Mythology

• Titans


  The old gods who were supplanted by the Olympian gods
• Gaea (Ge)


  • The earth
  • Mother of the Titans
• Uranus


  • The heavens
  • Father of the Titans
• Cronus

  The chief Titan, a ruling deity who obtained his power by castrating his father Uranus
• Cronus married Rhea


  Together they produced the Olympian gods, whom Cronus swallowed at birth to prevent them from seizing the throne
• Zeus defeated Cronus and the other Titans

  Bound them in the underworld
• Rhea


  • Cronus' wife
  • Hid Zeus from Cronus and gave him a stone to swallow instead
• Oceanus


  • The unending stream that encircled the world
  • Titan who with his wife Tethys produced the rivers and the three thousand ocean nymphs
• Hyperion


  • Titan of light, the father of the sun, the moon, and the dawn
• Mnemosyne


  • Titaness of memory and the mother of the Muses
• Themis


  • Titaness of justice and order
  • Gave birth to the Fates and the seasons
• Iapetus


  • Titan who fathered Prometheus, Epimetheus, and Atlas
• Prometheus


  • Wisest Titan, a benefactor to mankind
  • Originally an ally of Zeus, he later tricked Zeus and was chained in the Caucasus Mountains, where an eagle fed upon his liver daily
• Epimetheus

  • Stupid Titan whose name means "after-thought"
  • Accepted the gift of Pandora from Zeus, unleashing all the evils of the world on mankind
• Atlas


  • Forced to bear the vault of the heavens upon his shoulders at the edge of the world for warring against Zeus
• Eros


  • Represented the creative principle of attraction that brings beings together, establishes friendships and marriages, creates cities
• Cyclopes


  • One-eyed monsters, the children of Gaea and Uranus
  • Represented the thunder, lightning, and the thunderbolt
  • Helped Zeus against the Titans
• Hecatoncheires


  • Monsters produced by Gaea and Uranus
  • Each had fifty heads and a hundred arms of prodigious strength
  • Represented the cataclysmic forces of nature
  • Briareus served as Zeus's bodyguard
  • Helped Zeus defeat the rebellious Titans
• Giants


  • Generated by Uranus' blood when Cronus mutilated him
  • Became powerful enough to attack the whole Olympian order
  • Vanquished only after an earth-shattering battle
• Furies


  • Pursued and punished sinners
  • Sprang from the blood of Uranus
  • Punished matricides
• Zeus


  • Supreme deity of the Greeks
  • Depicted as a robust, mature man with a flowing beard
  • Storm-god who wielded the thunderbolt
  • Became the All-Father who populated the heavens and the earth by his promiscuous liaisons
  • Grand dispenser of justice
  • Resided on Mount Olympus with the other Olympians
• Hera


  • Jealous wife and sister of Zeus
  • Protectress of marriage and childbirth
  • Vindictive toward those with whom Zeus fell in love
• Poseidon


  • Lord of the sea and a god of horses
  • Wrathful, moody god who carried a trident and traveled in the company of sea nymphs and monsters of the deep
• Demeter


  • Goddess of vegetation and fertility
  • Had various lovers, including Zeus, and a daughter, Persephone, who was taken by Hades
  • In Demeter's grief the earth grew barren, and only when her daughter returned to her for six months of each year did the earth become fruitful
• Apollo


  • God of light, of intelligence, of healing, and of the arts
  • Had several love affairs and a few rejections that he punished
  • Also called Phoebus Apollo
• Artemis


  • Virgin huntress goddess
  • Carried a bow and a quiver of arrows
  • Presided over childbirth and was associated with the moon
• Aphrodite


  • Goddess of love and beauty
  • Represented sex, affection, and the power of attraction that binds people together
  • Had Hephaestus as her husband, Ares as her lover, and Eros as her son
• Athena


  • Virgin goddess of wisdom
  • Warrior who sprang fully armed from the head of Zeus
  • Goddess of the arts and the guardian of Athens
  • Prudent and valorous
• Hestia


  • Mild virgin goddess of the hearth, the family, and peace
• Ares


  • Bullying god of war
  • Brutal deity who delighted in slaughter and looting
  • Coward
  • Had an adulterous affair with Aphrodite that was exposed by her husband Hephaestus
• Hephaestus


  • Lame, ugly god of the crafts
  • Skilled artisan who created many wonderful things
  • Injured by his father Zeus for defending Hera in a quarrel
• Hermes


  • Cleverest of the Olympian gods
  • Ruled wealth and good fortune, was the patron of commerce and thievery, promoted fertility, and guided men on journeys
  • Herald and messenger of the gods, a conductor of souls to the netherworld, and a god of sleep
• Hades


  • Lord of the underworld, the region of the dead
  • Stern, dark, inexorable god
  • His kingdom was gray and lifeless
  • Abducted Persephone, the daughter of Demeter, and made her his queen
• After deposing Cronus

  Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades drew lots to see which portion of the world would be ruled by each
• Zeus gained the mastery of the sky

  • Poseidon gained the mastery of the seas
  • Hades gained the mastery of the underworld
• Zeus swallowed Metis


  • To prevent her second child from dethroning him
  • Allowed Athena to live as Metis' firstborn
• Zeus married Themis


  She gave birth to the Seasons, to Wise Laws, to Human Justice, to Peace, and to the Fates
• Zeus married Eurynome


  She bore the three Graces
• Zeus violated Demeter


  In the form of a bull, and from their union came Persephone
• Zeus married Mnemosyne


  She produced the Nine Muses