds Dione as a thirteenth
Titan.
Surviving fragments of Orphic poetry in particular preserve some
variations on the myth.In one Orphic text, Zeus does not simply set upon
his father violently. Instead, Rhea spreads out a banquet for Cronus, so
that he becomes drunk upon honey. Zeus chains him and castrates him.
Rather than being consigned to Tartarus, Cronus is dragged · still drunk ·
to the cave of Night, where he continues to dream and prophesy
throughout eternity.
By and large Neopagan views of Titans can be considered 'New Age'.

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 Many of the ancient myths are often conveniently reinterpreted as
metaphor or seen as man's account of the divine. As such rather or not
most modern beliefs regarding the Titans are grounded in actual
mythology is often irrelevant to many Neopagans of today. In the United
States Hellenistic Neopagan sects often have a special place for the Titan
gods of ancient Greece, in particular Gaia, Cronus, Hecate, Hyperion,
Theia, and Themis. It is sometimes argued that most of the beliefs
regarding these Titan gods are inspired by popular fiction and
entertainment media and not by actual mythology.
The Titans

Coeus

In Greek mythology, Coeus (also Koios) was the Titan of intelligence.

Titans are the giant sons and daughters of Uranus (Heaven) and Gaia
(Earth). With his sister Phoebe, Titan of Brilliance and the Moon, Coeus
fathered Leto and Asteria. Leto copulated with Zeus (the son of fellow
Titans Cronus and Rhea) and bore Artemis and Apollo.As with the other
Titans, Coeus was overthrown by Zeus and other Olympians.

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 Crius
In Greek mythology, Crius (Kreios, the "Ram") was one of the Titans in the
list given in Hesiod's Theogony, a son of Uranus and Gaia. The least
individualized among them, he was overthrown in the Titanomachy. M.L.
West has suggested how Hesiod filled out the complement of Titans from
the core group, adding three figures from the archaic tradition of Delphi,
Koios, Phoibe, whose name Apollo assumed with the oracle, and Themis.
Among possible further interpolations among the Titans was Kreios,
whose interest for Hesiod was as the father of Perses and grandfather of
Hekate, for whom Hesiod is an "enthusiastic evangelist".
Consorting with Eurybia, daughter of Earth Gaia and Sea Pontus, he
fathered Astraios and Pallas as well as Perses. The joining of Astraios with
Eos, the Dawn, brought forth Eosphoros, the other Stars and the Winds.
Joined to fill out lists of Titans to form a total that made a match with the
Twelve Olympians, Crius/Kreios was inexorably involved in the
eleven-year-long war between the Olympian gods and Titans, the
Titanomachy, however without any specific part to play. When the war was
lost, Crius/Kreios was banished along with the others to the lower
basement of Hades called Tartarus. From his chthonic position in the
Underworld, no classical association with Aries, the "Ram" of the zodiac, is
ordinarily made.
Crius

Cronus

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 Cronus "horned"), also spelled Cronos or Kronos, is often confused with
Chronos/Khronos.
In Greek mythology, Cronus was the leader and the youngest of the first
generation of Titans. His mother was Gaia, and his father was Uranus,
whom Cronus envied.
Uranus hid the youngest children of Gaia, the one-hundred armed giants
(Hecatonchires) and the one-eyed giants, the Cyclopes, in Tartarus so that
they would not see the light, rejoicing in this evil doing. This caused pain
to Gaia, so she created a great sickle and gathered together Cronus and
his brothers to ask them to obey her. Only Cronus was willing to do the
deed, so Gaia gave him the sickle and set him in ambush. Cronus
ambushed his father and castrated him, casting the severed member into
the sea. From that which spilled from Uranus and fell upon the Earth came
forth the Gigantes, Erinyes, and Meliae. From that which was cast into the
sea came forth Aphrodite. For this, Uranus called his sons Titans, meaning

