The Greeks

I do not remember where I got this graphic from. If this graphic belongs to you, please let me know and I will give credit where credit it due. Thanx,   ~puppy~

~The Titans~

The titans were the elder gods, and for many ages they were supreme in the universe. They were of enormous size and incredible strength. There were many of them, but few were mentioned.

Cronus ~ ruler of the titans until his son Zeus dethrowned them ad seized power for himself.

Ocean ~ the river that was supposed to encircle the earth. His wife was Tethys.

Hyperion ~ the father of the sun, moon, ans the dawn.

Mnemosyne ~ meaning memory

Themis ~ meaning Justice

Atlas ~ bore the world on his shoulders

Prometheus ~ the savior of mankind. responsible for bringing man fire.

~The Olympians~

The twelve Olympians make up the divine family

~ Zeus ~
Zeus and his brothers drew lots for their share of the universe after overthrowing the titans. His brothers received the sea and the underworld, and Zeus became the supreme ruler. He was Lord of the Sky, the Rain God, and Cloud Gatherer who weilded the awful thunderbolt. Zeus's power was greater than that of all the other divinities together. He is represented  as falling in love with one woman after another and descending to all manor of tricks to hide his infidelity from his wife. His oracle was Dodona in land of oak trees.

~ Hera ~
Zeus's wife and sister. Hera was the protector of marriage and married women. In most tales involving Hera, she is depicted  as being cheifly engaged in punishing the many women Zeus fell in live with. The cow and peacock were sacred to her. Argos was here favorite city.

~ Poseidon ~
Poseidon was the ruler of the sea. Zeus's brother and second only to him in eminence. His wife was Amphrite, a granddaughter of the titan Ocean. Poseidon also gave the first horse to man. He was always shown carrying his trident, a 3-pronged spear with which he would shake and shatter whatever he pleased. He had some connection with horses as well as bulls.

~ Hades ~
He was the third brother among the Olympians, who ruled over the dead in the underworld. He was also God of Wealth (also called Pluto among the Greeks as well as the Romans). Hades had a famed helmet that made its wearer invisible. He was an unpitying god, yet just. He was NOT an evil god. His wife was Persephone whom he carried away and made Queen of the Underworld. Although Hades was King of the Dead, he was not death himself (Thanatos).

~ Pallas Athena ~
She was the daughter of Zeus alone, full grown and in full armor, she sprung from his head. Goddess of the City, protector of civilized life, handicrafts, and agriculture. Athena also first tamed horses for men to use. Of the three virgin goddesses, she was the cheif and was called the Maiden Parthenos, and her temple was the Parthenon. In later poetry she was the embodiment of wisdom, reason, and purity. Athens was her special city; the olive (created by her) was her tree; the owl her bird.

~ Phoebus Apollo ~
The son of Zeus and Leto and twin brother of Artemis, Apollo was born in the little island of Delos, and has been called "The most Greek of all Gods". He is a beauty figure in Greek poetry, the master musician who delights Olympus as he plays his golden lyre. It was Apollo who first taught men the healing arts. He is the God of Light, in whom there is no darkness at all, and he is the God of Truth. Apollo's temple at Delphi was held to be the center of the world. The Laurel is his tree. Many creatures are sacred to him, chief among them the dolphin and the crow.

~ Artemis ~
Apollo's twin sister, Artemis is one of the three maiden goddesses of Olympus. She is the Lady of the Wild Things, Huntsman-in-cheif to the gods, and protectress of the "dewy youth". As Apollo was to the sun, she was to the moon, also called Phoebe and Selene, thought neither name originally belonged to her. In later poems, Artemis is identifed with Hecate as being the goddess in three forms (I call her the multiple-personality goddess). Artemis was Selene is the sky, Artemis on earth, and Hecate in the lower world and in the world above when it is wrapped in darkness. Hecate is the goddess of the dark moon, the black night when the moon is hidden, and associated with deeds of darkness and called the Goddess of the Crossways, which were held to be ghostly places of evil magic. The cypress was sacred to her, and all wild animals, especially the deer.

~ Aphrodite ~
The goddess of Love and Beauty, She is the daughter of Zeus and Dione in the Iliad, but was later said to have sprung from the sea. Without her there is no joy nor loveliness anywhere, but she had another side too. In later poems she is usally shown as treacherous and malicious, exerting a deadly and destructive power over men. She is the wife of Hephaestus, the lame and ugly god of forge. The myrtle was her tree, the dove her bird, and sometimes the sparrow and the swan.

