greek gods/deities

greek and roman mythology

Chaos

Abyss/emptiness; the first thing to appear in Hesiod's Theogony. Gaia, Tartarus, and Eros come after it. Without a partner, Chaos gives birth to Erebus (Darkness) and Night.

Gaia (Gaea)

Goddess of the earth; a reproductive force. Alone she bears Ouranos (sky); with him she bears mountains, Pontos, the Titans, and the Hundred

Tartarus (Tartaros)

The empty underworld, a region in or below the earth. Prison of the Titans (as far down as the sky is high) and the Hundred

Eros

God of love/passion, one of the first beings after Chaos. Makes gods' and men's bodies go limp and overpowers their minds; may explain what motivates procreation among later generations.

Erebus

Darkness; child of Chaos and brother of Night. With Night he bears Aether (bright air) and Hemera (Day).

Nyx (Night)

Child of Chaos. With Erebus she bears Aether and Day. Alone (no male partner) she bears troubling offspring such as Doom, Fate, Death, Sleep, Dreams, the Destinies, the Avenging Fates, Nemesis, and Eris (Strife).

Aether

Bright air; child of Erebus and Night, brother of Day.

Hemera (Day)

Day child of Erebus and Night, sister of Aether.

Ouranos (Uranus)

Sky/Heaven; Gaia's son and mate. Fathers mountains, Pontos, the Titans, and the Hundred

Pontos

The sea; child of Gaia and Ouranos. Part of the physical earth taking shape.

Titans

The children of Gaia and Ouranos: Oceanos, Koios, Krios, Iapetus, Hyperion, Kronos, Tethys, Mnemosyne, Theia, Themis, Phoebe, and Rhea. Ouranos gave them the reproachful nickname from titainein (overreached themselves) and tisis (vengeance).

Kronos (Cronus)

Titan who, with Gaia's flint sickle, castrated his father Ouranos (left hand). Swallowed his own children to avoid being overthrown by a child (fated). Tricked by Rhea with a rock, vomited the children up, and was overthrown by Zeus and confined in Tartarus. Husband of Rhea.

Rhea

Titan; sister and wife of Kronos; mother of Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades, Poseidon, and Zeus. Advised by Gaia and Ouranos, she hid baby Zeus in a cave on Crete and gave Kronos a rock in swaddling clothes to swallow.

Oceanos

Titan who is the Ocean; father of the river nymph Styx.

Hyperion

One of the twelve Titans (child of Gaia and Ouranos); flagged as a key Titan name.

Mnemosyne

Titan whose name means Memory; mother of the Muses by Zeus.

Themis

Titan whose name means lawful order / to set something up (established custom). Wife of Zeus; mother of the Seasons, Eunomia (Lawfulness), Dike (Justice), and Eirene (Peace).

Titans (Koios, Krios, Iapetus, Theia, Tethys, Phoebe)

Oceanos, Hyperion, Kronos, Mnemosyne, Themis, and Rhea.

Zeus

King of the gods. Son of Kronos and Rhea, born on Crete. Defeats the Titans and Typhoeus, punishes Prometheus, and swallows Metis.

Hera

Olympian; child of Kronos and Rhea, swallowed and later vomited up by Kronos. Goddess of marriage.

Demeter

Olympian; child of Kronos and Rhea, swallowed and later vomited up by Kronos. Linked to the sanctuary and ritual at Eleusis.

Hestia

Olympian; child of Kronos and Rhea, swallowed and later vomited up by Kronos.

Hades

Olympian; child of Kronos and Rhea, swallowed and later vomited up by Kronos.

Poseidon

Olympian; child of Kronos and Rhea, swallowed and later vomited up by Kronos. In the notes, he encounters Medusa in a meadow.

Athena (Athene)

Born fully grown and armed from Zeus's head after he swallowed her mother Metis. Called Tritogeneia; equal to her father in strength and wisdom.

Aphrodite

Born from the foam (aphros) that formed around Ouranos's severed remains after Kronos castrated him (in Hesiod). Goddess of love and beauty.

Apollo

God of prophecy, oracles, and song; his emblem is the laurel (given to Hesiod by the Muses). Shown at Delphi; sometimes borrows Zeus's aegis.

