The Greek Gods

First Greek Gods

• Theogony
• Chaos
• The Titans

The ancient Greek people created their own splendid, yet human-like world of gods to account for abstract significances like Love, Birth or Death. The origins of the gods of ancient Greek religion are described in the Theogony, the famous poem of the Greek writer Hesiod (around 700 BC) and the Library of Apollodorus.

Olympian Gods

• Aphrodite
• Apollo
• Ares
• Artemis
• Athena
• Demeter
• Dionysus
• Hades
• Hephaestus
• Hera
• Hermes
• Hestia
• Poseidon
• Zeus

The Olympian gods were the main deities in Ancient Greece. After overthrowing their ancestors, the Titans, the Olympian gods became the rulers of the Cosmos representing the civilization of the world.

The Olympian gods were majestically and democratically dwelling on Mount Olympus, the highest mountain in Greece, built by the Cyclopes. The leader of the Olympian gods was Zeus.

The gods were born and grew just like human beings, some of them even married, however they were unaging and death never came to them. They lived inside human-like bodies with an ethereal fluid called ichor running through the veins. They had passions and human weaknesses and were many times at fault, but were then obliged to take the full responsibility of their actions.

Greek myths always refer to the twelve Gods of Mount Olympus, but actually, in total there were more Olympian Gods in Greek Mythology. However, there were never more than twelve at one time. The four alternative gods were Hestia, Hades, Dionysus and Demeter, depending on the location.

Semi gods

In addition to the Greek gods of Olympus, there were also other greek deities and various spirits who were usually supplementing the Olympian gods' powers, but at times tended to dispute the Olympians' proposals.

The three Furies

The Erinyes (also known as Furies) were cruel earth goddesses who symbolized the divine vengeance. The Erinyes were three sisters in Greek mythology:

• Alecto("the angry")
• Megaera("the grudging")
• Tisiphone("the avenger")

The Three Graces

The Graces were daughters of Zeus, the King of the gods, and the Oceanid Eurynome. There were three Graces in Greek Mythology:

• Aglaia, the Grace that symbolized Beauty,
• Euphrosyne, the Grace of Delight and
• Thalia, the Grace of Blossom.

The Three Fates

The Fates were among the eldest goddesses in ancient Greek mythology. The Fates were either daughters of Zeus, the Lord of the gods, and Themis, the goddess of justice, or were created by goddess Nyx without the intervention of man.

• Clotho the spinner, was the youngest of the three Fates; she spun the thread of destiny with a distaff, determining the time of birth of an individual;
• Lachesis measured the thread length to determine the length of life;
• Atropos cut the thread of life, determining this way the time of death.

The Muses

The Muses were a group of nine very intelligent, beautiful and careless divinities. Each Muse was responsible for a different literary or poetic genre. They were created by Zeus, the King of the Gods, who secretly lay nine nights with Mnemosyne, the titaness of memory.

Calliope 
Epic Poetry Clio 
History Erato 
Love Poetry Euterpe 
Music Polyhymnia 
Hymns Terpsichore 
Dance Thaleia 
Comedy Urania 
Astronomy

Home of the Muses was Mount Helicon in Central Greece, a mountain that was sacred to the Greek god Apollo, the Greek god of the music, the light and the sun.

The Nymphs

The Nymphs were the daughters of Zeus, the King of the gods. They ranged over beautiful groves and dwelled near springs, in mountains through which rivers flowed and in woods.

• Callisto the companion of Artemis
• Calypso the capturer of Odysseus
• Daphne the personification of the laurel tree
• Echo the Nymph of steady reply
• Io the priestess of Hera in Argos
• Pitys the personification of the pine
• Syrinx the Inspiration for Melody

The Sirens

The Sirens were special Sea Nymphs who were living in an isolated island, the island of the Faiakes. They had the body of a bird, but their head was human-like.

The Sirens had the gift of singing in a very seductive manner. Each sailor who was passing by this island got enchanted by their voice and was condemned to stay in their island forever and die.

The Sirens are mostly mentioned by Greek poet Homer in his Epos "Odyssey", where the Sirens encounter Odysseus and his companions on their journey back to the island of Ithaca.

• Charybdis drowning vessels
• Scylla destructing vessels