~ Hermes ~
Zeus was his father and Maia, daughter of Atlas, his mother. He was graceful and swift of motion. On his feet were winged sandals. He was Zeus' messenger. Of all the gods, he was the swiftest and most cunning, in fact he was the master thief. God of commerce and the market, protector of Traders. He was also the guide of the dead, the Divine Herald who led the souls down to their lat home.

~ Ares ~
The god of War, son of Zeus and Hera. Magnificent in his shining armor, he is not a distinct personality. He had no cities where he was worshipped. The Greeks said vaguely that he was from Thrace, home of the rude, fierce people in the northeast of Greece. His bird was the vulture, and the dog his animal.

~ Hephaestus ~
The god of fire, sometimes said to be the son of Zeus and Hera, sometimes said Hera alone who bore him in retaliation for Zeus' having brought forth Athena. Among the perfectly beautiful immortals, only he was ugly. He was a kindly, peace-loving god, popular on earth as in heaven. With Athena, he was imortant in the life of the city. The two were the patrons of handicraft, the arts which along with agriculture are the supports of civilization, he was the protector of the smiths as she of the weavers.

~ Hestia ~
She was Zeus' sister, and like Athena and Artemis, a virgin goddess. She has no distinct personality and she plays no part in the myths. She was the goddess of the Hearth, the symbol of the home, around which the newborn child must be carried before it could received into the family.

~ The Lesser Gods ~

~ Eros ~
(cupid in Latin) God of Love. In early stories he is often a beautiful serious youth who gives gifts to men. In early accounts Eros was not Aphrodite's son, just an occasional companion. In later poems he was her son and almost invariably a mischevious naughty boy.

~ Hebe ~
The Goddess of Youth. Daughter of Zeus and Hera. Sometimes she appears as cup-bearer to the gods. There are no stories about Hebe except that of her marriage to Hercules.

~ Iris ~
The Goddess of the Rainbow and a messenger or the Gods.

~ The Graces ~
There are three of them. Agalaia (Splendor), Euphrosyne (Mirth), and Thalia (Good Cheer). They were the daughters of Zeus and Eurynome, a child of the Titan Ocean.

~ The Muses ~
The daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne, there were nine muses who were not orignally distinguished from each other. Lather they each had their own special fields. Clio (History), Urania (astronomy), Melpomene (tragedy), Thalia (Comedy), Terpsichore (Dance), Calliope (epic poetry), Erato (love poetry), Polyhemnia (songs to the gods), and Euterpe (lyric poetry). The muses were the companions of Apollo.

~ The Beings of The Waters~

~ Pontus ~
which means deep sea. Pontus was a son of Mother Earth and the father Nereus.

~ Nereus ~
the old man of the sea. His wife was Doris, a daughter of the ocean. They had fifty daughters, the nymphy of the sea called nereids.

~ Triton ~
the trumpeter of the sea. His trumpet was a great shell. He was the son of Poseidon and Amphtrite.

~ Proteus ~
sometimes said to be Poseidon's son, sometimes his attendant. He had both the power of fortelling the future and of changing his shape at will.

~ The Nereids ~
water nymphs. They dwelt in brooks and fountains. One of them named Thetis was the mother of Achilles. Another named Amphitrite was Poseidon's wife.

~ Beings of the Underworld ~

~ Charon ~
an aged boatman who ferries the souls of the dead across the water to the gates of Hades.

~ Cerberus ~
the three headed dragon tailed dog who guards the gates of Hades. Cerberus permits all spirits to enter, but none to return.

~ Rhadamanthus, Minos, and Aeacus ~
the three judges who pass sentence on souls entering Hades.

~ The Erinyes ~
placed in the underworld to punish evildoers. Greek poets thought of them cheifly as pursuing sinners on earth. They were usually represented as three: Tisiphone, Megaera, and Alecto

~ Beings of the Earth ~

~ Demeter ~
Goddess of the corn, a daughter of Cronus and Rhea.

~ Dionysus ~
also called Bacchus, God of the Vine. He and Demeter were the supreme deities of the Earth.

~ Pan ~
Hermes' son; a noisy merry god of the Homeric hymn. He was part animal having goats horns and hoofs instead of feet.

~ Aeolus ~
King of the Winds.

~ The Sirens ~
Living on an island in the sea, The Sirens had enchanting voices that often lures sailors to their deaths.

~ The Fates ~
Clotho, the spinner, who spun the threads of life; Lachesis, the disposer of lots, who assigned each man his destiny; and Atropos, she who could not be turned, carried the "abhorres shears" and cut the thread at death.