Ra was regarded as the creator of everything, the god of the sun. Ra is usually represented with the body of a man and the head of a hawk, holding an ankh & sceptre. The chief location of Ra worship was Heliopolis (a Greek word meaning city of the sun).

Horus: The ancient Egyptian god of the sun, son of Osiris and Isis, represented as having the head of a hawk or falcon.
Osiris: One of the principal divinities of Egypt, the brother and husband of Isis. The god of the underworld and judge of the dead.

Isis: The principal goddess worshiped by the Egyptians. She was regarded as the mother of Horus, and the sister and wife of Osiris. The Egyptians adored her as the goddess of fecundity, and as the great benefactress of their country, who instructed their ancestors in the art of agriculture.

Re - (Ra)
Egyptian sun god and creator god. He was usually depicted in human form with a falcon head, crowned with the sun disc encircled by the uraeus (a stylized representation of the sacred cobra). The sun itself was taken to be either his body or his eye. He was said to traverse the sky each day in a solar barque and pass through the underworld each night on another solar barque to reappear in the east each morning. His principal cult centre was at Heliopolis ("sun city"), near modern Cairo. Re was also considered to be an underworld god, closely associated in this respect with Osiris. In this capacity he was depicted as a ram-headed figure.

By the third millennium B.C. Re's prominence had already become such that the pharaohs took to styling themselves "sons of Re". After death, the Egyptian monarch was said to ascend into the sky to join the entourage of the sun god. According to the Heliopolitan cosmology, Re was said to have created himself, either out of a primordial lotus blossom, or on the mound that emerged from the primeval waters. He then created Shu (air) and Tefnut (moisture), who in turn engendered the earth god Geb and the sky goddess Nut. Re was said to have created humankind from his own tears and the gods Hu (authority) and Sia (mind) from blood drawn from his own penis. Re was often combined with other deities to enhance the prestige of the latter, as in Re-Atum, Amun-Re, or in the formula "Re in Osiris, Osiris in Re".

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The Aten - The Sun Disc

The Aten is shown here reaching down with rays in the form of hands to touch Nefertiti and Akhenaten.

Ra lives, the ruler of the horizon, rejoicing in the horizon in his aspect of Ra the father who returns as the Aten

- later reading of the name of the Aten, appearing in the ninth year of Akhenaten's reign
The Aten was not a new invention of Akhenaten - rather, it was portrayed as a sun disc even in his father's time. It has been identified with various pharaohs in previous times, and it has even be argued that Akhenaten equated the Aten with his father, Amenhotep III. Others believe Akhenaten hated his father, as he removed his name from monuments when he took power.

Armenian:
Mihr
Mehr
Meher

Aztec:
Tonatiuh
Huitzilochtli

Basque:
Lur
Ekhi
Eguzki

Bella Coola:
Alk'umta'm

Celts:
Lugh

Chinese:
Ten Suns

Egyptian:
Horus
Horus Harmenti
Horus Harakte
Horus Bahdety
Horus Harmakhis
Horus Haroeris

Estruscan:
Cautha

Fon:
Lisa

Greek:
Apollo

Hindu:
Dhatar
Ansoi
Surya Dev
Garunda
Vivasvat

Hittite:
Arinna
Ariniddu
Arinnitti
Warusemn
Istaru

Hurrite:
Smimigi

Inca:
Inti
Punchau

Inuit:
Malina

Japanese:
Wakahiru-me
Hiruko
Amaterasu
Marisha-Tzn

Mamairuan:
Kuat

Mayan:
Ah Kin
Kinich Ahua
Mayan:
Kinich Kakmo
Ah Kinchil

Navajo:
Tsohanoai

Norse:
Freyr

Polinesian:
Maui

Pueblo:
Tawa

Roman:
Apollo

Seran:
Tuwak

Slavs:
Radogast

Sumerian:
Shamash

Tibetan:
Kyun-gai mGo-can

Ugaritic:
Shapash

Uratian:
Siwini

Greek tradition contains many stories similar to those of the first eleven chapters of the Bible: legends of a "Golden Age", like that of Eden, which ended through the first woman's disobedience; characters resembling Cain and the sons of Lamech from Genesis 4; Stories of a great flood and a "Noah," The Greeks also had traditions of mass migrations throughout the eastern Mediterranean shortly after their great flood. These stories have passed down to us through the often conflicting genealogies of the many early Greek states. Such is their similarity to Scripture that these legends must have been rooted in the same events described in Genesis 1 to 11.

Biblical Model Resolves Contradictions
Many apparent contradictions in Greek mythology are resolved through a Biblical interpretation, The classical writers and most mythologists since have assumed they could erect a chronology of these myths merely by adding up the names of the various kings cited by the various kinglists. As a result we find four generations allotted to what many archaeologists now believe is over 2,000 years of Trojan history. Similarly, while most Greek accounts stress a single great flood, at least three flood dates can be compiled from the various genealogies. From a Biblical perspective it seems obvious that the true key to mythic chronology lies not in adding up kinglists, but rather by starting from the event most common to all genealogies: the flood. Ancient Greek traditions of their beginnings easily break into preflood, flood and postflood eras. For the most part these traditions contain striking parallels to the corresponding Biblical era. One area where this is not true is the Greek belief that their nation was occupied from preflood times to the present and here, once again, the Scriptural model resolves many discrepancies. For example: an obscure tribe called the Leleges were cited as the original inhabitants of the Greek states Laconia, Boetia, Euboea and Arcarnis.1 This means that the Leleges lived before the flood, but other myths refer to their creation immediately after the flood.2 In a similar fashion the southern Greek city of Argos had traditions of seven kings who ruled it before the flood and of its foundation by an immigrant four generations after the flood.3 Such discrepancies appear to reduce Greek tradition to gibberish, but easily harmonise with a Scriptural model of history: When Greece was colonised after the flood the immigrants brought their own historical notions with them and, in time, these stories were recast in Greek settings. Later generations were faced with a chronological nightmare as they attempted to harmonise the many differing accounts, but the key lies in Genesis I to 11.

The Greek Fall Story
Both Greek tradition and the Bible mention the fall of the first human couple from paradise. The Greeks believed that men originally lived "like the gods": free from disease, sorrow or work. Then the first woman was made and, together with her husband, entrusted with a jar that was not to be opened. As long as the couple obeyed the "Golden Age" lasted. But the woman's curiosity finally overcame her and she decided to peek inside. As Eve's eating of the forbidden fruit (Genesis 3) resulted in the expulsion of mankind from paradise and the entrance of death to the world, the Greek woman's peek ended the "Golden Age" and allowed all this world's evils to escape out of the jar.4

The "Ungodly Line" in Greek Tradition
Various attributes of the scriptural family of Cain (Genesis 4) appear in Greek myths of the preflood era. The southerly genealogies of Argos and Arcadia seemingly allude to Cain in their accounts of one of mankind's second generation who founded the first city and performed the first sacrifice. The Arcadian account repeats the Biblical theme of this man's evil and his committing murder;5 the stories from Argos are reminiscent of a Hebrew legend that Cain established the first market6. The chief Greek god Zeus appears to be a preflood Biblical character named Lamech. While Genesis 4:19-22 describes the three sons of Lamech as the inventors, respectively, of cattle herding, the lyre and pan pipes (NAS) and forging of bronze and iron implements, these same accomplishments are paralleled by Zeus' sons (the sun god) Apollo, (the messenger god) Hermes and (the blacksmith god) Hepaistos7. That the Greeks should elevate the memory of Lamech to such heights is understandable when we consider the immense innovations of his sons (presumably carried out during his majority) and the position implied by the literal translation of Lamech: "powerful"8,

The Flood
The flood of Greek tradition was as singular and as shattering an event as that of the Bible. As one account states; "All men were destroyed except for a few who fled to the high mountains of the neighbourhood. It was then that the mountains of Thessaly parted and that all the world outside the Isthmus and the Peloponnesus was ~ Another ancient author mentions the destruction of all plant life and elsewhere Speculates as ~o whether the lack of rainfall in the arid regions of upper Egypt may have allowed that region to escape.10

The Greek Noah
There can be no mistaking the principal Greek flood hero, Deucalion, for anyone other than Noah. Deucalion, like the Scriptural hero, was prewarned of the deluge to come and built an ark into which he escaped with his wife; was washed, in his ark, to the top of a mountain by the flood waters; released a dove to test conditions before landing; upon disembarking performed a sacrifice to the Almighty and was blessed right after this. Such similarities are too striking to ignore; even secular authorities such as Robert Graves admit the common origin of the Greek and Scriptural tales.11 Genesis 9:20-27 continues Noah's biography with an anecdote concerning his invention of wine. While there is no corresponding Story about Deucalion, Graves states that "Deucalion's claim to the invention has been suppressed by the Greeks in favour of (their wine god) Dionysus".12 Deucalion's true part in the discovery is revealed by the literal translation of his name: "new wine sailor".13

Postflood Migrations
Both the Bible and Greek tradition refer to massive migrations in the first few generations after the flood. Genesis 10 outlines the repopulation of the earth by Noah's descendants. The Greeks believed that the nations of Egypt, Libya and Phoenicia 14 derived their names from immigrants of this period. The effect of these immigrations on the Greek area itself was astronomical. The island of Crete was first occupied, 15 the cities of Athens, 16 Thebes and Argos were founded on the mainland, Asia Minor (modern Turkey), the Aegean islands and most of the Greek states were occupied.

Biblical Pattern of Settlement
The essential pattern of these Greek migration Stories assumes many Biblical aspects. As Genesis 10:21-25 indicates, it was in the fourth postflood generation that mankind dispersed to colonise the earth. The family of Von, usually translated as Javan, 17 is usually associated with the Greek area and the names of three of Von's sons are significant to this study: Elishah (who is sometimes identified with the Aeolian Greeks), Dodanim (who is sometimes identified with the island of Rhodes) and Tarshish (who is sometimes identified with the city of Tarshish in Asia Minor). is The name Von itself, finds quick parallels in several Greek names of the postflood era: Ion, Io and Ino. Of these three names, Io is the most significant: four generations after the flood the descendants of a mythical lady named 10, from Argos, settled much of the Greek area. Two of Io's descendants stopped on the island of Rhodes, already associated with Biblical Dodanim, prior to their arrival on the Greek mainland and a third colonised that same area of Asia Minor that the patriarch Tarshish is said to have reached.20 The patriarch Elishah finds a quick agreement in a Greek postflood hero named Aeolis. Their names (ELIS hah & a IE 0 LIS) bear a resemblance which is further strengthened in the name of Aeolis' kingdom, Hellas (h ELLAS) and in the fact that one of Aeolis' sons founded a colony in the southern Greek state of Elis. Aeolis is perhaps the most prominently mentioned of Deucalion's descendants and it seems significant that his sons were to establish kingdoms in areas as far apart as the northern Greek states of Macedonia, Magnesia and Thessaly and the southern states of Corinth and Elis. Such a wide dispersal of descendants, in positions of power, is precisely what we might expect from the patriarch Elishah.

Conclusion
The chronology of the Greek myths is very close to that of the Bible. These stories contain a great many personalities and details unheard of in Scripture, Vet of the eight people mentioned in the Biblical ark five (Noah, his wife and the wives of their three Sons) presumably had totally different family trees though only that of Noah's father and one family descended from Cain is recorded in Genesis. Greek tradition could contain any number of historically based legends Which are not Scriptural. More important, however, is the fact that when the Greeks talked of a time before their great flood, they referred to a fall from paradise, and they mentioned characters resembling Cain and Lamech's three sons from Genesis 4. The Greek flood legends sometimes come so close to Scripture that they mention things like a dove being Sent out from the ark, or the sacrifice Noah made when he disembarked on the top of a mountain. After the flood the Greeks have Stories of mass migrations which resemble Genesis 10 even down to the names of some of the participants. Modern scholarship has tended to downplay the fabulous elements of Greek tradition, the stories of Pandora's box and the flood, yet to the ancient Greeks and to those who believe Scripture, they are history.

FOOTNOTES
1 Connop ThirIwall, History of Greece (London: Longman, Brown, Green & Longmans, 1855) vol.1, p.94.
2 Strabo7.7,1-2,
3 Horace Leonard Jones (trans) The Geography of Strabo (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, MCMLXVlI) vol.2, p.345 states that the text of Strabo 5.2.4 could be rendered as Danaus "founded" the city of Inachus or else that he "took up his abode" there. Most translators prefer to write he "founded" the city of Inachus (which was Argos) because Strabo 8.6.9 States that "the acropolis of the Argives is said to have been founded by Danaus." For further support of the idea Danaus founded Argos see Flavius Josephtis Against Apion 1.16 & Diodorus Siculius 1.28.
4 Hesiod, Work and Days 42-1 OS; Theogony 565-619. re Lycaon the "Cain" of Arcadia see Pausanias VIII.1; Apollodorus 111.8.1; ThirIwall, p.65.
6 re Phoroneus, the "Cain" of Argos, see Pausanias 11.15.4 & 11.19.5; Hyginus, Fabulae 143, Robert Graves, The Greek Myths (Harmondsworth, Middlesex, Penguin Books, 1980) vol.1, pps. 193-4; Apollodorus 11.1.1.
7 Carl Kerenyi, The Gods of the Greeks (Harmondsworth, Penguin Books, 195B) pps. 144-50, Graves, vol.1, pps. 63-67.
8 The Companion Bible (London, Samuel Bagster & Sons, 1 970) fn on Genesis 4: 18.
9 Apollodorus 1.7.1-2.
10 Diodorus Siculius 111.62.10 & 1.10.4.
11 "The myth of Deucalion's flood… has the same origin as the Biblical legend of Noah," Graves, vol. I. p.141.
12 Graves, loc cit.
13 Ibid. vol.11. p.338.
14 ApoIlodorus 11.1.4.
15 Diodorus Siculius IV.60; V.80.
16 ThirIwall, p.76, mentions a lesser known Greek legend that Athens was founded by an Egyptian immigrant named Cecrops 100 years after the flood. The more usual account is that Cecrops was a native Athenian and Apollodorus 111.14.1 represents him as preflood.
17 As David Livingston, Director of the Associates for Biblical Research, pointed out to this author: (1) there were no vowels in the early Semitic languages, (2) The J of Jvn is better represented as Y. (3) The "v" of Yvn could just as easily be translated as an 0, U or "w." Later Greek writings would differentiate between these letters with vowel points, but there were no vowel points when this passage was written, (4) "Therefore Yavan could just as easily be Yon or even Ion of Greece. The lonians".
18 Josephus, Antiqufties of the Jews l.iv.1 & C.H. Gordon, "Dodanim" The Interpreters Dictionary of the Bible (Nashville & New York: Abingdon Press, 1962) vol.1, p.861.
19 Danaus, founder of Argos, & Cadmus, founder of Thebes. See Graves 195,200-204.
20 Josephus, Antiquities, loc cit & Apollodorus 111.1.1.
21 Apollodorus 1.9 & Thirlwall, pp.102-ill.

http://www.creationism.org/csshs/v07n4p20.htm

15 Ancient Greek Heroes
from Plutarch's Lives

PLOUTARCOU

A modern English edition, abridged and annotated by Wilmot H. McCutchen

Theseus The Athenian Adventurer (c. 1300 B.C.)
Theseus suppressed crime and brought the natives of Attica together into the first democracy. He saved the Athenian children from the Minotaur, but his kidnap of the queen of the Amazons brought trouble, and he ended his days in disgrace.

Lycurgus The Father of Sparta (c. 800 B.C.)
Lycurgus established harmony, simplicity, and strength in Sparta. This warrior society tamed its youth through systematic education aimed at developing leadership, courage, public spirit, and wisdom.

Solon The Lawmaker of Athens (c. 600 B.C.)
Athens, unlike Sparta, was a money-mad commercial city. The constitution framed by Solon mitigated the class struggle between the rich and the poor, and allowed for the growth of democratic institutions.

Aristides "The Just" (530 - 468 B.C.)
Aristides was so respected throughout Greece for his fairness that Athens assumed the leadership of the alliance against the Persian invaders. His character is a model for all ages.

Pericles "The Olympian" (495 - 429 B.C.)
By the power of his eloquence, and the money embezzled from Athens' unwilling allies, Pericles built Athens into a beautiful city and a powerful empire. Athenian imperialism, however, led to war with Sparta, known to history as the Peloponnesian War.

Nicias The Slave of Fear (died 413 B.C.)
The turning point of the war with Sparta was the disastrous Sicilian Expedition eagerly undertaken by the greedy Athenians. Nicias was the reluctant leader in this debacle.

Agesilaus The Lame King of Sparta (444 - 360 B.C.)
Agesilaus inherited the Spartan throne after Sparta had defeated Athens in the Peloponnesian War. At that time, Sparta was the undisputed master of Greece and the Aegean. Because of his stubborn lust for conquest, Agesilaus violated the laws of Lycurgus against imperialistic ventures and fighting too much with the same enemy. By the time Agesilaus died, Sparta had lost most of its prestige and power.

Pelopidas The Freedom Fighter (410 - 364 B.C.)
Pelopidas led the Thebans to recover their liberty, then he led them to victory over the invincible Spartans. From beginning to end, his was the life of a hero.

Dion The Savior of Syracuse (409 - 354 B.C.)
Sicily was an important part of the Greek world. Dion led the struggle against tyranny in its largest city, Syracuse. Betrayal and ingratitude were his reward for indulging the democrats of Syracuse.

Timoleon The Friend of Fortune (411 - 336 B.C.)
Against heavy odds, but with the help of the gods, Timoleon took up where Dion had left off, and liberated Sicily from barbarians and tyrants. His courage and wisdom established peace and prosperity where before there had been desolation and war.

Alexander "The Great" (356 - 323 B.C.)
In an amazing eleven-year journey of conquest, young Alexander of Macedonia conquered all the way from Egypt to India. Behind him came Greek institutions and the Greek language, which became the standard of the ancient world. The intoxication of power caused Alexander to become strange to his friends, and he died unhappy.

Phocion "The Good" (402 - 318 B.C.)
After her defeat in the Peloponnesian War, and her surrender to the power of Macedonia, Athens became a decadent democracy. Phocion did his best to save his fellow citizens from their own foolishness, and at last he earned the reward of Socrates.

Pyrrhus The Fool of Hope (319 - 272 B.C.)
In Pyrrhus' wild career of restless trouble-making, we see a soul incapable of satisfaction. He was a mighty man of war, and nearly conquered Rome, but he could never finish what he started before getting distracted by a new project.

Agis The Reformer of Sparta (reigned 245 - 241 B.C.)
The love of money had virtually destroyed the laws of Lycurgus in Sparta by the time Agis became king. This idealistic young man tried to restore the old way of life that had made Sparta great, but he was defeated by the power of greed.

Philopoemen "The Last of the Greeks" (252 - 182 B.C.)
Philopoemen led the last remnants of resistance to the creeping domination of Rome in Greece. In this austere general, we see an indomitable character, superior to his circumstances.

S O L W N
by Plutarch

Athens, unlike Sparta, was a money-mad commercial city. The constitution written by Solon mitigated the class struggle between rich and poor, and allowed for the growth of democratic institutions.

Go to Home Page for 15 Greek Heroes from Plutarch's Lives

Solon was born into a well-to-do family of Athens. He worked as a merchant in the export-import trade, and he considered himself relatively poor. He did not worship money, as is evident from these poems of his:

The man whose riches satisfy his greed
Is not more rich for all those heaps and hoards
Than some poor man who has enough to feed
And clothe his corpse with such as God affords.

I have no use for men who steal and cheat;
The fruit of evil poisons those who eat.

Some wicked men are rich, some good men poor,
But I would rather trust in what's secure;
Our virtue sticks with us and makes us strong,
But money changes owners all day long.

Poetry was for Solon a way to entertain himself, and he also used poetry to give his ideas easy access to the minds of the Athenians.

* * *

The seven wise men of Greece were well-known, both to each other and to the general public. 1 Anacharsis, who was one of these wise men, came to visit Solon in Athens. When Anacharsis saw Athenian democracy at work, he remarked that it was strange that in Athens wise men spoke and fools decided. Solon admired this man's ready wit and he entertained Anacharsis as his guest for a long time. Solon showed Anacharsis some laws that he was drafting for the Athenians. Anacharsis laughed at Solon for imagining that the dishonesty and greed of the Athenians could be restrained by written laws. Such laws, said Anacharsis, are like spiderwebs: they catch the weak and poor, but the rich can rip right through them.

When Solon went to visit another of the seven wise men, Thales of Miletus, Solon asked why Thales did not get married and have children. Thales gave no reply, but he hired an actor, who a few days later pretended to have just arrived from Athens. Solon asked this actor for the latest news, and the actor replied as he had been instructed by Thales. He said that nothing important had happened, except there was a funeral of some young man who had died while his famous father happened to be away. "Poor man," said Solon, "but what is his name?" With every question and answer, Solon got more and more worried, until finally he mentioned his own name. "That's the man!" said the actor, and Solon went into all of the usual expressions of grief while Thales watched impassively. After a while, Thales said to Solon: "You asked why I did not marry and have children. You now see the reason. Such a loss is too much for even your brave spirit to bear. But don't worry, it was all nothing but a lie."

Nevertheless, it shows a lack of judgment and courage to avoid having good things because we are afraid of losing them. Even our virtue, which is by far our most valuable possession, can be lost through sickness or drugs. The soul has an innate tendency of affection, and when it cannot fix itself on a child it seeks some other object, and grief comes just the same. When a dog dies, or a horse, smug bachelors collapse in sorrow, but some fathers can bear the loss even of a child without extravagant grief.

It is not affection, but weakness, that brings a man -- unarmed against fortune by reason -- into these endless pains and terrors. Because they are always worrying about what might go wrong, most are unable to enjoy their present opportunities for happiness.

* * *

For a long time, the Athenians and the Megarians had been fighting over the island of Salamis. The Athenians got tired of the war and passed a law that anyone who advocated possession of Salamis would die. Solon saw that most of the young men wanted to finish the fight, but were afraid to speak out because of this law.

So Solon pretended to go crazy. A rumor spread that Solon had made up some crazy poems and was now totally out of his mind. Then one day he appeared in the marketplace and stood in the speaker's place. All of the Athenians swarmed to hear the crazy man speak. Still keeping up the act of insanity, Solon sang a song of over a hundred verses about Salamis. The poem was so well done that the people forgave him for violating the new law. Before long, the law was repealed, and the Athenians prosecuted the war with greater vigor than ever before. Solon, who meanwhile had recovered, was chosen to be the general to lead them in it.

Salamis was occupied at the time by the Megarians. Solon sent a spy there to tell the Megarians of a great opportunity to kidnap the most noble ladies of Athens, who were celebrating a festival at the temple of Venus. This was true, but what the Megarians failed to realize was that Solon knew that they would be coming.

When he saw their sails coming from Salamis, Solon replaced the women with beardless men dressed in women's clothes. From a distance, the Megarians could not tell the difference. They landed and anchored their ships, jumping out into the water in their eagerness to get at the women. The last thing on their minds was defense, and every one of them was killed. Then the Athenians sailed to Salamis in the Megarians' ships and took the island by surprise.

* * *

Athens at this time had three factions: the people of the hills, who favored democracy; the people of the plains, who favored oligarchy; and the people of the shore, who favored a mixed sort of government and prevented either of the other two factions from prevailing. The political turmoil had come to the point where it appeared that the only way any government at all could be established would be for some tyrant to take all power into his own hands.

Under Athenian law at that time, if a loan went into default, the creditor could seize the debtor and his family and sell them as slaves to get money to pay off the debt. The cruelty and arrogance of the rich caused the poor to form into gangs to save themselves and rescue those who had been made slaves through usury. The best men of the city saw Solon as someone who was partial to neither the rich nor the poor, and they asked him to lead. The rich consented because Solon was wealthy, and the poor consented because he was honest.

Solon's task was dangerous and difficult because of the greediness of one side and the arrogance of the other. To placate both sides, Solon said: "Fairness breeds no strife." To the poor, "fairness" meant equal wealth; and to the rich, "fairness" meant keeping what they owned. 2

Both rich and poor, therefore, believed for a while that Solon was on their side. But soon the poor people became disgusted that Solon would not use his power to seize the property of the rich. Solon's friends advised him that he would be a fool if he did not take advantage of the opportunity that fate had presented. Now that he had this power, they said, he should make himself a tyrant. Solon, who was a wise man, replied that tyranny is indeed a very pleasant peak, but there is no way down from it.

* * *

Unlike Lycurgus, Solon could not change the state from top to bottom, so he worked only on what it was possible to improve without a total revolution. He only attempted what he thought he could persuade the Athenians to accept, with a little compulsion. Wherever possible, Solon made use of euphemisms, such as calling taxes "contributions." With a judicious mixture of sweet with sour, justice with force, he managed to achieve some success. When afterwards Solon was asked whether he had made the best laws he could for the Athenians, he answered: "The best they were able to receive."

Solon's first reform was forbidding mortgages on bodies. Even with the consent of the debtor, the creditor could no longer legally enslave him and his family. Those who had already become slaves were liberated, and those who had been sold to foreigners returned to Athens as free men. Solon also ordered that all outstanding debts were forgiven, so all mortgages on land disappeared.

But here Solon was disappointed by his friends. Shortly before he published his law releasing all mortgages, he told some of his most trusted friends. They immediately went out and borrowed money to buy land, giving the purchased land as security for repayment of the loan. When the law was published, they had their land free and clear. For this, Solon was suspected, but when it came to be known that he himself had lost fifteen talents by his own law, he managed to escape serious damage to his reputation.

Neither the rich nor the poor got all they wanted from Solon's reforms. There was no complete redistribution of wealth as the poor had demanded, and the rich were angry about the loss of the money they were owed. Both the rich and the poor now hated Solon for not obeying their desires. Even those who had been friendly to him before now looked at him with grim faces, as an enemy. But with time and success came forgiveness. When the Athenians saw the good result of the release of debts, they appointed Solon general reformer of their law.

Solon repealed the laws of Dracon, 3 which punished even small offenses with death, so it was said that the laws of Dracon [codified 621 B.C.] were written in blood instead of ink. When someone asked Dracon why he had made his laws so severe, he answered: "We need the death penalty to prevent small crimes, and for bigger ones I can't think of any greater punishment." Solon reserved the death penalty for murder and manslaughter.

Solon made it a law that anyone who refused to take sides in a revolution would lose all civil rights. By this law he made sure that the good would resist the bad and not hide hoping to save themselves, or wait until they could see which side will win.

When Solon was asked once which city he thought was well-governed, he said: "That city where those who have not been injured take up the cause of one who has, and prosecute the case as earnestly as if the wrong had been done to themselves." Accordingly, he allowed anyone to take up the cause of a poor man who had been injured.

* * *

Solon was willing to allow the rich men to continue to be the officers, but he wanted to allow the poor citizens to participate in the government. 4 He therefore classed the citizens according to income. The lowest class, the thetes, were ineligible for election to any office. However, the thetes were allowed to come into the assembly, and as jurors they decided cases submitted to their vote. Since Solon's laws were deliberately obscure and ambiguous, the courts had significant powers of interpretation. What had seemed an insignificant concession to the poor turned out to be a significant privilege.

Solon created a supreme court, whose members were former archons [annual presidents] of Athens. Seeing that after the release of debts the people were beginning to be unruly and arrogant, Solon also created a council of four hundred -- one hundred from each of the four tribes in Athens. This was an additional legislative body, whose powers were limited to debating matters before they were submitted to the people for a vote. Nothing could be voted on until it had been vetted by the four hundred. With the supreme court and the council of four hundred as anchors, the turbulence of the people was restrained within safe limits.

Solon made it a crime to defame the dead. As for the living, attacks on character were prohibited in the council-chambers of the city and at certain festivals. Solon knew that spite is part of human nature, but he established certain places where it was illegal to indulge this weakness. To suppress it completely would have been impossible.

If the aim is to punish a few, moderately, as an example -- rather than many, severely, to no purpose -- the lawmaker must confine his law to the limits of human nature, and not try to legislate perfection.

* * *

Many people had come to Athens rather than struggle to scratch a living from the barren land of Attica. Without something to sell, Athens could not feed itself. Therefore crafts became essential to the city's prosperity. Solon made it a law that a son was not bound to relieve his father's old age unless the father had set him up in some craft. He also made it a law that every man had to report each year how he made his living, and anyone found to be unemployed was punished.

The laws promulgated by Solon were written on boards. Every one of the leading citizens publicly swore to observe them. But now Solon was besieged every day by people asking for an interpretation of some provision, or complaining about how a law affected them. Solon decided that he should leave the Athenians for a while so that they would cease bothering him, and work things out by themselves. He got permission to leave Athens and took a ship to Egypt [590 B.C.].

* * *

The priests of Egypt told Solon the ancient story of the lost continent of Atlantis. 5 Solon translated the story of Atlantis into Greek verse, thinking that it would be a very good thing for the Greeks to know.

King Croesus of Sardis, who was at this time the richest man in the world, invited Solon to come and visit him at his palace. Solon arrived, and upon entering the palace he saw a man magnificently dressed and accompanied by a retinue of slaves and soldiers, so he assumed that this man must be Croesus. But he turned out to be only a minor official in Croesus' court. As Solon proceeded through the palace, he saw several other officials just as grand. Finally Solon was admitted to the king's chamber for the interview, and there was Croesus dressed in his most splendid clothes and jewelry.

Solon was not dazzled by this display of barbaric magnificence, which had awed so many others. So King Croesus commanded that his treasure houses be opened so that Solon could see how many beautiful clothes he had, and how much gold. Solon politely looked at everything, then came back to the king. "Well, Solon," said Croesus, "have you ever seen a man who was more fortunate than Croesus?"

Solon replied: "Yes, I have, and that was Tellus, a citizen of Athens. He was an honest man who left his children well provided for and with good will in the city. He lived to see grandchildren by his sons. Then he died gloriously, fighting for his country."

This frank answer enraged Croesus, but Solon pacified him by adding: "Oh mighty king of the Lydians, the gods have given us Greeks only small things, and our wisdom is only of small things and not the business of men as important as you. We consider how a man's life is so much subject to chance, and how disaster can come to us completely by surprise, so we don't consider any man to be successful until he has died well, with his good fortune intact to the end. Otherwise, if we should say that a living man is a success, when there is so much that can still happen to him, we would be like soldiers celebrating victory before the battle is over." After that speech, Solon made his exit and saved his life.

He happened to meet Aesop, the author of the famous fables, who also had been invited to the palace of Croesus. Aesop said: "Either we must not come to mighty men at all, or we must try to please them." But Solon replied: "Either we must not come to mighty men, or we must tell them the truth."

Afterwards, King Croesus was defeated by King Cyrus of Persia. Croesus lost his kingdom and was taken prisoner. He was tied to a stake, and was about to be burned alive for the amusement of Cyrus, when Croesus cried out Solon's name three times. Cyrus stopped the proceedings and asked Croesus whether this Solon was a man or one of the gods. Croesus answered: "He was one of the wise men of Greece, whom I invited to my palace. Not that I might learn anything, but so that he might witness my good fortune at that time. The loss of it now is more painful than its enjoyment was pleasant. My riches were really only words and opinion, and now they have brought me to be burned at the stake. Solon saw me in my foolish prosperity and foresaw my present misery. He warned me that I should consider the end of my life, and not boast on slippery ground, since no man is happy until he has died well." Cyrus saw the teaching of Solon confirmed by such a notable example. He released Croesus and kept him at his court as one of his most honored counselors.

* * *

While Solon was gone, the three factions [Hill, Plain, and Shore] began to quarrel again. Although they kept his laws, each one looked forward to some kind of change that might give an advantage over the others. Solon was too old to take an active role when he arrived back in Athens, but he met privately with the leaders and tried to calm down the partisan rancor.

Pisistratus, who led the poor, seemed to be the most willing of all. Pisistratus was a smooth talker and a master of fraud. He fooled the poor and even old Solon, who said that if only the worm of ambition could be plucked from the head of Pisistratus there would be no better citizen.

One day, Pisistratus smeared blood over himself and dramatically appeared in the marketplace. He told the people that their enemies, the rich, had done this to him because he was the friend of the poor. One of his followers then made a motion to appoint a fifty-man bodyguard to protect this martyr of the people's cause. Solon saw through this trick, but the poor were determined to gratify Pisistratus, and the rich were afraid to resist him.

Solon told the Athenians that they were indeed shrewd as individuals, but collectively they made one big fool. And with that parting shot, Solon went away, saying that he was wiser than some and braver than others -- wiser than those who had fallen for the trick, and braver than those who understood what was happening but did not dare to speak out against the coming of a tyrant. 6

No one questioned Pisistratus as he gathered many more than fifty armed men around him. No one noticed what Pisistratus was doing until one day he seized the strongholds of the city and made himself tyrant [561 B.C.]. The rich saved their lives by fleeing Athens. Solon was weak and old, and he had no man willing to stand by him, but he went to the marketplace and scolded the Athenians for being too afraid of Pisistratus and his gang to take back their liberty. "Before," he said, "you might have more easily stopped this tyranny, but now that it is already in place you can win even more glory by rooting it out."

But the Athenians did nothing, and Solon stayed home and wrote bitter poems. His friends warned him to get out of Athens, or at least not to anger Pisistratus with his free speech. They asked him why he thought he was safe to speak so boldly against the tyrant, and Solon answered: "My age." Pisistratus, however, continued to pay great respect to Solon, and continually consulted him. He kept most of Solon's laws, and even obeyed them himself.

Finishing the story of Atlantis proved to be too great a task for Solon in his old age. Instead, as he wrote:

But now the powers of Beauty, Song, and Wine,
Which are most men's delights, are also mine.

Go to Home Page for 15 Greek Heroes from Plutarch's Lives

Go to Life of Aristides

NOTES:

1. Solon was one of these seven wise men.

2. Land reform was much more difficult in Athens than in Sparta. The principal agricultural product of Athens was olive oil, a cash crop traded for commodities from the rest of the world. It was used not only for cooking but more importantly for burning in lamps for illumination. Greek olive trees take 16 years to mature and reach peak production after 40 years, so cultivation is labor-intensive and produces no reward for a long time. Athenian land reform would mean someone reaps where he has not sown.

