Greek GodsGreek Gods

The Beginning • The ancient Greek mankind, trying to explain certain

metaphysical phenomena and anxieties, invented amazing myths concerning the Cosmogony (the creation of the World) and the Theogony (the birth of the Gods). Thus, the ancient Greek people created their own splendid, yet human-like world of gods, justifying the various abstract significances like Love, Birth or Death.

The origins of the gods of ancient Greek religion are described in the Theogony, the famous poem of the Greek writer Hesiod (around 700 BC) and the Library of Apollodorus. The creation of the gods needs to be divided into four parts:

Part 1The Coming into Existence of

Chaos First there was Chaos, a rough

unordered mass of things, also considered as a void. Chaos was followed by Gaea (Earth) and Eros (Desire), who came to cancel every logical thought or act. Gaea then brought Uranus (the Heaven), Pontus (the Sea) and the Mountains to the world.

Part 2The blood/cutting of Uranus

• Uranus' task was to surround and cover Gaea with his starry coat, however, it very soon came to a union between Uranus and Gaea and they became the first divine couple in the world.

Gaea bore Uranus twelve Titans and furthermore three Cyclops, Brontes, Steropes and Arges, and three Hecatonchires (Hundred-Handed creatures).

Uranus was fearful of his children overthrowing him, so he pushed his children back one by one into the womb of Gaea. His wife Gaea was in deep grief and sorrow over the loss of her own children, so in the end she handed a sickle to her son Cronus, the youngest of the Titans, in order to get blood from his father.

Cronus cut his father while he was sleeping; the blood from Uranus was collected by Mother Earth Gaea and she produced Erinyes (Furies), Giants and Melian nymphs. Cronus then threw his father's blood into the sea, around which foams developed, that started in Kythera and then slowly made their way to the island of Paphos. In Paphos, the foams transformed into Aphrodite, the Olympian goddess of Love and Beauty.

Picture of part 2

Part 3Zeus' Escape from the Threat

of Cronus • Soon afterwards, Cronus rescues his brothers and sisters and shares the World (Cosmos) with them. He then marries Rhea and together they created children who later on would become the Olympian gods. But Cronus developed the same fear as his father so he started to swallow his own children as well.

Rhea was highly discomforted so, on her attempt to save her youngest child, Zeus, she deceived Cronus by giving a huge stone to swallow. To protect her son afterwards, Rhea then sent Zeus to Crete.

Part 4The Victorious Battle of the Olympian Gods against the

Titans (Titanomachy) • Zeus grew up in Crete, fed by the goat Amaltheia and been taken good care of by the Nymphs. When he reached manhood, as prophesied, Zeus rescued his five elder brothers and sisters and then made war on his father and the Titans, also known as "Titanomachy". In this battle, Zeus succeeded in overthrowing Cronus, casting him and the other titans into the depths of the Underworld. A huge battle with the Giants followed, where the Olympian Gods excelled and then time had come for the Olympian gods to rule the world.

Fall of the Titans

Delphi• Delphi is the most popular

archaeological site in Greece after Athens.

• Delphi was considered the place where man was closest to his gods. The center of Delphi is the Sanctuary of Apollo and the Oracle, but Delphi was also a place of worship of other deities, such as Poseidon, the Greek god of the Seas and the Mother Earth, also known as Gaea,

Zeus (Jupiter)

Zeus was the youngest son of Cronus (a titan) and Rhea, he was the supreme ruler of Mount Olympus and of the Pantheon of gods who lived there.

Zeus is also the ruler of the sky, and controls the weather, particularly thunder, lightning, clouds, and the wind. His main attribute is the thunderbolt.

He had two brothers and three sisters. His brothers were Hades and Poseidon., and his sisters were Hera, Hestia and Demeter.

Poseidon (Neptune)

• Poseidon, the Greek god of the Seas, was born by the major Titans Cronus and Rhea. He was an older brother of Zeus, the King of the gods.

• Poseidon was considered to be the bad-tempered, moody and greedy god among the Olympians. Once insulted, he would revenge himself, like he did in the case of Odysseus, who brutally blinded his son, the Cyclopes Polyphemus

• His symbol was the trident and his sacred animals were the dolphin and the horse. According to a tradition, he was the one who breathed life into the first horse on earth.

• God of the seas & earthquakes

Hades (Pluto)

• Greek god Hades was a son of the titans Cronus and Rhea. Hades' wife was Persephone, whom he abducted from her divine mother Demeter and took with him down to the Underworld.

• Hades was the Greek god of the Dead • Hades' helper was Charos, the angel of the dead.

Charos had the duty to transfer the dead people 's souls with a boat over the River Acheron from the world of the living to the world of the dead. Furthermore, Hades had a dog with three heads which was named Cerberus.

• His sacred symbol was the helmet, which helped him stay invisible.

More Gods• Aphrodite (Venus): Aphrodite was the Greek

goddess of Love, Beauty and Eternal Youth; the dove.

• Ares (Mars): Ares was the Olympian God of War and the figure behind all kind of violence; spears and dogs.

• Apollo (Apollo): Apollo was the Olympian God of the Sun, the Light, the Music and the Prophecy; lyre, the tripod, the laurel tree and the navelstone.

• Athena (Minerva):Athena was the Greek goddess of wisdom, skill and war; owl, distaff and the aegis.

More Gods• Dionysus (Bacchus): was the Greek God of

Wine, Joy and Theatre and a Lover of Peace; panther.

• Hermes (Mercury): was the Greek God of the Trade, the god of eloquence and a luck-bringing Messenger of the Gods; wings.

• Hera (Juno): was the goddess of Marriage and Family and protector of married women. pomegranate and peacock

there are many more but that is what we are covering.