GREEK MYTHOLOGYBY: NOLY L. ONGLIBEN JUNIOR & JOHN MARTIN A. DANO OF

G11-20

GREEK MYTHOLOGY• Greek mythology is the body of myths and teachings

that belong to the ancient Greeks, concerning their gods and heroes, the nature of the world, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices. • It was a part of the religion in ancient Greece. • Modern scholars refer to and study the myths in an

attempt to shed light on the religious and political institutions of ancient Greece and its civilization, and to gain understanding of the nature of myth-making itself.

TWELVE OLYMPIANS• He twelve Olympians, also known as the Dodekatheon (Greek:

"twelve" and Theoi, "gods"), were the principal deities of the Greek pantheon, said to reside atop mount Olympus. • The Olympians gained their supremacy in a ten-year-long war of

gods in which Zeus led his siblings to victory over their predecessor gods, the titans.• The concept of the "twelve gods" is older than any extant Greek

or roman source.• The gods meet in council in the Homeric epics, but the first

ancient reference to religious ceremonies for the Olympians collectively is found in the Homeric hymn to Hermes. The Greek cult of the twelve Olympians can be traced to 6th-century BC Athens and probably has no precedent in the Mycenaean period. • In ancient Greek religion, the "Olympian gods" and the "cults of

twelve gods" were often relatively distinct concepts.

TWELVE OLYMPIANS•ZEUS•HERA•POSEIDON•DEMETER•ATHENA•APOLLO

•ARTEMIS•ARES•APHRODITE•HEPHAESTUS•HERMES•DIONYSUS

ZEUS ”JUPITER”• King of the Gods and ruler of

Mount Olympus; • God of the sky, lightning, thunder,

law, order, justice.• Youngest child of the titans

Cronus and Rhea. • Symbols include the thunderbolt,

eagle, oak tree, scepter, and scales.

• Brother and husband of Hera, although he had many lovers,

• Also brother of Poseidon, Hades, Demeter, and Hestia.

HERA “JUNO”• Queen of the gods and the goddess

of marriage and family. • Symbols include the peacock,

cuckoo, and cow. • Youngest daughter of Cronus and

rhea. • Wife and sister of Zeus. • Being the goddess of marriage, she

frequently tried to get revenge on Zeus' lovers and their children.

POSEIDON “NEPTUNE”

• God of the seas, earthquakes, and tidal wave.

• Symbols include the horse, bull, dolphin, and trident.

• Middle son of Cronus and Rhea. • Brother of Zeus and Hades. • Married to the nereid Amphitrite,

although, like most male Greek gods, he had many lovers.

DEMETER “CERES”

• Goddess of fertility, agriculture, nature, and the seasons.

• Symbols include the poppy, wheat, torch, cornucopia, and pig.

• Middle daughter of Cronus and Rhea.

ATHENA “MINERVA”

• Goddess of wisdom, reason, intelligent activity, literature, handicrafts and science, defense and strategic warfare.

• Symbols include the owl and the olive tree.

• Daughter of Zeus and the Oceanid Metis, she rose from her father's head fully grown and in full battle armor.

APOLLO “APOLLO”

• God of light, prophecy, inspiration, poetry, music and arts, medicine and healing.

• Son of Zeus and Leto. • Symbols include the sun, lyre, swan,

and mouse. • Twin brother of Artemis.

ARTEMIS “DIANA”

• Goddess of the hunt, virginity, archery, the moon, and all animals.

• Symbols include the moon, deer, hound, she-bear, snake, cypress tree, and bow and arrow.

• Daughter of Zeus and Leto and twin sister of Apollo.

ARES “MARS”• God of war, violence, and

bloodshed. • Symbols include the boar, serpent,

dog, vulture, spear, and shield. Son of Zeus and Hera, all the other gods despised him.

• His latin name, mars, gave us the word "martial."