3. From Dracon we get the modern adjective "draconian," which is used to describe laws where the penalties are extreme in relation to the harm of the crime. The same Draconian approach is taken today with regard to current political fads in crime, and the same flimsy justification is offered.

4. The poor in Athens had been powerless until Solon instituted his reforms.

5. Solon consulted the ancient records kept by the Egyptians and made a start on the story of Atlantis. Plato (427-347 B.C.), who was a relative of Solon, inherited the task, and his dialogue the Timaeus and a fragment entitled Critias tell part of this story. Nine thousand years (according to Plato) before Solon's visit to Egypt, a great civilization on an island in the Atlantic Ocean disappeared on a day of great rain and earthquakes. Plato did not finish the story, and what Solon wrote has disappeared.

Atlantis remains a controversial topic. Even extra-sensory perception has been offered as evidence. See W. Scott-Eliot, The Story of Atlantis and the Lost Continent of Lemuria (London: Theosophical Publishing House, 1925). The classic in the field is Donnelly's Atlantis: The Antediluvian World, first published in 1882 and frequently reprinted. Donnelly claimed that Greek mythology is merely a remnant of Atlantean history, and he adduced voluminous evidence (which, as Donnelly's critics gleefully point out, is not all reliable) in support of the existence of Atlantis as described by Plato. Recent attempts by scientists to place Atlantis in the Aegean, and at a more recent time, have failed. See Edwin S. Ramage, Atlantis: Fact or Fiction (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1978).

6. The tyranny of Pisistratus and his sons lasted from 561 to 510 B.C. Cleisthenes and a group of exiled Athenian nobles, aided by an army from Sparta, liberated the Athenians from their tyrant.

The case of Pisistratus illustrates the paradigm of revolution turning into tyranny. The resentment of the poor against the arrogance of the rich empowers a dictator to reform the society. Supported by the parasites and criminals, the tyrant's gang of hired soldiers gradually kills off anyone who might threaten his control, and he disregards justice. No one's life and property are secure from the tyrant's power. No one dares to be the least bit original or ambitious because an army of professional informants directs the tyrant's paranoia against anyone who stands out from the crowd. With enthusiasm and innovation chilled by fear, the society becomes technologically retarded, morally timid, and artistically numb.

The Ancient Olympics
Their Origin in Greek Mythology and Religion
copyright 2001, 2002 by Tracy Marks

What is the origin of the Olympics?
The Olympic Games, originally created to honor Zeus, was the most important national festival of the ancient Greeks, and a focus of political rivalries between the nation-states. However, all competitions involved individual competitors rather than teams. Winning an Olympic contest was regarded more highly than winning a battle and was proof of an individual arete or personal excellence. The winners were presented with garlands, crowned with olive wreaths, and viewed as national heroes.

Although records of the Olympics date back to 776 BC when the Olympics were reorganized and the official "First Olympiad" was held, Homer's Iliad suggests that they existed as early as the 12th century BC. The games were held every four years in honor of Zeus, in accordance with the four year time periods which the Greeks called olympiads. Emperor Theodosius I of Rome discontinued them in the 4th century AD, and they did not occur again until they were reinstated in Athens in 1896.

Originally, the Olympics was confined to running, but by the 15th Olympiad, additional sports were added the pentathlon (five different events), boxing, wrestling, chariot racing, as well as a variety of foot races of varying lengths, including a long-distance race of about 2.5 miles.

Athletes usually competed nude, proudly displaying their perfect bodies. Women, foreigners, slaves, and dishonored persons were forbidden to compete; women, once they were married, were not even allowed to watch any Olympic events, except for chariot races. However, every four years, women held their own games, called the Heraea after Hera, held at Argos, and beginning as early as the 6th century B.C. and lasting at least six centuries until Roman rule.

How was the Olympics a sacred festival?
Unlike our modern Olympic games, the ancient Greek Olympic games was a religious rather than secular festival, celebrating the gods in general and Zeus in particular. The contests themselves alternated with altar rituals and sacrifices, as well as processions and banquets. Individual competitors trained rigorously not only for personal glory, but also to impress and please a god through demonstrating strength and agility.

Although one legend suggests that Heracles won a race at Olympia and decreed that races should be instituted every four years, the most common legends suggest that Zeus originated the games after he defeated Cronus in battle. Many events occurred at the Olympic stadium near the temple of Zeus in Olympia southwest of Athens. Inside the temple was the 42 foot high gold and ivory statue of Zeus sculpted by Pheidias, considered to be one of seven wonders of the ancient world.

Eventually the games were also held at other sacred spots in the Greek city-states, such as Delphi and Corinth. These games honored the ruling god of the particular locality, most notably Apollo and Poseidon in addition to Zeus. Apollo from the start had an indirect role in the festivities, since the winners were always lauded with garlands of laurel, the tree most sacred to Apollo ever since his beloved Daphne was transformed into a laurel tree.

The noteworthy classics web site, Perseus, from Tufts University, has a mini-site on the ancient Olympics at http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/Olympics/. According to Perseus scholars:

"The Games were held in honor of Zeus, the king of the Greek gods, and a sacrifice of 100 oxen was made to the god on the middle day of the festival. Athletes prayed to the gods for victory, and made gifts of animals, produce, or small cakes, in thanks for their successes.

According to legend, the altar of Zeus stood on a spot struck by a thunderbolt, which had been hurled by the god from his throne high atop Mount Olympus, where the gods assembled. Some coins from Elis had a thunderbolt design on the reverse, in honor of this legend.

Over time, the Games flourished, and Olympia became a central site for the worship of Zeus. Individuals and communities donated buildings, statues, altars and other dedications to the god."

SOURCES and RECOMMENDED LINKS http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/Olympics/ http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/Olympics/rel.html http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/sports/A0860127.html http://www.hickoksports.com/history/olancien.shtml http://www.sltrib.com/2001/feb/02032001/saturday/68198.htm http://kids.infoplease.lycos.com/ce6/sports/A0860127.html http://scsc.essortment.com/athleticshistor_rjzj.htm http://ancienthistory.about.com/library/weekly/aa021798.htm

Celtic:
Heaven and Earth were great giants, and Heaven lay upon the Earth so that their children were crowded between them, and the children and their mother were unhappy in the darkness. The boldest of the sons led his brothers in cutting up Heaven into many pieces. From his skull they made the firmament. His spilling blood caused a great flood which killed all humans except a single pair, who were saved in a ship made by a beneficent Titan. The waters settled in hollows to become the oceans. The son who led in the mutilation of Heaven was a Titan and became their king, but the Titans and gods hated each other, and the king titan was driven from his throne by his son, who was born a god. That Titan at last went to the land of the departed. The Titan who built the ship, whom some consider to be the same as the king Titan, went there also. [Sproul, pp. 172-173]

Egypt:
People have become rebellious. Atum said he will destroy all he made and return the earth to the Primordial Water which was its original state. Atum will remain, in the form of a serpent, with Osiris. [Faulkner, plate 30] (Unfortunately the version of the papyrus with the flood story is damaged and unclear. See also Budge, p. c

Greek:
Zeus sent a flood to destroy the men of the Bronze Age. Prometheus advised his son Deucalion to build a chest. All other men perished except for a few who escaped to high mountains. The mountains in Thessaly were parted, and all the world beyond the Isthmus and Peloponnese was overwhelmed. Deucalion and his wife Pyrrha (daughter of Epimetheus and Pandora), after floating in the chest for nine days and nights, landed on Parnassus. When the rains ceased, he sacrificed to Zeus, the God of Escape. At the bidding of Zeus, he threw stones over his head; they became men, and the stones which Pyrrha threw became women. That is why people are called laoi, from laas, "a stone." [Apollodorus, 1.7.2]

The first race of people was completely destroyed because they were exceedingly wicked. The fountains of the deep opened, the rain fell in torrents, and the rivers and seas rose to cover the earth, killing all of them. Deucalion survived due to his prudence and piety and linked the first and second race of men. Onto a great ark he loaded his wives and children and all animals. The animals came to him, and by God's help, remained friendly for the duration of the flood. The flood waters escaped down a chasm opened in Hierapolis. [Frazer, pp. 153-154]

An older version of the story told by Hellanicus has Deucalion's ark landing on Mount Othrys in Thessaly. Another account has him landing on a peak, probably Phouka, in Argolis, later called Nemea. [Gaster, p. 85]

The Megarians told that Megarus, son of Zeus, escaped Deucalion's flood by swimming to the top of Mount Gerania, guided by the cries of cranes. [Gaster, p. 85-86]

An earlier flood was reported to have occurred in the time of Ogyges, founder and king of Thebes. The flood covered the whole world and was so devastating that the country remained without kings until the reign of Cecrops. [Gaster, p. 87]

Nannacus, king of Phrygia, lived before the time of Deucalion and foresaw that he and all people would perish in a coming flood. He and the Phrygians lamented bitterly, hence the old proverb about "weeping like (or for) Nannacus." After the deluge had destroyed all humanity, Zeus commanded Prometheus and Athena to fashion mud images, and Zeus summoned winds to breathe life into them. The place where they were made is called Iconium after these images. [Frazer, p. 155]

"Many great deluges have taken place during the nine thousand years" since Athens and Atlantis were preeminent. Destruction by fire and other catastrophes was also common. In these floods, water rose from below, destroying city dwellers but not mountain people. The floods, especially the third great flood before Deucalion, washed away most of Athens' fertile soil. [Plato, "Timaeus" 22, "Critias" 111-112]

Scandinavian:
Oden, Vili, and Ve fought and slew the great ice giant Ymir, and icy water from his wounds drowned most of the Rime Giants. The giant Bergelmir escaped, with his wife and children, on a boat made from a hollowed tree trunk. From them rose the race of frost ogres. Ymir's body became the world we live on. His blood became the oceans. [Sturluson, p. 35]

 http://ce.eng.usf.edu/pharos/wonders/zeus.html

In his right hand a figure of Victory made from ivory and gold. In his left hand, his scepter inlaid with all metals, and an eagle perched on the sceptre. The sandals of the god are made of gold, as is his robe.

Pausanias the Greek (2nd century AD)

------------------------------------------------------------------------

This is the statue of the god in whose honor the Ancient Olympic games were held. It was located on the land that gave its very name to the Olympics. At the time of the games, wars stopped, and athletes came from Asia Minor, Syria, Egypt, and Sicily to celebrate the Olympics and to worship their king of gods: Zeus.

Location

At the ancient town of Olympia, on the west coast of modern Greece, about 150 km west of Athens.

History

The ancient Greek calendar starts in 776 BC, for the Olympic games are believed to have started that year. The magnificent temple of Zeus was designed by the architect Libon and was built around 450 BC. Under the growing power of ancient Greece, the simple Doric-style temple seemed too mundane, and modifications were needed. The solution: A majestic statue. The Athenian sculptor Pheidias was assigned for the "sacred" task, reminiscent of Michelangelo's paintings at the Sistine Chapel.

For the years that followed, the temple attracted visitors and worshippers from all over the world. In the second century BC repairs were skillfully made to the aging statue. In the first century AD, the Roman emperor Caligula attempted to transport the statue to Rome. However, his attempt failed when the scaffolding built by Caligula's workmen collapsed. After the Olympic games were banned in AD 391 by the emperor Theodosius I as Pagan practices, the temple of Zeus was ordered closed.

Olympia was further struck by earthquakes, landslides and floods, and the temple was damaged by fire in the fifth century AD. Earlier, the statue had been transported by wealthy Greeks to a palace in Constantinople. There, it survived until it was destroyed by a severe fire in AD 462. Today nothing remains at the site of the old temple except rocks and debris, the foundation of the buildings, and fallen columns.

Description

Pheidias began working on the statue around 440 BC. Years earlier, he had developed a technique to build enormous gold and ivory statues. This was done by erecting a wooden frame on which sheets of metal and ivory were placed to provide the outer covering. Pheidias' workshop in Olympia still exists, and is coincidentally -- or may be not -- identical in size and orientation to the temple of Zeus. There, he sculpted and carved the different pieces of the statue before they were assembled in the temple.

When the statue was completed, it barely fitted in the temple. Strabo wrote:

".. although the temple itself is very large, the sculptor is criticized for not having appreciated the correct proportions. He has shown Zeus seated, but with the head almost touching the ceiling, so that we have the impression that if Zeus moved to stand up he would unroof the temple."

Strabo was right, except that the sculptor is to be commended, not criticized. It is this size impression that made the statue so wonderful. It is the idea that the king of gods is capable of unroofing the temple if he stood up that fascinated poets and historians alike. The base of the statue was about 6.5 m (20 ft) wide and 1.0 meter (3 ft) high. The height of the statue itself was 13 m (40 ft), equivalent to a modern 4-story building.

The statue was so high that visitors described the throne more than Zeus body and features. The legs of the throne were decorated with sphinxes and winged figures of Victory. Greek gods and mythical figures also adorned the scene: Apollo, Artemis, and Niobe's children. The Greek Pausanias wrote:

On his head is a sculpted wreath of olive sprays. In his right hand he holds a figure of Victory made from ivory and gold... In his left hand, he holds a sceptre inlaid with every kind of metal, with an eagle perched on the sceptre. His sandals are made of gold, as is his robe. His garments are carved with animals and with lilies. The throne is decorated with gold, precious stones, ebony, and ivory.

The statue was occasionally decorated with gifts from kings and rulers. the most notable of these gifts was a woollen curtain "adorned with Assyrian woven patterns and Pheonician dye" which was dedicated by the Syrian king Antiochus IV.

Copies of the statue were made, including a large prototype at Cyrene (Libya). None of them, however, survived to the present day. Early reconstructions such as the one by von Erlach are now believed to be rather inaccurate. For us, we can only wonder about the true appearance of the statue -- the greatest work in Greek sculpture.

The twelve Olympians were the 3rd dynasty of gods that succeeded The Titans, and were so called because it was believed that they inhabited the top of a mountain called Olympus. The twelve Olympians comprised the following deities:

Zeus    The supreme god
Hera    Goddess of marriage, and married women
Poseidon    God of the sea
Demeter    Goddess of corn, fruit and agriculture in general
Apollo God of the sun, music and poetry
Artemis    Goddess of the moon, hunting and chastity
Athene    Goddess of wisdom
Aphrodite    Goddess of love and beauty
Hermes    God of eloquence and speech
Ares God of war
Hephaestus    God of fire and the chief workman of the gods
Dionysus    God of wine and merrymaking

The Olympians

Zeus Zeus overthrew his Father Cronus. He then drew lots with his brothers Poseidon and Hades. Zeus won the draw and became the supreme ruler of the gods. He is lord of the sky, the rain god. His weapon is a thunderbolt which he hurls at those who displease him. He is married to Hera but, is famous for his many affairs. He is also known to punish those that lie or break oaths.

Poseidon Poseidon is the brother of Zeus. After the overthrow of their Father Cronus he drew lots with Zeus and Hades, another brother, for shares of the world. His prize was to become lord of the sea. He was widely worshiped by seamen. He married Amphitrite, a granddaughter of the Titan Oceanus. At one point he desired Demeter. To put him off Demeter asked him to make the most beautiful animal that the world had ever seen. So to impress her Poseidon created the first horse. In some accounts his first attempts were unsuccessful and created a variety of other animals in his quest. By the time the horse was created his passion for Demeter had cooled. His weapon is a trident, which can shake the earth, and shatter any object. He is second only to Zeus in power amongst the gods. He has a difficult quarrelsome personality. He was greedy. He had a series of disputes with other gods when he tried to take over their cities.

Hades Hades is the brother of Zeus. After the overthrow of their Father Cronus he drew lots with Zeus and Poseidon, another brother, for shares of the world. He had the worst draw and was made lord of the underworld, ruling over the dead. He is a greedy god who is greatly concerned with increasing his subjects. Those whose calling increase the number of dead are seen favorably. The Erinyes are welcomed guests. He is exceedingly disinclined to allow any of his subjects leave. He is also the god of wealth, due to the precious metals mined from the earth. He has a helmet that makes him invisible. He rarely leaves the underworld. He is unpitying and terrible, but not capricious. His wife is Persephone whom Hades abducted. He is the King of the dead but, death itself is another god, Thanatos.

Hestia Hestia is Zeus sister. She is a virgin goddess. She does not have a distinct personality. She plays no part in myths. She is the Goddess of the Hearth, the symbol of the house around which a new born child is carried before it is received into the family. Each city had a public hearth sacred to Hestia, where the fire was never allowed to go out.

Hera Hera is Zeus wife and sister. She was raised by the Titans Ocean and Tethys. She is the protector of marriage and takes special care of married women. Hera's marriage was founded in strife with Zeus and continued in strife. Zeus courted her unsuccessfully. He then turned to trickery, changing himself into disheveled cuckoo. Hera feeling sorry for the bird held it to her breast to warm it. Zues then resumed his normal form and taking advantage of the surprise he gained, raped her. She then married him to cover her shame. Once when Zeus was being particularly overbearing to the other gods, Hera convinced them to join in a revolt. Her part in the revolt was to drug Zeus, and in this she was successful. The gods then bound the sleeping Zeus to a couch taking care to tie many knots. This done they began to quarrel over the next step. Briareus overheard the arguments. Still full of gratitude to Zeus, Briareus slipped in and was able to quickly untie the many knots. Zeus sprang from the couch and grabbed up his thunderbolt. The gods fell to their knees begging and pleading for mercy. He seized Hera and hung her from the sky with gold chains. She wept in pain all night but, none of the others dared to interfere. Her weeping kept Zeus up and the next morning he agreed to release her if she would swear never to rebel again. She had little choice but, to agree. While she never again rebelled, she often intrigued against Zeus's plans and she was often able to outwit him. Most stories concerning Hera have to do with her jealous revenge for Zeus's infidelities. Her sacred animals are the cow and the peacock. Her favorite city is Argos.

Ares Ares is the son of Zeus and Hera. He was disliked by both parents. He is the god of war. He is considered murderous and bloodstained but, also a coward. When caught in an act of adultery with Aphrodite her husband Hephaestus is able publicly ridicule him. His bird is the vulture. His animal is the dog.

Athena Athena is the daughter of Zeus. She sprang full grown in armor from his forehead, thus has no mother. She is fierce and brave in battle but, only fights to protect the state and home from outside enemies. She is the goddess of the city, handicrafts, and agriculture. She invented the bridle, which permitted man to tame horses, the trumpet, the flute, the pot, the rake, the plow, the yoke, the ship, and the chariot. She is the embodiment of wisdom, reason, and purity. She was Zeus's favorite child and was allowed to use his weapons including his thunderbolt. Her favorite city is Athens. Her tree is the olive. The owl is her bird. She is a virgin goddess.

Apollo Apollo is the son of Zeus and Leto. His twin sister is Artemis . He is the god of music, playing a golden lyre. The Archer, far shooting with a silver bow. The god of healing who taught man medicine. The god of light. The god of truth, who can not speak a lie. One of Apollo's more important daily tasks is to harness his chariot with four horses an drive the Sun across the sky. He is famous for his oracle at Delphi. People traveled to it from all over the Greek world to divine the future. His tree was the laurel. The crow his bird. The dolphin his animal.

Aphrodite Aphrodite is the goddess of love, desire and beauty. In addition to her natural gifts she has a magical girdle that compels anyone she wishes to desire her. There are two accounts of her birth. One says she is the daughter of Zeus and Dione. The other goes back to when Cronus castrated Uranus and tossed his severed genitals into the sea. Aphrodite then arose from the sea foam on a giant scallop and walked to shore in Cyprus. She is the wife of Hephaestus. The myrtle is her tree. The dove, the swan, and the sparrow her birds.

Hermes Hermes is the son of Zeus and Maia. He is Zeus messenger. He is the fastest of the gods. He wears winged sandals, a winged hat, and carries a magic wand. He is the god of thieves and god of commerce. He is the guide for the dead to go to the underworld. He invented the lyre, the pipes, the musical scale, astronomy , weights and measures, boxing, gymnastics, and the care of olive trees.

Artemis Artemis is the daughter of Zeus and Leto. Her twin brother is Apollo . She is the lady of the wild things. She is the huntsman of the gods. She is the protector of the young. Like Apollo she hunts with silver arrows. She became associated with the moon. She is a virgin goddess, and the goddess of chastity. She also presides over childbirth, which may seem odd for a virgin, but goes back to causing Leto no pain when she was born. She became associated with Hecate. The cypress is her tree. All wild animals are scared to her, especially the deer.

Hephaestus Hephaestus is the son of Zeus and Hera. Sometimes it is said that Hera alone produced him and that he has no father. He is the only god to be physically ugly. He is also lame. Accounts as to how he became lame vary. Some say that Hera, upset by having an ugly child, flung him from Mount Olympus into the sea, breaking his legs. Others that he took Hera's side in an argument with Zeus and Zeus flung him off Mount Olympus. He is the god of fire and the forge. He is the smith and armorer of the gods. He uses a volcano as his forge. He is the patron god of both smiths and weavers. He is kind and peace loving. His wife is Aphrodite. Sometimes his wife is identified as Aglaia.
http://www.webgreece.gr/greekmythology/olympiangods/

quote:

"Traditionally regarded as the heavenly abode of the Greek gods and the site of the throne of Zeus, Olympos seems to have originally existed as an idealized mountain that only later came to be associated with a specific peak. The early epics, the Illiad and the Odyssey (composed by Homer around 700BC) offer little information regarding the geographic location of the heavenly mountain and there are several peaks in Greece, Turkey and Cyprus that bear the name Olympos. The most favored mythological choice is the tallest mountain range in Greece, the Olympos massif, 100 kilometers southwest of the city of Thessaloniki in northern Greece. The highest peak - shown in the photograph - is Mytikas at 2918 meters (9570 feet).

"The deities believed to have dwelled upon the mythic mount were Zeus, the king of the gods; his wife Hera; his brothers Poseidon and Hades; his sisters Demeter and Hestia; and his children, Apollo, Artemis, Ares, Aphrodite, Athena, Hermes and Hephaestus. It is interesting to note that these Olympian gods and goddesses were understood in ancient times as archetypes representing idealized aspects of the multi-faceted human psyche. Worship of the deities was a method of invoking and amplifying those aspects in the behavior and personality of the human worshipper. Zeus was the god of mind and the intellect, and a protector of strangers and the sanctity of oaths; Hera was a goddess of fertility, the stages of a woman's life and marriage; Apollo represented law and order, and the principles of moderation in moral, social and intellectual matters; Aphrodite was a goddess of love and the overwhelming passions that drove humans to irrational behavior; Hermes was the god of travelers, of sleep and dreams and prophecy; Athena was spiritual wisdom incarnate; Hephaestus was the god of the arts and fire; and Ares represented the dark, bloodthirsty aspect of human nature.
These gods and goddesses did not actually live upon Olympos, rather the ancient myth can be understood to be a metaphor for the power of the sacred mountain. This spiritual power had drawn hermits and monks to live in the caves and forests of the mountain since long before the dawn of the Christian era. With the coming of Christianity the myths and legends of the old Greeks were suppressed and forgotten, and the holy mountain was seldom visited. Today, weekend hikers and young travelers on the vagabond trail through Europe dash up and down the peak in a single day. It is certainly a beautiful place for such a hasty hike, yet to draw upon the real magic of Olympos one must come as a pilgrim and stay some quiet days in the woods. The author has lived for a month in the forests of the sacred peak and experienced that the spirits of the old gods and goddesses are still powerfully present."
http://www.sacredsites.com/europe/greece/mt_olympus.html

In Greek mythology, was the abode of the gods, their home and the site of the throne of Zeus, the chief deity. The highest mountain peak in Greece, it reaches 9,570 feet (2,917 meters) above sea level.

Mount Olympus is part of the broader Olympus mountain mass near the Thermaic Gulf on the Aegean Sea. On the border of Macedonia and Thessaly, Olympus touches both northern and southern Greece.

Mount Olympus is sometimes called Upper Olympus, to be distinguished from Lower Olympus, a connecting peak to the south that is 5,210 feet (1,588 meters) high.
http://www.occultopedia.com/o/olympus_mount.htm

"OPHIOTAUROS" was a monster born with the foreparts of a black bull and the rearparts of a serpent. During the Titan-War it was revealed that whoever fed the innards of this creature to flame would be victorious over the gods. So Zeus' ally, the goddess Styx, then imprisoned the beast near her home in the Underworld. When Briareus, an ally of the Titanes, came and slew the creature, Zeus sent a kite-bird to steal the innards away to heaven and thwart the prophecy.

(This story appears to be part of the lost Greek epic known as the Titanomachia (War of the Titanes), in which the giant AIGAION appears as an ally of the Titanes. Ovid here calls Aigaion Briareus, the name of his son in both the Titanomachia and the Iliad).

Parents

GAIA (Ovid Fasti 3.793)

“The Kite star Milvus … If you want to know what bestowed heaven on that bird: Saturnus [Kronos] was thrust from his realm by Jove [Zeus]. In anger he stirs the mighty Titanes to arms and seeks the assistance owed by fate. There was a shocking monster born of Mother Terra (Earth) [Gaia], a bull, whose back half was a serpent. Roaring Styx [as an ally of Zeus] imprisoned it, warned by the three Parcae [Moirai the Fates], in a black grove with a triple wall. Whoever fed the bull’s guts to consuming flames was destined to defeat the eternal gods. Briareus [Aigaion] slays it with an adamantine axe and prepares to feed the flames its innards. Jupiter [Zeus] commands the birds to grab them; the kite brought them to him and reached the stars on merit.” –Ovid Fasti 3.793

Sources:

THE HEKATONKHEIRES were three GIANT sons of Ouranos and Gaia who each had a hundred arms and fifty heads. Ouranos fearing their strength threw them into Tartaros. Zeus later killed their jailor Kampe and enlisted them in his war against the Titanes.
After the war they were given palaces in the River Okeanos and set to guard the gates of Tartaros, prison of the Titanes.

Parents

OURANOS & GAIA (Theogony 147, Titanomachia Frag 1, Apollodorus 1.1, Hyginus Pref)

Names

BRIAREOS-OBRIAREOS, KOTTOS, GYES (Theogony 147, Apollodorus 1.1, Suidas 'Tritiopatores')
Greek: BriarewV
ObriarewV
KottoV
GuhV Transliteration: Briareos / Obriareos
Kottos
Gyes Translation: Strong

.

"And again, three other sons were born of Gaia and Ouranos, great and doughty beyond telling, Kottos and Briareos and Gyes, presumptuous children. From their shoulders sprang an hundred arms, not to be approached, and each had fifty heads upon his shoulders on their strong limbs, and irresistible was the stubborn strength that was in their great forms. For of all the children that were born of Gaia and Ouranos, these were the most terrible, and they were hated by their own father from the first. And he used to hide them all away in a secret place of Gaia (Earth) so soon as each was born, and would not suffer them to come up into the light: and Ouranos rejoiced in his evil doing. But vast Gaia (Earth) groaned within, being straitened, and she made the element of grey flint and shaped a great sickle, and told her plan to her dear sons [the Titanes]. And she spoke, cheering them, while she was vexed in her dear heart:
`My children, gotten of a sinful father, if you mwill obey me, we should punish the vile outrage of your father; for he first thought of doing shameful things." -Theogony 147-163

"But when first their father [Ouranos] was vexed in his heart with Obriareos and Kottos and Gyes, he bound them in cruel bonds, because he was jealous of their exceeding manhood and comeliness and great size: and he made them live beneath the wide-pathed earth, where they were afflicted, being set to dwell under the ground, at the end of the earth, at its great borders, in bitter anguish for a long time and with great grief at heart. But the son of Kronos [Zeus] and the other deathless gods whom rich-haired Rhea bare from union with Kronos, brought them up again to the light at Gaia's advising. For she herself recounted all things to the gods fully, how that with these they would gain victory and a glorious cause to vaunt themselves. For the Titan gods and as many as sprang from Cronos had long been fighting together in stubborn war ... fighting continually with one another at that time for ten full years, and the hard strife had no close or end for either side, and the issue of the war hung evenly balanced. But when he had provided those three with all things fitting, nectar and ambrosia which the gods themselves eat, and when their proud spirit revived within them all after they had fed on nectar and delicious ambrosia, then it was that the father of men and gods spoke amongst them: `Hear me, bright children of Gaia and Ouranos, that I may say what my heart within me bids. A long while now have we, who are sprung from Kronos and the Titan gods, fought with each other every day to get victory and to prevail. But do you show your great might and unconquerable strength, and face the Titanes in bitter strife; for remember our friendly kindness, and from what sufferings you are come back to the light from your cruel bondage under misty gloom through our counsels.'
So he said. And blameless Kottos answered him again: `Divine one, you speak that which we know well: nay, even of ourselves we know that your wisdom and understanding is exceeding, and that you became a defender of the deathless ones from chill doom. And through your devising we are come back again from the murky gloom and from our merciless bonds, enjoying what we looked not for, O lord, son of Kronos. And so now with fixed purpose and deliberate counsel we will aid your power in dreadful strife and will fight against the Titanes in hard battle.'
So he said: and the gods, givers of good things, applauded when they heard his word, and their spirit longed for war even more than before, and they all, both male and female, stirred up hated battle that day, the Titan gods, and all that were born of Kronos together with those dread, mighty ones of overwhelming strength whom Zeus brought up to the light from Erebos beneath the earth. An hundred arms sprang from the shoulders of all alike, and each had fifty heads growing upon his shoulders upon stout limbs. These, then, stood against the Titanes in grim strife, holding huge rocks in their strong hands. And on the other part the Titanes eagerly strengthened their ranks, and both sides at one time showed the work of their hands and their might. The boundless sea rang terribly around, and the earth crashed loudly: wide Heaven was shaken and groaned, and high Olympus reeled from its foundation under the charge of the undying gods, and a heavy quaking reached dim Tartaros and the deep sound of their feet in the fearful onset and of their hard missiles. So, then, they launched their grievous shafts upon one another, and the cry of both armies as they shouted reached to starry heaven; and they met together with a great battle-cry ...
And amongst the foremost [in the battle] Kottos and Briareos and Gyes insatiate for war raised fierce fighting: three hundred rocks, one upon another, they launched from their strong hands and overshadowed the Titanes with their missiles, and buried them beneath the wide-pathed earth, and bound them in bitter chains when they had conquered them by their strength for all their great spirit, as far beneath the earth to Tartaros ... There by the counsel of Zeus whodrives the clouds the Titan gods are hidden under misty gloom, in a dank place where are the ends of the huge earth. And they may not go out; for Poseidon fixed gates of bronze upon it, and a wall runs all round it on every side. There Gyes and Kottos and great-souled Obriareos live, trusty warders of Zeus who holds the aegis." -Theogony 617-735

"And there [at the ends of earth, sea & sky] are shining gates [to Tartaros] and an immoveable threshold of bronze having unending roots and it is grown of itself. And beyond, away from all the gods, live the Titanes, beyond gloomy Khaos. But the glorious allies of loud-crashing Zeus have their dwelling upon Okeanos' foundations, even Kottos and Gyes; but Briareos, being goodly, the deep-roaring Earth-Shaker [Poseidon] made his son-in-law, giving him Kymopolea his daughter to wed." -Theogony 807-819

'The Epic Cycle begins with the fabled union of Ouranos and Ge, by which they make three Hekatontacheiroi sons and three Kyklopes to be born to him." -Titanomachia Frag 1 from Plotius

"Ouranos was the first to rule over the entire world. He married Ge and sired first the Hekatonkheires, who were names Briareos, Gyes and Kottos. They were unsurpassed in both size and power, and each had a hundred hands and fifty heads. After these he sired the Kyklopes, by name Arges, Steropes, and Brontes, each of whom had one eye in his forehead. But Ouranos bound these and threw them into Tartaros ( a place in Hades’ realm as dark as Erebos, and as far away from the earth as the earth is from the sky).
Now Ge, distressed by the loss of her children into Tartaros, persuaded the Titanes to attack their father, and she gave Kronos a sickle made of adamant. So all of them except Okeanos set upon Ouranos, and Kronos cut off his genitals, tossing them into the sea. (From the drops of the flowing blood Erinyes were born, named Alekto, Tisiphone, Megaira.) Thus having overthrown Ouranos’ rule the Titanes retrieved their brothers from Tartaros and gave the power to Kronos. But Kronos once again bound the Kyklopes and confined them in Tartaros.
After ten years of fighting Ge prophesied a victory for Zeus if he were to secure the prisoners down in Tartaros as his allies. He thereupon slew their jail-keeper Kampe, and freed them from their bonds. In return the Kyklopes gave Zeus thunder, lightning, and a thunderbolt, as well as a helmet for Pluto and a trident for Poseidon. Armed with these the three gods overpowered the Titanes, confined them in Tartaros, and put the Hekatonkheires in charge of guarding them. " -Apollodorus 1.1-7

"Tritopatores: Demon in the Atthis says that the Tritopatores are winds ... Phanodemos in [book] 6 maintains that only [the] Athenians both sacrifice to them and pray to them, when they are about to marry, for the conception of children ... But the author of Explanation claims that they are [the offspring] of Ouranos (Heaven) and Ge (Earth), and that their names are Kottos, Briareon and Gyges." -Suidas 'Tritiopatores'

Sources:

* Hesiod, Theogony - Greek Epic C8th-7th BC
* Homerica Titanomachia, Fragments - Greek Epic BC
* Apollodorus, The Library - Greek Mythography C2nd BC
* Suidas - Byzantine Greek Lexicography C10th AD

.

BRIAREOS
 
Greek: BriarewV
BriarhoV
ObriarewV Transliteration: Briareôs
Briaręos
Obriareôs Translation: Strong
Latin Spelling: Briareus        

BRIAREOS was one of the HEKATONKHEIRES, the hundred-armed, fifty-headed sons of Ouranos. After the Titan-War he married Poseidon's gigantic daughter Kymopoleia and settled with her in a palace in the River Okeanos.
A firm ally of Zeus, he was summoned by Thetis to assist the god when Hera, Athene and Poseidon had bound him in chains.

