OLYMPIAN GODS AND GODDESSES

Zeus

Jupiter, supreme god, lightning bolt, son of Cronus, married to Hera, adulterer

Poseidon

Neptune, god of the sea, trident, Zeus’s brother, second in eminence, gave the first horse to man, drove a car over the waters.

Hades

Pluto, god of wealth, king of the dead, helmet, precious metals, kidnapped wife Persephone

Hera

Juno. Zeus' wife and sister, protector of marriage, cows and peacocks were sacred to her- always punished those who had affairs with Zeus

Hestia

Vestia, goddess of the home and hearth, home, received meals in offering

Ares

Mars, god of war, vulture, hated

Athena

Minerva, protector of all people, goddess of the city, owl, olive tree, inventor, horse tamer, came out of Zeus’s head, Athens, wisdom, Parthenon. daughter of Zeus, had no mother, she sprang from Zeus' head in full armor and fully grown, she is the protector of civilization, Athens was her special city, her temple was the Parthenon, olive her tree, and owl her bird. She was the goddess of wisdom and reason.

Apollo

Phoebus, god of life, “most Greek of all the gods”, arts, light, truth, dolphin, crow, laurel tree, Daphne’s lover. master musician who plays golden lyre in Olympus; God of Light; God of Truth; his oracle at Delphi; sometimes considered the sun-god

Aphrodite

Venus, goddess of love and beauty, dove, born from the sea,

Hermes

Mercury, messenger of the gods, winged sandals, thief. God of Commerce and the Market; he was the Master Thief and also the guide of the dead through the underworld

Artemis

Diana, Lady of Wild Things, goddess of the hunt, Apollo’s twin sister, cypress and deer

Hephaestus

Vulcan, Mulciber, god of fire, forge, hammer, ugly and lame, workman of the immortals

Dionysus

Bacchus, god of wine/the vine, grape vines, cup, son of Zeus and Semele, wanderer, turned pirates into dolphins, can turn into a lion. Made people cheerful and mad

Demeter

Ceres, goddess of the earth crops, stalks of grain, torch, corn, harvest, disguised as an old woman, mother of Persephone, grieved daughter, goddess of the harvest

Persephone

Proserpine, maiden of spring, pomegranate, stolen from mother. Hades' wife, Demeter's Daughter, Queen of the Underworld, abducted by Hades to live in the underworld, spends half of her time in the Underworld and the other half on Earth