APHRODITE “VENUS”

• Goddess of love, beauty, and desire. • Symbols include the dove, bird, apple,

bee, swan, myrtle, and rose. • Daughter of Zeus and the Oceanid Dione,

or perhaps born from the sea foam after Uranus' semen dripped into the sea after being castrated by his youngest son, Cronus, who then threw his father's genitals into the sea.

• Married to Hephaestus, although she had many adulterous affairs, most notably with Ares.

• Her name gave us the word "aphrodisiac", while her Latin name, Venus, gave us the word "venereal".

HEPHAESTUS “VULCAN”

• Master blacksmith and craftsman of the gods; god of fire and the forge.

• Symbols include fire, anvil, axe, donkey, hammer, tongs, and quail.

• Son of Hera, either by Zeus or alone. • Married to Aphrodite, though unlike most

divine husbands, he was rarely ever licentious.

• His Latin name, Vulcan, gave us the word "volcano."

HERMES “MERCURY”• Messenger of the gods; god of

commerce, communication, borders, eloquence, diplomacy, thieves and games.

• Symbols include the caduceus (staff entwined with two snakes), winged sandals and cap, stork, and tortoise (whose shell he used to invent the lyre).

• Son of Zeus and the nymph Maia. • The second-youngest Olympian, just

older than Dionysus.

DIONYSUS “BACCHUS”• God of wine, celebrations, and ecstasy. • Patron god of the art of theatre. • Symbols include the grapevine, ivy,

cup, tiger, panther, leopard, dolphin, goat, and pinecone.

• Son of Zeus and the mortal Theban princess Semele.

• Married to the Cretan princess Ariadne. • The youngest Olympian god, as well as

the only one to have a mortal mother.

TWELVE TITANS• In Greek mythology, the titans were a primeval race of powerful

deities, descendants of Gaia (earth) and Uranus (heaven), that ruled during the legendary golden age. They were immortal giants of incredible strength and stamina and were also the first pantheon of Greco-Roman gods and goddesses.• The titans were overthrown by a race of younger gods, the

Olympians, in a ten-year war called the Titanomachy ("war of the titans") - a series of battles which were fought in Thessaly between the two camps of deities long before the existence of mankind. • The 12 titans gods, also known as the elder gods. Their ruler

was Cronus who was dethroned by his son Zeus. Most of the titans fought with Cronus against Zeus and were punished by being banished to Tartarus.

TWELVE TITANS•COEUS •CRIUS •CRONUS •HYPERION• IAPETUS •OCEANUS

•MNEMOSYNE•PHOEBE •RHEA •TETHYS•THEIA •THEMIS

COEUS (KOIOS, POLOS)• Coeus was a titan god of

intelligence and farsighted, meaning that, due to his inquisitive mind and desire to learn, he was with gained knowledge and understanding able to see beyond the obvious.

• He was also identified as a god of wisdom and heavenly oracles.

• Coeus was also known as a pillar of the north pole from which constellations revolved and therefore controlled the axis between heaven and earth.

CRIUS (KRIOS, THE RAM, ARIES)

• Crius was a titan god of heavenly constellations and was also known as a pillar of the south pole.

• Crius, which means “ram”, was often referred as a starting season of the greek year, because his constellation was called aries which nowadays means the start of spring.

• Together with his other three brothers coeus, hyperion and iapetus, they presided as the pillars of holding heaven and earth apart

CRONUS (KRONOS, CHRONOS, SATURN)• Cronus was a titan god of time and ages

and was, above all, associated with the destructive force of time which sooner or later consumes everything.

• Cronus was married to his sister rhea with whom they represented “eternal flow”, as they gave birth to a new generation gods, known as the Olympian gods, who then took control of the world, just like they had done in the past.

• According to a fragment found in a collection of fragments from the Greek epic cycle, Cronus also had another descendant. It is said that he took a shape of a horse and impregnated Philyra, a daughter of Oceanus, who then gave birth to a famous centaur Chiron.

