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Ancient Greek Gods/Goddesses

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Aphrodite THE GODDESS OF LOVE has an ancient history. Ishtar/Astarte was the Semitic goddess of love. In Greece she was called Aphrodite, worshipped especially on the islands of Cyprus and Kythera. As goddess of love she was instrumental in the myths about Atalanta, Hippolytus, Myrrha, and Pygmalion. Adonis and Anchises were her human lovers. Venus, the Roman goddess, was worshiped originally as a goddess of fertility, both human, and of the garden. The Greek aspects were added on and for most practical purposes, Venus is synonymous with Aphrodite. The Romans had a special respect for Venus as the ancestor of the Roman people through her liaison with Anchises.

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Short Excerpt from Jungian author, Edward Edinger's book - The Eternal Drama: "Apollo's attributes are the sun, light, clarity, truth. He represents the principle of rational consciousness which, in so many of the positive and heroic figures of mythology, faces great difficulties in being born. Hera in her jealousy (of Zeus' affairs) pursued Apollo's mother, Leto, so that no place on earth could be found for his birth. Finally he was born on the floating island of Delos, which shows us in what tenuous ways the light of "consciousness" first comes into the world Apollo killed the Python of Delphi and took over that oracle, so he is vanquisher of unconscious terrors. He is golden-haired like the sun; he is an archer who shoots arrows of insight and/or death; he is a god of music and the lyre. Healing belongs to his realm: he was the father of Asclepius, the god of medicine. The Muses are part of his retinue, so that music, history, dreams, poetry, dance, all belong to him. The Muses are those we call on when we evoke creative imagination to give us helpful images Apollo

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Ares was the Greek god of war, and according to mythology, war, battles, and bloodshed were his major preoccupations. In certain respects, there is not too much more to Ares than this connection to war, as he is portrayed as being somewhat one-dimensional. Or at least limited in his pleasures. However, there is one other area in which Ares was interested, and that is indeed pleasure - with the goddess Aphrodite, that is. He engaged in an ongoing tryst with Aphrodite which is the stuff of legend (and myth), in defiance of that fact that the lovely goddess was already married (to the god Hephaistos). There is a wonderfully charming tale in the Odyssey of Homer about how this couple's romantic rendezvous came to an abrupt, and comic, end.AphroditeHephaistos Homer

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Artemis Artemis swore an oath of the gods, Swore by the beard of her father: "I shall always be a virgin And live on summits of the great Sierras, Hunting in the forests: O grant me this!" Her father nodded in approval. Now gods And mortals call her by her thrilling name, The deer-slaying-hunter, And she is pure of marriage or erotic love.

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Athena Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom, war, the arts, industry, justice and skill. She was the favorite child of Zeus. She had sprung fully grown out of her father's head. Her mother was Metis, goddess of wisdom and Zeus' first wife.

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Demeter is the giver of grain. She is also known as Ceres (Roman) and sometimes Deo. Her attributes in iconography can include a torch, a crown, a sceptre, and stalks of grain. She is often portrayed with her daughter, Persephone/Kore.

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Eris Eris played a significant part in Greek mythology. One of the most important legends in which she is involved begins with a wedding - the wedding of Peleus and Thetis, to be precise. Apparently, someone forgot to invite the goddess of discord to the festivities. That was the first mistake in a long chain of disastrous events. For Eris simply showed up at the wedding anyway, with mayhem on her mind. When she arrived, the goddess tossed a golden apple into the crowd of famous faces. This tempting apple was tagged with the phrase "to the fairest".

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Cupid Cupid (Eros in Greek), the mischievous and winged god of love, was the son of Venus (Aphrodite in Greek). He was her constant companion; and, armed with bow and arrows, he shot the arrows of desire into the bosoms of both gods and men.

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Hades Hades also called Pluto. God of the underworld, the place left after Zeus got the sky and Poseidon,the sea. His abduction of Persephone (with Zeus' approval), paints him as evil. The world of the dead, ruled by Pluto and Persephone. Guarded by Cerberus, it was either underground or in the far west and was separated from the land of the living by five rivers. One of these was the STYX, across which the dead were ferried. Three judges decided the fate of souls; heroes went to the ELYSIAN FIELDS, evildoers to TARTARUS. The Underworld was a place for both saints and sinners, and Hades basically was the innkeeper.