Parents

(1) OURANOS & GAIA (Theogony 147, Titanomachia Frag 1, Apollodorus 1.1, Hyginus Pref)
(2) AIGAIOS (Iliad 1.397, Ion of Chios Frag 741)
(3) THALASSA (Ion of Chios Frag 741)

Offspring

OIOLYKA (Ibycus Frag 299)

"But the glorious allies of loud-crashing Zeus have their dwelling upon Okeanos' foundations, even Kottos and Gyes; but Briareos, being goodly, the deep-roaring Earth-Shaker [Poseidon] made his son-in-law, giving him Kymopolea his daughter to wed." -Theogony 817-819

“You [Thetis] said you only among the immortals beat aside shameful destruction from Kronos’ son [Zeus] the dark-misted, that time when all the other Olympian gods sought to bind him, Hera and Poseidon and Pallas Athene. Then you, goddess, went and set him free from his shackles, summoning in speed the creature of the hundred hands to tall Olympos, that creature the gods name Briareos, but all men Aigaios’ son, but he is far greater in strength than his father. He rejoicing in the glory of it sat down by Kronion, and the rest of the blessed gods were frightened and gave up binding him.” –Iliad 1.397-406

"Ion says in a dithyramb that Aigaion was summoned from the ocean by Thetis and taken up to protect Zeus, and that he was the son of Thalassa (Sea) [the author here confuses Briareus with his father Aigaion, son of Thalassa]." -Greek Lyric IV Ion of Chios Frag 741 (from Scholiast on Apollonius of Rhodes)

“The mount of Aitna smoulders with fire and all its secret depths are shaken as the Gigantos under the earth, even Briareos, shifts to his other shoulder, and with the tongs of Hephaistos roar furnaces and handiwork withal; and firewrought basins and tripods ring terribly as they fall one upon the other.” -Callimachus, Hymn IV to Delos 140

”The Korinthians say that Poseidon had a dispute with Helios about the land, and that Briareos arbitrated between them, assigning to Poseidon the Isthmos and the parts adjoining, and giving to Helios the height above the city.” –Pausanias 2.1.5

”The Akrokorinthos [at Korinthos] is a mountain peak above the city, assigned to Helios by Briareos when he acted as adjudicator [between Helios & Poseidon over the land of Korinthos].” –Pausanias 2.4.5

"She [Thetis] was sent to follow Aegaeon freed [Zeus] from his stubborn bonds and to count the hundred fetters of the god.” –Achilleid 1.209

"O Lord Zeus! If thou hast gratitude for Thetis and the ready hands of Briareus, if thou hast not forgot Aigaion the protector of thy laws.” –Dionysiaca 43.361

See also The Hekatonkheires

Sources:

* Hesiod, Theogony - Greek Epic C8th-7th BC
* Homer, The Iliad - Greek Epic C9th-8th BC
* Greek Lyric IV Ion of Chios, Fragments - Greek Lyric BC
* Callimachus, Hymns - Greek C3rd BC
* Pausanias, Guide to Greece - Greek Geography C2nd AD
* Statius, Achilleid - Latin Epic C1st AD
* Nonnos, Dionysiaca - Greek Epic C5th AD

THE ELDER KYKLOPES were three one-eyed GIANTS, known as craftsmen and builders. Their father Ouranos feared their strength and locked them away in Tartaros. Zeus later freed them from this prison enlisting them in the war against the Titanes.
They forged thunderbolts for Zeus, a trident for Poseidon, a helm of invisibility for Hades, and constructed the first altar as well as numerous walls and battlements.

Some say there were a total of seven Kyklops craftsmen - the usual Arges, Brontes and Steropes and four others named Euryalos, Elatreus, Trakhios and Halimedes who were presumably sons of the first three.

It is said that Apollon killed those Kyklopes that forged the thunderbolt that Zeus used to kill Asklepios.
One would suppose that the three eldest were immortal, so perhaps the Kyklopes Apollon killed were their sons.

The tribe of Younger Kyklopes, that Odysseus encountered on his travels, were a different breed, probably born from the blood of the castrated Ouranos. See The Kyklopes (2)

Parents

OURANOS & GAIA (Theogony 139, Titanomachia Frag 1, Apollodorus 1.1)

Names

(1) BRONTES, STEROPES, ARGES (Theogony139, Apollodorus 1.1 Callimachus Hymn to Artemis)
(2) BRONTES, STEROPES, AKMONIDES (Ovid Fasti 4.287)
(3) BRONTES, STEROPES, PYRAKMON (Aeneid 8.414)
(4) BRONTES, STEROPES, ARGES, EURYALOS, ELATREUS, TRAKHIOS, HALIMEDES (Dionysiaca 14.52)
(5) BRONTES, STEROPES (Silvae 1.1.3)
Greek: BronthV
SterophV
ArghV ArgilipoV Transliteration: Brontęs
Steropęs
Argęs Argilipos Translation: Thunder
Lightning
Vivid-Flash
Greek: EurualoV
ElatreuV
TracioV
‘AlimhdhV Transliteration: Euryalos
Elatreus
Trakhios
Halimedes Translation: Wide-Stepping
Forged-Iron
Rugged
Sea-Lord

BIRTH & NAMES OF THE KYKLOPES

"And again, she bare [Gaia to Ouranos] the Kyklopes, overbearing in spirit, Brontes, and Steropes and stubborn-hearted Arges, who gave Zeus the thunder and made the thunderbolt: in all else they were like the gods, but one eye only was set in the midst of their fore-heads. And they were surnamed Kyklopes (Orb-eyed) because one orbed eye was set in their foreheads. Strength and might and craft were in their works. And again, three other sons were born of Gaia and Ouranos, [the Hekatonkheires] ...
For of all the children that were born of Gaia and Ouranos, these were the most terrible, and they werehated by their own father from the first. And he used to hide them all away in a secret place of Gaia (Earth) so soon as each was born, and would not suffer them to come up into the light: and Ouranos rejoiced in his evil doing. But vast Gaia (Earth) groaned within, being straitened, and she made the element of grey flint and shaped a great sickle, and told her plan to her dear sons [the Titanes]. And she spoke, cheering them, while she was vexed in her dear heart:
`My children, gotten of a sinful father, if you mwill obey me, we should punish the vile outrage of your father; for he first thought of doing shameful things." -Theogony 139-163

"The Epic Cycle begins with the fabled union of Ouranos and Ge, by which they make three Hekatontacheiroi [Hundred-handed] sons and three Kyklopes to be born to him." -Titanomachia Frag 1 from Plotius

"Ouranos was the first to rule over the entire world. He married Ge and sired first the Hekatonkheires, who were names Briareos, Gyes and Kottos ... After these he sired the Kyklopes, by name Arges, Steropes, and Brontes, each of whom had one eye in his forehead. But Ouranos bound these and threw them into Tartaros, a place in Hades’ realm as dark as Erebos, and as far away from the earth as the earth is from the sky.
Now Ge, distressed by the loss of her children into Tartaros, persuaded the Titanes to attack their father, and she gave Kronos a sickle made of adamant. So all of them except Okeanos set upon Ouranos, and Kronos cut off his genitals, tossing them into the sea ... Thus having overthrown Ouranos’ rule the Titanes retrieved their brothers from Tartaros and gave the power to Kronos. But Kronos once again bound the Kyklopes and confined them in Tartaros." -Apollodorus 1.1-7

“The Trinacrian sea, where Brontes, Steropes and Acmonides dip the white iron.” –Ovid Fasti 4.287

“Was the effigy moulded in Sicilian furnaces, leaving Brontes and Steropes weary?” –Silvae 1.1.3
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KYKLOPES & THE TITAN-WAR

"And he [Zeus] set free from their deadly bonds the brothers of his father [Kyklopes], sons of Ouranos whom his father in his foolishness had bound. And they remembered to be grateful to him for his kindness, and gave him thunder and the glowing thunderbolt and lightening: for before that, huge Earth had hidden these. In them he trusts and rules over mortals and immortals." -Theogony 492-506

"All mine [Zeus'] armoury [lightning] which the Kyklopes' might to win my favour wrought with tireless hands." -Quintus Smyrnaeus 14.445

"After ten years of fighting Ge prophesied a victory for Zeus if he were to secure the prisoners down in Tartaros as his allies. He thereupon slew their jail-keeper Kampe, and freed them from their bonds. In return the Kyklopes gave Zeus thunder, lightning, and a thunderbolt, as well as a helmet for Pluto and a trident for Poseidon. Armed with these the three gods overpowered the Titanes, confined them in Tartaros, and put the Hekatonkheires in charge of guarding them." -Apollodorus 1.1-7

“Altar. On this altar the gods are thought to have first made offerings and formed an alliance when they were about to oppose the Titanes. The Cyclopes made it. From this observance men established the custom that when they plan to do something, they make sacrifices before beginning the undertaking.” –Hyginus Astronomica 2.39

“[The giant Typhoeus declares his intentions to Zeus when he seizes the throne of heaven:] And cannibal Kronos I will drag up once more to the light ... and bring back the Titanes to heaven, and settle under the same roof in the sky the Kyklopes, sons of Gaia.” –Dionysiaca 2.336
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KYKLOPES FASHION THE LIGHTNING-BOLTS OF ZEUS

“Here were the Kyklopes sitting at work on an imperishable thunderbolt for Zeus the King. One ray was lacking to complete its splendour, and this lay spurting flame as they beat it out with their iron hammers.” -Argonautica 1.731

“The earthborn Kyklopes had given him [Zeus] the bolt, the thunder and lightning that form his glorious armament today.” –Argonautica 1.498

"[Zeus] soared ascending to the ethereal sky, and by his nod called up the trailing clouds and massed a storm, with lightnings in the squalls, and thunder and the bolts that never miss ... he tried, as far as he had power, to curb his might, and would not wield [against his love Semele] the fire with which he’s felled hundred-handed Typhoeus. That was too fierce. There is another bolt, a lighter one, in which the Cyclopes forged a flame less savage and a lesser wrath, called by the gods his second armament. With this in hand he went to Semele in Cadmus’ palace.” –Metamorphoses 3.302

“And the Cyclops’ caverns [in Sicily] scorched by fixed forges.” –Ovid Fasti 4.473

“In nightly vigil the master [Hephaistos] marks the labours of his workmen and the Cyclops prepares the metal for the thunderbolt, while cities echo the clang of stricken anvils.” –Valerius Flaccus 4.286

“A Cyclops all black from the hot furnaces where the glowing bolts are forged finds respite and refuge in the Sicilian sea.” –Valerius Flaccus 7.648

“I [Jove-Zeus] am wearing of venting my anger with flashing brand, long since are the busy arms of the Cyclopes failing, and the fires droop that serve Aeolian anvils.” –Thebaid 1.216

"Not so loud is Aetna’s din, when the anvils are busy and Brontes and Steropes ply the hammer, nor greater noise from the Lemnian caves when Mulciber [Hephaistos] amid his flames forges the aegis and makes chaste gifts for Pallas." -Silvae 3.1.130

“Set foot in Sikelia (Sicily), put your prayer, if you please, to the Kyklopes standing by their forge. They are in the secrets of Hephaistos the master craftsman, they can rival his clever work.” –Dionysiaca 29.348

See also: KYKLOPES & THE TITAN WAR (above) & KYKLOPES SLAIN BY APOLLON (below)
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KYKLOPES FASHION THE ARROWS OF ARTEMIS

“[Artemis to Zeus] ‘Father, I ask thee not for quiver or for mighty bow: for me the Kyklopes will straightway fashion arrows and fashion for me a well-bent bow.” –Callimachus, Hymn III to Artemis 10

“And straightway she [Artemis] went to visit the Kyklopes. Then she found in the isle of Lipara – Lipara in later days, but at that time its name was Meligounis – at the anvils of Hephaistos, standing round a molten mass of iron. For a great work was being hastened on: they fashioned a shores-trough for Poseidon. And the Nymphai [companions of Artemis] were affrighted when they saw the terrible monsters like unto the crags of Ossa: all had single eyes beneath their brows, like a shield of fourfold hide for size, glaring terribly from under; and when they heard the din of the anvil echoing loudly, and the great blast of the bellows and the heavy groaning of the Kyklopes themselves. For Aitna cried aloud, and Trinakie cried, the seat of the Sikanians, cried too their neighbour Italie, and Kyrnos therewithal uttered a mighty noise, when they lifted their hammers above their shoulders and smote with rhythmic swing the bronze glowing from the furnace or iron, labouring greatly. Wherefore the Okeaninai could not untroubled look upon them to face nor endure the din in their ears. No shame to them! On those not even the daughters of the Blessed look without shuddering, though long past childhood’s years. But when any of the maidens doth disobedience to her mother, the mother calls the Kyklopes to her child – Arges or Steropes; and from within the house comes Hermes stained with burnt ashes. And straightway he plays bogey to the child and she runs into her mother’s lap, with her hands upon her eyes. But thou, Maiden [Artemis], even earlier, while yet but three years old, when Leto came bearing thee in her arms at the bidding of Hephaistos that he might give thee handsel [gifts given on seeing a new born child for the first time] and Brontes set thee on his stout knees – thou didst pluck the shaggy hair of his great breast and tear it out by force. And even unto this day the mid part of his breast remains hairless, even as when mange settles on a man’s temples and eats away the hair.
Therefore right boldly didst thou address them then: ‘Kyklopes, for me too fashion ye a Kydonian bow and arrows and a hollow casket for my shafts; for I also am a child of Leto, even as Apollon. And if I with my bow shall slay some wild creature of monstrous beast, that shall the Kyklopes eat.’ So didst thou speak and they fulfilled thy words. Straightway didst thou array thee, O Goddess.” -Callimachus, Hymn III to Artemis 46
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KYKLOPES OTHER FORGINGS

“The Fire-lord [Hephaistos] rose from his downy bed and go to his ironworkds. Between the Sicilian coast and Aeolian Lipare there’s an island, whose cliffs, sheer-rising, jet out smoke from their crannies: deep within it are vaults, a rumbling volcanic cavern scooped out by the action of the Cyclopes’ fires; you can hear the clang of hard blows on the anvils, the roaring when masses of ore are smelted within, and a throbbing blast of flame form the furnaces. Here is Volcanos’ [Hephaistos’] place; the island is called Volcania. Hither now the Fire-god repaired form heaven above. The Cyclopes were hard at work in this underground iron-foundry - Brontes and Steropes, Pyracmon stripped to the buff. They manufactured a thunderbolt, such as the Father of heaven [Zeus] shoots down in such great numbers at earth from all over the sky: part of it was already streamlined, part unfinished. They had given it three fins of twirling sleet, and three of cloudburst, three of russet fire and three of stormwind. Now they were putting in as components frightening flashes, the noise that createspanic, the piercing flames of wrath. Elsewhere, a job was being hurried on for Mars [Ares] – a chariot with swift wheels, such as he rides in to rouse up men and nations. Some busily burnished the aegis Athene wears in her angry moods – a fearsome thing with a surface of gold like scaly snake-skin, and he linked serpents and the Gorgon herself upon the goddess’ breast – a severed head rolling its eyes.
‘Put all that work aside, pack in the jobs you’re engaged on, you Cyclopes of Mount Aetna, and turn your attention to this – the making of arms for a hot-blooded hero! Now there is need for your strength, your speediest work and your master-craftmanship. Get bustling on it at once!’
That was all Volcanos said: quickly they set to the business, shared out the tasks among them equally. Rivers of molten bronze and gold are flowing; the deadly steel is smelted in an immense furnace. They fashion a shield of heroic size, to withstand by itself every missile the Latins can use, welding seven round of metal one on another to make it. Some pump away at the bellows, drawing in air and expelling it; some dip the hissing metal in troughs. The cavern groans under the stress of anvils. They raise their arms with the powerful alternate rhythm of cranks, they keep the iron-ore turning in the close grip of their tongs.” –Aeneid 8.414

"Thereat [the forging of the cursed necklace of Harmonia], though taught mightier tasks, the Cyclopes labour, and the Telchines famed for their handiwork helped in friendly rivalry of their skill; but for himself [Hephaistos] the sweat of toil was heaviest." –Thebaid 2.265
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KYKLOPES BUILD THE WALLS OF TIRYNS & MYKENAI

"Zeus Kronides was willing to honour the race of Danaus [the Argives ... by relieving them from their hateful distress [the wars between Akrisios and Proitos]. The Kyklopes came in their might and toiled to build a most beautiful wall for the famous city [Tiryns]." -Greek Lyric IV Bacchylides Frag 11

"He [Proetos] seized Tiryns, which had been walled for him by the Kyklopes." -Apollodorus 2.25

"After Nauplia [in the Argolis] one comes to the caverns and the labyrinths built in them, which are called Kyklopeian." -Strabo 8.6.2

"Now it seems that Tiryns [in the Argolis] was used as a base of operations by Proitos, and was walled by him through the aid of the Kyklopes, who were seven in number, and were called Gasterokheirai (Bellyhands) because they got their food from their handicraft, and they came by invitation from Lykia. And perhaps the caverns near Nauplia [in the Argolis] and the works therein are named after them." -Strabo 8.6.11

”There still remain, however, parts of the city wall [of Mykenai, Argos], including the gate, upon which stand lions. These, too, are said to be the work of the Kyklopes, who made for Proitos the wall at Tiryns.” –Pausanias 2.16.5

”Beside the sanctuary of Kephisos [at Argos] is a head of Medousa made of stone, which is said to be another of the works of the Kyklopes.” –Pausanias 2.20.7

”The wall [of Tiryns, Argos], which is the only part of the ruins still remaining, is a work of the Kyklopes made of unwrought stones, each stone being so big that a pair of mules could not move the smallest from its place to the slightest degree. Long ago small stones were so inserted that each of them binds the large blocks firmly together.” –Pausanias 2.25.8

“But the Argives could not take the wall of Mykenai built as it was like the wall of Tiryns by the Kyklopes.” -Pausanias 7.25.5

“The dweller in her [Tiryns] empty fields points out the towers raised by the sweat of the Cyclopean brows.” –Thebaid 4.150

"Mykene girt about with a garland of walls by the Kyklopian masons." -Dionysiaca 41.263
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KYKLOPES JOIN DIONYSOS IN HIS INDIAN-WAR

“Battalions of Kyklopes came [when Rheia summoned allies to join Dionysos in his war against the Indians] like a flood. In battle, these with weaponless hands cast hills for their stony spears, and their shields were cliffs; a peak from some mountain-ravine was their crested helmet, Sikeloi (Sicilian) sparks were their fiery arrows [they had their forge under Mt Aitna]. They went into battle holding burning brands and blazing with light form the forge they knew so well – Brontes and Steropes, Euryalos and Elatreus, Arges and Trakhios and proud Halimedes.” –Dionysiaca 14.52

“[Deriades to his Indian troops] ‘Do not kill the Gegenees (Earthborn) Kyklopes who touch Olympos with their long limbs, do not transfix them with a spearpoint in belly or neck, let the heavy stroke of bronze pierce their one round eye. No, kill not the Kyklopes of the earth, for I want them too: they shall sit in an Indian smithy! Brontes shall make me a heavyrumbling trumpet to mock the thunder’s roar, that I may be an earthly Zeus; Steropes shall make here on earth a new rival lightning: I will try it in fighting against the Satyroi, that Kronides [Zeus] may be jealous, and tear his heart yet more to see Deriades thundering and lightening – he shall fear the Indian chieftain hurling a newmade fiery thunderbolt.” –Dionysiaca 27.85

“Now [in the war of Dionysos against the Indians] the grim Kyklopes, allies of Zeus, surrounded the fighters. Argilipos lifted a shining torch and shed light on the throng through the dark clouds. He was armed with a firebarbed thunderbolt from the underworld, and fought with firebrands: the swarthy Indians trembled, amazed at that fire so like the heavenly fireburst. A champion all of fire he was, and he sparks of earthborn lightning showered upon the enemies’ heads. The Kyklops conquered ash-pikes and countless swords, shaking his hot missiles and his flashing points, with brands for his arrows: one upon another, countless, he burnt the Indian men with the blazing shafts, slaying not only one enemy of God …
Steropes (Lightning) also was armed with a mimic lightning, which he brandished like the lightningflash of the sky, but an extinguishable brand, the child of Western flame, seed of Sikelian (Sicilian) fire and that smoky forge; a dark pall covered it like a cloud, and beneath it he now hid the light, now showed it, in alternating movements, just like the flashes in the sky; for the lightning comes in flashes and goes again.
Brontes (Thunder) also was in the battle, rattling a noisy tune with a din like rolling thunderclaps: he poured an earthborn shower of his own with strange drops falling through the air, and lasting but a moment – an unreal Zeus he was, with imitated raindrops and no clouds. Then leaving the artificial noise of this mock thunder, he armed himself with Sicilian steel against the enemy; swinging the iron hammer high over his shoulders he smashed many an enemy head, and struck the dusky ranks right and left, with a clang like blows as it he were ever striking on the hammerbeaten anvil of Aitna [the volcano of Sicily].
Next he broke off a crag from a farspreading rock, and rushed upon Deriades [king of the Indians] with this stony spear. He hurled the huge rock with merciless hand against the blackskin king who stood ready, and struck his hairy chest with its rocky point. The king was wholly staggered with the heavy blow of this huge millstone full on his chest, like a drunken man; but Hydaspes [the local River-God] rescued his stricken son from death. The bold king, crushed by the blow, dropt the furious spear from his never-tiring hands, the twentycubit spear of bronze, and threw his shield on the ground out of his shamed grasp, with little breath left in him; struck on the round of his breast by the pointed stone, he fell down headlong out of his lofty car … The Indians crowded round him and lifted him into the car, fearing that the ugly Kyklops might get another crag of some lofty hill and throw again, and slay their king with a rough missile – for he [the Kyklops Brontes] was as tall as highcrested Polyphemos. In the middle of this grim champion’s forehead glared the light of one single round eye; the blackskin Indians shook with wonder and fear when they saw the eye of the grim Kyklops; they thought Olympian Selene (the Moon) must have come down from the sky and risen in the earth-born Kyklops’ face, shining with her full orb, to defend Lyaios [Dionysos].
Father Zeus, seeing how the Kyklops imitated his own noise, laughed on high in the clouds that the earth was then flooded with a strange kind of shoer from earthclouds upon its bosom, a new experience, while the thirsty air had no downpour through its bare dry expanse.
Trakhios [the Kyklops] also reared his head: and Elatreus, marching beside his brother, held and shook a shield like a towering crag, and held a long firtree high in the clouds, sweeping off the enemies’ heads with his treespear.
Euryalos [another Kyklops] reared his head. He cut off a large body of fugitives in the battle, away from the plain and down towards the sea, shutting the Indian companies into the fishgiving gulf; so he conquered his foes over the lancebearing main as he thrust his twenty-cubit blade through the water. Then with long poleaxe he split off a rock near the brine, and threw it at his adversaries; many then felt the threads of Fate in double fashion without burial, struck with the jagged missile, and brinedrowned in watery strife.
Another Kyklops of the tribe went raging and scattering his foes, the prime warrior Halimedes, a monster with towering limbs; guarding himself he held before his great round eye a bossy oxhide shield. Then [the Indian] Phlogios the avenger of the slain Indians saw him; he rounded his bow, and drew back the windswift shaft to pierce the eye in that forehead – and he would have done it, but as he aimed, the high-headed Kyklops saw the coming attack, and dodged the blow of the flying arrow by shifting aside. Then the other poised a rock and threw the rough missile at Phlogios; but he retreated and stood by the car of oxhorned Deriades, and thus just evaded the sharp stone flying through the air, and there he remained. But Halimedes, angry that Phlogios had retreated, opened his deadly throat, and with one loud roar slew twelve men by pouring out one man-destroying boom of his furious voice.
The warcries of the Kyklopes made Olympos ring with their terrible sounds.” –Dionysiaca 28.172
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KYKLOPES SLAIN BY APOLLON

Apollon slew the Kyklopes that forged the lightning bolt with which Zeus slew his son Asklepios. Presumably these Kyklopes were the sons of the ancient Arges, Brontes and Steropes, and not any one of these elder three.

"For how does he [Hesiod in the Theogony & Catalogues of Women] say that the same persons [the Kyklopes] were like the gods, and yet represent them as being destroyed by Apollon in the Catalogue of the Daughters of Leukippos." -Catalogues of Women Frag 64 from Scholiast on Hesiod's Theogony

"Zeus was afraid that men might learn the art of medicine from Asklepios and help each other out, so he hit him with a thunderbolt. This angered Apollon, who slew the Kyklopes, for they designed the thunderbolt for Zeus. Zeus was about to throw Apollon into Tartaros, but at the request of Leto he ordered him instead to be some man’s servant for a year." -Apollodorus 3.118-122

“Zeus slew Asklepios with his thunderbolt, but Apollon, indignant at the slaying of Asklepios, murdered the Kyklopes who had forged the thunderbolt for Zeus; but at the death of the Kyklopes Zeus was again indignant and laid a command upon Apollon that he should serve as a labourer for a human being and that this should be the punishment he should receive from him for his crimes.” –Diodorus Siculus 4.71.3

“Aesculapius, son of Apollo, is daid to have restored livfe either to Glaucus, son of Minos, or to Hippolytus, and Jupiter because of this truck him with a thunderbolt. Apollo, not being able to injure Jupiter, killed the ones who had made the thunderbolt, that is the Cyclopes. On account of this deed Apollo was given in servitude to Admetus, King of Thessaly.” –Hyginus Fabulae 49

“Eratoshtenes says about the [constellation] Arrow, that with this Apollo killed the Cyclopes who forged the thunderbolt by which Aesculapius died. Apollo had buried this arrow in the Hyperborean mountain, but when Jupiter [Zeus] pardoned his on, it was borne by the wind and brought to Apollo along with the grain which at that time was growing. Many point out that for this reason it is among the constellations.” –Hyginus Astronomica 2.15

“Admetus, blessed in so glorious a shepherd, for it is in thy fields that the god of Delos [Apollon] pays for having struck down Steropes with his thankless bow.” –Valerius Flaccus 1.445
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CULT OF THE KYKLOPES

”There is also an ancient sanctuary [at Korinthos] called the altar of the Kyklopes, and they sacrifice to the Kyklopes upon it.” –Pausanias 2.2.1

Sources:

* Hesiod, Theogony - Greek Epic C8th-7th BC
* Hesiod, Catalogues of Women - Greek Epic C8th-7th BC
* Homerica Titanomachia, Fragments - Greek Epic BC
* Greek Lyric IV Bacchylides, Fragments - Greek Lyric C5th BC
* Apollodorus, The Libary - Greek Mythography C2nd BC
* Callimachus, Hymns - Greek C3rd BC
* Apollonius Rhodius, The Argonautica - Greek Epic C3rd BC
* Quintus Smyrnaeus, Fall of Troy - Greek Epic C4th AD
* Strabo, Geography - Greek Geography C1st BC - C1st AD
* Pausanias, Guide to Greece - Greek Geography C2nd AD
* Diodorus Siculus, The Library of History - Greek History C1st BC
* Hyginus, Fabulae - Latin Mythography C2nd AD
* Hyginus, Astronomica - Latin Mythography C2nd AD
* Virgil, Aeneid - Latin Epic C1st BC
* Ovid, Fasti - Latin Epic C1st BC - C1st AD
* Valerius Flaccus, The Argonautica – Latin Epic C1st AD
* Statius, Thebaid - Latin Epic C1st AD
* Statius, Silvae - Latin Epic C1st AD
* Nonnos, Dionysiaca - Greek Epic C5th AD

Some of the lovers and children of the god are only connected with him through brief genealogical reference (which are given at the bottom of this page).

Those relationships which are expanded upon in myth are fully described on separate pages (see the LOVES and FAMILY hyperlinks below).

OTHER SECTIONS ON ZEUS:

THE CULT OF ZEUS
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Immortal Offspring (Olympian Gods)

(1) ARES (by Hera) (Theogony 921, Iliad 5.699, Apollodorus 1.13, Pausanias 2.14.3, Hyginus Pref, and other sources)
(2a) ATHENE (innumerable sources)
(2b) ATHENE (by Metis) (Theogony 887, 924; Apollodorus 1.20)
(3) HEPHAISTOS (by Hera) (Apollodorus 1.19, De Natura Deorum 3.22)
(4a) APHRODITE (innumerable sources)
(4b) APHRODITE (by Dione) (Iliad 5.370; Euripides Helen 1098; Apollodorus 1.13)
(5a) APOLLON (innumerable sources)
(5b) APOLLON (by Leto) (Theogony 918, Works & Days 770f, Iliad 1.9 & 21.495, Odyssey 6.100 & 11.318, Homeric Hymn XXVII to Artemis, Orphic Hymn 35, Pindar Nemean 6 & 8, Pindar Processional Song on Delos, Callimachus Hymn to Artemis & Hymn to Delos, Apollodorus 1.21 & 3.46, Pausanias 8.9.1 & 8.53.1. Hyginus Fab 9 & 140, and other sources)
(6a) ARTEMIS (innumerable sources)
(6b) ARTEMIS (by Leto) (Theogony 918, Works & Days 770f, Iliad 1.9 & 21.495, Odyssey 6.100 & 11.318, Homeric Hymn XXVII to Artemis, Orphic Hymn 35, Pindar Nemean 6 & 8, Pindar Processional Song on Delos, Callimachus Hymn to Artemis & Hymn to Delos, Apollodorus 1.21 & 3.46, Pausanias 8.9.1 & 8.53.1. Hyginus Fab 9 & 140, and other sources)
(7a) HERMES (innumerable sources)
(7b) HERMES (by Maia) (Theogony 938, Homerica The Astronomy 1, Homeric Hymn IV to Hermes 1, Homeric Hymn XVII to Hermes 3, Alcaeus Frag 308, Simonides Frag 555, Apollodorus 3.112, Ovid Fasti 5.79)
(8a) DIONYSOS (innumerable sources)
(8b) DIONYSOS (by Semele) (Theogony 940, Homeric Hymns 1 & 7 & 26, Pindar Pythian 3, Bacchylides Frag 19, Apollodorus 3.26, Pausanias 3.24.4, Diodorus Siculus 4.2.1, Hyginus Fabulae 179, Nonnus Dionysiaca, et al)
(8c) DIONYSOS (by Dione) (Scholiast on Pindar's Pythian 3.177; Hesy****s)
(8d) ZAGREUS (by Persephone) (Orphic Hymns 29 &30, Hyginus Fabulae 155, Diodorus Siculus 4.4.1, Dionysiaca 6.155, Suidas 'Zagreus')

Immortal Offspring (Other Gods)

(1) PERSEPHONE (by Demeter) (Theogony 912, Homeric Hymn II to Demeter, Apollodorus 1.29, Pausanias, Dionysiaca 5.562, Metamorphoses 5.501, Ovid Fasti 4.575)
(2) THE HORAI named: EUNOMIA, DIKE, EIRENE (by Themis) (Theogony 901, Orphic Hymn 43, Pindar Frag 30, Apollodorus 1.13, Pausanias 5.17.1, Hyginus Fab 183)
(3) THE MOIRAI named: KLOTHO, LAKHESIS, ATROPOS (by Themis) (Theogony, Apollodorus 1.13)
(4a) THE KHARITES named: AGLAIA, EUPHROSYNE, THALEIA (by Eurynome) (Theogony 907, Apollodorus 1.13, Callimachus Aetia Frag 6, Pausanias 9.35.1, Hyginus Pref)
(4b) THE KHARITES named: AGLAIA, EUPHROSYNE, THALEIA (by Eunomia) (Orphic Hymn 60)
(5) THE MOUSAI named: KLEIO, EUTERPE, THALEIA, MELPOMENE, TERPSIKHORE, ERATO, POLYHYMNIA, OURANIA, KALLIOPE (by Mnemosyne) (Theogony 915, Orphic Hymn 76 & 77, Alcman Frag 8, Solon Frag 13, Apollodorus 1.13, Diodorus Siculus 4.7.1, Antoninus Liberalis 9, De Natura Deorum 3.21)
(6) EILEITHYIA (by Hera) (Theogony 921, Apollodorus 1.13)
(7) HEBE (by Hera) (Theogony 921, Pindar Isthmian 4, Apollodorus 1.13, Pausanias 2.13.3, Aelian On Animals 17.46, Hyginus Pref)
(8) ERIS (by Hera) (Iliad 4.441, Quintus Smyrnaeus 10.51)
(9) ATE (Iliad 19.85)
(10) THE LITAI (Iliad 9.450, Quintus Smyrnaeus 10.300)
(11) ALATHEIA (Pindar Olympian 11)
(12) KAIROS (Pausanias 5.14.9)
(13) HARMONIA (by Elektra) (Diodorus Siculus 5.48.2)
(14) BRITOMARTIS (by Karme) (Pausanias 2.30.3, Diodorus Siculus 5.76.3, Antoninus Liberalis 40)
(15) ERSA (by Selene) (Alcman Frag 57)
(16) PANDEIA (by Selene) (Homeric Hymn 32 to Selene, Hyginus Pref)
(17) NEMEA (by Selene) (Scholia)
(18a) AIGIPAN (by Boetis) (Hyginus Fab 155)
(18b) AIGIPAN (by Aix) (Hyginus Astronomica 2.13)
(19) PAN (by Hybris)
(20) ZAGREOS (by Persephone) (Orphic Hymns 29 & 30, Hyginus Fabulae 155, Diodorus Siculus 4.4.1, Dionysiaca 6.155, Suidas 'Zagreus')
(21) MELINOE (by Persephone) (Orphic Hymn 71)
(22) THE THRIAI (by Themis) (Apollodorus 2.114)
(23) THE NYMPHAI (The Precepts of Chiron Frag 3, Odyssey)
(24) AGDISTIS (by Gaia) (Pausanias 7.17.8)
(25) THE PALIKOI (by Thaleia) (Macrobius Saturnalia 5.19.15)
(26) THE KABEIROI (or THE KORYBANTES) (by Kalliope) (Strabo 10.3.19)
(27) ASOPOS (by Eurynome) (Apollodorus 3.156)
(28) PHASIS (Valerius Flaccus 5.205)
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Mortal Offspring (Combined Kingdoms of Greece)

(1) HELLEN (by Pyrrha) (Apollodorus 1.49, Hyginus Fabulae 155)
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Mortal Offspring (Kingdom of the Graikoi in North-Western Greece)

(1) GRAIKOS (by Pandora) (Catalogues of Women Fragment 2)

Mortal Offspring (Kingdoms of Makedonia in North-Eastern Greece)

(1) MAKEDON (by Thyia) (Catalogues of Women Frag 3)