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 "strainers," for they strained and did presumptuously a fearful deed, for
which vengeance would come afterwards.
Cronus was identified in antiquity with the God Saturn of Roman
mythology. The period of his rule was said to be a golden age on Earth,
honored by the Saturnalia feast. Beginning on December 17 of each year,
during the festival known as the Saturnalia, the Golden Age was restored
for seven days. All business stopped and executions and military
operations were postponed. It was a period of goodwill, devoted to
banquets and the exchange of visits and gifts. A special feature of the
festival was the freedom given to slaves, who during this time had first
place at the family table and were served by their masters.
In an alternate version, a more benevolent Cronus overthrew the wicked
serpentine Titan, Ophion. In doing so he released the world from bondage
and for a time ruled it justly.
After dispatching Uranus, Cronus re-imprisoned the Hecatonchires, the
Gigantes, and the Cyclopes and set the monster Campe to guard them.
He and Rhea took the throne as King and Queen of the gods. This time
was called the Golden Age, as the people of the time had no need for laws
or rules; everyone did right, so there was no need.
Cronus sired several children by Rhea: Demeter, Hera, Hades, Hestia, and
Poseidon, but swallowed them all as soon as they were born, since he had
learned from Gaia and Uranus that he was destined to be overcome by his
own son as he had overthrown his own father. But when Zeus was about
to be born, Rhea sought Uranus and Earth to devise a plan to save him, so
that Cronus would get his retribution for his acts against Uranus and his
own children. Rhea gave birth to Zeus in Crete, handing Cronus a stone
wrapped in swaddling clothes (also known as the Omphalos Stone) which
he promptly swallowed.
Then she hid Zeus in a cave on Mount Ida in Crete.
According to varying versions of the story:
1. He was then raised by Gaia.
2. He was raised by a goat named Amalthea, while a company of
Kouretes, soldiers, or smaller gods danced, shouted, and clapped
their hands to make noise so that Cronus would not hear the baby's

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 cries.
3. He was raised by a nymph named Adamanthea. Since Cronus
ruled over the earth, the heavens, and the sea, she hid him by
dangling him on a rope from a tree so he was suspended between
earth, sea, and sky and thus, invisible to his father.
Zeus forced Cronus to disgorge the other children in reverse order of
swallowing: first the stone, which was set down at Pytho under the glens
of Parnassus to be a sign to mortal men, then the rest. In some versions,
Metis gave Cronus an emetic to force him to disgorge the babies, or Zeus
cut Cronus' stomach open. Then Zeus released the brothers of Cronus,
the Gigantes, the Hecatonchires, and the Cyclopes, who gave him thunder
and the thunderbolt and lightning, which had previously been hidden by
Gaia. In a war called the Titanomachy, Zeus and his brothers and sisters
with the Gigantes, Hecatonchires, and Cyclopes overthrew Cronus and the
other Titans. Cronus and the Titans were confined in Tartarus, a dank
misty gloomy place at the deepest point in the Earth. Ironically, Zeus also
imprisoned the Hecatonchires and the Cyclopes there as well.
Cronus was worshipped as a corn god, from his association with the
Golden Age. He was a god of the harvest, grain, nature, and agriculture.
He was usually depicted with a sickle, which he used to harvest crops as
well as castrate his father. In Athens, on the twelfth day of every month
(Hekatombaion), a festival called Kronia was held in honor of Cronus and
to celebrate the harvest.
Cronus

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 Cronus as Saturn Time, Omega and Related

Hyperion
Hyperion was the Titan god of light, the father of the three shining gods of
heaven - Eos the Light of Dawn and Day, Helios the Sun, and Selene the
Moon.
In the Homer's Iliad and Odyssey the sun god is called Helios Hyperion,
'Sun High-one'. But in the Odyssey, Hesiod's Theogony and the Homeric
Hymn to Demeter the sun is once in each work called Hyperonides 'Son of
Hyperion' and Hesiod certainly imagines Hyperion as a separate being in
other places.
Hyperion is often considered the 'God of Observation' and is the brother of
Theia the 'Goddess of Sight.'
In later Greek literature Hyperion is always distinguished from Helios as a
Titan, the son of Gaia 'Goddess Earth' and Uranus 'God Sky', and the
father of Helios 'God Sun', Selene 'Goddess Moon' and Eos 'Goddess