Hermes

Herald and messenger of the gods, son of Zeus and Maia; guide of souls (psychopomp) and god of travelers and commerce who brings Pandora to Epimetheus.

Hephaestus

Called by Zeus to crack open his head so Athena could emerge; also plastered clay to make Pandora.

Muses

Daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne (Memory) who live on Mount Helikon. They visit Hesiod, give him a laurel branch, and teach him to sing of the gods, but warn they can tell believable lies as well as truth. They endorse Zeus and inspire kings to resolve disputes with words.

Hecate

Goddess praised in a hymn in the Theogony as benign and protective: helps men obtain food, victory, and success if they pray and sacrifice. Counterbalances the Muses; also associated with the Underworld and witchcraft.

Metis

Zeus's first wife; name means cunning intelligence; wiser than any god or mortal. Gaia and Ouranos warn she will bear a son who will overthrow Zeus, so he tricks her with smooth words and swallows her; Athena is born from his head.

Styx

River nymph, daughter of Oceanos. First to come to Olympus when Zeus called for allies against the Titans; rewarded with extraordinary honors, and the gods swear their oaths by her.

Hundred

Handers (Obriareus, Kottos, Gyges)

Atlas

Titan punished by Zeus for rebelling: made to hold up the sky.

Menoitios

Titan whose name means doomed power; Zeus blasted him into Erebos for his foolishness and excessive violence.

Prometheus

Tricks Zeus at Mekone with a sacrifice of bones hidden in fat. Zeus takes fire from humans; Prometheus steals it back in a hollow fennel stalk. Zeus chains him and sets an eagle to eat his regrowing liver. Sometimes the creator or ancestor of humans (clay and water).

Epimetheus

Prometheus's brother; name means afterthought; witless, thinks too late, and is trouble. Sees stunning Pandora and marries her.

Pandora

First woman, made at Zeus's order as a beautiful gift/punishment for men (lovely outside, deceitful inside). Hephaestus shapes her from clay and Athena dresses her. Ancestor of the race of human women; marries Epimetheus and bears Pyrrha.

Deucalion and Pyrrha

Husband and wife who survive a great flood and repopulate the earth by tossing rocks that turn into people. Deucalion is Prometheus's son; Pyrrha is Pandora's daughter.

Seasons (Horai)

Daughters of Zeus and Themis; offspring of a goddess under Zeus's control through marriage, so they benefit humankind.

Eunomia

Lawfulness; daughter of Zeus and Themis.

Dike

Justice; daughter of Zeus and Themis.

Eirene

Peace; daughter of Zeus and Themis.

Typhoeus (Typhoios)

Last

Giants

Born from the blood of Ouranos after Kronos castrated him.

Furies

Female spirits of revenge, born from the blood of Ouranos.

Meliai

Nymphs born from the blood of Ouranos.

Fates (Clotho, Lachesis, Atropos)

The merciless, avenging Fates (and Destinies) who give mortals at birth the good and evil they will have.

Gorgons (Stheno, Euryale, Medusa)

Monsters who live beyond Ocean; Medusa is the only mortal one.

Medusa

Mortal Gorgon, attacked by Poseidon in a meadow. Perseus cut off her head and gave it to Zeus for the aegis.

Pegasus

Winged horse born from Medusa's severed neck after Perseus decapitated her; flew to Olympus and carries thunder and lightning for Zeus.

Perseus

Hero who cut off Medusa's head and gave it to Zeus to decorate the aegis.

Amaltheia

The goat who nursed baby Zeus; her tanned skin became the aegis.

Aegis

Zeus's goatskin protects the wearer from attack and can start storms. Zeus lends it to Athena and sometimes Apollo; Zeus is called aegis

Hesiod

Greek poet from Ascra near Mount Helikon (small settlement of self

Homer

Poet associated with the Iliad and the Odyssey (and the Homeric hymns); with Hesiod, shaped Greek ideas of the gods through oral performance in the Archaic Period.

Peisistratus

Athenian tyrant credited with having the Homeric epics written down in 565 BCE.

Agamemnon

Greek hero who ruled Mycenae before joining his brother Menelaus to sail against Troy in the Iliad.

Menelaus

Brother of Agamemnon; joins him in the war at Troy.