Mortal Offspring (Kingdom of Magnesia, Thessalia in Northern Greece)

(1) MAGNES (by Thyia) (Catalogues of Women Frag 3)

Mortal Offspring (Kingdom of the Lapithai, Thessalia in Northern Greece)

(1) PIRITHOOS (by Dia) (Hyginus Fabulae 155)

Mortal Offspring (Kingdom of Phthiotis in Northern Greece)

(1) MYRMIDON (by Eurymedousa) (Clement)
(2) MELITEUS (by Othreis) (Antoninus Liberalis 13)
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Mortal Offspring (Kingdom of Orkhomenos in Central Greece)

(1) TITYOS (by Elare) (Apollodorus 1.23)

Mortal Offspring (Kingdom of Thebes, Boiotia in Central Greece)

(1a) HERAKLES (by Alkmene)
(1b) HERAKLES (by Lysithoe) (De Natura Deorum 3.16.42)
(2) AMPHION & ZETHOS (by Antiope) (Odyssey 11.260, Apollodorus 3.41, Pausanias 2.6.1, Hyginus Fabulae 7)

Mortal Offspring (Kingdoms of Boiotia in Central Greece)

(1) ORION (urination along with the gods Poseidon and Hermes) (Hyginus Fab 195 & Astr 2.34, Ovid Fasti 5.493, Dionysiaca 13.96)

Mortal Offspring (Kingdom of Ithaka & Cephallenia in Central Greece)

(1) ARKEISIOS (Metamorphoses 13.144)
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Mortal Offspring (Kingdom of Megaris in Southern Greece)

(1) MEGAROS (by a Nymphe Sithnis) (Pausanias 1.40.1)

Mortal Offspring (Kingdom of Korinthos in Southern Greece)

(1) KORINTHOS (Pausanias 2.1.1)

Mortal Offspring (Island Kingdom of Aigina in Southern Greece)

(1) AIAKOS (by Aigina) (Catalogues of Women Frag 53, Pindar Isthmian 8, Pindar Nemean 7, Corinna Frag 654, Bacchylides Frag 9, Apollodorus 3.156, Pausanias 2.29.2, Diodorus Siculus 4.72.1, Antoninus Liberalis 38, Hyginus Fab 52, Dionysiaca 13.201)

Mortal Offspring (Kingdoms of the Argolis in Southern Greece)

(1a) ARGOS (The Great Eoiae Frag 1 / Pausanais 2.26.3)
(1b) ARGOS (by Niobe) (Apollodorus 2.2, Pausanias 2.22.5, Hyginus Fabulae 155)

Mortal Offspring (Kingdom of Lakedaimonia in Southern Greece)

(1) LAKEDAIMON (by Taygete) (Apollodorus 3.116, Pausanias 3.12, Hyginus Fab 155, Hyginus Astronomica 2.21, Dionysiaca 32.65)
(2) POLYDEUKES (by Leda) (Catalogues of Women Frag 66, Homeric Hymn XXXII, Pindar Nemean 10, Alcaeus Frag 34, Terpander Frag 5, Hyginus Fabulae 14 & 77 & 80, and other sources)
(3) KASTOR (by Leda) (Catalogues of Women Frag 66, Homeric Hymn XXXII, Alcaeus Frag 34, Terpander Frag 5, Hyginus Fabulae 14, and other sources)
(4a) HELENE (by Leda)
(4b) HELENE (by Nemesis) (Cypria 8, Apolllodoros 3.127f, Hyginus Astronomy 2.8)

Mortal Offspring (Kingdom of Elis in Southern Greece)

(1a) AITHLIOS (by Kalyke) (Catalogues of Women Frag 8)
(1b) AITHLIOS (by Protogeneia) (Pausanias 5.1.3, Hyginus Fabulae 155)
(2) ENDYMION (by Kalyke) (Apollodorus 1.56)

Mortal Offspring (Kingdom of Olenos, Akhaia in Southern Greece)

(1) KRINAKOS (Catalogues of Women Frag 52 / Diodorus Siculus 5.81.4)

Mortal Offspring (Kingdom of Arkadia in Southern Greece)

(1) ARKAS (by Kallisto) (The Astronomy Frag 3, Apollodorus 3.100, Pausanias 8.3.6, Hyginus Fabulae 176 & Astonomica 2.1, Metamorphoses 2.409)
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Mortal Offspring (Island Kingdom of Samos in the Greek Aegean)

(1) SAON (by a Nymphe) (Diodorus Siculus 5.48.1)

Mortal Offspring (Island Kingdom of Samothrake in the Greek Aegean)

(1) IASION (by Elektra) (Catalogues of Women Frag 102, Apollodorus 3.138, Diodorus Siculus 5.48.2, Hyginus Fab 250)
(2) EMATHION (by Elektra) (Dionysiaca 3.124)

Mortal Offspring (Island Kingdom of Rhodes in the Greek Aegean)

(1) SPARTAIOS, KRONIOS, KYTOS (by Himalia) (Diodorus Siculus 5.55.4)

Mortal Offspring (Island Kingdom of Krete in the Greek Aegean)

(1) MINOS (by Europa) (Catalogues of Women Frag 19A)
(2) RHADAMANTHYS (by Europa) (Catalogues of Women Frag 19A)
(3) ATYMNIOS (by Kassiopeia) (Apollodorus 3.1.2)
(4) BRITOMARTIS (by Karme) (Pausanias 2.30.3, Diodorus Siculus 5.76.3, Antoninus Liberalis 40)
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Mortal Offspring (Kingdom of Troy in Asia Minor)

(1) DARDANOS (by Elektra) (Catalogues of Women Frag 102, Quintus Smyrnaeus 13.545, Apollodorus 3.138, Lycophron 71, Diodorus Siculus 5.48.2, Hyginus Fab 155, Ovid Fasti 4.31, Aeneid 8.134, Dionysiaca 3.124)

Mortal Offspring (Kingdom of Lydia in Asia Minor)

(1a) TANTALOS (by Plouto) (Strabo 12.8.21, Pausanias 2.22.3, Antoninus Liberalis 36, Hyginus Fab 155, Dionysiaca 1.145 & 48.729, Suidas)
(1b) TANTALOS (Strabo 12.8.21, Diodorus Siculus 4.74.1)
(2) AKHILLEUS (by Lamia) (Ptolemy Hephaestion Bk6)
(3) MANES (Dionysius Halicarnassus)

Mortal Offspring (Kingdom of Lykia in Asia Minor)

(1a) SARPEDON (by Laodameia) (Iliad 6.205, Apollodorus 3.1.1)
(1b) SARPEDON (by Europa) (Catalogues of Women Frag 19A, Apollodorus 3.1.1)
(1c) SARPEDON (Apollodorus E3.35)

Mortal Offspring (Kingdom of Kolkhis on the Black Sea)

(1) KOLAXES (by Hora) (Valerius Flaccus)

Mortal Offspring (Kingdom of Skythia on the Black Sea)

(1) TARGITAUS (by Borysthenes' daughter) (Herodotus 4.5.1)
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Mortal Offspring (Kingdom of Aigyptos in North Africa)

(1) EPAPHOS (by Io) (Prometheus Bound 589, Apollodorus 2.5, Strabo 10.1.3, Aelian On Animals 11.10, 145, Metamorphoses 1.750, Dionysiaca 3.257 & 32.65)

Mortal Offspring (Kingdom of Libya in North Africa)

(1) HEROPHILE (by Lamia) (Pausanias 10.12.2)

Mortal Offspring (Kingdom of the Moors in North Africa)

(1) IARBAS (by a Libyan Nymphe) (Aeneid 4.198)
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Mortal Offspring (Kingdom of Lation (Rome) in Central Italia)

(1) LATINOS (by Pandora) (Ioannes Lydus de Mens. i. 13)
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(1) DIVINE LOVES

APHRODITE The Goddess of Love and Beauty was pursued by Zeus when she first emerged from the sea but managed to escape him. According to some, she later had an affair with the god, and through the curses of Hera bore a deformed son: the god Priapos (most sources however say his father was Dionysos).
[See LOVES: ZEUS & APHRODITE]

ASTERIA A Titaness who was pursued by Zeus through the heavens after the fall of the Titan-Gods. She assumed many forms to escape him, but eventually leapt from the heavens in the shape of a quail, and metamorphosed into the island of Delos.
[See LOVES: ZEUS & ASTERIA]

DEMETER The Goddess of Agriculture and Zeus mated in the form of intertwining serpents. From this union the goddess Persephone was born (some say Dionysos was also their son).
[See LOVES: ZEUS & DEMETER]

DIONE A Titaness who, according to some, bore Zeus the goddess Aphrodite (though most accounts say she was born in the sea, grown from the severed genitalia of Ouranos). An even rarer account, makes her the mother of Dionysos, also by Zeus (again contrary to the usual tradition where Dionysos' mother is Semele).

EURYNOME A Titaness who bore Zeus the three Kharites (Graces) and, according to some, the river-god Asopos.
[See LOVES: ZEUS & EURYNOME]

GAIA The Goddess of the Earth was accidentally impregnated by Zeus on two separate occasions: in Phrygia where she gave birth to the goddess Agdistis, and in Kypros where she bore the Kentauroi Kyprioi.

HERA The Queen of the Gods wed Zeus in a secret ceremony back in the days of the Titan-War. She bore him several divine children: Ares, Eileithyia and Hebe (and, according to some, also Eris).
[See LOVES: ZEUS & HERA]

HYBRIS The Goddess of Excessive Pride was, according to some, the mother by Zeus of Pan (though he is usually called a son of Hermes and Penelopeia).

KALLIOPE A Goddess of Music and one of the nine Mousai was, according to one account, the mother of the Korybantes (or Kabeiroi) by Zeus (however, these gods were usually called sons of some other god).

LETO A Titanis who was loved by Zeus. She bore him the twin gods Apollon and Artemis.
[See LOVES: ZEUS & LETO]

METIS The Titaness of Good Counsel was impregnated and then swallowed whole by Zeus, who feared a prophecy that their son would depose him. She gave birth to Athena within the belly of the god, who emerged fully grown from the split skull of Zeus.
[See LOVES: ZEUS & METIS]

MNEMOSYNE The Titaness of Memory was seduced by Zeus in the disguise of a shepherd. He lay with her for nine nights and gave birth to the nine goddesses known as Mousai.
[See LOVES: ZEUS & MNEMOSYNE]

NEMESIS The Goddess of Retribution was seduced by Zeus in the form of a swan. After their union she laid the egg from which Helene of Troy was hatched.
[See LOVES: ZEUS & NEMESIS]

PERSEPHONE The Goddess of Spring (before her abduction to Haides) was seduced by Zeus in the form of a serpentine Drakon. She bore him a son, the short-lived god Zagreos. Later, as goddess of the underworld, she was again seduced by Zeus but this time disguised as her husband Haides.
[See LOVES: ZEUS & PERSEPHONE]

SELENE The Goddess of the Moon bore Zeus two daughters: Pandia and Ersa.

STYX The Goddess of the great Underworld River Styx was, according to one author (perhaps in error), the mother of Persephone by Zeus (all others accounts say her mother was Demeter).

THEMIS The Titaness of Custom and Tradition was one of the first wives of Zeus. She bore him two sets of offspring: the three Horai (Seasons also representing Justice, Peace, Good Governance), the three Moirai (Fates), and in some accounts, of certain Nymphai called the Thriai.
[See LOVES: ZEUS & THEMIS]

THETIS A Goddess of the Sea who was wooed by Zeus. The god abandoned his attempts to seduce her when it was revealed that she was destined to bear a son greater than his father.
[See LOVES: ZEUS & THETIS]
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(2) SEMI-DIVINE LOVES (NYMPHAI)

AIGINA A Naias Nymphe of the Argolis (in Southern Greece) who was abducted by Zeus in the shape of a eagle to the island of Aigina where she bore him a son named Aiakos.
[See LOVES: ZEUS & AIGINA]

AIX (aka BOETIS) The Nymphe wife of the god Pan who assumed the form of a she-goat to escape the attentions of Zeus. The god seduced her in this form and she bore him the godling Aegipan (Goat-Pan).

BORYSTHENES' DAUGHTER A Naias of the River Borysthenes in Skythia (North-Eastern Europe) who was loved by Zeus and bore him a son Targitaus.

DEINO The Nymphe mother by Zeus of certain Nymphai.

ELEKTRA A Pleiad Nymphe of the island of Samothrake (in the Greek Aegean), who was loved by Zeus and bore him several sons: Dardanos, Emathion, Iasion.
[See LOVES: ZEUS & ELEKTRA]

HIMALIA A Nymphe of the Island of Rhodes (in the Greek Aegean) who bore Zeus three sons: Spartaios, Kytos and Kronios.

HORA A Nymphe of the Tauric Khersonese [in North-Eastern Europe] who was loved by Zeus and bore him a son Kolaxes.

IO A Naias Nymphe of the Argolis (in Southern Greece) who was loved by Zeus. She was transformed into a heifer by Zeus and driven under torment by Hera all the way to Aigyptos (Egypt in North Africa). There she bore Zeus a son, Epaphos. Some say that she also gave birth to a daughter on the Straits of Bosporos (Asia Minor) named Keroessa.
[See LOVES: ZEUS & IO]

KALLIRHOE A Naias Nymphe of Aitolia (in Central Greece) who was loved by Zeus (no offspring born from this union are mentioned).
[See LOVES: ZEUS & KALLIRHOE]

KARME An Agricultural Nymphe, Lady of Krete (in the Greek Aegean) or Princess of Phoinikia (in West Asia) who was loved by Zeus and bore him a daughter named Britomartis.

MAIA A Pleiad Nymphe of the Arkadia's Mt Kyllene (Southern Greece). She was loved by Zeus and bore him the god Hermes.

NYMPHE UNNAMED (1) A Nymphe of the land of the Moors (in North Africa) who was the mother of Iarbos by Zeus.

NYMPHE UNNAMED (2) A Naias Nymphe of Megaros (in Southern Greece), one of the Sithnides. She was the mother by Zeus of Megaros.

NYMPHE UNNAMED (3) A Nymphe of the island of Samothrake (in the Greek Aegean) who, according to some was the mother of Saon by Zeus.

OTHREIS A Nymphe of Malis (in Northern Greece) who was loved by Zeus and bore him a son named Meliteus.

PLOUTO An Okeanis Nymphe (and Goddess of Wealth) who bore Zeus a son named Tantalos.

SINOPE A Naias Nymphe of the Argolis (in Southern Greece) who was abducted to Assyria (in Asia Minor) by Zeus. He promised her the fulfillment of a wish, and she declared "I wish to remain a virgin".
[See LOVES: ZEUS & SINOPE]

TAYGETE A Pleiad Nymphe of Lakedaimonia's Taygetos Mountain range (in Southern Greece). She was loved by Zeus and bore him a son named Lakedaimon.

THALEIA A Nymphe of Sikelia (Sicily in Southern Italia) who was loved by Zeus and prayed the god hide her beneath the earth to avoid the jealous wrath of Hera. Their sons were the twin Palikoi gods. (According to others, the Palikoi were sons of Hephaistos).
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(3) MORTAL LOVES (WOMEN)

ALKMENE A Lady of Thebes in Boiotia (Central Greece) who was seduced by Zeus in the form of her own husband. She bore twins: Herakles by Zeus and Likymnios by her husband Amphitryon.
[See LOVES: ZEUS & ALKMENE]

ANTIOPE A Lady of Thebes in Boiotia (Central Greece) who was seduced by Zeus in the shape of Satyros. She bore him twin sons Amphion and Zethos which were exposed at birth.
[See LOVES: ZEUS & ANTIOPE]

DANAE A Princess of Argos (in Central Greece) who was imprisoned by her father in a bronze tower. Zeus seduced her in the form of a golden shower, and she gave birth to a son, the hero Perseus.
[See LOVES: ZEUS & DANAE]

DIA A Queen of the Lapith tribe of Thessalia (in Northern Greece), wife of King Ixion. According to some, she was seduced by Zeus, and bore him a son Peirithoos (but others say, the father was her husband Ixion).

ELARE A Princess of Orkhomenos (in Central Greece) who was loved by Zeus. In fear of the wrath of Hera, he hid her beneath the earth, where she gave birth to a son the Gigante Tityos.
[See LOVES: ZEUS & ELARE]

EUROPA A Princess of Phoinikia (Phoenicia in West Asia) who was abducted to Krete )in the Greek Aegean) by Zeus in the form of a bull. She bore him three sons: Minos, Sarpedon and Rhadamanthys.
[See LOVES: ZEUS & EUROPA]

EURYMEDOUSA A Princess of Phthiotis (in Northern Greece) who was seduced by Zeus in the form of an ant. Their son was named Myrmidon (Ant-Man).
[See LOVES: ZEUS & EURYMEDOUSA]

KALLISTO A Princess of Arkadia (in Southern Greece) who was seduced by Zeus in the guise of the goddess Artemis. She was transformed into a bear by a wrathful goddess into a bear and in this form bare a son named Arkas.
[See LOVES: ZEUS & KALLISTO]

KALYKE A Queen of Elis (in Southern Greece), the wife of King Aithlios. She was the mother by Zeus (or by her husband Aithlios) of Endymion.

KASSIOPEIA A Lady of Krete (in the Greek Aegean) who bore Zeus a son named Atymnios.

LAMIA A Queen of Libya (in North Africa) who was loved by Zeus. When the jealous Hera stole her children by the god - Herophile and Akhilleus - she was driven mad with grief.
[See LOVES: ZEUS & LAMIA]

LAODAMEIA A Princess of Lykia (in Asia Minor) who was loved by Zeus and bore him a son, Sarpedon.

LEDA A Queen of Lakedaimonia (in Southern Greece) who was seduced by Zeus in the form of swan. She laid an egg from which were hatched the Dioskouroi twins - one Polydeukes was the son of Zeus, the other Kastor the son of her husband Tyndareus. According to some, she was also the mother of egg-hatched Helene (though others say this egg was given her by the goddess Nemesis).
[See LOVES: ZEUS & LEDA]

LYSITHOE A woman who bore Zeus a son named Herakles (a man with the same name as the famous hero).

NIOBE A Princess of Argolis (in Southern Greece). She was the very first mortal woman loved by Zeus, and bore him two sons: Argos and Pelasgos (though according to others Pelasgos was a son of Poseidon or Earth-Born)..
[See LOVES: ZEUS & NIOBE]

OLYMPIAS An (historical) Queen of Makedonia, and mother of Alexandros the Great. According to legend, her son was fathered by the god Zeus.
[See LOVES: ZEUS & OLYMPIA]

PANDORA A Princess of the combined kingdoms of Northern & Central Greece. She was loved by Zeus and bore him two sons: Latinos and Graikos.

PROTOGENEIA A Princess of combined kingdoms Northern & Central Greece who was loved by Zeus. she bore him a son Aithlios.

PYRRHA A Queen of the combined kingdoms Northern & Central Greece, and wife of Deukalion, they were the couple who survived the Great Deluge. According to some, her first born son, Hellen, was fathered by Zeus (though others say Deukalion was the father).

SEMELE A Princess of Thebes in Boiotia (Central Greece) who was loved by Zeus, but through the machinations of Hera was consumed by the heat of his lightning bolts. Zeus rescued their unborn son, Dionysos, from her body and sewed him up in his thigh until he was old enought to be born.
[See LOVES: ZEUS & SEMELE]

THYIA A Princess of Northern & Central Greece who was loved by Zeus. She bore him two sons: Magnes and Makedon.
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(4) MORTAL LOVES (MEN)

GANYMEDES A Prince of Troy (in Asia Minor) who was abducted to Olympos by Zeus in the form of an eagle to be his lover and the cupbearer of the gods.
[See LOVES: ZEUS & GANYMEDES]
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(1) DIVINE OFFSPRING

AGDISTIS A Hermaphroditic God born when Zeus accidentally impregnated Gaia the Earth. Fearful of this strange creature the gods castrated it, and it became the goddess Kybele. [Agdistis and Kybele and their parents were Phrygian gods later identified with Greek counterparts].

AIGIPAN A Rustic God, son of Zeus and Aix or Boetis (the wife of Pan).

ALATHEIA The Goddess of Truth was a daughter of Zeus.

APHRODITE The Goddess of Love was, according to some, a daughter of Zeus and the Titaness Dione (most accounts, however, say she was born in the sea from the severed genitals of Ouranos).

APOLLON The God of Music, Prophecy and Healing was a son of Zeus and the Titaness Leto.

ARES The God of War was a son of Zeus and his wife Hera.

ARTEMIS The Goddess of Hunting and Protectress of Young Girls was a daughter of Zeus and the Titaness Leto.

ASOPOS The God of the River Asopos in Argos (Southern Greece) was, according to some, the son of Zeus and Eurynome (most accounts, however, call him a son of Okeanos and Tethys).

ATE The Goddess of Blind Folly and Ruin was, according to some, a daughter of Zeus (others say she was born fatherless to Eris).

ATHENA The Goddess of Warcraft, Wisdom and Craft was sprung directly from the head of Zeus. Her mother was the Titaness Metis whom Zeus had swallowed whole in pregnancy.

BRITOMARTIS The Goddess of Hunting and Fishing Nets was a daughter of Zeus and the Nymphe Karme.

DIKE The Goddess of Justice, one of the three Horai, was a daughter of Zeus and the Titaness Themis.

DIONYSOS The God of Wine and Debauchery was a son of Zeus and Semele (or in a few unorthodox accounts, of Zeus and Demeter or Dione).

EILEITHYIA The Goddess (or Goddesses) of Childbirth were daughters of Zeus and Hera.

EIRENE The Goddess of Peace, one of the three Horai, was a daughter of Zeus and the Titaness Themis.

ERIS (aka ENYO) The Goddess of Strife and Warfare was, according to some, a daughter of Zeus and Hera (most, however, say she was a daughter of Nyx).

ERSA The Goddess of the Dew was a daughter of Zeus and the Titaness Selene.

EUNOMIA The Goddess of Good Governance, one of the three Horai, was a daughter of Zeus and the Titaness Themis.

HARMONIA The Goddess of Harmony was, according to one author, a daughter of Zeus and the Pleiad Elektra (the usual account makes her a daughter of Ares and Aphrodite who was only fostered by the Pleiad).

HEBE The Goddess of Youth was a daughter of Zeus and Hera.

HEPHAISTOS The God of Smiths was, according to some, a son of Zeus and Hera (though many say Hera conceived him without the assistance of Zeus).

HERMES The God of Merchants, Shepherds and Messengers was a son of Zeus and the Pleiad Maia.

HORAI, THE The three Goddesses of the Seasons (Dike, Eirene, and Eunomia) were daughters of Zeus and the Titaness Themis.

KAIROS The God of Opportunity was the youngest divine son of Zeus.

KHARITES, THE The three Goddesses of Grace, Beauty and Mirth (named Aglaia, Euphrosyne and Thaleia) were daughters of Zeus and the Titaness Eurynome.

LITAI, THE The elderly Goddesses of Prayer were daughters of Zeus.

MELINOE A Demon Goddess of the Underworld, whose body was half black and half white. She as a daughter of Zeus and Persephone.

MOIRAI, THE The three Goddesses of Fate and Destiny (Atropos, Lakhesis and Klotho) were, according to some, daughters of Zeus and the Titaness Themis (others say they were daughters of Nyx, Ananke or Khaos).

MOUSAI, THE The nine Goddesses of Music and Song (named Kalliope, Terpsikhore, Kleio, Euterpe, Ourania, Thaleia, Polyhymnia, Melpomene, Erato) were daughters of Zeus and the Titaness Mnemosyne.

PALIKOI, THE Twin Gods of the Geysers of Palikoi in Sikelia (Sicily in Southern Italia). They were, according to some, the sons of Zeus and Thaleia (but others say they were sons of Hephaistos and Aitna).

PAN The God of Shepherds was, according to one author, the son of Zeus and Hybris (but others invariably call him a son of Hermes).

PERSEPHONE The Goddess of the Underworld and Renewal of Spring was a daughter of Zeus and Demeter (or, according to one account, of Zeus and Styx).

PHASIS The God of the River Phasis of Kolkhis (in the Kaukasos, Europe / Asia border) was, according to some, a son of Zeus (other say he was a son of Okeanos and Tethys like the other Rivers).

ZAGREOS The God Zagreos was a son of Zeus and his own daughter Persephone. He was slain by the Titanes, but Zeus recovered the child's heart and fed it to Semele and Zagreos was reborn as the god Dionysos. [Zagreos and his parents were originally Gods of Thrake, later identified with Greek counterparts.]
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(2) SEMI-DIVINE OFFSPRING

KABEIROI, THE The Gods of the Mysteries of Samothrake were, according to some, sons of Zeus and the Mousa Kalliope (most, however, call them sons of Hephaistos and Kabeiro).

KORYBANTES, THE The shield-clashing, dancing Attendants of Rhea-Kybele were, according to onesource, sons of Zeus and the Mousa Kalliope (but most attribute a variety of more likely parents to these demigods).

NEMEA A Minor Goddess or Nymphe, daughter of Zeus and the Titaness Selene.

NYMPHAI, THE Nymphai in general were sometimes called the daughters of Zeus.

PANDEIA A Minor Goddess or Nymphe, daughter of Zeus and the Titaness Selene.

THRIAI, THE The three Goddess-Nymphai of Divination by Pebbles were daughters of Zeus and the Titaness Themis.
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(3) MORTAL OFFSPRING

AIAKOS A King of the island of Aigina (in Southern Greece). He as the son of Zeus and the Nymphe Aigina.
[See FAMILY: ZEUS & HIS SON AIAKOS]

AITHLIOS The first King of Elis (in Southern Greece), son of Zeus and either Protogeneia or Kalyke.

AKHILLEUS A Lydian boy (Asia Minor), son of Zeus and Lamia, who contested with the goddess Aphrodite in beauty.

ALEXANDROS (THE GREAT) An (historical) King of Makedonia (of Northern Greece) and later Conqueror of much of the known world. He was, according to legend, a son of Zeus born to the Makedonian Queen Olympia. [This is a unique example of an historical personage bestowed with mythic origins].

AMPHION A King of Thebes in Boiotia (Central Greece). He was a twin son of Zeus and Antiope.

ARGOS The first King and Eponym of Argos (in Southern Greece). He was a son of Zeus and Niobe.

ARKAS A King and Eponym of Arkadia (in Southern Greece), son of Zeus and Kallisto.

ARKEISIOS A King of the islands of Ithaka and Kephallenia (in Central Greece). He was a son of Zeus, or according to others, of Kephalos and Prokris.

ATYMNIOS A Lord of Krete (in the Greek Aegean). He was a son of Zeus and Kassiopeia.

DARDANOS The first King of the Troad (in Asia Minor). He was a son of Zeus and Elektra, born on the island of Samothrake.

DIOSKOUROI, THE Twin Princes of Lakedaimonia (in Southern Greece) born from an egg laid by Queen Leda. One of the pair, Polydeukes, was fathered by Zeus, but the other, Kastor, was the son of Leda's husband Tyndareus.

EMATHION A King of the island of Samothrake (in the Greek Aegean). He was a son of Zeus and Elektra.

ENDYMION A King of Elis (in Southern Greece). He was the son of Kalyke, either by Zeus or her husband Aithlios.

EPAPHOS A King of Aigyptos (Egypt, in North Africa), son of Zeus and the much-suffering Io.

GRAIKOS A King of the Graikoi tribe of the Pindar Mountains (in Northern Greece). He was a son of Zeus and Thyia.

HELENE A Queen of Sparta (in Southern Greece), wife of Menelaus, who eloped to Troy with her lover Paris. She was a daughter of Zeus by Leda or the goddess Nemesis.

HELLEN A King of Northern & Central Greece and Eponym of the Hellenes (or Greeks). He was, according to some, a son of Zeus and Pyrrha (though others say his father was Pyrrha's husband Deukalion).

HERAKLES (1) The greatest of the Greek heroes. He was born in the Boiotian city of Thebes (in Central Greece) to Alkmene who was seduced by Zeus in the form of her own husband.

HERAKLES (2) A son of Zeus and Lysithoe. According to some, he was a hero who was confused with the younger Herakles (1).

HEROPHILE A Sibylla (or Prophetess) of Libya (in North Africa) and later Delphoi in Phokis (Central Greece). She was a daughter of Zeus and the Libyan queen Lamia.

IARBAS A King of the Moors (of North Africa). He was a son of Zeus and an African Nymphe.

IASION A Prince of the Island of Samothrake (in the Greek Aegean) and Chief-Priest of the Samothrakian Mysteries. He was a son of Zeus and Elektra.

KENTAUROI KYRPIOI, THE A tribe of Kentauroi (Centaurs) from the island of Kypros (in the Eastern Meditteranean). They sprang from Gaia the Earth when Zeus accidentally impregnated his failed attempt to make love to Aphrodite.

KEROESSA A Nymphe or Princess of Byzantion (on the Bosporos Strait separating Europe and Asia). She was a daughter of Zeus and Io, and mother of Byzas (founder of the famed city).

KOLAXES A Lord of the Tauric Khersonese (in North-Eastern Europe), son of Zeus and the Nymphe Hora.

KORINTHOS A King and Eponym of Korinthos (in Southern Greece). He was a son of Zeus (or, according to others, of Epopeus).

KRINAKOS A King of Olenos, Akhaia (in Southern Greece). He was a son of Zeus.

KRONIOS A Lord of the island of Rhodes (in the Greek Aegean), one of three sons borne to Zeus and the Nymphe Himalia.

KYTOS A Lord of the island of Rhodes (in the Greek Aegean), one of three sons borne to Zeus and the Nymphe Himalia.

LAKEDAIMON The first King of Lakedaimonia (aka Sparta) (in Southern Greece). He was a son of Zeus and the Pleiad Taygete.

LATINOS A King of Latium (in Central Italia), son of Zeus and Pandora.

MAGNES The first King and Eponym of Magnesia (in Thessalia, Northern Greece). He was a son of Zeus and Thyia (or, according to others, of Aiolos and Enarete).

MAKEDON The first King and Eponym of Makedonia (in Northern Greece). He was a son of Zeus and Thyia.

MANES The first King of Lydia (in Asia Minor), a son of Zeus and Gaia.

MEGAROS The first King of Megara (in Southern Greece), son of Zeus and a Sithnid Nymphe.

MELITEUS A Lord and Eponym of the town of Melite in Phthiotis (in Northern Greece). He was a son of Zeus and Othris.

MINOS A King of the island of Krete (in the Greek Aegean). He was a son of Zeus and Europa.

MYRMIDON A King of Phthiotis (in Northern Greece) and Epynom of the Myrmidones tribe. He was a son of Zeus and Eurymedousa.

ORION A Gigante who was born in answer to the prayers of the childless Boiotian (of Central Greece) King Hyrieus. He was conceived by three gods - Zeus, Hermes and Poseidon - who urinated upon a bull's hide and buried it in the earth, to grow an earth-born infant.

PELASGOS A King of Arkadia or Argos (in Southern Greece) and Eponym of the Pelasgian tribes. He was a son of Zeus and Niobe (though others calls him a son of Poseidon and Larissa or an Autokhthon (Earth-Born).

PEIRITHOUS A King of the Lapithai tribe of Thessalia (Northern Greece) who, according to some, was a son of Zeus and Dia (though most authors say the father was Dia's husband King Ixion).

PERSEUS A Hero and later King of Argos then Mykenai (in the Argolis, Southern Greece). He was the son of Zeus and Danae.

POLYDEUKES A Prince of Lakedaimonia (in Southern Greece) who with his twin-brother were known as the Dioskouroi. Polydeukes was the son of Zeus and Leda, while his twin brother was the son of Leda's husband Tyndareus.

RHADAMANTHYS A Lawmaker of Krete (in the Greek Aegean), and later resident of Thebes in Boiotia (Central Greece). Rhadamanthys was a son of Zeus and Europa.

SAON The first King of the island of Samothrake (in the Greek Aegean). According to some he was the son of Zeus and a local Nymphe (but others say he was a son of Hermes and Rhene).

SARPEDON A King of Lykia (in Asia Minor) who fought in the Trojan War. He was a son of Zeus and Laodameia or Europa (some say there were actually two Sarpedons).

SPARTAIOS A Lord of the island of Rhodes (in the Greek Aegean), one of three sons borne to Zeus and the Nymphe Himalia.

TANTALOS A criminally minded King of Lydia (in Asia Minor), son of Zeus and the Okeanis Plouto.

TARGITAUS The first King of the Skythia (in North-Eastern Europe), son of Zeus and the daughter of Borysthenes.

TITYOS A Gigante of Orkhomenos (in Central Greece) who was, according to some, a son of Zeus and Elare (though others say he was a fatherless son of Gaia the Earth).

ZETHOS A King of Thebes in Boiotia (Central Greece). He was a twin son of Zeus and Antiope.

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ORDER OF GODDESSES LOVED BY ZEUS

Before his marriage to Hera, Zeus consorted with a number of the female-Titanes (and his sister Demeter). The romances occurred in the following order:
(1) METIS
(2) THEMIS
(3) EURYNOME
(4) DEMETER
(5) MNEMOSYNE
(6) LETO
(some authors add DIONE and PERSEPHONE to this list, as well Zeus' unsuccesful attempts to seduce the goddesses ASTERIA and APHRODITE).

While Leto was pregnant with Apollon, Zeus made Hera his wife and queen. The goddess was angry that it would be Leto and not she who would bear Zeus his first son, and tormented her during her pregnancy, driving her from land to land and calling on the Titanes to attack her.
According to the Orphics, it was Persephone (and not Leto) who bore the Zeus' first-born son, the god Zagreus. Hera conspired with the Titanes againt him: sneaking into Olympos, they caught, dismembered and devoured the child.
(7) HERA

Following his marriage to Hera, Zeus secretly fathered Hermes on the Nymphe Maia. But his subsequent affair with the Nymphe Io was discovered by Hera, who tormented the girl and later urged the Titanes to kidnap their son Epaphos.
(8) MAIA
(9) IO

Hermes was the last god to be born to Zeus during the Titan-Wars. After vanquishing the Titanes Zeus pursued a long list of affairs with minor goddesses, Nymphai, and mortal women. Of these two were to bear him divine offspring, namely Semele the mother of Dionysos and Alkmene the mother of Herakles (born mortal but deified in death).
(10+) Order difficult to determine. The first mortal woman loved by Zeus was Niobe, daughter of King Deukalion (survivor of the Great Deluge).