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 Dawn' by his sister Theia 'Goddess Sight'.
Hyperion plays virtually no role in Greek cult and little role in mythology,
save in lists of the twelve Titans. Later Greeks intellectualized their myths.
Of Hyperion we are told that he was the first to understand, by
diligent attention and observation, the movement of both the sun and
the moon and the other stars, and the seasons as well, in that they
are caused by these bodies, and to make these facts known to
others; and that for this reason he was called the father of these
bodies, since he had begotten, so to speak, the speculation about
them and their nature.
Hyperion in Neopaganism
Modern interpretations of Hyperion by Neopagans, particularly Hellenistic
sects in the United States, include the interpretation that he is the all
seeing, and subsequently all knowing, god of observation. Others believe
that Hyperion holds ultimate reign over the positions of the stars and the
heavens, and can at times reveal celestial messages to careful observers.
Hyperion is seen as impartial and unconcerned with mortals.
Hyperion is believed to play a role in the final judgment of a mortal soul,
particularly making observations about one's virtuous and ill deeds before
Hades, and adding weight to the scales held by Themis.Some modern
pagans burn oils and incense to Hyperion and pray for worldly knowledge,
or in some cases extended sight. There are those who believe that
extended sight is impossible to control, and that some things in the
universe are beyond mortal comprehension and should remain unseen.
Others claim that extended sight can include seeing into Tartarus (hell) and
may result in madness, thus some sects discourage active worship of
Hyperion. Most sects that include the worship of Hyperion also include the
worship of Hecate, and more commonly Theia. Such sects typically
encourage experimentation with the paranormal.
Hyperion

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 Iapetus
In Greek mythology Iapetus, or Iapetos, was a Titan, the son of Uranus
and Gaia, and father (by an Oceanid named Clymene or Asia) of Atlas,
Prometheus, Epimetheus, and Menoetius and through Prometheus and
Epimetheus and Atlas an ancestor of the human race. Iapetus is the one
Titan mentioned by Homer in the Iliad (8.478·81) as being in Tartarus with
Cronus.
Iapetus' wife is normally a daughter of Oceanus and Tethys named
Clymene or Asia.
But in Aeschylus's play Prometheus Bound, Prometheus is son of the
goddess Themis with no father named (but still with at least Atlas as a
brother).
Since mostly the Titans indulge in marriage of brother and sister, it might
be that Aeschylus is using an old tradition in which Themis is Iapetus' wife
but that the Hesiodic tradition preferred that Themis and Mnemosyne be
consorts of Zeus alone. But it would be been quite within Achaean practice
for Zeus to have taken the wives of the Titans as his mistresses after
throwing down their husbands.
Iapetus is sometimes equated by Creationists with Japheth, the son of
Noah, based on the similarity of their names, though scholars of
Indo-European linguistics dispute such an equation vehemently.
Iapetus

Mnemosyne

Mnemosyne (sometimes confused with Mneme or compared with

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 Memoria) was the personification of memory in Greek mythology. This
titaness was the daughter of Gaia and Uranus and the mother of the
Muses by Zeus. In Hesiod's Theogony, kings and poets receive their
powers of authoritative speech from their possession of Mnemosyne and
their special relationship with the Muses.
Zeus and Mnemosyne slept together for nine consecutive nights and
thereby created the nine muses. Mnemosyne was also the name for a
river in Hades, counterpart to the river Lethe, according to a series of 4th
century BC Greek funerary inscriptions in dactylic hexameter. Dead souls
drank from Lethe so they would not remember their past lives when
reincarnated. Initiates were encouraged to drink from the river
Mnemosyne when they died, instead of Lethe. These inscriptions may
have been connected with a private mystery religion, or with Orphic poetry
(see Zuntz, 1971).
Similarly, those who wished to consult the oracle of Trophonius in Boeotia
were made to drink alternately from two springs called "Lethe" and
"Mnemosyne". An analogous setup is described in the Myth of Er at the
end of Plato's Republic.
Mnemosyne