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Hephaestus Hephaestus, the god of fire, especially the blacksmith's fire, was the patron of all craftsmen, principally those working with metals. He was worshiped predominantly in Athens, but also in other manufacturing centres. He was the god of volcanos. Later, the fire within them represented the smith's furnace. Hephaestus was associated with Mount Etna, which is on the island of Sicily. Known as the lame god, Hephaestus was born weak and crippled. Displeased by the sight of her son, Hera threw Hephaestus from Mount Olympus, and he fell for a whole day before landing in the sea.Hera

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Hera is an immortal goddess. This means that though she was born, she will never die. A goddess cannot be killed, though she can be confined. Zeus confines deities in Tartarus who should no longer be active. All goddesses have a number of attributes which Hera shares. They can move through the air and are often symbolized with wings because of this. They can change their shape so they can appear to mortals as a bird, a beast, or another mortal. They know what has happened and will happen. They can fortell the future and they live outside of time and are not bound by time. They are, however, bound by fate, and necessity. Every goddess is assigned a realm at conception. Some realms are small, such as a spring, or a tree. Others are much larger and can be a natural process. Hera was assigned the realm of marriage. This means that she is the personification of marriage. This means that she is not different from the marriage institution and her personality can be directly derived from it. It is her realm because her thoughts determine the natural laws of that marriage. She also listens to prayers on that subject and issues modifications where desirable. It is here that her main power lies. A goddess has no real enemies, but Zeus encourages them to strive against one another. In order to bring about action in another realm a goddess will have to make a deal with the deity that controls that realm.

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Hercales Heracles, or Herakles (both: h r kl z) (KEY), most popular of all Greek heroes, famous for extraordinary strength and courage. Alcmene, wife of Amphitryon, made love to both Zeus and her husband on the same night and bore two sons, Hercules (son of Zeus) and Iphicles (son of Amphitryon). Hercules incurred the everlasting wrath of Hera because he was the child of her unfaithful husband. A few months after his birth Hera set two serpents in his cradle, but the prodigious infant promptly strangled them.KEY

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Hermes Hermes is the son of Zeus and Maia, goddess of clouds and one of the Pleiades, the seven daughters of Atlas. He was born in Arcadia, near the mountain Cyllene. He was washed by nymphs at the mountain Tricrena, also in Arcadia. While some babies enjoy rubber duckies, Hermes' holy-bird was Gallus, the cock or rooster (also known these days as a messenger of sorts). The ram (as in Aries) is also considered one of Hermes' favored pets.

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Hestia The presence of Hestia was found in the center of a fire - and Hestia's fire served to make sacred whatever place it dwelled. Hestia's deep abiding presence was felt and seen only in the center of her warming fire. Thus... she could be found in every temple and in every home. As such, her energies centered around her sense of spirituality and with her home.

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Poseidon Poseidon is the god of the sea. He is also known as Neptune (Roman) and the Earth- shaker. His attributes in iconography include the trident and the fish.

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Selene(Luna) Selene, the moon goddess, is known for her countless love affairs. The most famous of her loves is the shepard Endymion. Other affairs of Selene's include involvement with Zeus with whom she had three daughters, and Pan who gave her a herd of white oxen. Some sources report that the Nemean lion, which fell to the earth from the moon was the result of an affair of Zeus and Selene. She was involved in many love affairs, however, not as many as her sister, Eos, the dawn. EndymionZeusPanEos

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Zuez As evidenced from Greek and Roman mythology, Zeus or Jupiter had affairs numbering in the hundreds with both goddesses and mortal women. Among the goddesses there was Metis, Themis, Mnemosyne, and Demeter. His wife Hera often attempted to punish both Zeus and his lovers for their wrongdoing. There were many mortal women that Zeus pursued as well. Alcmene was pursued by Zeus and gave him Heracles, whom Hera tortured throughout his lifetime. The affairs which this web page focuses on are some of his most well known, those of Semele, Io, Europa, Danae, Leda, Leto, and Ganymede.