"Now Zeus, king of the gods, made Metis his wife first, and she was wisest among gods and mortal men. But when she was about to bring forth the goddess bright-eyed Athene, Zeus craftily deceived her with cunning words and put her in his own belly ...
Next he married bright Themis who bare the Horai (Seasons), and Eunomia (Order), Dike (Justice), and blooming Eirene (Peace), who mind the works of mortal men, and the Moirai (Fates) to whom wise Zeus gave the greatest honour, Klotho, and Lakhesis, and Atropos who give mortal men evil and good to have.
And Eurynome, the daughter of Okeanos, beautiful in form, bare him three fair-cheeked Kharites (Graces), Aglaia, and Euphrosyne, and lovely Thaleia, from whose eyes as they glanced flowed love that unnerves the limbs: and beautiful is their glance beneath their brows.
Also he came to the bed of all-nourishing Demeter, and she bare white-armed Persephone whom Aidoneus carried off from her mother; but wise Zeus gave her to him.
And again, he loved Mnemosyne with the beautiful hair: and of her the nine gold-crowned Muses were born who delight in feasts and the pleasures of song.
And Leto was joined in love with Zeus who holds the aegis, and bare Apollo and Artemis delighting in arrows, children lovely above all the sons of Heaven.
Lastly, he made Hera his blooming wife: and she was joined in love with the king of gods and men, and brought forth Hebe and Ares and Eileithyia.
But Zeus himself gave birth from his own head to bright-eyed Tritogeneia [Athena, whose mother Metis had earlier been swallowed whole by Zeus], the awful, the strife-stirring, the host-leader, the unwearying, the queen, who delights in tumults and wars and battles ...
And Maia, the daughter of Atlas, bare to Zeus glorious Hermes, the herald of the deathless gods, for she went
up into his holy bed.
And Semele, daughter of Kadmos was joined with him in love and bare him a splendid son, joyous Dionysos, -- a mortal woman an immortal son. And now they both are gods.
And Alkmena was joined in love with Zeus who drives the clouds and bare mighty Herakles." -Theogony 886
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GENERAL LIST OF SONS

"Sons of Jove [Zeus]: Liber [Zagreos] by Proserpina, whom the Titanes dismembered; Hercules by Alcmena Liber [Dionysos] by Semele, daughter of Cadmus and Harmonia; Castor and Pollux by leda, daughter of Thestius; Argus by Niobe, daughter of Phoroneus; Epaphus by Io, daughter of Inachus; Perseus by Danae, daughter of Acrisius; Zethus and Amphion by Antiope, daughter of Nycteus; Minos, Sarpedon and Rhadamanthus by Europa, daughter of Agenor; Hellen by Pyrrha, daughter of Epimetheus; Aethlius by Protogenia, daughter of Deucalion; Dardanus by Electra, daughter of Atlas; Lacedaemon by Taygete, daughter of Atlas; Tantalus by Pluto, daughter of Himas; Aeacus by Aegina, daughter of Asopus; Aegipan by the she-goat Boetis; Arcas by Callisto, daughter of Lycaon; Pirithous by Dia, daughter of Deioneus." -Hyginus Fabulae 155
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ZEUS & THE COMBINED KINGDOMS OF GREECE (IN NORTHERN GREECE)

LOVED: PYRRHA Queen of Northern-Central Greece; PROTOGENEIA Princess of Northern-Central Greece; PANDORA Princess of Northern-Central Greece; THYIA Princess of Northern-Central Greece
SIRED: HELLEN King of the Northern-Central Greece

After the Great Deluge Deukalion and Pyrrha became the symbolic rulers of the whole of Greece. They ruled from the city of Oupis in Lokris with a dominion encompassing the northern and central Greek kingdoms of Thessalia, Malis, Phokis, Boiotia and Lokris.
Most of the Kingdoms of Greece were founded by descendants of the pair.
Their first son Hellen (King of all the Hellenes or Greeks) was said to have been fathered by Zeus.
Furthermore three of their daughters mated with Zeus:
- Thyia was the mother by the god of Magnes (first King of Magnesia and Pieria) and Makedon (first King of Makedonia);
- Pandora was the mother of Graikos (first King of the Graikoi, near Dodona);
- and Protogeneia was the mother of Aithlios (first King of Elis).

(1) HELLEN King of Northern-Central Greece

“The children of Deukalion and Pyrrha were, first, Hellen (whom some say Zeus sired).” -Apollodorus 1.49

"Sons of Jove [Zeus] ... Hellen by Pyrrha, daughter of Epimetheus." -Hyginus Fabulae 155
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ZEUS & THE KINGDOM OF THE GRAIKOI (IN NORTH-WESTERN GREECE)

SIRED: GRAIKOS King of the Graikoi

The Graikoi tribe lived in North-Western Greece, in the vicinity of Dodona (their land was also known as Perrhabia, see Map). Historically the Graikoi were the first Greek tribe conquered by the Romans who then applied the name to all of the Hellenes (Greeks).

"They came to call those who followed local manners Latins, but those who followed Hellenic customs Greeks, after the brothers Latinus and Graecus; as Hesiod says: 'And in the palace Pandora the daughter of noble Deukalion was joined in love with father Zeus, leader of all the gods, and bare Graikos, staunch in battle." -Catalogues of Women Frag 2 (from Ioannes Lydus (2), de Mens. i. 13)
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ZEUS & THE KINGDOM OF MAKEDONIA (IN NORTH-EASTERN GREECE)

LOVED: OLYMPIAS Queen of Makedonia (historical)
SIRED: MAKEDON King of Makedonia; ALEXANDROS THE GREAT King of Makedonia (historical)

"The district Makedonia took its name from Makedon the son of Zeus and Thyia, Deukalion's daughter, as Hesiod says: `And she conceived and bare to Zeus who delights in the thunderbolt two sons, Magnes and Makedon, rejoicing in horses, who dwell round about Pieria and Olympos." -Catalogues of Women Frag 3 (from Constantinus Porphyrogenitu, de Them. 2.48B)
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ZEUS & THE KINGDOM OF MAGNESIA (IN NORTHERN GREECE)

SIRED: MAGNES

"The district Makedonia took its name from Makedon the son of Zeus and Thyia, Deukalion's daughter, as Hesiod says: `And she conceived and bare to Zeus who delights in the thunderbolt two sons, Magnes and Makedon, rejoicing in horses, who dwell round about Pieria and Olympos." -Catalogues of Women Frag 3 (from Constantinus Porphyrogenitu, de Them. 2.48B)
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ZEUS & THE COMBINED KINGDOMS OF THESSALIA (IN NORTHERN GREECE)

LOVED: KALYKE Princess of Thessalia

See Zeus & the Kingdom of Elis (below)
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ZEUS & THE KINGDOM OF THE LAPITHAI, THESSALIA (IN NORTHERN GREECE)

LOVED: DIA Queen of the Lapithai
SIRED: PEIRITHOOS King of the Lapithai

"Sons of Jove [Zeus] ... Pirithous by Dia, daughter of Deioneus." -Hyginus Fabulae 155
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ZEUS & THE KINGDOM OF PHTHIOTIS (IN NORTHERN GREECE)

LOVED: EURYMEDOUSA Princess of Phthiotis
SIRED: MYMRIDON King of Phthiotis; MILETEUS Lord of Melite

See LOVES: ZEUS & OTHREIS
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ZEUS & THE KINGDOM OF AITOLIA (IN CENTRAL GREECE)

LOVED: KALLIRHOE Naias Nymphe

See LOVES: ZEUS & KALLIRHOE
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ZEUS & THE KINGDOM OF ITHAKA & KEPHALLENEIA (IN CENTRAL GREECE)

SIRED: ARKESIOS King of Ithaka & Kephalleneia

"My [Odysseus’] father is Laertes, his Arcesius, and his was Juppiter [Zeus] … and on my mother’s side add Cyllenius [Hermes father of Autolykos], nobility again, both sides divine." -Metamorphoses 13.144
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ZEUS & THE KINGDOM OF ORKHOMENOS (IN CENTRAL GREECE)

LOVED: ELARE Princess of Orkhomenos
SIRED: TITYOS Giant

“Tityos son of Zeus and Orkhomenos’ daughter Elare. After Zeus had seduced Elare, in fear of Hera he hid her beneath the earth, where she gave birth to their enormous son Tityos, and led him forth into the light of day.” -Apollodorus 1.23

See LOVES: ZEUS & ELARE
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ZEUS & THE KINGDOMS OF BOIOTIA (IN CENTRAL GREECE)

LOVED: THEBE Naias Nymphe; SEMELE Princess of Thebes; ANTIOPE Princess of Thebes;
ALKMENE Theban Lady
SIRED: DIONYSOS God of Wine; AMPHION & ZETHOS Co-Kings of Thebes; HERAKLES Hero of Thebes; ORION Giant & Prince of Hyria

(1a) HERAKLES Hero of Thebes

See LOVES: ZEUS & ALKMENE

(1b) HERAKLES Hero

"We are told of several [heroes named Herakles] by the students of esoteric and recondite writings ... Jupiter [Zeus] then and Lysithoe were the parents of the Hercules who is recorded to have had a tussle with Apollo about a tripod.” –De Natura Deorum 3.16.42

(2) AMPHION & ZETHOS Co-Kings of Thebes

See LOVES: ZEUS & ANTIOPE

(3) DIONYSOS God of Wine

See LOVES: ZEUS & SEMELE

(4) ORION Giant & Prince of Hyria

"Hyria is the scene of the myth of Hyrieos, and of the birth of Orion, of which Pindar speaks in his dithyrambs; it is situated near Aulis." -Strabo 9.2.13

“Jove [Zeus], Neptunus [Poseidon], and Mercurius [Hermes] came as guests to King Hyrieus in Thrace. Since they were received hospitably by him, they promised him whatever he should ask for. He asked for children. Mercurius [Hermes] brought out the hide of the bull which Hyrieus had sacrificed to them; they urinated in it, and buried it in the earth, and from it Orion was born.” –Hyginus Fabulae 195

“[The Constellation Orion] Hesiod calls him the son of Neptunus [Poseidon] by Euryale, daughter of Minos. He had the ability of running over the waves as if on land ...
Aristomachus says that there lived a certain Hyrieus at Thebes – Pindar puts him on the island of Chios – who asked from Jove [Zeus] and Mercurius [Hermes] when they visited him that he might have a child. To gain his request more readily he sacrificed an ox and put it before them for a feast. When he had done this, Jove and Mercurius asked him to remove the hide from the ox; then they urinated in it, and bade him bury the hide in the ground. From this, later on, a child was born whom Hyrieus called Urion (Urine) from the happening, though on account of his charm and affability he came to be called Orion.” –Hyginus Astronomica 2.34

“[Constellation] Boeotian Orion. I should sing the cause of this constellation. Jupiter [Zeus] and his brother who rules the broad sea [Poseidon] were travelling the road with Mercurius [Hermes]. It was the time when yokes bring back the upturned plough and stooping lams milk their bursting ewes. By chance an old farmer of a narrow plot, Hyrieus, spots them, as he stood by his little hut. He said: ‘The way is long, but not the time left, and my doorway is open to strangers.’ His look, too, strengthened his words, and he asked again. They take his offer and hide their godhead. They pass under the old man’s smoke-blacked, filthy roof; a small fire glowed from yesterday’s log … [he offers the gods food and wine]. Jupiter’s [Zeus’] words were: ‘Wish whatever you desire; you shall have it all.’ The kind man’s words were: ‘I had a dear wife, whom I knew in first youth’s flower. Where is she now, you ask? Sealed in an urn. I gave her an oath, with you as my witness. ‘You alone,’ I declared, ‘shall be my wife.’ I’ve kept my word, but my desire has changed. I want to be, not a husband, but a father.’ All nodded; all stood by the hide of the ox. I am ashamed to speak any further [the three gods urinated on the hide]. Then they blanketed the sodden spot with soil. It was now ten months, and a boy was born. Hyrieus calls him Urion from his mode of birth; then the first letter lost its ancient sound. He grew huge.” –Ovid Fasti 5.493

“Hyria, that hospitable land which entertained the gods, named after hospitable Hyrieus; where that huge giant born of no marriage-bed, threefather Orion, sprang up from his mother earth, after a shower of piss from three gods grew in generative fruitfulness to the selfmade shape of a child, having impregnated a wrinkled of fruitful oxhide. Then a hollow of the earth was made midwife to earth’s unbegotten son.” –Dionysiaca 13.96
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ZEUS & THE KINGDOM OF MEGARIS (IN SOUTHERN GREECE)

LOVED: NYMPHE SITHNID Naiad Nymphe
SIRED: MEGAROS King of Megara

"The Megarians say that the Nymphai Sithnides are native, and that one of them mated with Zeus; that Megaros, a son of Zeus and of this Nymphe, escaped the flood in the time of Deukalion, and made his escape to the heights of Gerania. " -Pausanias 1.40.1
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ZEUS & THE KINGDOM OF KORINTHOS (IN SOUTHERN GREECE)

SIRED: KORINTHOS King of Korinthos

"The Korinthian land is a portion of the Argive, and is named after Korinthos. That Korinthos was a son of Zeus I have never known anybody say seriously except the majority of the Korinthians." -Pausanias 2.1.1
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ZEUS & THE ISLAND KINGDOM OF AIGINA (IN SOUTHERN GREECE)

LOVED: AIGINA Naias Nymphe
SIRED: AIAKOS King of Aigina

See LOVES: ZEUS & AIGINA; FAMILY / BLESSINGS: ZEUS & AIAKOS
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ZEUS & THE KINGDOMS OF THE ARGOLIS (IN SOUTHEN GREECE)

LOVED: NIOBE Princess of Argos; IO Princess of Argos; DANAI Princess of Argos
SIRED: ARGOS King of Argos; PERSEUS King of Mykenai

(1) ARGOS King of Argos (& the Peloponnese)

Niobe was one of the first-born women, born shortly after the creation of Pandora (the very first woman). She was also the first mortal woman to be loved by Zeus. Pandora's daughter Pyrrha (one of the few survivors of the Great Deluge) was probably the second.

“Phoroneus ruled the entire region later called the Peloponnesos, and by a Nymphe named Teledike fathered Apis and Niobe ... Niobe (the first mortal woman with whom Zeus had sex) bore Zeus a son Argos … Argos got the rule and named the [region of the] Peloponnesos Argos after himself.” -Apollodorus 2.2

"Argos [eponym of Argos], reputed to be the son of Zeus and Niobe, daughter of Phoroneus." -Pausanias 2.22.5

"From Phoroneus and Cinna were born Apis and Niobe.  She was the first mortal to be embraced by Jupiter [Zeus].  From her was born Argus, who named the town of Argos after his own name." -Hyginus Fabulae 145

"Sons of Jove [Zeus] ... Argus by Niobe, daughter of Phoroneus." -Hyginus Fabulae 155

See LOVES: ZEUS & NIOBE

(2) PERSEUS King of Mykenai

See LOVES: ZEUS & DANAE

(3) EPIDAUROS King of Epidauros

"According to the opinion of the Argives and the epic poem, the 'Great Eoiae', Argos the son of Zeus was father of Epidauros." -The Great Eoiae Frag 1 (from Pausanais 2.26.3)

"The father of Epidauros was Argos, son of Zeus." -Pausanias 2.26.3

See also LOVES: ZEUS & IO
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ZEUS & THE KINGDOM OF LAKEDAIMONIA (IN SOUTHERN GREECE)

LOVED: TAYGETE Pleaid Nymphe; LEDA Queen of Lakedaimonia
SIRED: LAKEDAIMON King of Lakedaimonia; POLYDEUKES Prince of Lakedaimonia;
HELENE Princess & Queen of Lakedaimonia

(1) LAKEDAIMON King of Lakedaimonia

"Taygete bore Zeus Lakedaimon." -Apollodorus 3.116

“Lakedaimon, whose mother was Taygete, after whom the mountain was named, while according to report his father was none other than Zeus.” –Pausanias 3.1.2

“[Illustrated on the throne of the statue of Aphrodite at Amyklai, Lakedaimon] To describe the reliefs … Poseidon and Zeus are carrying Taygete, daughter of Atlas, and her sister Alkyone. There are also reliefs of Atlas.” –Pausanias 3.18.10-16

“Sons of Jove … Lacedaemon by Taygete, daughter of Atlas.” –Hyginus Fabulae 155

“The Pleiades are called seven in number ... of the seven, six mated with immortals (three with Jove) ... from Taygete and Jove, Ladedaemon.” –Hyginus Astronomica 2.21

“The Pleiades ... six of them entered a god’s embrace ... Maia, Electra, Taygete [lay] with Jove [Zeus].” –Ovid Fasti 4.169

“When I [Zeus] had Teygete Atlas’ daughter, from whose bed was born Lakedaimon the ancient prince. ” –Dionysiaca 32.65

(2) HELENE Princess & Queen of Lakedaimonia

"The Greeks say that Nemesis was the mother of Helene, while Leda suckled and nursed her. The father of Helene the Greeks like everybody else hold to be not Tyndareus but Zeus" -Pausanias 1.33.7

See also LOVES: ZEUS & LEDA; LOVES: ZEUS & NEMESIS
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ZEUS & THE KINGDOM OF ELIS (IN SOUTHERN GREECE)

SIRED: AITHLIOS King of Elis; ENDYMION King of Elis

(1) AITHLIOS King of Elis

"Aithlios the son of Zeus and Kalyke." -Catalogues of Women Frag 8 (from Scholiast on Apollonius Rhodes 4.57)

“The children of Deukalion and Pyrrha were … and a daughter Protogeneia, by whom Zeus had Aithlios.” -Apollodorus 1.49

"The first to rule in this land [Elis], they say, was Aithlios, who was the son of Zeus and of Protogeneia, the daughter of Deukalion" -Pausanias 5.1.3

"Sons of Jove [Zeus] ... Aethlius by Protogenia, daughter of Deucalion." -Hyginus Fabulae 155

(2) ENDYMION King of Elis

“Endymion was the son of Kalyke and Aithlios (though some say his father was Zeus). He led Aeolians forth from Thessalia and founded Elis. A man of unrivalled beauty, he was loved by Selene. When he was given a wish of his choice by Zeus, he chose to remain immortal and unaging in eternal sleep.” -Apollodorus 1.56
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ZEUS & THE KINGDOM OF OLENOS, AKHAIA (IN SOUTHERN GREECE)

SIRED: KRINAKOS

"Makareos was a son of Krinakos the son of Zeus as Hesiod says... and dwelt in Olenos in the country then called Ionian, but now Akhaian." -Catalogues of Women Frag 52 (from Diodorus Siculus 5.81.4)
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ZEUS & THE KINGDOM OF ARKADIA (IN SOUTHERN GREECE)

LOVED: KALLISTO Princess of Arkadia
SIRED: ARKAS King of Arkadia

See LOVES: ZEUS & KALLISTO
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ZEUS & THE ISLAND KINGDOM OF SAMOTHRAKE (IN THE GREEK AEGEAN)

LOVED: NYMPHE UNNAMED Nymphe of Samothrake; ELEKTRA Pleaid Nymphe
SIRED: SAON King of Samothrake; EMATHION King of Samothrake; IASION Prince & Priest of Samothrake

“One of the inhabitants of the island [of Samothrake], a certain Saon, who was a son, as some say, of Zeus and a Nymphe, but, according to others, of Hermes and Rhene, gathered into one body the peoples who were dwelling in scattered habitations and established laws for them.” –Diodorus Siculus 5.48.1

See also LOVES: ZEUS & ELEKTRA
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ZEUS & THE ISLAND KINGDOM OF RHODES (IN THE GREEK AEGEAN)

LOVED: HIMALIA Nymphe
SIRED: SPARTAIOS, KRONIOS & KYTOS Rhodian Lords

“And at this period in the eastern part of the island [of Rhodes] there sprung up the Gigantes, as they were called; and at the time when Zeus is said to have subdued the Titanes, he became enamoured of one of the Nymphai, Himalia by name, and begat by her three sons, Spartaios, Kronios, and Kytos.” –Diodorus Siculus 5.55.4
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ZEUS & THE ISLAND KINGDOM OF KRETE (IN THE GREEK AEGEAN)

LOVED: KASSIOPEIA Kretan Lady; KARME Nymphe
SIRED: MINOS King of Krete; RHADAMANTHYS Lawmaker of Krete; ATYMNIOS Kretan Lord;
BRITOMARTIS Goddess-Nymphe

(1) MINOS, RHADAMANTHYS & SARPEDON Kings & Princes of Krete

See LOVES: ZEUS & EUROPA

(2) ATYMNIOS Kretan Lord

"When they [Minos, Sarpedon and Rhadamanthys] were grown up, they quarrelled with each other; for they loved a boy called Miletos, son of Apollon ... But some say that they loved Atymnios, the son of Zeus and Kassiepeia, and that it was about him that they quarrelled." -Apollodorus 3.1.2

(3) BRITOMARTIS Kretan Lady (& later Goddess)

”The daughter of Zeus and of Karme, the daughter of Eubulos, was Britomartis.” –Pausanias 2.30.3

“Britomartis, who is also called Diktynna, the myths relate, was born at Kaino in Krete of Zeus and Karme, the daughter of Euboulos who was the son of Demeter; she invented the nets (diktya) which are used in hunting.” –Diodorus Siculus 5.76.3

“Kassiepeia, daughter of Arabios, and Phoinix, son of Agenor, had a daughter Karme [sister of Europa]. Zeus made love to her and fathered Britomartis who avoided the company of mankind and yearned to be a virgin for always. First she arrived in Argos from Phoinikia.” –Antoninus Liberalis 40
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ZEUS & THE ISLAND KINGDOM OF KYPROS (IN THE WESTERN MEDITTERANEAN)

LOVED: GAIA Earth Goddess
SIRED: KENTAUROI KYPRIOI Centaurs

See LOVES: ZEUS & APHRODITE
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ZEUS & THE KINGDOM OF TROY (IN ASIA MINOR)

SIRED: GANYMEDES Prince of Troy
SIRED: DARDANOS King of Troy

See also: for Dardanos LOVES: ZEUS & ELEKTRA; for Ganymedes LOVES: ZEUS & GANYMEDES
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ZEUS & THE KINGDOM OF LYDIA (IN ASIA MINOR)

LOVED: PLOUTO Nymphe; GAIA Earth Goddess
SIRED: TANTALOS King of Lydia; MANES King of Lydia; AKHILLEUS Lydian Lord

(1) TANTALOS King of Lydia

"Aiskhylos (Aeschylus), in his Niobe ... Niobe says that she will be mindful of the house of Tantalos, 'those who have an altar of their paternal Zeus on the Idaian hill." -Strabo 12.8.21

”Tantalos … who legend says was a son of Zeus and Plouto.” –Pausanias 2.22.3

“Tantalos was a son of Zeus, and he possessed surpassing wealth (ploutos) and renown.” –Diodorus Siculus 4.74.1

“Tantalos, son of Zeus and Plouto.” –Antoninus Liberalis 36

“Tantalus, son of Jove and Pluto.” –Hyginus Fabulae 82

“Sons of Jove [Zeus] … Tantalus by Pluto, daughter of Himas.” –Hyginus Fabulae 155

“Zeus Kronides had hurried to Plouto’s bed, to beget Tantalos, that mad robber of the heavenly cups; and he laid his celestial weapons well hidden with his lightning in a deep cavern ...
Then at a nod from his mother, Gaia the Earth, Kilikian Typhoeus stretched out his hands, and stole the snowy tools of Zeus, the tools of fire.” –Dionysiaca 1.145

"The bride of Zeus Berekyntian Plouto, so unhappy in the son Tantalos whom she bore." -Dionysiaca 48.729

"Tantalos is said to be the son of Plouto and Zeus." -Suidas 'Tantalou talanta talantizetai'

(2) AKHILLEUS Lydian Lord

"It is said that there was born also a son of Zeus and the Lamia called Akhilleus; he was of an irresistable beauty and like others was the object of a competition [he competed with the goddess Aphrodite who cursed him with ugliness]." - Ptolemy Hephaestion Bk6 (as summarized in Photius, Myriobiblon 190)

(3) MANES King of Lydia
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ZEUS & THE KINGDOM OF LYKIA (IN ASIA MINOR)

LOVED: LAODAMEIA Princess of Lykia
SIRED: SARPEDON King of Lykia

"And the lady [a Lykian princess] bare to wise-hearted Bellerophon three children, Isandros and Hippolokhos and Laodameia. With Laodameia lay Zeus the counsellor, and she bare godlike Sarpedon, the warrior harnessed in bronze ... and [Laodameia] was slain in wrath by Artemis of the golden reins." -Iliad 6.205

"Zeus bedded with her [Europa], and she bore Minos, Sarpedon, and Rhadamanthys; but according to Homer, Sarpedon was a son of Zeus by Laodamia, daughter of Bellerophon." -Apollodorus 3.1.1

“When nine years had gone by [of the Trojan War], Trojan allies appeared … from the Lykians came Sarpedon, son of Zeus.” -Apollodorus E3.35

See also LOVES: ZEUS & EUROPA; FAMILY: ZEUS & SARPEDON
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ZEUS & THE KINGDOM OF ASSYRIA (IN ASIA MINOR)

LOVED: SINOPE Naias Nymphe

See LOVES: ZEUS & SINOPE
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ZEUS & THE KINGDOM OF SKYTHIA (IN EASTERN EUROPE)

LOVED: BORYSTHENES' DAUGHTER Princess of Skythia
SIRED: TARGITAUS King of Skythia

"The Skythians say that their nation is the youngest in the world, and that it came into being in this way. A man whose name was Targitaüs appeared in this country, which was then desolate. They say that his parents were Zeus [or a Scythian god identified with Zeus] and a daughter of the Borysthenes river [the R. Dnieper] (I do not believe the story, but it is told)." -Herodotus 4.5.1
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ZEUS & THE KINGDOM OF TAUROS (IN EASTERN EUROPE)

SIRED: KOLAXES Taurian Lord
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ZEUS & THE KINGDOM OF PHOINIKIA (PHOENICIA) (IN WEST ASIA)

LOVED: EUROPA Princess of Phoinikia; KARME Princess of Phoinikia

See also LOVES: ZEUS & EUROPA; for Karme see ZEUS & THE KINGDOM OF KRETE (above)
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ZEUS & THE KINGDOM OF AIGYPTOS (EGYPT IN NORTH AFRICA)

SIRED: EPAPHOS King of Aigyptos

See See LOVES: ZEUS & IO
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ZEUS & THE KINGDOM OF LIBYA (IN NORTH AFRICA)

LOVED: LAMIA Queen of Libya
SIRED: HEROPHILE Sibylla of Libya

"The former Sibylla [before Herophile] I find was as ancient as any; the Greeks say that she was a daughter of Zeus by Lamia, daughter of Poseidon, that she was the first woman to chant oracles, and that the name Sibylla was given her by the Libyans." -Pausanias 10.12.1

See also LOVES: ZEUS & LAMIA
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ZEUS & THE KINGDOM OF THE MOORS (IN NORTH AFRICA)

LOVED: NYMPHE UNNAMED Libyan Nymphe
SIRED: IARBAS King of the Moors

"King Iarbas ... him the god Ammon [a Libyan god identified with Zeus] got by forced embrace upon a Libyan nymph; his kingdoms wide possessed a hundred ample shrines to Jove [Libyan Ammon, Greek Zeus]." -Aeneid 4.198
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ZEUS & THE KINGDOM OF LATION (ROME) (IN ITALIA)

SIRED: LATINOS King of Lation

"They came to call those who followed local manners Latins, but those who followed Hellenic customs Greeks, after the brothers Latinus and Graecus; as Hesiod says: 'And in the palace Pandora the daughter of noble Deukalion was joined in love with father Zeus, leader of all the gods, and bare Graikos, staunch in battle." -Ioannes Lydus (2), de Mens. i. 13
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Sources:

HYMNS TO ZEUS

“To [Zeus] Kronides Hypatos (the Son of Kronos, Most High). I will sing of Zeus, chiefest among the gods and greatest, all-seeing, the lord of all, the fulfiller who whispers words of wisdom to Themis as she sits leaning towards him. Be gracious, all-seeing Kronides, most excellent and great!” –Homeric Hymn 23 to the Son of Cronus

“To Zeus Astrapaios (Lightning Maker). I call the mighty, holy, splendid, light, aerial, dreadful-sounding, fiery-bright, flaming, ethereal light, with angry voice, lighting through lucid clouds with crashing noise. Untamed, to whom resentments dire belong, pure, holy power, all-parent, great and strong: come, and benevolent these rites attend, and grant the mortal life a pleasing end.” –Orphic Hymn 20 to Lightning Zeus
 

CULT STATUE OF ZEUS (Image S1.1) This statue of Zeus "of the Jupiter Hall" belongs to the collection of the Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg. It is a C1st AD Roman statue based on the C4th BC gold and ivory statue of Zeus by Pheidas at Olympia. He holds a Nike (Victory) in his right hand and his sceptre of power in his left.

“O Zeus, much-honoured, Zeus supremely great, to thee our holy rites we consecrate, our prayers and expiations, king divine, for all things to produce with ease through mind is thine. Hence mother earth (gaia) and mountains swelling high proceed from thee, the deep and all within the sky. Kronion king, descending from above, magnanimous, commanding, sceptred Zeus; all-parent, principle and end of all, whose power almighty shakes this earthly ball; even nature trembles at thy mighty nod, loud-sounding, armed with lightning, thundering god. Source of abundance, purifying king, O various-formed, from whom all natures spring; propitious hear my prayer, give blameless health, with peace divine, and necessary wealth.” –Orphic Hymn 15 to Zeus

“To Zeus Keraunos (Thundering). O father Zeus, who shakest with fiery light the world, deep-sounding from thy lofty height. From thee proceeds the ethereal lightning’s blaze, flashing around intolerable rays. Thy sacred thunders shake the blest abodes, the shining regions of the immortal Gods. Thy power divine the flaming lightning shrouds with dark investiture in fluid clouds. ‘Tis thine to brandish thunders strong and dire, to scatter storms, and dreadful darts of fire; with roaring flames involving all around, and bolts of thunder of tremendous sound. Thy rapid dart can raise the hair upright, and shake the heart of man with wild affright. Sudden, unconquered, holy, thundering God, with noise unbounded flying all abroad; with all-devouring force, entire and strong, horrid, untamed, thou rollest the flames along. Rapid, ethereal bolt, descending fire, the earth, all-parent, trembles at thine ire; the sea all-shining, and each beast, that hears the sound terrific, with dread horror fears: when nature’s face is bright with flashing fire, and in the heavens resound they thunders dire. They thunders white the azure garments tear, and burst the veil of all-surrounding air. O Zeus, all-blessed, may thy wrath severe, hurled in the bosom of the deep appear, and on the tops of mountains be revealed, for thy strong arm is not from us concealed. Propitious to these sacred rites incline, and to thy suppliants grant a life divine, add royal health, and gentle peace beside, with upright reasoning for a constant guide.” –Orphic Hymn 19 to Thundering Zeus

Zeus was originally the same god of Indo-European religion as the Vedic god Dyaus Pitar (cf. Jupiter), and as Tyr (Ziu, Tiw, Tiwaz) in Germanic and Norse mythology. Tyr was however supplanted by Odin as the supreme god among the Germanic peoples. Ironically, the Germanic tribes did not identify Zeus/Jupiter with either Tyr or Odin, but with Thor.

The Worship of Zeus

Role and Titles

Zeus' role in the Greek Olympic pantheon can not be overstated. He fathered many of the heroes and heroines (see list at bottom of article) and was featured in many of their stories. Though he was the god of the sky and thunder, he was also the most supreme cultural artifact; in some senses, he was the embodiment of Greek religious beliefs and the archetypal Greek deity.

The various titles applied to Zeus emphasized different aspects of his wide-ranging authority:

* Olympios emphasized Zeus's kingship over both the gods and the Panhellenic festival at Olympia.
* A related title was Panhellenios, ('Zeus of all the Hellenes') to whom Aeacus' famous temple on Aegina was dedicated.
* As Xenios, Zeus was the patron of hospitality and guests, ready to avenge any wrong done to a stranger.
* As Horkios, he was the keeper of oaths. Liars who were exposed were made to dedicate a statue to Zeus, often at the sanctuary of Olympia.
* As Agoraios, Zeus watched over business at the agora, and punished dishonest traders.

Panhellenic Cults of Zeus

The major center at which all Greeks converged to pay honor to their chief god was Olympia. The quadrennial festival there featured the famous Games. There was also an altar to Zeus made not of stone, but of ash - from the accumulated remains of many centuries' worth of animal victims immolated there.

Outside of the major inter-polis sanctuaries, there were certain modes of worshipping Zeus that were shared across the Greek world. Most of the above titles, for instance, could be found at any number of Greek temples from Asia Minor to Sicily. Certain modes of ritual were held in common as well: sacrificing a white animal over a raised altar, for instance.

On the other hand, certain cities had Zeus-cults that operated in markedly different ways.

Some Local Zeus-Cults

In addition to the Panhellenic titles and conceptions listed above, local cults maintained their own idiosyncratic ideas about the king of gods and men. A few examples are listed below.

Cretan Zeus

On Crete, Zeus was worshipped at a number of caves at Knossos, Ida and Palaikastro. The stories of Minos and Epimenides suggest that these caves were once used for incubatory divination by kings and priests. The dramatic setting of Plato's Laws is along the pilgrimage-route to one such site, emphasizing Cretan Zeus's ties with wise legislation and hidden knowledge. On Crete, Zeus was represented in art as a long-haired youth rather than a mature adult, and hymned as ho megas kouros "the great youth". With the Kouretes, a band of ecstatic armed dancers, he presided over the rigorous military-athletic training and secret rites of the Cretan paideia.

Zeus Lykaios in Arcadia

Laconian kylix of the 6th century BC, showing Zeus Lykaios with an eagle.