Oceanus

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 Oceanus or Okeanos refers to the ocean, which the Greeks and Romans
regarded as a river circling the world. Strictly speaking, it was the
ocean-stream at the Equator in which floated the habitable hemisphere
(oikoumene. In Greek mythology this world-ocean was personified as a
Titan, a son of Uranus and Gaia. In ancient Greek beliefs this Titan is often
depicted as having the upper body of a muscular man with a long beard
and horns, and the lower torso of a serpent.
Oceanus' consort is his sister Tethys, and from their union came the
ocean nymphs, also known as the three-thousand Oceanids, and all the
rivers of the world.
Some scholars believe he originally represented all bodies of salt water,
including the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean, the two largest
bodies known to the ancient Greeks. However, as geography became
more accurate, Oceanus came to represent the stranger, more unknown
waters of the Atlantic Ocean (also called the Ocean Sea), while Poseidon
ruled over the Mediterranean.
In most variations of the war between the Titans and the Olympians
("Titanomachy"), Oceanus, along with Prometheus, and Themis, did not
take the side of his fellow Titans against the Olympians, but instead
withdrew from the conflict. In most variations of this myth, Oceanus also
refused to side with Cronus in the latter's revolt against their father,
Uranus.
Oceanus

Phoebe

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Phoebe, in her name simply the feminine counterpart of Phoebus, was one
of the original Titans, one set of sons and daughters of Uranus and Gaia in
Greek mythology. She was traditionally associated with the moon (see
Selene), as in Michael Drayton's Endimion and Ph¦be, (1595), the first
extended treatment of the Endymion myth in English. Her consort was her
brother Coeus, with whom she had three children, Leto, Asteria and
Hekate.
Through Leto she was the grandmother of Apollo and Artemis. The names
Phoebe and Phoebus came to be applied as a synonym for Artemis and an
epithet of Apollo. According to a speech that Aeschylus, in Eumenides,
puts in the mouth of the Delphic priestess herself, she received control of
the Oracle at Delphi from Themis: "Phoebe in this succession seems to be
his private invention," D.S. Robertson noted, reasoning that in the three
great allotments of oracular powers at Delphi, corresponding to the three
generations of the gods, "Ouranos, as was fitting, gave the oracle to his
wife Gaia and Kronos appropriately allotted it to his sister Themis." In
Zeus' turn to make the gift, however, Aeschylus could not report that the
oracle was given directly to Apollo, who had not yet been born, Robertson
notes, and thus Phoebe was interposed. These supposed male
delegations of the powers at Delphi are not borne out by the usual
reconstruction of the sacred site's pre-Olympian history.
Phoebe

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 Rhea

Rhea (or Ria meaning "she who flows") was the Titaness daughter of
Uranus and of Gaia. She was sister to Cronus and mother to Demeter,
Hades, Hera, Hestia, Poseidon, and Zeus. She was strongly associated
with Cybele. In Roman mythology, she was Magna Mater deorum Idaea
and identified with Ops.In art, Rhea was usually depicted on a chariot
drawn by two lions, not always distinguishable from Cybele.
Her husband, Cronus, castrated their father, Uranus. After this, Cronus
re-imprisoned the Hecatonchires, the Gigantes and the Cyclopes and set
the monster Campe to guard them. He and Rhea took the throne as King
and Queen of the gods. This time was called the Golden Age as the people
of the time had no need for laws or rules; everyone did right and as such,
there was no need.
Cronus sired several children by Rhea: Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades,
Poseidon, but swallowed them all as soon as they were born, since he had
learned from Gaia and Uranus that he was destined to be overcome by his
own son as he had overthrown his own father. But when Zeus was about
to be born, Rhea sought Uranus and Earth to devise a plan to save him, so
that Cronus would get his retribution for his acts against Uranus and his
own children. Rhea gave birth to Zeus in Crete, handing Cronus a stone
wrapped in swaddling clothes which he promptly swallowed.

