The Gods of Ancient Greece

Aphrodite

Aphrodite is the goddess of love, desire, and beauty. She is the daughter of Zeus and Dione.She is married to Hephaestus, and cupid is her son.

ApolloApollo is the god of music, healing, and truth.

He is the son of Zeus and Leto, and the brother of Artemis.

He is the archer.

AresAres is the god of war.

He is the son of Zeus and Hera, and was disliked by his parents.

ArtemisArtemis is the goddess of nature, animals, and hunting.

She is the daughter of Zeus and Leto, and the sister of Apollo.

AthenaAthena is the daughter of Zeus.

She is the goddess of the city, handicrafts and agriculture.

Athena was born when Zeus had a headache, and sprung from Zeus’s head in full armor. She has no mother.

DemeterDemeter is the goddess of fertility, corn, grain, and harvest.

She is the daughter of Cronus and Rhea.

Dionysus

Dionysus is the god of the vine who invented wine.

He has two sides - one bringing joy, and the other rage.

He is the son of Zeus and Semele.

Hades

Hades is the god of the underworld.

He is the brother of Zeus and Poseidon.

After overthrowing their father Cronus, Hades and his brothers drew lots for shares of the world. Hades had the worst draw.

HephaestusHe is the smith and armor god.He uses the volcano as his forge.Hephaestus has a bad leg because Hera through him from mount Olympus because he was born ugly.He is the son of Zeus and Hera, and the husband of Aphrodite.

HeraShe is the goddess of marriage.

Hera is the wife and sister of Zeus.

Hermes

Hermes is messenger with winged sandals.

He is the god of theives.

Hermes is the son of Maia and Zeus.

HestiaHestia is the goddess of the hearth (fireplace) and home.

Each polis had a public hearth for Hestia.

She is the sister of Zeus.

Cronus

Zeus with his father Cronus

Cronus was the king of the Titans until he was overthrown by his sons.Cronus fled.There were two families of gods in Greek mythology - the Titans and then the gods of Mount Olympus.

Persephone

The daughter of Zeus and Demeter.

She was abducted by Hades, and became the queen of the Underworld.

PoseidonHe is the Lord of the Sea.Poseidon helped overthrow his father Cronus with his brothers.,He was the first to tame horses, and is shown in art with a trident in hand.

ZeusZeus is the lord of the sky and the rain. He rules over all of the gods.

He is married to Hera, but is known for his many indiscretions.

OraclesGreeks went to the oracle to find out information on their future life on earth, for this they turned to the oracle.Greek oracle was the religion priest or priestess who acted as a communicator between man and God. Every oracle had a distinct method of divination. Motion of objects in the spring, movement of birds, rustle of leaves, interpreted dreams, etc, were considered valid indicators for understanding messages from the gods. One of the most famous oracles was the Oracle at Delphi.

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Sacrifice

. The ancient Greeks considered sacrifice as the appropriate method to worship God. Public worships were held to obtain public blessings, rain, good harvest, military victories, etc. Private sacrifices were offered for fulfillment of personal goals, wishes and victories. Blood sacrifices of animals such as oxen, sheep, horses, swine, dogs, birds, fish, fowl etc were common in the temple of Gods.

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Temple/Prayer

The Greek temples were part slaughterhouse and part barbecue. During sacrifices, the people offered the blood, bones and hides of the slaughter animal to the God, the remaining portions were used up as food for themselves.

Greek prayers were done the same, and not left up to the individual.

Temples

The Greek temples were small buildings that contained a statue of the god the temple was created for. Most of these temples did not have a professional or full time clergy or priest.

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Questions

–1. Who was the King of all Greek Gods?

–2.Who was the God of the Sea?–3.Who was the God of the

Underworld?–4.Which Goddess sprang from Zeus’

head wearing her armor?–5.Name one God or Goddess and

what they were the God/Goddess of?