The title Lykaios is morphologically connected to lyke "brightness", and yet it looks a lot like lykos "wolf". This semantic ambiguity is reflected in the strange cult of Zeus Lykaios in the backwoods of Arcadia, where the god takes on both lucent and lupine features. On the one hand, he presides over Mt. Lykaion ("the bright mountain") the tallest peak in Arcadia, and home to a precinct in which, allegedly, no shadows were ever cast (Pausanias 8.38). On the other hand, he is connected with Lycaon ("the wolf-man") whose ancient cannibalism was commemorated with bizarre, recurring rites. According to Plato (Republic 565d-e), a particular clan would gather on the mountain to make a sacrifice every eight years to make a sacrifice to Zeus Lykaios, and a single morsel of human entrails would be intermingled with the animal's. Whoever at the human flesh was said to turn into a wolf, and could only regain human form if he did not eat again of human flesh until the next eight-year cycle had ended.

Subterranean Zeus

Although etymology indicates that Zeus was originally a sky god, many Greek cities honored Zeuses who lived underground. Athenians and Sicilians honored Zeus Meilichios ("kindly" or "honeyed") while other cities had Zeus Chthonios ("earthy"), Katachthonios ("under-the-earth) and Plousios ("wealth-bringing"). These deities might be represented indifferently as snakes or men in visual art. They also received offerings of black animal victims sacrificed into sunken pits, as did chthonic deities like Persephone and Demeter, and also the heroes at their tombs. Olympian gods, by contrast, usually received white victims sacrificed onto raised altars.

In some cases, cities were not entirely sure whether the daimon to whom they sacrificed was a hero or an underground Zeus. Thus the shrine at Lebadaea in Boeotia might belong to the hero Trophonius or to Zeus Trephonius ("the nurturing"), depending on whether you believe Pausanias or Strabo. The hero Amphiaraus was honored as Zeus Amphiaraus at Oropus outside of Thebes, and the Spartans even had a shrine to Zeus Agamemnon.

Oracles of Zeus

Although oracles more usually came from Apollo, the heroes and various goddesses like Themis, a few oracular sites were dedicated to Zeus.

The Oracle at Dodona

The cult of Zeus at Dodona in Epirus, where there is evidence of religious activity from the 2nd millenium BC onward, centered around a sacred oak. When the Odyssey was composed (circa 750 BC), divination was done there by barefoot priests called Selloi, who lay on the ground and observed the rustling of the leaves and branches (Od. 14.326-7). By the time Herodotus wrote about Dodona, female priestesses called peleiades ("doves") had replaced the male priests.

Zeus's wife at Dodona was not Hera, but the goddess Dione - whose name is a feminine form of "Zeus". Her status as a titaness suggests to some that she may have been a more powerful pre-Hellenic deity, and perhaps the original occupant of the oracle.

The Oracle at Siwa

The oracle of Ammon at the oasis of Siwa in Libya did not lie within the bounds of the Greek world before Alexander's day, but it already loomed large in the Greek mind during the archaic era: Herodotus mentions consultations with Zeus Ammon in his account of the Persian War. Zeus Ammon was especially favored at Sparta, where a temple to him existed by the time of the Peloponnesian War (Pausanias 3.18).

Other Oracles of Zeus

The chthonic Zeuses (or heroes) Trophonius and Amphiaraus were both said to give oracles at their cult-sites.

Zeus and Foreign Gods

Zeus was equivalent to the Roman god Jupiter (from Jovis Pater or "Father Jove") and associated in the syncretic classical imagination with various other deities, such as the Egyptian Ammon, Etruscan Tinia. He (along with Dionysus) absorbed the role of the chief Phrygian god Sabazios in the syncretic deity known in Rome as Sabazius.

Zeus in Myth

Early Career

Birth

Cronus sired several children by Rhea: Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades, Poseidon, but swallowed them all as soon as they were born, since he had learned from Gaia and Uranus that he was destined to be overcome by his own son as he had overthrown his own father. But when Zeus was about to be born, Rhea sought Uranus and Earth to devise a plan to save him, so that Cronus would get his retribution for his acts against Uranus and his own children. Rhea gave birth to Zeus in Crete, handing Cronus a stone wrapped in swaddling clothes which he promptly swallowed.

Childhood

Then Rhea hid Zeus in a cave on Mount Ida in Crete. According to varying versions of the story:

1. He was then raised by Gaia.
2. He was raised by a goat named Amalthea, while a company of Kouretes, soldiers, or smaller gods danced, shouted and clapped their hands to make noise so that Cronus would not hear the baby's cry.
3. He was raised by a nymph named Adamanthea. Since Cronus ruled over the Earth, the heavens and the sea, she hid him by dangling him on a rope from a tree so he was suspended between earth, sea and sky and thus, invisible to his father.
4. He was raised by a nymph named Cynosura. In gratitude, Zeus placed her among the stars after her death.
5. He was raised by Melissa, who nursed him with goat-milk

Zeus becomes king of the gods

After reaching manhood, Zeus forced Cronus to disgorge the other children in reverse order of swallowing: first the stone, which was set down at Pytho under the glens of Parnassus to be a sign to mortal men, then the rest. In some versions, Metis gave Cronus an emetic to force him to disgorge the babies, or Zeus cut Cronus' stomach open. Then Zeus released the brothers of Cronus, the Gigantes, the Hecatonchires and the Cyclopes, from their dungeon in Tartarus; he killed their guard, Campe. As gratitude, the Cyclopes gave him thunder and the thunderbolt and lightning, which had previously been hidden by Gaia. Together, Zeus and his brothers and sisters, along with the Gigantes, Hecatonchires and Cyclopes overthrew Cronus and the other Titans.

After the battle with the Titans, Zeus shared the world with his elder brothers, Poseidon and Hades by drawing lots: Zeus got the land, Poseidon the sea and Hades the world of the shadows (the dead). (See also: Penthus)

Soon after taking the throne as king of the gods, Zeus fought the monsters Typhon and Echidna, defeating them. He left them and their children alive as challenges for future heroes.

The Joys of Married Life

Zeus was brother and husband of Hera. Their son was Hephaistos. Zeus is famous for his many extramarital affairs with various goddesses - notably Demeter, Latona, Dione and Maia -- and mortal women -- notably Semele, Io, Europa and Leda (for more details, see "Affairs" below). His wife, Hera, was very jealous and consistently tried to harm Zeus' mistresses and their children by him. For a time, a nymph named Echo had the job of distracting Hera from his affairs by incessantly talking. When Hera discovered the deception, she cursed Echo to only speak the words of others (hence our modern word "echo").

Seductions

A less squeamish age called these the "Rapes" of Zeus, for these were not love affairs but mythic events that in case after case record the localized cult of a water or wood nymph that has been supplanted by the conquering Olympian patrilineal order, effecting a cultural, social and religious revolution, or at the least a radical reform of ancient beliefs and reinterpreted readings for long-established cult practices.

It is notable that none of these liaisons involve any of the Olympian goddesses. Zeus may father upon the nymph the eponymous progenitor of a race of kings which may survive into heroic times or archaic history. In many cases "jealous" Hera, the goddess who represents conservative religious traditions, wreaks vengeance on the faithless "turncoat" who succumbs to the new order (see Io, etc.). Whenever the seduced female is human, the inquisitive reader soon finds that her mother was a nymph or demi-goddess.

A Zeus Miscellany

* Though Zeus was often petty and malicious, he also had a righteous streak, perhaps best exemplified in his aid on behalf of Atreus and his murder of Capaneus for unbridled arrogance.
* Zeus turned Pandareus to stone for stealing a bronze dog from one of his temples on Crete.
* Zeus killed Salmoneus with a thunderbolt for attempting to equal him, riding around on a bronze chariot and loudly imitating thunder.
* As a child, Zeus had had a friend named Celmis. Many years later, Rhea became offended by the antics of Celmis and asked Zeus to turn him into a lump of steel or diamond. Zeus obliged.
* Zeus turned Periphas into an eagle after his death, as a reward for being righteous and just.
* At the marriage of Zeus and Hera, a nymph named Chelone was disrespectful (or refused to attend). Zeus condemned her to eternal silence.
* When Memnon died, Zeus felt pity for his mother, Eos, the dawn-goddess, and granted him immortality.
* Zeus made the decision to marry Aphrodite off to Hephaestus in order to prevent violence over her between the many gods who lusted after the goddess of beauty.
* Zeus, with Hera, turned King Haemus and Queen Rhodope into mountains (Balkan and Despoto, respectively) for their vanity.
* Zeus exchanged a caduceus for the first flute with Hermes.
* Zeus turned Atalanta and Hippomenes (or Melanion) into lions because they had sex in one of his temples.
* Zeus blinded Tiresias but also gave him the gift of prophecy.

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References

* Cook, A.B. Zeus: A Study in Ancient Religion (3 volumes). New York, Bibilo & Tannen: 1964.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeus

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

The Greek myth of the Titanomachy (the war with the Titans) falls into a class of similar myths throughout Europe and the Near East, where one generation or group of gods opposes the dominant one. Sometimes the Elder Gods are supplanted. Sometimes the rebels lose, and are either cast out of power entirely or incorporated into the pantheon. Other examples include: the wars of the Norse gods with the Vanir and Jotuns, the Babylonian Enuma Elish, the battle between El and Baal, the Hittite "Kingship in Heaven" narrative, and Jehovah and Lucifer.

Greeks of the Classical age knew of several poems about the war between the gods and Titans. The dominant one, and the only one that has survived, was the Theogony attributed to Hesiod. There was an epic Titanomachy attributed to Thamyris, now lost. And the Titans played a prominent role in the poems attributed to Orpheus. Although only scraps of the Orphic narratives survive, they show interesting differences with the Hesiodic tradition.

The Titans in Other Greek Sources

Hesiod is not, however, the last word on the Titans. Surviving fragments of Orphic poetry in particular preserve some variations on the myth.

In one Orphic text, Zeus does not simply set upon his father violently. Instead, Rhea spreads out a banquet for Kronos, so that he becomes drunk upon honey. Zeus chains him and castrates him. Rather than being consigned to Tartarus, Kronos is dragged – still drunk – to the cave of Night, where he continues to dream and prophesy throughout eternity.

Another myth concerning the Titans that is not in Hesiod revolves around Dionysus. At some point in his reign, Zeus decides to give up the throne in favor of the infant Dionysus, who like the infant Zeus is guarded by the Kouretes. The Titans decide to slay the child and claim the throne for themselves; they paint their faces white with gypsum, distract Dionysus with toys, then dismember him and boil and roast his limbs. Zeus, enraged, slays the Titans with his thunderbolt; Athena preserves the heart in a gypsum doll, out of which a new Dionysus is made. This story is told by the poets Callimachus and Nonnus, who call this Dionysus "Zagreus", and also in a number of Orphic texts, which do not.

One iteration of this story, reported by the Neoplatonist philosopher Olympiodorus, writing in the Christian era, says that humanity sprung up out of the fatty smoke of the burning Titan corpses. Other earlier writers imply that humanity was born out of the blood shed by the Titans in their war against Zeus.

Pindar, Plato and Oppian refer offhandedly to man's "Titanic nature". Whether or not this refers to a sort of "original sin" rooted in the murder of Dionysus is hotly debated by scholars.
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The Titans in the Twentieth Century

Some scholars of the past century or so, most eloquently Jane Ellen Harrison, have argued that an initiatory or shamanic ritual underlies the myth of Dionysus's dismemberment and cannibalism by the Titans.

Re: the loves of Zeus. Clearly, he was not a strong believer in monogomy!

As you might expect, I'd like to now look at the gods of Olympus, gradually move onto Gigantomachia, but also move back to the Titans whenever the mood prevails as I would still like to give them any preeminence over all others in this thread.

Table of contents
1 Worship
1.1 In Rome

2 Hera's Children
3 Hera and Zeus's Lovers and Children
3.1 Leto and Artemis/Apollo
3.2 Callisto/Arcas
3.3 Semele/Dionysus
3.4 Alcmene/Heracles

3.4.1 The Twelve Labors

3.5 Io
3.6 Lamia

4 Other Stories Involving Hera
4.1 Cydippe
4.2 Tiresias
4.3 Chelone
4.4 The Trojan War

Worship
Hera was especially worshipped at the formerly Mycenean city-state of Argos, where the Heraia, festivals in her honor, were celebrated. There were also temples to Hera in Olympia, Mycene itself, Sparta, Paestum, Corinth, Tiryns, Perachora, Samos and Delos.

Hera's wagon was pulled by peacocks, one of her symbols, along with the crow, pomegranate, diadem, veil and cow. Her archaic association with cattle as a Cow Goddess led to an epithet Bopis ("cow-eyed" or "with big eyes").

Hera's Children
Hera was jealous of Zeus' giving birth to Athena without her (actually with Metis), so she gave birth to Hephaestus without him. (An alternate version discounts this and says Zeus and Hera were both parents of Hephaestus) Zeus and/or Hera were then disgusted with Hephaestus' ugliness and threw him from Olympus. As another alternative version, Hera gave birth to all of the children usually accreditted to her and Zeus together, alone by beating her hand on the ground or eating lettuce.

Hephaestus gained revenge against Hera for rejecting him by making her a magical throne which, when she sat on it, didn't allow her to leave it. The other gods begged Hephaestus to return to Olympus to let her go but he repeatedly refused. Dionysus got him drunk and took him back to Olympus on the back of a mule. Hephaestus released Hera after being given Aphrodite as his wife.

Hera and Zeus's Lovers and Children
For a time, a nymph named Echo (mythology) had the job of distracting Hera from Zeus' affairs by incessantly talking. When Hera discovered the deception, she cursed Echo to only speak the words of others (hence our modern word "echo").

Leto and Artemis/Apollo
When Hera discovered that Leto was pregnant and that Hera's husband, Zeus, was the father, she banned Leto from giving birth on "terra-firma", or the mainland, or any island at sea. She found the floating island of Delos, which was neither mainland nor a real island and gave birth there. The island was surrounded by swans. As a gesture of gratitude, Delos was secured with four pillars. The island later became sacred to Apollo. Alternatively, Hera kidnapped Ilithyia, the goddess of childbirth, to prevent Leto from going into labor. The other gods forced Hera to let her go. Either way, Artemis was born first and then assisted with the birth of Apollo. Another version states that Artemis was born one day before Apollo, on the island of Ortygia and that she helped Leto cross the sea to Delos the next day to give birth to Apollo.

Callisto/Arcas
Hera also figures into the myth of Callisto and Arcas.

A follower of Artemis, Callisto took a vow to remain a virgin. But Zeus fell in love with her and disguised himself as Apollo in order to lure her into his embrace. Hera then turned Callisto into a bear out of revenge. Later, Callisto's son with Zeus, Arcas, nearly killed her in a hunt but Zeus placed them both in the sky as the constellations Ursa Major and Ursa Minor.

An alternate version: One of Artemis' companions, Callisto lost her virginity to Zeus, who had come disguised as Artemis. Enraged, Artemis changed her into a bear. Callisto's son, Arcas, nearly killed his mother while hunting, but Zeus or Artemis stopped him and placed them both in the sky as Ursa Major and Ursa Minor.

Another alternate version: Artemis killed Callisto in bear form, deliberately.

Hera was not pleased with the placement of Callisto and Arcas in the sky, so she asked her nurse, Tethys, to help. Tethys, a marine goddess, cursed the constellations to forever circle the sky and never drop below the horizon, hence explaining why they are circumpolar.

Semele/Dionysus
Dionysus was a son of Zeus by a mortal woman. A jealous Hera again attempted to kill the child, this time by sending Titans to rip Dionysus to pieces after luring the baby with toys. Though Zeus drove the Titans away with his thunderbolts but only after the Titans ate everything but the heart, which was saved, variously, by Athena, Rhea, or Demeter. Zeus used the heart to recreate Dionysus and implant him in the womb of Semele, hence he was again "the twice-born". Sometimes it was said that he gave Semele the heart to eat to impregnate her.

Alcmene/Heracles
When Alcmene was pregnant with Heracles, Hera tried to prevent the birth from occurring. She was foiled by Galanthis, her servant, who told Hera that she had already delivered the baby. Hera turned her into a weasel.

A few months after Heracles, son of Zeus by Alcmene, was born, Hera sent two serpents to kill him as a he lay in his cot. Heracles throttled a single snake in each hand and was found by his nurse playing with their limp bodies as if they were child's toys.

One account of the origin of the Milky Way is that Zeus had tricked Hera into nursing the infant Heracles: discovering who he was, she had pulled him from her breast, and a spurt of her milk formed the smear across the sky that can be seen to this day.

The Twelve Labors
Hera attempted to make almost each one of Heracles' twelve labors more difficult than they needed to be.

When he fought the Lernaean Hydra, she sent a crab to bite at his feet in the hopes of distracting him.

Eurystheus wanted to sacrifice Cretan Bull to Hera, who hated Heracles. She refused the sacrifice because it reflected glory on Heracles. The bull was released and wandered to Marathon, becoming known as the Marathonian Bull.

To annoy Heracles after he took the cattle of Geryon, Hera sent a gadfly to bite the cattle, irritate them and scatter them. Hera then sent a flood which raised the water level of a river so much Heracles could not ford the river with the cattle. He piled stones into the river to make the water shallower. When he finally reached the court of Eurystheus, the cattle were sacrificed to Hera.

Io

Hera almost caught Zeus with a mistress named Io, a fate avoided by Zeus turning Io into a beautiful white heifer. However, Hera was not completely fooled and demanded Zeus give her the heifer as a present.

Once Io was given to Hera, she placed her in the charge of Argus to keep her separated from Zeus. Zeus then commanded Hermes to kill Argus, which he did by lulling all one-hundred eyes to sleep. Hera sent a gadfly to sting Io as she wandered the earth.

Lamia
Lamia was a queen of Libya, whom Zeus loved. Hera turned her into a monster (or she killed Lamia's children and the grief turned her into a monster) and murdered their children. Lamia was cursed with the inability to close her eyes so that she would always obsess over the image of her dead children. Zeus gave her the gift to be able to take her eyes out to rest, and then put them back in. Lamia was envious of other mothers and ate their children.

Other Stories Involving Hera

Cydippe
Cydippe, a priestess of Hera, was on her way to a festival in the goddess' honor. The oxen which was to pull her cart were overdue and her sons, Biton and Cleobis pulled the cart the entire way (45 stadia, 8 kilometers). Cydippe was impressed with their devotion to her and her goddess and asked Hera to give her children the best gift a god could give a person. Hera ordained that the brothers would die in their sleep.

Tiresias
As a young man, Tiresias found two snakes mating and hit them with a stick. He was then transformed into a woman. Seven years later, Tiresias did the same thing again and became a man again. A time later, Zeus and Hera asked him which sex, male or female, experienced more pleasure during intercourse. Zeus claimed it was women and vice versa. Tiresias sided with Zeus. Hera struck him blind. Since Zeus could not undo what she had done, he gave him the gift of prophecy.

Chelone
At the marriage of Zeus and Hera, a nymph named Chelone was disrespectful (or refused to attend). Zeus condemned her to eternal silence.

The Trojan War
During the Trojan War, Diomedes fought with Hector and saw Ares fighting on the Trojans' side. Diomedes called for his soldiers to fall back slowly. Hera, Ares' mother, saw Ares' interference and asked Zeus, Ares' father, for permission to drive Ares away from the battlefield. Hera encouraged Diomedes to attack Ares and he threw his spear at the god. Athena drove the spear into Ares' body and he bellowed in pain and fled to Mt. Olympus, forcing the Trojans to fall back.

Hera hated Pelias for having murdered Sidero, his step-grandmother, in a temple to Hera. She later attempted to manipulate Jason and Medea to kill Pelias and succeeded.

Hera, with Zeus, turned King Haemus and Queen Rhodope into mountains (Mt. Balkan and Mt. Despoto, respectively) for their vanity.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hera

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Dęmętęr (or Demetra) (DEH-MEH-ter) ("goddess mother" or "barley mother") is the Greek goddess of agriculture, the pure nourisher of youth and the green earth, the health-giving cycle of life and death, and preserver of marriage and the sacred law. She is invoked as the "bringer of seasons" in the Homeric hymn, a subtle sign that she was worshiped long before the Olympians arrived. She and her daughter Persephone were the central figures of the Eleusinian mysteries that also predated the Olympian pantheon.

Demeter is easily confused with Gaia or Rhea, and with Cybele. The goddess's epithets reveal the span of her functions in Greek life. Demeter ("grain-mother" or "earth-mother") and Kore ("grain-maiden") are usually invoked as to theo ('"The Two Goddesses"), and they appear in that form in Linear B graffiti at Mycenaean Pylos in pre-Hellenic times. A connection with the goddess-cults of Minoan Crete is quite possible.

In various contexts, Demeter is invoked with many epithets:

Potnia ("mistress") in the Homeric Hymn to Demeter
Chloe ("the green shoot", Pausanias 1.22.3), for her powers of fertility and eternal youth
Anesidora ("sending up gifts" from the earth Pausanias 1.31.4), as Demeter
Malophoros ("apple-bearer" or "sheep-bearer" Pausanias 1.44.3)
Kidaria (Pausanias 8.13.3),
Chthonia ("in the ground" Pausanias 3.14.5)
Erinys ("implacable," Pausanias 8.25.50)
Lusia ("bathing", Pausanias 8.25.8)
Thermasia ("warmth," Pausanias 2.34.6)
Kabeiraia, a pre-Greek name of uncertain meaning
Thesmophoros ("giver of customs" or even "legislator"), a role that links her to the even more ancient goddess Themis. This title was connected with the Thesmophoria, a festival of secret women-only rituals in Athens connected with marriage customs.
In honor of Demeter of Mysia a seven-day festival was held at Pellené in Arcadia (Pausan. 7. 27, 9). It lasted for seven days. Pausanias passed the shrine to Demeter at Mysia on the road from Mycenae to Argos but all he could draw out to explain the archaic name was a myth of an eponymous Mysius who venerated Demeter.

Major sites for the cult of Demeter were not confined to any localized part of the Greek world: there were sites at Eleusis, in Sicily, Hermion, in Crete, Megara, Celeae, Lerna, Aegila, Munychia, Corinth, Delos, Priene, Akragas, Iasos, Pergamon, Selinus, Tegea, Thorikos, Dion, Lykosoura, Mesembria, Enna, Samosthrace

She was associated with the Roman goddess Ceres. When Demeter was given a genealogy, she was the daughter of Cronos and Rhea, and therefore the elder sister of Zeus. Her priestesses were addressed with the title Melissa.

Demeter taught mankind the arts of agriculture: sowing seeds, ploughing, harvesting, etc. She was especially popular with rural folk, partly because they most benefited directly from her assistance, and partly because rural folk are more conservative about keeping to the old ways. Demeter herself was central to the older religion of Greece. Relics unique to her cult, such as votive clay pigs, were being fashioned in the Neolithic. In Roman times, a sow was still sacrificed to Ceres following a death in the family, to purify the household.

Table of contents [showhide]
1 Demeter and Poseidon
2 Demeter and Persephone
3 External link
4 References
[edit]
Demeter and Poseidon
Demeter and Poseidon's names are linked in the earliest scratched notes in Linear B found at Mycenaean Pylos. Where she was the fruitful earth, she might either have the nature of an ear of grain, or she might be a fruitful mare. Poseidon (his name seems to signify "consort of the Goddess") once pursued Demeter, in her archaic form as a mare-goddess. She resisted Poseidon, but she could not disguise her divinity among the horses of King Onkios. Poseidon became a stallion and covered her. Demeter was literally furious ("Demeter Erinys") at the assault, but washed away her anger in the River Ladon ("Demeter Lousia"). She bore to Poseidon a Daughter, who name might not be uttered outside the Eleusinian mysteries, and a steed named Arion, with a black mane. In Arcadia, Demeter was worshiped as a horse-headed deity into historical times.

Demeter and Persephone
The central myth of Demeter, which is at the heart of the Eleusinian mysteries is her relationship with Persephone, her daughter and own younger self. In the Olympian pantheon, Persephone became the consort of Hades (Roman Plutus, the underworld god of wealth). Persephone became the goddess of the underworld when Hades abducted her from the earth and brought her into the underworld. She had been playing with some nymphs (or Leucippe) whom Demeter changed into the Sirens as punishment for not having interfered. Life came to a standstill as the depressed Demeter (goddess of the earth) searched for her lost daughter (resting on the stone, Agelasta). Finally, Zeus could not put up with the dying earth and forced Hades to return Persephone by sending Hermes to retrieve her. But before she was released, Hades tricked her into eating six pomegranate seeds, which forced her to return six months each year. When Demeter and her daughter were together, the earth flourished with vegetation. But for six months each year, when Persephone returned to the underworld, the earth once again became a barren realm. It was during her trip to retrieve Persephone from the underworld that she revealed the Eleusinian mysteries. In an alternate version, Hecate rescued Persephone.

While Demeter was searching for her daughter, having taken the form of an old woman called Doso, she received a hospitable welcome from Celeus, the King of Eleusis in Attica (and also Phytalus). He asked her to nurse Demophon and Triptolemus, his sons by Metanira. As a gift to Celeus, because of his hospitality, Demeter planned to make Demophon immortal by burning his mortal spirit away in the family hearth every night. She was unable to complete the ritual because Metanira walked in on her one night. Instead, Demeter chose to teach Triptolemus the art of agriculture; from him the rest of Greece learned to plant and reap crops. He flew across the land on a winged chariot while Demeter and Persephone cared for him, and helped him complete his mission of educating the whole of Greece on the art of agriculture.

Later, Triptolemus taught Lyncus, King of the Scythians the arts of agriculture but he refused to teach it to his people and then tried to kill Triptolemus. Demeter turned him into a lynx.

Demeter was usually portrayed on a chariot, and frequently associated with images of the harvest, including flowers, fruit, and grain. She was also sometimes pictured with Persephone.

Demeter is not generally portrayed with a consort: the exception is Iasion, the youth of Crete who lay with Demeter in a thrice-ploughed field, and was sacrificed afterwards— by a jealous Zeus with a thunderbolt, Olympian mythography adds, but the Cretan site of the myth is a sign that the Hellenes knew this was an act of the ancient Demeter.

Demeter placed Aethon, the god of famine, in Erysichthon's gut, making him permanently famished. This was a punishment for cutting down trees in a sacred grove.

In Greek Mythology, Poseidon was the god of the sea, known to the Romans as Neptune, and to the Etruscans as Nethuns. He was also the god of earthquakes and horses. Benthesikyme was sometimes mentioned as his sister.

Prehistory
In the heavily sea-dependent Mycenean culture, Poseidon's importance dwarfed that of Zeus, if the extant Linear B tablets can be trusted. The name PO-SE-DA-WO-NE (Poseidon) occurs with greater frequency than does DI-U-JA (Zeus). A feminine variant, PO-SE-DE-IA, is also found, indicating the existence of a now-forgotten goddess to match the god. Tablets from Pylos record sacrificial goods destined for "the Two Queens and Poseidon" and to "the Two Queens and the King", compounding the mystery further. The most obvious identification for the "Two Queens" is with Demeter and Persephone (or some predecessors thereof), who are not associated with Poseidon in historical times.

Aquatic deities:
Poseidon
Oceanus
Ceto
Nereus
Glaucus
Thetis
Amphitrite
Tethys
Triton
Proteus
Phorcys
Pontus
Oceanids
Nereids
Naiads

Poseidon, unlike many of the Greek gods, has a name that is identifiably Indo-European in derivation. The first half means "lord" (or "husband"). The second half may come from the same root *deiwo- "god, sky, shining" that also yield "Zeus" and the "De-" in "Demeter"; others have interpreted it as "earth", although this view has lost some favor among linguists. Given Poseidon's connection with horses as well as the sea, and the landlocked situation of the likely Indo-European homeland, some scholars have proposed that Poseidon was originally an aristocratic horse-god who was then assimilated to Near Eastern aquatic deities when the basis of the Greek livelihood shifted from the land to the sea.

In any case, the early all-importance of Poseidon can still be glimpsed in Homer's Odyssey, where Poseidon rather than Zeus is the major mover of events.

Worship
In the historical period, Poseidon was often referred to by the epithets Enosichthon, Seischthon and Ennosigaios, all meaning "earth-shaker" and referring to his role in causing earthquakes.

Poseidon was a major civic god of several cities: in Athens, he was second only to Athena in importance; while in Corinth and many cities of Magna Graecia he was the chief god of the polis.

According to Pausanias, Poseidon was one of the caretakers of the Oracle at Delphi before Olympian Apollo took it over. Apollo and Poseidon worked closely in many realms: in colonization, for example, Apollo provided the authorization to go out and settle from Delphi, while Poseidon watched over the colonists on their way, and provided the lustral water for the foundation-sacrifice. Xenophon's Anabasis describes a groups of Spartan soldiers singing Poseidon a paean - a kind of hymn normally sung for Apollo.

Like Dionysus and the Korybantes, Poseidon also caused certain forms of mental disturbance. One Hippocratic text says that he was blamed for certain types of epilepsy.

Sailors prayed to Poseidon for a safe voyage, sometimes drowning horses as a sacrifice.

Role In Society
When in a good mood, Poseidon created new islands and calm seas. When in a bad mood, he struck the ground with his trident and caused chaotic springs, earthquakes, drownings and shipwrecks.

In Art
Poseidon's chariot was pulled by a hippocampus or horses. He was associated with dolphins, tridents and three-pronged fish spears (tridents).

He lived in a palace on the ocean floor, made of coral and gems.

In Rome
Neptune was worshipped by the Romans primarily as a horse god, Neptune Equester, patron of horse-racing. He had a temple near the race tracks in Rome (built in 25 BC), the Circus Flaminius, as well as one in the Campus Martius. Only July 23, the Neptunalia was observed at the latter temple.

Birth and Childhood
Poseidon was a son of Cronus and Rhea. Like his brothers and sisters save Zeus, Poseidon was swallowed by his father. He was regurgitated only after Zeus forced Cronus to vomit up the infants he had eaten. Zeus and his brothers and sisters, along with the Hecatonchires, Gigantes and Cyclopes overthrew Cronus and the other Titans. According to other variants, Poseidon was raised by the Telchines on Rhodes, just as Zeus was raised by the Korybantes on Crete.

When the world was divided in three, Zeus received the earth and sky, Hades the underworld and Poseidon the sea.

Adulthood

Lovers
His wife was Amphitrite.

Poseidon fell in love with Pelops, a beautiful youth, son of Tantalus. He took Pelops up to Olympus and made him his lover, even before Zeus did the same with Ganymede. To thank Pelops for his love, Poseidon later gave him a winged chariot, to use in the race against Oenomaus for the hand of Hippodamia.

Poseidon once pursued Demeter. She turned herself into a mare; and he became a stallion and captured her. Their child was a horse, Arion.

Poseidon had an affair with Alope, his granddaughter through Cercyon, begetting Hippothoon. Cercyon had his daughter buried alive but Poseidon turned her into the spring, Alope, near Eleusis.

Poseidon rescued Amymone from a lecherous satyr and then fathered a child, Nauplius, by her.

A mortal woman named Tyro was married to Cretheus (with whom she had one son, Aeson) but loved Enipeus, a river god. She pursued Enipeus, who refused her advances. One day, Poseidon, filled with lust for Tyro, disguised himself as Enipeus and from their union was born Pelias and Neleus, twin boys.

With Medusa, Poseidon had sexual intercourse on the floor of a temple to Athena. Medusa was changed into a monster and gave birth to Chrysaor and Pegasus.

After raping Caeneus, Poseidon fulfilled her request and changed her into a man.

Other Stories
Athena became the patron goddess of the city of Athens, in a competition with Poseidon. They agreed that each would give the Athenians one gift and the Athenians would choose whichever gift they preferred. Poseidon struck the ground with his trident and a spring sprung up; the water was salty and not very useful, whereas Athena offered them an olive tree. The Athenians (or their king, Cecrops) accepted the olive tree and along with it Athena as their patron, for the olive tree brought wood, oil and food. This is thought to remember a clash between the inhabitants during Mycenaean times and newer immigrants. It is interesting to note that Athens at its height was a significant sea power, at one point defeating the Persian fleet at Salamis Island in a sea battle.

Poseidon and Apollo, having offended Zeus, were sent to serve King Laomedon. He had them build huge walls around the city and promised to reward them well, a promise he then refused to fulfill. In vengeance, before the Trojan War, Poseidon sent a sea monster to attack Troy (it was later killed by Heracles).

Poseidon is best known for his hatred of Odysseus, preventing his return home to Ithaca for many years.

Consorts/Children
With Aethra
Theseus
With Alope
Hippothoon
With Amphitrite
Rhode
Triton
With Amymone
Nauplius
With Astypalaea
Ancaeus
Eurypylos
With Canace
Aloeus
With Celaeno
Lycus
With Chione
Eumolpus
With Chloris
Poriclymenus
With Demeter
Arion
Despina
With Europa
Euphemus
With Euryale
Orion
With Eurynome
Adrastus
With Gaia
Antaeus
Charybdis
With Halia
Rhode
With Hiona
Hios
With Hippothoe
Taphius
Libya
Belus
Agenor
With Lybie
Lamia
With Melia
Amycus
With Medusa
Pegasus
Chrysaor
With Periboea
Nausithous
With Thoosa
Polyphemus
With Tyro
Neleus
Pelias
Unknown mother
Aon
Briareus
Byzas
Cercyon
Cycnus
Evadne
Lotis
Rhodus
Sinis
Taras
[edit]
External Links
Greek Mythology resource (http://homepage.mac.com/cparada/GML/)

The story of Poseidon and Pelops (http://www.androphile.org/preview/Library/Mythology/Greek/)

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Hestia is a character from ancient Greek mythology. Her Roman equivalent was Vesta.

Goddess
She is the goddess of the hearth, gentleness, domesticity and the family. Her name means "home and hearth": the household and its inhabitants. Hestia symbolizes the alliance by between the colonies and their mother-cities and is the oldest daughter of Rhea and Cronus, sister to Zeus, Hera, Hades, Poseidon, and Demeter. Originally listed as one of the Twelve Olympians, Hestia was later removed in favour of Dionysus. Afterwards, she tended the sacred fire on Mt. Olympus. Her altars included every family hearth on earth.