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 Then she hid Zeus in a cave on Mount Ida in Crete. According to varying
versions of the story:
1. He was then raised by Gaia.
2. He was suckled by a goat named Amalthea, while a company of
Kouretes, soldiers, or smaller gods danced, shouted and clapped
their hands to make noise so that Cronus would not hear the baby's
cry.
3. He was raised by a nymph named Adamanthea. Since Cronus
ruled over the earth, the heavens and the sea, she hid him by
dangling him on a rope from a tree so he was suspended between
earth, sea and sky and thus, invisible to his father.
In Greek mythology, Zeus forced the Titan Cronus to disgorge the other
children in reverse order of swallowing: first the stone, which was set
down at Pytho under the glens of Parnassus to be a sign to mortal men,
then the rest. In some versions, Metis gave Cronus an emetic to force him
to disgorge the babies, or Zeus cut Cronus' stomach open. Then Zeus
released the brothers of Cronus, the Gigantes, the Hecatonchires and the
Cyclopes, who gave him thunder and the thunderbolt and lightning, which
had previously been hidden by Gaia. Together, Zeus and his brothers and
sisters with the Gigantes, Hecatonchires and Cyclopes overthrew Cronus
and the other Titans.
In Homer, Rhea is the mother of the gods, though not a universal mother
like Cybele, the Phrygian Great Mother, with whom she was later identified.
The original seat of her worship was in Crete. There, according to legend,
she saved the new-born Zeus, her sixth child, from being devoured by
Kronos, by substituting a stone for the infant god and entrusting him to
the care of her attendants the Curetes.
These attendants afterwards became the bodyguard of Zeus and the
priests of Rhea, and performed ceremonies in her honour. In historic
times, the resemblances between Rhea and the Asiatic Great Mother,
Phrygian Cybele, were so noticeable that the Greeks accounted for them
by regarding the latter as only their own Rhea, who had deserted her
original home in Crete and fled to the mountain wilds of Asia Minor to
escape the persecution of Kronos (Strabo. 469, 12). The reverse view

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 was also held (Virgil, Aeneid iii), and it is probably true that cultural
contacts with the mainland brought to Crete the worship of the Asiatic
Great Mother, who became the Cretan Rhea.
In Greek mythology, Rhea's symbol is the moon. However, in Roman
mythology, her symbol is known as the lunar (which would seem to mean
"Moon"). She has another symbol, the swan, because it is a gentle animal.
Also, her other symbol is two lions, supposedly the ones that pull her
chariot.
Rhea

Tethys

In Greek mythology, Tethys was a Titaness and sea goddess who was
both sister and wife of Oceanus. She was mother of the chief rivers of the
universe, such as the Nile, the Alpheus, the Maeander, and about three
thousand daughters called the Oceanids.
Tethys, along with her husband Oceanus, ruled the seas before Poseidon;
Roman mosaic from Daphne (near Antioch) made in the 4th century
A.D.Tethys, a Titan sea-goddess who ruled the seas with her husband
Oceanus; Roman mosaic from Antioch (House of Calendar) made between
the 2nd and 3rd centuries A.D.During the war against the Titans, Tethys

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 raised Rhea as her god-child.Tethys is sometimes confused with Thetis,
the wife of Peleus and mother of Achilles.
Hera was not pleased with the placement of Callisto and Arcas in the sky,
as the constellations Ursa Major and Ursa Minor, so she asked her nurse,
Tethys, to help. Tethys, a marine goddess, cursed the constellations to
forever circle the sky and never drop below the horizon, hence explaining
why they are circumpolar.