HYPERION• Hyperion was a titan god of light or

sunlight and was associated with watching and observation from above.

• He was also known as a pillar of east. Together with his other three brothers, Crius, Coeus and Iapetus, they presided as the pillars of holding heaven and earth apart.

• He was one of six sons of Uranus and Gaea and is mentioned by Apollodorus as one of the five brothers, all but Oceanus, who participated in rebellion against Uranus and later attacked him.

IAPETUS (JAPETUS, THE PIERCER)

• Iapetus was a titan god of mortal life span or god of death.

• He presided over the timeline of all mortals. His nickname, “the piercer”, actually meant that he came for a life of mortals in terms of violence.

• In other words, when Iapetus decided that one`s time had passed, he brought violent death upon him.

• He was also known as a pillar of west.

OCEANUS (OKEANOS, OCEAN)

• Oceanus was a titan god of enormous river called okeanos which was believed to be encircling the world and was connecting this world to other realms, such as heavenly realms from which the gods came and underworld where the souls of the dead lived.

• He was a personification of all salt water in the world, more precisely mediterranean sea, atlantic ocean and indian ocean which were the most familiar to ancient greeks at the time, and all the fresh water that includes rivers, lakes, streams and rain.

• Oceanus was originally the source of all the water

MNEMOSYNE (MNEMOSINE, JUNO MONETA, MEMORY)

• Mnemosyne was a titan goddess of memory and remembrance.

• She was believed to be the inventress of speech and writings.

• In Hesiod's Theogony, her daughters, the muses, are described as the spirits who possessed kings and poets, whom the gods favored and gave them special powers of authoritative speech and wisdom.

• Mnemosyne was also known to be the mother of muses and represented the memorization of stories and myths preserved in history before the discovery of writing.

PHOEBE (PHOIBE)• Phoebe was the titan goddess of

brightness and radiance, often associated with Selene (goddess of the moon).

• Phoebe was rather associated with being prophetic, like her sister Themis and her mother Gaea.

• She was also one of the twelve titans who were the descendants of Uranus and Gaea.

• She was, like all of her sisters, never involved in the war between titans and Olympian gods, and was spared from being imprisoned in Tartarus. Instead, she took her place at the oracle of Delphi.

RHEA (RHEIA, OPIS, OPS)

• Rhea was a titan goddess of fertility and motherhood.

• She was very gentle and comfortable. • Her name actually means “ease” as “at ease”

and therefore this was probably the reason she was interpreted and worshiped as a goddess of comfort and ease.

• Cronos and Rhea represented “eternal flow” as they gave birth to a new generation of gods who then took control of the world, just like they and other titans had done it in the past. Therefore she was also identified as a goddess of generations.

TETHYS• Tethys was a titan goddess of all the fresh

water on earth. • She appropriately married oceanus

(personification of all the salt water on earth) and, according to hesiod, they gave birth to three thousand potamoi or river gods and oceanids, known as nymphs of seas, rivers, lakes, streams, fountains, and marshes.

• She was also believed to be nursing and feeding her children by drawing water from oceanus through subterranean channels and also taking care for all creatures living in the waters such as fish, seals and dolphins.

THEIA (THIA, THEA, EURYPHAESSA)

• Theia or Thea was a titan goddess of shinning, associated with shinning light, shinning metals or jewels.

• Her other name Euryphaessa means “wide-shinning” and therefore she was connected with all that is shinning.

• In Pindar's isthmian odes, Theia is described as the goddess of shining after whom men honored gold as the most powerful shining object.

• She was also a goddess of sight, because ancient greeks believed that eyes emitted beams of light which allowed them to see what they looked upon.

THEMIS• Themis was a titan goddess of

divine law, order and costums. • She was a daughter of Uranus

and Gaea and was the messenger of the very first rules of conduct, established by the elder gods.

• Her place was at oracle of Delphi where she was one of the early prophets, second more precisely according to Aeschylus.

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