Immediately after their birth, Cronus swallowed Hestia and her siblings except for Zeus, who later rescued them and led them in a war against Cronus and the other Titans. Hestia vowed to forever remain a virgin and refused Poseidon and Apollo when they came calling.

The corresponding Roman god was Pluto, Dis Pater or Orcus; the corresponding Etruscan god was Aita.

In Norse mythology the goddess Hel ruled the Underworld.

Hades: the place
There were several sections of Hades, including the Elysian Fields (contrast the Christian Paradise or Heaven), and Tartarus, (compare the Christian Hell). Greek mythographers were not perfectly consistent about the geography of the Afterlife

A contrasting myth of the Afterlife concerns the Garden of the Hesperides the Isles of the Blest.

In Roman mythology, an entrance to the underworld located at Avernus, a crater near Cumae, was the route Aeneas used to descend to the Underworld. By synecdoche, "Avernus" could be substituted for the underworld as a whole. The Inferi Dii were the Roman gods of the underworld.

The deceased entered the underworld by crossing the river Acheron, ferried across by Charon (kair'-on), who charged an obolus, a small coin for passage, which had been placed under the tongue of the deceased by pious relatives. Paupers and the friendless gathered forever on the near shore. The far side of the river was guarded by Cerberus, the three-headed dog defeated by Heracles (Roman Hercules). Beyond Cerberus, the shades of the departed entered Tartarus, the land of the dead.

The five rivers of Hades are Acheron, Cocytus, Phlegethon, Lethe and Styx. See also Eridanus.

The first region of Hades comprises the Fields of Asphodel, described in Odyssey xi, where the shades of heroes wander despondently among lesser spirits, who twitter around them like bats. Only libations of blood offered to them in the world of the living can reawaken in them for a time the sensations of humanity (compare vampires).

Beyond lay Erebus, which could be taken for a euphonym of Hades, whose own name was dread. There were two pools, that of Lethe, where the common souls flocked to erase all memory, and the pool of Mnemosyne ("memory"), where the initiates of the Mysteries drank instead. In the forecourt of the baleful palace of Hades and Persephone sit the three judges of the Underworld: Minos, Rhadamanthys and Aeacus. There at the trivium sacred to Hecate, where three roads meets, souls are judged, returned to the Fields of Asphodel if they are neither virtuous nor evil, sent by the road to Tartarus if they are impious or evil, or sent to Elysium with the heroic blessed.

Hades: the person
In Greek mythology, the god of the underworld "Hades" (the "unseen") was a son of the Titans Cronus and Rhea. He had three older sisters, Hestia, Demeter, and Hera, as well as two younger brothers, Poseidon and Zeus, : together they constituted half of the Olympian gods.

Cronus, fearing that his children would grow to depose him, devoured them upon birth, with the exception of Zeus and, according to some accounts, Hera. Upon reaching adulthood Zeus managed to force his father to disgorge his siblings. After their release the six younger gods, along with allies they managed to gather, challenged their parents and uncles for power in Titanomachy, a divine war. The war lasted for ten years and ended with the victory of the younger gods. Following their victory Hades and his two younger brothers, Poseidon and Zeus, drew lots for realms to rule. Zeus got the sky, Poseidon got the seas, and Hades received the underworld, the unseen realm to which the dead go upon leaving the world. Metaphorically, each one received one object, Zeus a thunder spear, Poseidon a trident, and Hades a helmet that gave invisibility to its carrier.

Hades obtained his eventual consort, Persephone, through trickery, a story that connected the ancient Eleusinian mysteries with the Olympian pantheon.

Hades ruled the dead, assisted by demons over whom he had complete authority. He strictly forbade his subjects to leave his domain and would become quite enraged when anyone tried to leave, or if someone tried to steal his prey from him.

Besides Heracles, the only other living persons who ventured to the Underworld were all heroes: Er, Odysseus, Aeneas, and Theseus. None of them was especially pleased with what they witnessed in the realm of the dead. In particular, the Trojan War hero Achilles, whom Odysseus met in Hades (although some believe that Achilles dwells in the Isles of the Blest), said:

"Do not speak soothingly to me of death, glorious Odysseus. I should choose to serve as the hireling of another, rather than to be lord over the dead that have perished."

—Achilles' soul to Odysseus. Homer, Odyssey 11.488)

Worship
Hades was a fearsome figure to those still living; in no hurry to meet him, they were reticent to swear oaths in his name. To many, simply to say the word "Hades" was frightening. So, a euphemism was pressed into use. Since precious minerals come from under the earth (i.e., the "underworld" ruled by Hades), he was considered to have control of these as well, and was referred to as "Ploutos," Greek "wealth." This explains the name given him by the Romans, "Pluto." Sophocles explained referring to Hades as "the rich one" with these words: "the gloomy Hades enriches himself with our sighs and our tears." In addition, he was called Clymenus ("notorious"), Eubuleus ("well-guessing"), and Polydegmon ("who receives many").

Although he was an Olympian, he spent most of the time in his dark realm. Formidable in battle, he proved his ferociousness in the famous Titanomachy, the battle of the Olympians versus the Titans, which established the rule of Zeus.

Because of his dark and morbid personality he was not especially liked by neither the gods nor the mortals. His character is described as "fierce and inexorable," and of all the gods he was by far most hated by mortals. He was not, however, an evil god, for although he was stern, cruel, and unpitying, he was still just. Hades ruled the Underworld and therefore most often associated with death and was feared by men, but he was not Death itself - the actual embodiment of Death was Thanatos.

When the Greeks prayed to Hades, they banged their hands on the ground to be sure he would hear them. Black animals, such as sheep, were sacrificed to him, and it is believed that at one time even human sacrifices were offered. The blood from sacrifices from Hades dripped into a pit so it could reach him. The person who offered the sacrifice had to turn away his face. Every hundred years festivals were held in his honor, called the Secular Games.

Hades' weapon was a two-pronged fork, which he used to shatter anything that was in his way or not to his liking, much as Poseidon did with his trident. This ensign of his power was a staff with which he drove the shades of the dead into the lower world.

His identifying possessions included a famed helmet, given to him by the Cyclopes, which made anyone who wore it invisible. Hades was known to sometimes loan his helmet of invisibility to both gods and men (such as Perseus). His dark chariot, drawn by four coal-black horses, always made for a fearsome and impressive sight. His other ordinary attributes were the Narcissus and cypress plants, the Key of Hades and Cerberus, the three-headed dog. He sat on an ebony throne.

Dis Pater
In Roman mythology, the god Dis Pater ("the wealthy father") was an underworld deity later subsumed by Pluto, the Roman Hades. Every one-hundred years, a festival called the Ludi Tarentini was celebrated in his name.

He was considered the ancestor of the Gauls.

Alternative: Dispater, Dis

Hades in art
Hades is rarely represented in classical arts, save in the Rape of Persephone.

Persephone
The consort of Hades, and the archaic queen of the Underworld in her own right, before the Hellene Olympians were established, was Persephone, represented by the Greeks as daughter of Zeus and Demeter. Persephone did not submit to Hades willingly, but was abducted by him one day while picking flowers with her friends. Even Zeus was powerless to get her out of the Underworld when her mother, Demeter, asked him to act on her behalf.

Eventually a deal was made, with the messenger god Hermes acting as the mediator: Persephone would spend half the year with her mother, the goddess of the harvest, and the other half with Hades. (Another variation placed Persephone with Hades for two-thirds of the year and with Demeter for only one third.) The Greeks believed that while Persephone was with Hades, her mother missed her so much that she withdrew her gifts from the world and winter came. In the spring, when Persephone rejoined her mother, Demeter would make things grow again.

Orpheus/Eurydice
Hades only showed mercy once. Because the music of Orpheus was so hauntingly sad, he allowed Orpheus to bring his wife, Eurydice, back to the land of the living as long as she walked behind him and he never tried to look at her face until they got to the surface. Orpheus agreed but failed and lost Eurydice forever.

Leuce/Mintho
Like his brother Zeus and other ancient gods, Hades wasn't the most faithful of husbands. He pursued and loved the nymph Mintho and to punish her for this, his jealous wife Persephone turned Mintho into the plant called mint. Likewise, the nymph Leuce, who was also ravished by him, was metamorphosed by Hades into a white poplar tree after her death.

Theseus/Pirithous
Hades imprisoned Theseus and Pirithous, who had pledged to marry daughters of Zeus. Theseus chose Helen and together they kidnapped her and decided to hold onto her until she was old enough to marry. Pirithous chose Persephone. They left Helen with Theseus' mother, Aethra and travelled to the underworld, domain of Persephone and her husband, Hades. Hades pretended to offer them hospitality and set a feast; as soon as the pair sat down, snakes coiled around their feet and held them there. Theseus was eventually rescued by Heracles.

Heracles
Heracles' final labour was to capture Cerberus. First, Heracles went to Eleusis to be initiated into the Eleusinian mysteries. He did this to absolve himself of guilt for killing the centaurs and to learn how to enter and exit the underworld alive. He found the entrance to the underworld at Tanaerum. Athena and Hermes helped him through and back from Hades. Heracles asked Hades for permission to take Cerberus. Hades agreed as long as Heracles didn't harm him, though in some versions, Heracles shot Hades with an arrow. When Heracles dragged the dog out of Hades, he passed through the cavern Acherusia.

Other names
Aides

External links

Maps of Hades http://www.thanasis.com/undrmapr.jpg http://virgil.org/maps/images/cumae.gif http://homepage.mac.com/cparada/GML/Underworldmap.html

In mythology chthonic (from Greek ÷čďíéďň-pertaining to the earth; earthy) designates, or pertains to, gods or spirits of the underworld, especially in Greek mythology.

Greek khthon is one of several words for "earth"; it typically refers to the interior of the soil, rather than the living surface of the land (as does gaia or ge) or the land as territory (as does khora). It evokes at once abundance and the grave.

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Chthonic deities:
Persephone
Hecate
Erinyes
Iacchus
Gaia
Demeter
Hades
Trophonius
Triptolemus

Its pronunciation is somewhat awkward for English-speakers – for this reason, many American dictionaries recommend that the initial "ch" should be silent. However, more reputable dictionaries, such as the OED, state that the first two letters should be pronounced "k".

Chthonian and Olympian
While terms like "Earth deity" have rather sweeping implications in English, the words khthonie and khthonios had a more precise and technical meaning in Greek, referring primarily to the manner of offering sacrifices to the god in question.

In the typical chthonic cult, the animal victim was slaughtered into a bothros "pit" or megaron "sunken chamber". In the cult of the Olympian gods, by contrast, the victim was sacrificed onto a raised bomos "altar". Chthonic deities also tended to favor black victims over white ones, and their offerings were usually burned whole or buried rather than being cooked and shared among the worshippers.

Cult type vs. Function
While chthonic gods and goddesses had a general association with fertility, they did not have a monopoly on it, nor were Olympian gods wholly unconcerned from the earth's prosperity. Thus Hera and Persephone both watched over aspects of the fertility of land, yet Hera had a typically Olympian cult while Persephone had a chthonic one.

Even more confusingly, Demeter was worshipped alongside of Persephone with identical rites, and yet was occasionally classified as an "Olympian" in poetry and myth.

In between
The categories Olympian and Chthonic were not, however, hard and fast. Some Olympian gods, like Hermes and Zeus, also received chthonic sacrifices and titles in certain locations. The deified heroes Heracles and Asclepius might be worshipped as gods or chthonic heroes, depending on the site.

Moreover, a few deities are not easily classifiable under these terms. Hecate, for instance, was typically offered puppies at crossroads - not an Olympian sacrifice, to be sure, but not a typical offering to Persephone or the heroes, either. But because of her underworld functions, Hecate is generally classed as chthonic.

She was usually portrayed as having three heads: one dog, one snake and one horse. She also had two ghostly dogs as servants by her side.

Hecate haunted three-way crossroads, where each of her heads faced different directions. She appeared when the "ebony moon" (new moon) shined.

In some versions of the myth, Hecate rescued Persephone from the underworld. Indeed, in the earliest records of her, Hecate bears little resemblance to the night-walking crone.

Medea was said to be a priestess of Hecate.

In Greek mythology, Persephone ("per-SE-fo-neh") was the queen of the Underworld, the Kore or maiden, daughter of Demeter.

Persephone ("she who destroys the light) is her name in the Ionic Greek of epic literature. In other dialects she was known under various other names: Persephassa, Persephatta, or simply Kore. The Romans first heard of her from the Aeolian and Dorian cities of Magna Graecia, who used the dialectal variant Proserpina.

Hence, in Roman mythology she was called Proserpina, and as a revived Roman Proserpina she became a an emblematic figure of the Renaissance.

Overview
The figure of Persephone is a well-known one today. Her story has great emotional power: an innocent maiden; a mother's grief at the abduction and return of her daughter. It is also cited frequently as a paradigm of myths that explain natural processes, with the descent and return of the goddess briging about the change of seasons.

But the Greeks knew another face of Persephone as well. She was also the terrible Queen of the dead, whose name was not safe to speak aloud. Her central myth, for all of its emotional familiarity, was also the back-story of the strange and secret rites at Eleusis, which promised immortality to their awe-struck participants - an immortality in her world beneath the soil, feasting with the heroes beneath her dread gaze.

The Abduction Myth
In the Olympian pantheon, Persephone is given a father, and made the daughter of Zeus and Demeter. Unlike every other offspring of an Olympian pairing, however, Persephone has no stable position at Olympus.

In the Homeric Hymn to Demeter and its many reteworkings, Persephone became the goddess of the underworld when Hades abducted her and brought her into the underworld. She was innocently picking flowers with some nymphs (or Leucippe, or Oceanids) in a field in Enna when he came, bursting up through a cleft in the earth; the nymphs were changed into the Sirens for not having interfered. Life came to a standstill as the depressed Demeter (goddess of the Earth) searched for her lost daughter; Helios, the sun, who sees everything, eventually told her what had happened.

Finally, Zeus could not put up with the dying earth and forced Hades to return Persephone. But before she was released, Hades tricked her into eating six pomegranate seeds, which forced her to return six months each year. In some versions, Ascalaphus informed the other gods that Persephone had eaten the pomegranate seeds. When Demeter and her daughter were together, the Earth flourished with vegetation, but for six months each year, when Persephone returned to the underworld, the earth once again became a barren realm. In alternate version, Hecate rescued Persephone.

This myth can also be interpreted as an allegory for ancient Greek marriage rituals. The Greeks felt that marriage was a sort of abduction of the bride by the groom from the bride's family, and this myth may have explained the origins of the marriage ritual. The more popular etiological explanation of the seasons may have been a later interpretation.

Persephone, as Queen of Hades, only showed mercy once, because the music of Orpheus was so hauntingly sad. She allowed Orpheus to bring his wife Eurydice back to the land of the living as long as she walked behind him and he never tried to look at her face until they reached the surface. Orpheus agreed but failed and lost Eurydice forever.

Coin, a silver tetradrachm minted by Agathokles of Syracuse about 310 - 305 BCPersephone also figures in the story of Adonis, the Syrian consort of Aphrodite. When Adonis was born, Aphrodite took him under her wing, seducing him with the help of Helene, her friend, and was entranced by his unearthly beauty. She gave him to Persephone to watch over, but Persephone was also amazed at his beauty and refused to give him back. The argument between the two goddesses was settled either by Zeus or Calliope, with Adonis spending four months with Aphrodite, four months with Persephone and four months of the years with whomever he chose. He always chose Aphrodite because Persephone was the cold, unfeeling goddess of the underworld.

When Hades pursued a nymph named Mintho, Persephone turned her into a mint plant.

Persephone was the object of Pirithous' affections. Pirithous and Theseus, his friend, pledged to marry daughters of Zeus. Theseus chose Helen and together they kidnapped her and decided to hold onto her until she was old enough to marry. Pirithous chose Persephone. They left Helen with Theseus' mother, Aethra, and travelled to the underworld, domain of Persephone and her husband, Hades. Hades pretended to offer them hospitality and set a feast; as soon as the pair sat down, snakes coiled around their feet and held them there.

Persephone and her mother Demeter were often referred to as aspects of the same goddess, and were called "the Demeters" or simply "the goddesses." The story of Persephone's abduction was part of the initiation rites in the Eleusinian mysteries.

Modern Scholarship on Persephone

Persephone Before the Greeks?
Many modern scholars have argued that Persephone's cult was a continuation of Neolithic or Minoan goddess-worship. Among classicists, this thesis has been argued by Gunther Zuntz (Persephone, 1973) and cautiously included by Walter Burkert in his definitive Greek Religion.

More daringly, the mythologist Karl Kerenyi has identified Persephone with the nameless "mistress of the labyrinth" at Knossos.

On the other hand, the hypothesis of a universal cult of the Earth Mother has come under increasing criticism in recent years. For more on both sides of the controversy, see Mother Goddess.

Life-Death-Rebirth
Inspired by James Frazer, Jane Ellen Harrison and modern mythologers, some scholars have lablelled Persephone a life-death-rebirth deity.

Consorts/Children
Unknown father (Some say Zeus)
Iacchus
Persephone and Hades are notable as the only divine couple who did not produce children, besides Aphrodite and Hephaestus.

Other names
Cora
Core
Despoina
Kore
Proserpina

References
Karl Kerenyi (Eleusis: Archetypal Image of Mother and Daughter, 1960, in English 1967) Zuntz, Gunter (Persephone, 1973)

Aphrodite (Ἀöńďäῑ´ôç, "risen from sea-foam") is the Greek goddess of love, sex and beauty.

The epithet Aphrodite Acidalia was occasionally added to her name, after the spring she used to bathe in, located in Boeotia (Virgil I, 720). She was also called Kypris or Cytherea after her alleged birth-places in Cyprus and Cythera, respectively. The island of Cythera was a center of her cult. She was associated with Hesperia and frequently accompanied by the Oreads, nymphs of the mountains.

Aphrodite had a festival of her own, Aphrodisiac, which was celebrated all over Greece but particularly in Athens and Corinth. In Corinth, intercourse with her priestesses was considered a method of worshipping Aphrodite.

Aphrodite was associated with, and often depicted with dolphins, doves, swans, pomegranates and lime trees.

Her Roman analogue is Venus. Her Mesopotamian counterpart was Ishtar and her Syro-Palestinian counterpart was ‘Ashtart (in standard Greek spelling Astarte); her Etruscan equivalent was Turan.

Venus was often referred to with epithet Venus Erycina ("of the heather") after Mt. Eryx, Sicily, one of the centers of her cult.

Birth
"Foam-arisen" Aphrodite was born of the sea foam near Paphos, Cyprus after Cronus cut off Uranus' genitals and the elder god's blood and semen dropped on the sea. Thus Aphrodite is of an older generation than Zeus. Iliad (Book V) expresses another version of her origin, by which she was considered a daughter of Dione, who was the original oracular goddess ("Dione" being simply "the goddess," etymologically an equivalent of "Diana") at Dodona. In Homer, Aphrodite, venturing into battle to protect her favorite Aeneas, has been wounded by Diomedes and returns to her mother, to sink down at her knee and be comforted. "Dione" seems to be an equivalent of Rhea, the Earth Mother, whom Homer has relocated to Olympus. After this story, Aphrodite herself was sometimes referred to as "Dione". Once Zeus had usurped the oak-grove oracle at Dodona, some poets made him out to be the father of Aphrodite.

Aphrodite's chief center of worship remained at Paphos, close to the Syrian coast, where the goddess of desire had long been worshipped as Ishtar and Ashtaroth. It is said that she first tentatively came ashore at Cytherea, a stopping place for trade and culture between Crete and the Peloponesus. Thus perhaps we have hints of the track of Aphrodite's original cult from the Levant to mainland Greece.

Plato considered that Aphrodite had two manifestations, reflecting both stories, Aphrodite Ourania ("heavenly" Aphrodite), and Aphrodite Pandemos ("Common" Aphrodite). According to Plato these two manifestations represented her role in homosexuality and heterosexuality, respectively (homosexuality being more divine for Plato).

Alternatively, Aphrodite was a daughter of Thalassa (for she was born of the Sea) and Zeus.

Adulthood

Marriage With Hephaestus
Due to her immense beauty, Zeus was frightened she would be the cause of violence between the other gods. He married her off to Hephaestus, the dour, humorless god of smithing. Hephaestus was overjoyed at being married to the goddess of beauty and forged her beautiful jewelry, including a girdle that made her even more irresistible to men. Her unhappiness with her marriage caused Aphrodite to seek out companionship from others, most frequently Ares, but also Adonis, Anchises and more. Hephaestus once cleverly caught Ares and Aphrodite in bed with a net, and brought all the other Olympian gods together to mock them. Hephaestus would not free them until they promised to end their affair, but both escaped as soon as the net was lifted and their promise was not kept.

Aphrodite and Psyche
Aphrodite was jealous of the beauty of a mortal woman named Psyche. She asked Eros to use his golden arrows to cause Psyche to fall in love with the ugliest man on earth. Eros agreed but then fell in love with Psyche on his own, or by accidentally pricking himself with a golden arrow. Meanwhile, Psyche's parents were anxious that their daughter remained unmarried. They consulted an oracle who told them she was destined for no mortal lover, but a monster who lived on top of a particular mountain. Psyche was resigned to her fate and climbed to the top of the mountain. There, Zephyrus, the west wind, gently floated her downwards. She entered a cave on the appointed mountain, surprised to find it full of jewelry and finery. Eros visited her every night in the cave and they made love; he demanded only that she never light any lamps because he did not want her to know who he was (having wings made him distinctive). Her two sisters, jealous of Psyche, convinced her to do so one night and she lit a lamp, recognizing him instantly. A drop of hot lamp oil fell on Eros' chest and he awoke, then fled.

When Psyche told her two jealous elder sisters what had happened; they rejoiced secretly and each separately walked to the top of the mountain and did as Psyche described her entry to the cave, hoping Eros would pick them instead. Zephyrus did not pick them and they fell to their deaths at the base of the mountain.

Psyche searched for her lover across much of Greece, finally stumbling into a temple to Demeter, where the floor was covered with piles of mixed grains. She started sorting the grains into organized piles and, when she finished, Demeter spoke to her, telling her that the best way to find Eros was to find his mother, Aphrodite, and earn her blessing. Psyche found a temple to Aphrodite and entered it. Aphrodite assigned her a similar task to Demeter's temple, but gave her an impossible deadline to finish it by. Eros intervened, for he still loved her, and caused some ants to organize the grains for her. Aphrodite was outraged at her success and told her to go to a field where golden sheep grazed and get some golden wool. Psyche went to the field and saw the sheep but was stopped by a river-god, whose river she had to cross to enter the field. He told her the sheep were mean and vicious and would kill her, but if she waited until noontime, the sheep would go the shade on the other side of the field and sleep; she could pick the wool that stuck to the branches and bark of the trees. Psyche did so and Aphrodite was even more outraged at her survival and success. Finally, Aphrodite claimed that the stress of caring for her son, depressed and ill as a result of Psyche's unfaithfulness, had caused her to lose some of her beauty. Psyche was to go to Hades and ask Persephone, the queen of the underworld, for a bit of her beauty in a black box that Aphrodite gave to Psyche. Psyche walked to a tower, deciding that the quickest way to the underworld would be to die. A voice stopped her at the last moment and told her a route that would allow her to enter and return still living, as well as telling her how to pass Cerberus, Charon and the other dangers of the route. She pacified Cerberus, the three-headed dog, with a sweet honey-cake and paid Charon an obolus to take her into Hades. Once there, Persephone offered her a feast but Psyche refused, knowing it would keep her in the underworld forever.

Psyche left the underworld and decided to open the box and take a little bit of the beauty for herself. Inside was a "Stygian sleep" which overtook her. Eros, who had forgiven her, flew to her body and healed her, then begged Zeus and Aphrodite for their consent to his wedding of Psyche. They agreed and Zeus made her immortal.

Adonis
Aphrodite was Adonis' lover and had a part in his birth. She urged Myrrha or Smyrna to commit incest with her father, Theias, the King of Assyria. Another version says Myrrha's father was Cinyras of Cyprus. Myrrha's nurse helped with the scheme. When Theias discovered this, he flew into a rage, chasing his daughter with a knife. The gods turned her into a myrrh tree and Adonis eventually sprung from this tree. Alternatively, Aphrodite turned her into a tree and Adonis was born when Theias shot the tree with an arrow or when a boar used its tusks to tear the tree's bark off.

Once Adonis was born, Aphrodite took him under her wing, seducing him with the help of Helene, her friend, and was entranced by his unearthly beauty. She gave him to Persephone to watch over, but Persephone was also amazed at his beauty and refused to give him back. The argument between the two goddess' was settled either by Zeus or Calliope, with Adonis spending four months with Aphrodite, four months with Persephone and four months of the years with whomever he chose. He always chose Aphrodite because Persephone was the cold, unfeeling goddess of the underworld.

Adonis was eventually killed by a jealous Ares.

The Judgement of Paris
The gods and goddesses as well as various mortals were invited to the marriage of Peleus and Thetis (the eventual parents of Achilles). Only the goddess Eris (Discord) was not invited, but she arrived with a golden apple inscribed with the words "to the most beautiful," which she threw among the goddesses. Aphrodite, Hera, and Athena all claimed the apple, and the matter was put before Paris, the most handsome mortal. Hera tried to bribe Paris with an earthly kingdom, while Athena offered great military skill, but Aphrodite was judged most beautiful when she offered Paris the most beautiful mortal woman as a wife. This woman was Helen, and her abduction by Paris led to the Trojan War.

Pygmalion and Galatea
Pygmalion was a lonely sculptor who made a woman out of ivory and called her Galatea. He prayed to Aphrodite, the goddess of beauty and love, who took pity on the lovesick artist, and brought to life the exquisite sculpture, which was named Galatea. Pygmalion loved Galatea and they were soon married.

Other Stories
In one version of the story of Hippolytus, Aphrodite was the catalyst for his death. He scorned the worship of Aphrodite for Artemis and, in revenge, Aphrodite caused his step-mother, Phaedra to fall in love with him, knowing Hippolytus would reject her. In the most popular version of the story, Phaedra seeks revenge against Hippolytus by killing herself and, in her suicide note, telling Theseus, her husband and Hippolytus' father, that Hippolytus had raped her. Theseus then murdered his own son before Artemis told him the truth.

King Glaucus of Corinth angered Aphrodite and she made her horses angry during the funeral games of King Pelias. They tore him apart. His ghost supposedly frightened horses during the Isthmian Games.

Aphrodite was often accompanied by the Charites.

Aphrodite was very protective of her son, Aeneas, who fought in the Trojan War. Diomedes almost killed Aeneas in battle but Aphrodite saved him. Diomedes wounded Aphrodite and she dropped her son, fleeing to Mt. Olympus. Aeneas was then eneveloped in a cloud by Apollo, who took him to Pergamos, a sacred spot in Troy. Artemis healed Aeneas there.

She turned Abas to stone for his pride.

She turned Anaxarete to stone for reacting so dispassionately to Iphis' pleas to love him, even after his suicide.

Consorts and children
Deities
Ares
Anteros
Eros
Harmonia
Himeros
Cronus
Pothos
Dionysus
Charites
Aglaea
Euphrosyne
Thalia
Hymenaios
Priapus
Hephaestus
Hermes
Eunomia
Hermaphroditus
Peitho
Rhodos
Tyche
Mortals
Adonis
Anchises
Aeneas
Butes
Eryx

Other names
Acidalia
Cytherea
Despina
Kypris

See also
Venus
Freya
Frigg
Categories: Greek goddesses | Love and lust goddesses

Venus is the Roman goddess of love, equivalent to Greek Aphrodite and Etruscan Turan. Other figures possibly corresponding to Venus are:

Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli in Aztec mythology
Kukulcan in Maya mythology
Vanadis in the Norse mythos

Her cult began in Ardea and Lavinium, Latium. On August 18, 293 BC, her oldest temple was built. August 18 was then a festival called the Vinalia Rustica. On April 1, the Veneralia was celebrated in honor of Venus Verticordia, the protector against vice. On April 23, 215 BC, a temple was built on the Capitol dedicated to Venus Erycina to commemorate the Roman defeat at Lake Trasum.

Julius Caesar introduced Venus Genetrix as a goddess of motherhood and domesticity.

Venus was often depicted in painting and in sculpture.

Ares ("man," "male, "strife"), in Greek mythology, is the god of war and son of Zeus and Hera. Also called Mars by the Romans. When Halirrhotius raped Alcippe, Ares' daughter by Aglaulus, Ares murdered him, for which he was tried in a court -- the first murder trial in history. He was acquitted. His companions included his sister Eris, his sons Phobos and Deimos and Enyo. Ares was followed by a retinue including Pain, Panic, Famine and Oblivion. Though immortal, he was very sensitive to pain and went running to his father, Zeus, whenever he got wounded. He was worshipped primarily in Thracia.

Otus and Ephialtes were two brothers and giants. The brothers at one point wanted to storm Mt. Olympus. They managed to kidnap Ares and hold him in a jar for thirteen months. He was only released when Artemis offered to sleep with Otus. This made Ephialtes envious and the pair fought. Artemis changed herself into a doe and jumped between them. The Aloadae, not wanting her to get away, threw their spears and killed each other.

Ares gave Hippolyte the girdle that Heracles took.

One night, while having sex with Aphrodite, Ares put a youth named Alectryon by his door to guard them. He fell asleep and Helios, the sun, walked in on the couple. Ares turned Alectryon into a rooster, which never forgets to announce the arrival of the sun in the morning.

During the Trojan War, Diomedes fought with Hector and saw Ares fighting on the Trojans' side. Diomedes called for his soldiers to fall back slowly. Hera, Ares' mother, saw Ares' interference and asked Zeus, Ares' father, for permission to drive Ares away from the battlefield. Hera encouraged Diomedes to attack Ares and he threw his spear at the god. Athena drove the spear into Ares' body and he bellowed in pain and fled to Mt. Olympus, forcing the Trojans to fall back.

In some versions of the story of Adonis, Artemis or Ares (her lover in this story) sent a wild boar to kill Adonis. This version is suspect because it implies that Artemis had sex with Ares and by virtually all accounts, she remained chaste throughout time.

Although important in poetry and myth, Ares was only rarely the recipient of cult worship. Even then, he was venerated most often in conjunction with other gods; for example, he shared a temple with Aphrodite at Thebes.

Ares Enyalius was sometimes used as an epithet for Ares. Interestingly, the Mycenean Greek Linear B tablets list a god Enyalios, while ares seems to be a common noun meaning "war". By Classical times, however, Enyalios has been demoted to the status of hero (as in the Iliad) and Ares promoted to god. Enyalios survives as a cult-title in only a few settings, most notably in the oath of the ephebes at Athens.

Consorts/Children

There is a Temple of Hephaestus, also called the Hephaesteum or (incorrectly) the Theseum, located at the foot of the Acropolis. Hephaestus, along with Athena Ergane (patron of craftsman and artisans), were honored at a festival called Chalceia on the thirtieth day of Pyanopsion.

The Zeus and Hera strain of stories holds that Hephaestus split Zeus' head open with a hammer thus releasing Athena. Either way, in Greek thought, the fates of the goddess of war (Athena) and the god of the forge that makes the weapons of war (or at least their births) were linked. Hephaestus also crafted many of Athena's battlements, along with those of the rest of the gods and the mortals who received their favor.

He also crafted many of the other magnficent equipage of the gods, for example Hermes's winged helmet and sandals, the Aegis breastplate, Aphrodite's famed girdle, Achilles's armor, Heracles's bronze clappers, Helios's chariot, Eros's bow and arrows and Hades's helmet of invisibility with the help of the Cyclopes and Cedalion, his assistants in the forge. He also built automatons of metal to work for him in his forge, which was believed to lay beneath any of a number of volcanoes in Greece.

Prometheus stole the fire that he gave to man from Hephaestus' forge. Hephaestus also created the gift that the gods gave man, the woman Pandora and her famous box.

Hephaestus was also quite ugly; he was crippled and misshapen at birth. Either Hera or Zeus, mortified to have brought forth such grotesque offspring, promptly threw him from Mount Olympus. He fell many days and nights and landed in the Ocean where he was brought up by the Oceanid Thetis (mother of Achilles) and Eurynome. Alternatively, Hera threw him from Olympus after he sided with Zeus in an argument. He fell for nine days and nights before landing on the island of Lemnos where he grew to be a master craftsman and was allowed back into Olympus when his ability and usefulness became known to the gods. His forge was located on Lemnos.

Hephaestus gained revenge against Hera for rejecting him by making her a magical throne which, when she sat on it, didn't allow her to leave it. The other gods begged Hephaestus to return to Olympus to let her go but he repeatedly refused. Dionysus got him drunk and took him back to Olympus on the back of a mule. Hephaestus released Hera after being given Aphrodite as his wife.

Alternatively, Zeus took pity on him and arranged his marriage to Aphrodite, either Hephaestus' sister (if she was the child of Zeus and Dione or great aunt (if she was the very much delayed result of the seed of the castrated Uranus falling into the sea). Aphrodite was none too pleased with that turn of events and promptly began an affair with Hephaestus' brother Ares. When Hephaestus found out about it (most likely from his sister Eris, the goddess of discord), he surprised them during one of their trysts and covered them with an invisible and unbreakable net and left them exposed for all of Olympus to see.

One legend claims Hephaestus wanted to marry Athena but she refused him. Alternatively, Athena disappeared from the marriage bed but Hephaestus did not notice and ejaculated on the ground, producing Erichtheus.

He was later married to Aglaea, the youngest of the Graces and fathered several children with mortals and immortals alike. One of those children was the robber Periphetes.

Hephaestus was somehow connected with the mysterious cult of the Cabari.

In art, Hephaestus was shown crippled, ugly and lame and bent over his anvil. He walked with the aid of a stick.

With Thalia, Hephaestus was sometimes considered the father of the Palici.

Pallas is sometimes thought of to be her father, hence the epithet Pallas Athena.

History
Athena was already a goddess in the Aegean before the coming of the Greeks. Her name derives from a pre-Greek language layer earlier than the Mycenaeans and its real meaning is lost. Athena is associated with Athens, a plural name because it was the place where she presided over her sisterhood, the Athenai, in earliest times.