Theia
In Greek mythology, Theia (also written Thea or Thia), also called
Euryphaessa ("wide-shining"), was a Titan. With her brother and husband
Hyperion, she was the mother of Helios (the Sun), Selene (the Moon) and
Eos (the Dawn). According to the Homeric Hymn to Helios, Eryphaesa is
listed as their mother. The name Theia alone, means simply "goddess,"
Theia Euryphaessa with overtones of brightness.
She seems here a goddess of glittering in particular and of glory in
general, but Pindar's allusion to her as "Theia of many names" is telling,
since it suggests assimilation not only to similar mother-of-the-sun
goddess like Phoebe and Leto, but perhaps also to more universalizing
mother-figures like Rhea and Cybele.
Theia's mythological role as the mother of the Moon goddess Selene is
referenced in the application of the name to a hypothetical planet which,
according to one theory, collided with the Earth, resulting in the Moon's
creation.
Theia in Modern Paganism
Modern interpretations of Theia by many Neopagans, particularly sects in
the United States, include the interpretation that she is the all seeing sister
of Hyperion. Theia is sometimes seen as a kind and beautiful goddess, but
her blessings are sometimes to be feared.
Worship of Theia may include prostration, and the burning of oils and
incense, particularly at dawn or dusk. Worship of Theia is not as common

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as worship of many other Hellenistic gods. Some sects believe that Theia
can grant the ability to see ghosts and spirits, as well as other forms of
clairvoyance. Because of this many sects that worship Theia also
encourage experimentation with the paranormal.

Themis
In Greek mythology, Hesiod mentions Themis among the six sons and six
daughters - of whom Cronos was one - of Gaia and Ouranos, that is, of
Earth with Sky. Among these Titans of primordial myth, few were
venerated at specific sanctuaries in classical times, and Themis was so
ancient that the followers of Zeus claimed that it was with him she
produced the Three Fates themselves (Hesiod, Theogony, 904).
A fragment of Pindar, however, tells that the Moerae were already present
at the nuptials of Zeus and Themis, that in fact the Moerae rose with
Themis from the springs of Okeanos the encircling World-Ocean and
accompanied her up the bright sun-path to meet Zeus at Olympus. With
Zeus she more certainly bore the Horae, those embodiments of the right
moment - the rightness of Order unfolding in Time - and Astraea. Themis
was there at Delos to witness the birth of Apollo.
Themis (meaning "law of nature" rather than "human ordinance"), she "of
good counsel," was the embodiment of divine order, law and custom.
When Themis is disregarded, Nemesis brings just and wrathful retribution.
Themis is not wrathful: she, "of the lovely cheeks" was the first to offer
Hera a cup when she returned to Olympus distraught over threats from
Zeus (Iliad xv.88). Themis presided over the proper relation between man
and woman, the basis of the rightly ordered family, and the family the
pillar of the deme, and judges were often referred to as "themistopoloi"
(the servants of Themis). Such was the basis for order upon Olympus too.
Hera addressed her as "Lady Themis."
The name of Themis might be substituted for Adrasteia in the birth of Zeus
on Crete. She built the Oracle at Delphi and was herself oracular. Themis

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was one of the gods behind the Oracle at Delphi, which she received from
Gaia and gave to Phoebe.
Themis in Neopaganism
Many modern Neopagans, particularly Hellenistic Neopagans, believe that
Themis is the goddess of virtue and justice. In many modern sects Themis
is thought to take part in deciding the afterlife of one's mortal spirit. She
carries a set of scales which weigh a persons virtuous deeds against a
persons ill deeds. Themis is also thought to give the final input before the
fate of a mortal is decided by Hades (The Judge).
Themis is often considered compassionate and virtuous towards mortals,
and concerned with mortal wellbeing as well as mortal plights. Worship of
Themis is not uncommon among many pagan sects in the United States,
according to some pagan websites Themis may have as many
worshippers that Artemis or Hera (two of the most popular pagan gods).
Worshippers of Themis often attempt to lead virtuous and charitable lives.
Worship of Themis may take the form of chants, prayer, the burning of oils
and incense, and the burning of food or spilling of drinks as offerings. Acts
of Charity are also considered to be an active form of worship. Some
sects that include worship of Themis encourage tithing, and many
encourage proselytizing to non-believers. Proselytizing is typically rare
among sects that do not include the worship of Themis. Followers of
Themis often discourage hedonism, persecution, grudges, malice, spite,
mockery, and revenge. Themis is thought to grant boons of good health,
euphoria, virility, and charisma to her followers. Some pagan websites
suggest that Themis is most commonly worshipped by males.

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TITANS - MINOR GODS & GODDESSES

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