In the Olympian pantheon, Athena was remade as the favorite daughter of Zeus, born from his head, the culmination of his Olympian ascendancy over the matriarchal Great Goddess of the earlier culture. Her birth is told in other versions. In one, Zeus lay with Metis, the goddess of crafty thought, but immediately feared the consequences. It had been prophesied that Metis would bear children more powerful than Zeus himself. In order to forestall these dire consequences, Zeus transformed Metis into a fly and swallowed her immediately after lying with her. He was too late: Metis had already conceived a child. Metis immediately began making a helmet and robe for her fetal daughter. The hammering as she made the helmet caused Zeus great pain and Prometheus, Hephaestus, Hermes or Palaemon (depending on the sources examined) cleaved Zeus's head with the double-headed Minoan axe ("labrys"). Athena leaped from Zeus's head, fully grown and armed, and Zeus was none the worse for the experience.

Athena was patron of the art of weaving and other crafts, wisdom and battle. Unlike Ares, who was hot-headed and undependable in battle, Athena's domain was strategy and tactics. Having taken the side of the Greeks in the war against Troy, Athena assisted the wily Odysseus on his journey home.

Athena In Art
Athena is classically portrayed wearing full armor, carrying a lance and a shield with the head of the gorgon Medusa mounted on it. It is in this posture that she was depicted in Phidias's famous gold and ivory statue of her, now lost to history, in the Parthenon on the Athenian Acropolis. Athena is also often depicted with an owl (a symbol of wisdom) sitting on one of her shoulders.

In earlier, archaic portraits of Athena in vase-paintings, the goddess retains some of her Minoan character, such as great birdwings.

Appellations
It is interesting to note that, while Homer's epithet glaucopis for Athena is usually translated "grey-eyed," "owl-visaged" suggests her archaic images with the bird of night perched on her head.

In her role as judge at Orestes' a trial on the murder of his mother, Clytemnestra (which he won), Athena won the epithet "Athena Areia."

Athena was often associated with the local Aeginian goddess, Aphaea. She had the epithet "Athena Ergane" as the patron of craftsmen and artisans.

She was often referred to with the epithet "Pallas Athena". Pallas was an ambiguous figure, sometimes male sometimes female, never imagined apart from Athena. She killed Pallas in a mistake, and ever after wore her/his goatskin fringed with chthonic serpents, as the protective aegis.

With the epithet "Athena Parthenos" ("virgin"), Athena was worshipped at the Parthenon. With the epithet "Athena Promachos" she led in battle. With the epithet "Athena Polias" ("of the city"), Athena was the protectress of Athens and the Acropolis.

Episodes

Erichthonius
According to Apollodorus, Hephaestus attempted to rape Athena but was unsuccessful. His semen fell on the ground, and Erichthonius was born from the earth. Athena then raised the baby as a foster mother. Alternatively, the semen landed on Athena's leg, and she wiped it off with a piece of wool which she tossed on the ground. Erichthonius arose from the ground and the wool. Another version says that Hephaestus wanted Athena to marry him but she disappeared on his bridal bed; he ejaculated onto the ground instead. Athena gave three sisters, Herse, Pandrosus and Aglaulus the baby in a small box and warned them to never open it. Aglaulus and Herse opened the box which contained the infant and future-king, Erichthonius. The sight caused Herse and Aglaulus to go insane and they threw themselves off the Acropolis.

An alternative version of the same story is that while Athena was gone to bring a mountain to use in the Acropolis, the two willful sisters opened the box. A crow witnessed the opening and flew away to tell Athena, who fell into a rage and dropped the mountain (now Mt. Lykabettos). Once again, Herse and Aglaulus went insane and threw themselves to their deaths off a cliff.

Erichthonius later became King of Athens and implemented many beneficial changes to Athenian culture. During this time, Athena frequently protected him.

Athens
Athena competed with Poseidon to be the patron deity of Athens. They agreed that each would give the Athenians one gift and the Athenians would choose whichever gift they preferred. Poseidon struck the ground with his trident and a spring sprung up; the water was salty and not very useful, whereas Athena offered them the first domesticated olive tree. The Athenians (or their king, Cecrops) accepted the olive tree and along with it Athena as their patron, for the olive tree brought wood, oil and food. This is thought to remember a clash between the inhabitants during Mycenaean times and newer immigrants. It is interesting to note that Athens at its height was a significant sea power, defeating the Persian fleet at the Battle of Salamis near Salamis Island in 480 BC. Athena was also the patron goddess of several other cities, notably Sparta.

Arachne
A woman named Arachne once boasted that she was a superior weaver to Athena, the goddess of weaving. Athena appeared to her disguised as an old woman and told Arachne to repent for her hubris but Arachne instead challenged Athena to a contest. The old woman threw off her disguise and the contest began. Athena wove a depiction of the conflict with Poseidon over Athens, while Arachne wove a depiction of Zeus' many exploits. Athena was furious at her skill (the contest was never decided), and her choice of subject, and, with a touch, struck Arachne with terrific guilt. Arachne hanged herself and Athena turned her into the first spider.

Perseus and Medusa
Athena guided Perseus in eliminating Medusa, a dangerous unreformed relic of the old pre-Olympian order, and she was awarded the grisly trophy that turned men to stone, for her shield.

Heracles
Athena instructed Heracles how to remove the skin from the Nemean Lion, by using the lion's own claws to cut through its thick hide. The lion's hide became Heracles' signature garment, along with the olive-wood club he used in the battle. Athena also assisted Heracles on a few other labors.

She also helped Heracles defeat the Stymphalian Birds, along with Hephaestus.

Tiresias and Chariclo
Athena blinded Tiresias after he stumbled onto her bathing naked. His mother, Chariclo, begged her to undo her curse, but Athena couldn't; she gave him prophecy instead.

Miscellaneous
Athena (Minerva) is the subject of the $50 1915-S Panama-Pacific commemorative coin. At 2.5 troy oz (78 g) gold, this is the largest (by weight) coin ever produced by the U.S. mint. This was the first $50 coin issued by the U.S. mint and no higher was produced until the production of the $100 platinum coins in 1997. Of course, in terms of face-value in adjusted dollars, the 1915 is the highest denomination ever issued by the U.S. mint.

"Bacchus" by CaravaggioDionysus, the name of a god, is occasionally confused with Dionysius the Elder, tyrant of Syracuse.

Dionysus (or Dionysos; also known as Bacchus in Roman mythology and associated with the Italic Liber), the Greek god of wine, represented not only the intoxicating power of wine, but also its social and beneficent influences. He was viewed as the promoter of civilization, a lawgiver, and lover of peace - as well as the patron deity of both agriculture and the theater.

She was the virgin moon goddess of the hunt, wild animals, healing, wilderness, chastity, and paradoxically childbirth (she was worshipped as a fertility/childbirth goddess mostly in cities), since she assisted her mother in the delivery of her twin. Early in her development, she was identified with Hecate, the primal, pre-Olympian feral goddess. She later became more identified with and eventually supplanted Selene as the moon goddess to complement her twin's identification with and supplantation of Helios as the sun god. Artemis also assimilated Caryatis (Carya).

Her priestesses were addressed with the title Melissa.

Artemis was not worshipped heavily in much of mainland Greece. In Asia Minor, however, she was a principal deity. In Rome, she was heavily venerated at Mount Tifata near Capua and in holy forests (such as Aricia, Latium) Her high priest lived in Aricia; his position was passed to the person who was able to kill him with a bough, picked from a tree in the forest.

Festivals in honor of Artemis include Brauronia, held in Brauron and the festival of Artemis Orthia in Sparta.

Young girls were initiated into the cult of Artemis at puberty. However, before marrying (an event in which they had little say, and which occurred shortly after puberty), they were asked to lay all the accoutrements of virginity (toys, dolls, locks of their hair) on an altar to Artemis.

Diana
Diana was worshipped in a temple on the Aventine Hill where mainly lower-class citizens and slaves worshipped her. Slaves could ask for and receive asylum in her temples.

She was worshipped at a festival on August 13.

Her name may come from diviana ("the shining one").

Artemis In Art
In art, she was typically portrayed with a crescent moon above her head and her bow and arrows, created by Hephaestus and the Cyclopes. These arrows, in contrast to her role as goddess of childbirth, were said to be the cause of women dying in childbirth. As another contradiction, she was a goddess of healing who brought leprosy, rabies and gout.

In Ephesus, the Temple of Artemis became one the Seven Wonders of the World. In Ephesus, and elsewhere in Asia Minor, she was worshipped primarily as an earth and fertility goddess, akin to Cybele, unlike in mainland Greece. Statues in Greece depict her with her bow and arrow; the statues in Asia Minor show her with nodes on her breast believed to be either multiple nipples, breasts or sacrificial bull testes.

Appellations
As Agrotora, she was especially associated as the patron goddess of hunters. Artemis was often associated with the local Aeginian goddess, Aphaea. As Potnia Theron, she was the patron of wild animals; Homer used this title. As Kourotrophos, she was the nurse of youths. As Locheia, she was the goddess of childbirth and midwives. She was sometimes known as Cynthia, from her birthplace on Mount Cynthus on Delos. She sometimes used the name Phoebe, the feminine form of her brother, Apollo's, Phoebus.

Birth
When Hera discovered that Leto was pregnant and that Hera's husband, Zeus, was the father, she banned Leto from giving birth on terra firma, or the mainland, or any island at sea. She found the floating island of Delos, which was neither mainland nor a real island and gave birth there. The island was surrounded by swans. As a gesture of gratitude, Delos was secured with four pillars. The island later became sacred to Apollo. Alternatively, Hera kidnapped Ilithyia, the goddess of childbirth, to prevent Leto from going into labor. The other gods forced Hera to let her go. Either way, Artemis was born first and then assisted with the birth of Apollo. Another version states that Artemis was born one day before Apollo, on the island of Ortygia and that she helped Leto cross the sea to Delos the next day to give birth to Apollo.

Childhood
At three years old, Artemis asked her father, Zeus, to grant her perpetual virginity. He did so. All of her companions remained virgins, and she guarded her chastity very closely.

Men

Actaeon
She was once bathing nude in the woods when the hunter Actaeon stumbled across her. He stopped and stared, amazed at her ravishing beauty. When she saw him, Artemis changed him to a stag and, disgusted at his stares, set his own hounds to kill him. He was torn apart. Alternatively, Actaeon boasted that he was a better hunter than she and Artemis turned him into a stag and he was eaten by his hounds.

Siproites
A Cretan, Siproites, saw Artemis bathing nude and was changed by her into a woman. (The complete story does not survive in any mythographer's works, but is mentioned offhand by Antoninus Liberalis.)

Orion
After leaving Eos, Orion became a follower of Artemis. She eventually killed him, though the reasons given vary:

Orion and Artemis were engaged. Her brother, Apollo didn't believe it was appropriate for her to marry a mortal. Apollo convinced Orion to walk out into the water and then dared Artemis to try to hit the barely visible speck (actually Orion's head) with an arrow from the shore. She succeeded, killing him.
Orion raped one of Artemis' female followers. She sent Scorpio, a scorpion, to kill him and both were placed in the stars as constellations. This legend explains why the constellation Scorpio rises just after Orion begins to set -- the scorpion still chases him. Orion's dog became Sirius, the dog-star.

Adonis
In some versions of the story of Adonis, Artemis or Ares (her lover in this story) sent a wild boar to kill Adonis. This version is suspect because it implies that Artemis had lain with Ares and by virtually all accounts, she remained chaste throughout time.

Other Stories

Callisto
Artemis killed any of her companions who lost their virginity, such as Maera and Callisto.

One of Artemis' companions, Callisto, lost her virginity to Zeus, who had come disguised as Artemis. Enraged, Artemis changed her into a bear. Callisto's son, Arcas, nearly killed his mother while hunting, but Zeus or Artemis stopped him and placed them both in the sky as Ursa Major and Ursa Minor.

Agamemnon and Iphigenia
Artemis punished Agamemnon after he killed a sacred deer in a sacred grove and boasted he was a better hunter. On his way to Troy to participate in the Trojan War, Agamemnon's ships were suddenly motionless as Artemis stopped the wind. An oracle named Calchis told Agamemnon that the only way to appease Artemis was to sacrifice Iphigenia, his daughter. According to some versions, he did so, but others claims that he sacrificed a deer in her place and Iphigenia was taken to Crimea to prepare others for sacrifice to Artemis.

Niobe
A Queen of Thebes and wife of Amphion, Niobe boasted of her superiority to Leto because she had fourteen children (Niobids), seven male and seven female, while Leto had only two. Apollo killed her sons as they practiced athletics, with the last begging for his life, and Artemis her daughters. Apollo and Artemis used poisoned arrows to kill them, though according to some versions a number of the Niobids were spared (Chloris, usually). Amphion, at the sight of his dead sons, either killed himself or was killed by Apollo after swearing revenge. A devastated Niobe fled to Mount Siplyon in Asia Minor and turned into stone as she wept, or committed suicide. Her tears formed the river Achelous. Zeus had turned all the people of Thebes to stone and so no one buried the Niobids until the ninth day after their death, when the gods themselves entombed them.

Taygete
Zeus pursued Taygete, one of the Pleiades, who prayed to Artemis. The goddess turned Taygete into a doe but Zeus raped her when she was unconscious. She thus conceived Lacedaemon, the mythical founder of Sparta.

Otus and Ephialtes
Otus and Ephialtes were a pair of brothers and giants. At one point, they wanted to storm Mt. Olympus. They managed to kidnap Ares and hold him in a jar for thirteen months. He was only released when Artemis offered to sleep with Otus. This made Ephialtes envious and the pair fought. Artemis changed herself into a doe and jumped between them. The Aloadae, not wanting her to get away, threw their spears and killed each other.

Ceryneian Hind
The Ceryneian Hind was sacred to Artemis. She had found a herd of five one day and captured four to pull her chariot, but the fifth escaped to Mt. Cerynaea, on the border of Achaea and Arcadia. When Heracles kidnapped it, Artemis forgave him.

The Meleagrids
After the death of Meleager, Artemis turned his grieving sisters, the Meleagrids into guineafowl.

Chione
Artemis killed Chione for her pride and vanity.

Atalanta and Oeneus
Artemis saved the infant Atalanta from dying of exposure after her father abandoned her. She sent a female bear to suckle the baby, who was then raised by hunters.

Among other adventures, Atalanta participated in the hunt for the Calydonian Boar, which Artemis had sent to destroy Calydon because King Oeneus had forgotten her at the harvest sacrifices.

In earlier Greek mythology, the sun was personified as a deity called Hęlios (Roman equivalent: Sol), driving a fiery chariot across the sky. Hęlios means 'the sun' in the Greek language.

Greek mythology
The best known story involving Helios is that of his son Phaeton, who drove the sun chariot to his own disaster.

Helios was sometimes referred to with the epithet Helios Panoptes ("the all-seeing").

The names of the horses were Pyrois, Eos, Aethon and Phlegon.

Helios was worshipped throughout the Peloponnesus, especially on Rhodes (an island he pulled out of the sea), where annual gymnastic tournaments were held in his honor. The Colossus of Rhodes was dedicated to him.

Helios was often depicted as a haloed youth in a chariot, wearing a cloak and with a globe and a whip. Roosters and eagles were associated with him.

In the Odyssey, Odysseus and his surviving crew landed on an island, Thrinacia, sacred to Helios, where he kept sacred cattle. Though Odysseus warned his men not to, they killed and ate some of the cattle. The guardians of the island, Helios' daughters, Lampetia and Phaethusa, told their father. Helios destroyed the ship and all the men save Odysseus.

While Heracles traveled to Erytheia to retrieve the cattle of Geryon, he crossed the Libyan desert and was so frustrated at the heat that he shot an arrow at Helios, the sun. Helios begged him to stop and Heracles demanded the golden cup which Helios used to sail across the sea every night, from the west to the east. Heracles used this golden cup to reach Erytheia.

Roman mythology
Helios' Roman equivalent was Sol. On the Quirinalis, he was worshipped as Sol Indiges. The Circus Maximus housed another temple.

Emperor Heliogabalus imported Sol Invictus ("the invincible sun") from Syria. Sol Invictus was designated the god of the Roman Empire.

Helios and Apollo
Apollo as he appears in Homer, a plague-dealing god with a silver (not golden) bow has no solar features. But by Hellenistic times Apollo had become closely connected with the sun religiously. His epithet Phoebus 'shining' was later applied by Latin poets to the sun-god Sol also, perhaps from such connections as well as from its obvious appropriateness.

The earliest certain reference to Apollo being sometimes identified with the sun god appears in the surviving fragments of Euripides' play Phaethon. The play as a whole seems to have kept Helios separate from Apollo but in a speech near the end (fr 781 N˛), Clymene, Phaethon's mother, laments that Helios has destroyed her child, that Helios whom men rightly call Apollo (the name Apollo here understood to mean Apollyon 'Destroyer').

The identification became a commonplace in philosophic texts and appears in the writing of Parmenides, Empedocles, Plutarch and Crates of Thebes among other as well as appearing in some Orphic texts. Pseudo-Eratosthenes writes about Orpheus in Catast 24:

But having gone down into Hades because of his wife and seeing what sort of things were there, he did not continue to worship Dionysus, become of whom he was famous, but he thought Helios to be the greatest of the gods, Helios whom he also addressed as Apollo. Rousing himself up each night toward dawn and climbing the mountain called Pangaion he would await the sun's rising, so that he might see it first. Therefore Dionysus, being angry with him, sent the Bassarides, as Aeschylus the tragedian says; they tore him apart and scattered the limbs.
Dionysus and Asclepius are sometimes also identified with this Apollo Helios.

But in mythological texts Apollo and Helios are almost universally kept distinct. The sun-god, the son of Hyperion, with his sun chariot, though often called Phoebus is not called Apollo except in purposeful non-traditional identifications. Roman poets often referred to the sun god as Titan.

It seems to be a modern meta-myth that literary references to Phoebus and his car or to Phoebus and his chariot refer to Phoebus Apollo in the role of sun god rather than to Helios/Sol.

Consorts/Children
Aegle
Charites
Aglaea
Euphrosyne
Thalia
Clymene
Heliades
Aegiale
Aegle
Aetheria
Helia
Merope
Phoebe
Dioxippe
Phaeton
Merope
Phaeton
Neaera
Phaethusa
Lampetia
Rhodus
Elektryo
Heliadae
Ochimus
Cercaphus
Macareus
Actis
Tenages
Triopas
Candalus
Perse
Aegea
Aeetes
Calypso
Circe
Pasiphae
Perses

Apollo is a god in Greek and Roman mythology, the son of Zeus and Leto, and the twin of Artemis (goddess of the hunt). In later times he became in part confused or equated with Helios, god of the sun, and his sister similarly equated with Selene, goddess of the moon in religious contexts. But Apollo and Helios/Sol remained quite separate beings in literary/mythological texts. In Etruscan mythology, he was known as Aplu.

Apollo was considered to have dominion over the plague, light, healing, colonists, medicine, archery, poetry, prophecy, dance, reason, intellectualism and as the patron defender of herds and flocks. Apollo had a famous oracle in Crete and other notable ones in Clarus and Branchidae. As the god of religious healing, Apollo purified those persons guilty of murder or other grievous sins.

Apollo was known as the leader of the Muses ("musagetes") and director of their choir. His attributes included: swans, wolves, dolphins, bows and arrows, a laurel crown, the cithara (or lyre) and plectrum. The sacrificial tripod is another attribute, representative of his prophetic powers. The Pythian Games were held in his honor every four years at Delphi. Paeans were the name of hymns sung to Apollo.

As god of colonization, Apollo gave guidance on colonies, especially during the height of colonization, 750-550 BC. He helped Cretan or Arcadian colonists found the city of Troy.

Apollo popularly (e.g., in literary criticism) represents harmony, order, and reason - characteristics contrasted by those of Dionysus, god of wine, who popularly represents emotion and chaos. The contrast between the roles of these gods is reflected in the adjectives Apollonian and Dionysian. However, Greeks thought of the two qualities as complementary: the two gods are brothers, and when Apollo at winter left for Hyperborea would leave the Delphi Oracle to Dionysus.

Together with Athena, Apollo (under the name Phevos) is designated as a mascot of the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens.

Apollo in art

art, Apollo was usually depicted as a handsome young man, often with a lyre or bow in hand.

Appellations
Epithets applied to Apollo included:

Phoebus ("shining one"), for Apollo in the context of the god of light
Smintheus ("mouse-catcher") and Parnopius ("grasshopper"), as god of the plague and defender against rats and locusts.
Delphinios ("dolphin"), for association with dolphins and also the source of the place-name Delphi.
Archegetes, ("director of the foundation") for colonies.
Musagetes ("leader of the muses").
Pythios ("Pythian") at Delphi
Apotropaeus ("he who averts evil")
Nymphegetes ("nymph-leader")
Lukeios ("wolfish") and
Nomios ("wandering"), as the pastoral shepherd-god
Klarios from Doric klaros "allotment of land", for his supervision over cities and colonies.
Kynthios was another epiphet, stemming from his birth on Mt. Cynthus
Loxias ("the obscure"), as Apollo a god of prophecy specifically.

Birth
When Hera discovered that Leto was pregnant and that Hera's husband, Zeus, was the father, she banned Leto from giving birth on "terra-firma", or the mainland, or any island at sea. She found the floating island of Delos, which was neither mainland nor a real island, and gave birth there. The island was surrounded by swans. As a gesture of gratitude, Delos was secured with four pillars. The island later became sacred to Apollo. Alternatively, Hera kidnapped Ilithyia, the goddess of childbirth, to prevent Leto from going into labor. The other gods forced Hera to let her go. Either way, Artemis was born first and then assisted with the birth of Apollo. Another version states that Artemis was born one day before Apollo, on the island of Ortygia and that she helped Leto cross the sea to Delos the next day to give birth to Apollo.

Youth
As a young man, Apollo killed the vicious dragon Python, which lived in Delphi beside the Castalian Spring, according to some because Python had attempted to rape Leto while she was pregnant with Apollo and Artemis. This was the spring which emitted vapors that caused the Oracle at Delphi to give her prophesies. Apollo killed Python but had to be punished for it, since Python was a child of Gaia.

Apollo and Admetus
As punishment, Apollo was banned from Olympus for nine years. During this time he served as shepherd or cowherd for King Admetus of Pherae in Thessaly. Since Admetus was good to Apollo, the god promised him that when time came for King Admetus to die, another would be allowed to take his place instead. Admetus then fell in love with Alcestis. Her father, though, King Pelias would only give permission if Admetus rode a chariot pulled by lions and boars and other wild animals. Apollo helped Admetus accomplish this, and the pair wed. When time came for Admetus to die, Alcestis agreed to die for him. Heracles intervened and both of the pair were allowed to live.

When he returned after the nine years, Apollo came disguised as a dolphin and brought Cretan priests to help found his cult in Delphi. He also blessed the priestess of the Oracle at Delphi, making it one of the most famous and accurate oracles in Greece. He had other oracles, including Clarus and Branchidae.

Apollo During the Trojan War
Apollo shot arrows infected with the plague into the Greek encampment during the Trojan War.

When Diomedes injured Aeneas during the Trojan War, Apollo rescued him. First, Aphrodite tried to rescue Aeneas but Diomedes injured her as well. Aeneas was then enveloped in a cloud by Apollo, who took him to Pergamos, a sacred spot in Troy. Artemis healed Aeneas there.

Niobe
A Queen of Thebes and wife of Amphion, Niobe boasted of her superiority to Leto because she had fourteen children (Niobids), seven male and seven female, while Leto had only two. Apollo killed her sons as they practiced athletics, with the last begging for his life and Artemis her daughters. Apollo and Artemis used poisoned arrows to kill them, though according to some versions a number of the Niobids were spared (Chloris, usually). Amphion, at the sight of his dead sons, either killed himself or was killed by Apollo after swearing revenge. A devastated Niobe fled to Mt. Siplyon in Asia Minor and turned into stone as she wept, or committed suicide. Her tears formed the river Achelous. Zeus had turned all the people of Thebes to stone and so no one buried the Niobids until the ninth day after their death, when the gods themselves entombed them.

Apollo's romantic life and children

Heterosexual relationships

Daphne
Apollo chased the nymph Daphne, daughter of Ladon, who had scorned him. His infatuation was caused by an arrow from Eros, who was jealous because Apollo had made fun of his archery skills. Eros also claimed to be irritated by Apollo's singing. Daphne prayed to the river god Peneus to help her and he changed her into a laurel tree, which became sacred to Apollo.

Leucothea
Apollo had an affair with a mortal princess named Leucothea, daughter of Orchamus and sister of Clytia. Leucothea loved Apollo who disguised himself as Leucothea's mother to gain entrance to her chambers. Clytia, jealous of her sister because she wanted Apollo for herself, told Orchamus the truth, betraying her sister's trust and confidence in her. Enraged, Orchamus ordered Leucothea to be buried alive. Apollo refused to forgive Clytia for betraying his beloved, and a grieving Clytia wilted and slowly died. Apollo changed her into an incense plant, either heliotrope or sunflower, which follows the sun every day.

Marpessa
Marpessa was kidnapped by Idas but loved by Apollo as well. Zeus made her choose between them.

Castalia
Castalia was a nymph whom Apollo loved. She fled from him and dived into the spring at Delphi, at the base of Mt. Parnassos, which was then named after her. Water from this spring was sacred; it was used to clean the Delphian temples and inspire poets.

Cyrene/Aristaeus
By Cyrene, Apollo had a son named Aristaeus, who became the patron god of cattle, fruit trees, hunting, husbandry and bee-keeping. He was also a culture-hero and taught humanity dairy skills and the use of nets and traps in hunting, as well as how to cultivate olives.

Hecuba
With Hecuba, wife of King Priam of Troy, Apollo had a son named Troilius. An oracle prophesied that Troy would not be defeated as long as Troilius reached the age of twenty alive. He and his sister, Polyxena were ambushed and killed by Achilles.

Cassandra
Apollo also fell in love with Cassandra, daughter of Hecuba and Priam, and Troilius' half-sister. He promised Cassandra the gift of prophecy to seduce her, but she rejected him afterwards. Enraged, Apollo cursed her with the ability to know the future but the curse that no one would ever believe her.

Coronis
Coronis, daughter of Phlegyas, King of the Lapiths, was another of Apollo's liasons. Pregnant with Asclepius, Coronis fell in love with Ischys, son of Elatus. A crow informed Apollo of the affair and he sent his sister, Artemis, to kill Coronis. Apollo rescued the baby though and gave it to the centaur Chiron to raise. Phlegyas was irate and torched the Apollonian temple at Delphi and Apollo then killed him.

Homosexual relationships
Apollo, the eternal beardless youth himself, had the most male lovers of all the Greek gods, as could be expected from a god who was god of the palestra, the athletic gathering place for youth, who all competed in the nude. Many of Apollo's young beloveds died "accidentally", a reflection on the function of these myths as part of rites of passage, in which the youth died in order to be reborn as an adult.

Hyacinth
Hyacinth was one of his male lovers. Hyacinth was a Spartan prince, very handsome and athletic. The pair were practicing throwing the discus when Hyacinth was struck by one, blown off course by Zephyrus, who was jealous of Apollo and loved Hyacinth as well. When Hyacinth died, Apollo created the flower from his blood.

Acantha
One of his other liasions was with Acantha, the spirit of the acanthus tree. Upon his death, he was transformed into a sun-loving herb by Apollo, and his bereaved sister, Acanthis, was turned into a thistle finch by the other gods.

Cyparissus
Another male lover was Cyparissus, a descendant of Heracles. Apollo gave the boy a tame deer as a companion but Cyparissus accidentally killed it with a javelin as it lay asleep in the undergrowth. Cyparissus asked Apollo to let his tears fall forever. Apollo turned the sad boy into a cypress tree, which was said to be a sad tree because the sap forms droplets like tears on the trunk.

Apollo and the Birth of Hermes
Hermes was born on Mt. Cyllene in Arcadia. The story is told in the Hymn to Hermes, dubiously attributed to Homer. His mother, Maia, had been secretly impregnated by Zeus, in a secret affair. Maia wrapped the infant in blankets but Hermes escaped while she was asleep. Hermes ran to Thessaly, where Apollo was grazing his cattle. The infant Hermes stole a number of his cows and took them to a cave in the woods near Pylos, covering their tracks. In the cave, he found a tortoise and killed it, then removed the insides. He used one of the cow's intestines and the tortoise shell and made the first lyre. Apollo complained to Maia that her son had stolen his cattle, but Hermes had already replaced himself in the blankets she had wrapped him in, so Maia refused to believe Apollo's claim. Zeus intervened and claimed to have seen the events, and siding with Apollo. Hermes then began to play music on the lyre he had invented. Apollo, a god of music, fell in love with the instrument and offered to allow exchange the cattle for the lyre. Hence, Apollo became a master of the lyre and Hermes invented a kind of pipes-instrument called a syrinx.

Later, Apollo exchanged a caduceus for a syrinx from Hermes.

Other stories

Musical contests

Pan
Once Pan had the audacity to compare his music with that of Apollo, and to challenge Apollo, the god of the lyre, to a trial of skill. Tmolus, the mountain-god, was chosen to umpire. Pan blew on his pipes, and with his rustic melody gave great satisfaction to himself and his faithful follower, Midas, who happened to be present. Then Apollo struck the strings of his lyre. Tmolus at once awarded the victory to Apollo, and all but Midas agreed with the judgment. He dissented, and questioned the justice of the award. Apollo would not suffer such a depraved pair of ears any longer, and caused them to become the ears of a donkey.

Marsyas
Marsyas was a satyr who challenged Apollo to a contest of music. He had found an aulos on the ground, tossed away after being invented by Athena because it made her cheeks puffy. Marsyas lost and was flayed alive in a cave near Calaenae in Phrygia for his hubris to challenge a god. His blood turned into the river Marsyas.

Apollo in modern films, TV, etc.
Apollo appeared in an episode of Star Trek, in which he ruled over his own planet and tried to seduce an Enterprise crew member.
Apollo appeared in K.A. Applegate's book series, Everworld

Miscellaneous
When Zeus killed Asclepius for raising the dead and violating the natural order of things, Apollo killed the Cyclopes in response. They had fashioned Zeus' thunderbolts, which he used to kill Apollo's son, Asclepius. Apollo also had a lyre-playing contest with Cinyras, his son, who committed suicide when he lost.

In the Odyssey, Odysseus and his surviving crew landed on an island sacred to Apollo, where he kept sacred cattle. Though Odysseus warned his men not to (as Tiresias had told him), they killed and ate some of the cattle and Apollo destroyed the ship and all the men save Odysseus.

Apollo killed the Aloadae when they attempted to storm Mt. Olympus.

Apollo gave the order, through the Oracle at Delphi, for Orestes to kill his mother, Clytemnestra, and her lover, Aegisthus. Orestes was punished fiercely by the Erinyes for this crime.

It was also said that Apollo rode on the back of a swan to the land of the Hyperboreans during the winter months.

Apollo turned Cephissus into a sea monster.

Consorts/Children

Male Lovers
Acantha
Cyparissus
Hyacinth

Female Lovers
Arsinoe
Asclepius
Cassandra
Calliope
Linus
Orpheus
Chione
Philammon
Coronis
Asclepius
Cyrene
Aristaeus
Daphne
Dryope
Amphissus
Hecuba
Troilius
Polyxena
Leucothea
Manto
Mopsus
Psamathe
Linus
Rhoeo
Anius
Terpsichore
Linus
Unknown Mother
Cinyras
Cycnus
Phemonoe
Urania
Linus

External links
Greek Mythology resource (http://homepage.mac.com/cparada/GML/)
The stories of Apollo and Hyacinthus; and Apollo and Cyparissus; and Apollo and Orpheus (http://www.androphile.org/preview/Library/Mythology/Greek/)
Apollo and the Romans (http://janusquirinus.org/essays/Apollo/MultifacetedGod.html)

Hermęs ("pile of marker stones"), in Greek mythology, was the god of travelers, shepherds, land travel, orators, literature, cunning, poets, athletics, weights and measures, and thieves, and the messenger from the gods to humans. Son of Zeus and a nymph named Maia, Hermes was equivalent to the Roman god Mercury and the Etruscan Turms. Hermes was born in a cave on Mt. Cyllene in Peloponnesus, between Achaia and Arcadia. His origin on Mt. Cyllene explains the origin of an epithet for Hermes: Hermes Cylleneius. He was also referred to as Enagonios. As a psychopomp, Hermes was known as Psychopompos ("conductor of the soul"). The Roman Mercury later absorbed the Dei Lucrii, early gods of commerce and wealth, and were referred to by that name. Hermes was also later combined with the Egyptian Anubis to form Hermanubis.

Obviously the name Hermes Trismegistus was used later by alchemists and their like to refer to a mixture-god combining elements from Hermes and the egyptian god Thoth.

The modern post office in Greece uses Hermes as its symbol.

He was called Hermod in Norse mythology.

Worship
Hermes was worshipped especially fervently by travelers, pilgrims, thieves and poets. Though temples to Hermes existed throughout Greece, Arcadia was a center of his cult. Hermoea were the festivals in his honor, also especially prevalent in Arcadia.

"Mercury" by Hendrick GoltziusHermes was a psychopomp, meaning he brought newly-dead souls to the underworld, Hades. He also brought dreams to living mortals.

In addition to the syrinx and the lyre, Hermes invented many types of racing and the entire sport of boxing. Statues of Hermes stood at stadia and gymnasiums throughout Greece.

Hermai
In very ancient Greece, before his role as protector of merchants and travelers, Hermes was a phallic god, associated with fertility, luck, roads and borders. His name comes the word herma referring to a square or rectangular pillar of stone, or bronze; a bust of Hermes' head, usually with a beard, sat on the top of the pillar, and male genitals adorned the base. The hermai were used to mark roads and borders. In Athens, they were placed outside houses for good luck.

In 415 BCE, when the Athenian fleet was about to set sail for Syracuse during the Peloponnesian War, all of the Athenian hermai were vandalized. Though it was never proven, the Athenians at the time believed it was the work of saboteurs, either from Syracuse or anti-war doves from Athens itself.

Hermes In Art
Hermes was usually portrayed wearing a broad-brimmed or winged cap, winged sandals and the herald's staff (see Gambantein in Norse mythology). He wore the garments of a traveler, worker or shepherd. He was represented by purses, roosters and turtles.