If I miss anything.. just.. um... post what I missed?


Achelous -- A river god who fought Hercules over the woman Deianira. He turned into a bull for the fight when Hercules refused to talk it out. Hercules broke off a horn which became the magical Cornucopia and was always full of flowers and fruit. Also, Aechelous.
Achilles -- Mortal, mostly. The Trojan war hero who was the son of Pelues and the goddess Thetis. When Achilles was a baby, his mother, wishing to protect him, held him by the heel and dipped him into the river Styx for invulnerability. Naturally, the wound that killed him was to his heel. Achilles was the greatest hero of the Trojan War.
Adonis -- One of Aphrodite's escorts. He was also loved by Persephone. His name also means "Lord," and he is a vegetation god.
Aegeus -- One of the Kings of Athens. He was either the father or foster father of Theseus. He was also the father of Medus by Medea. When he learned of Medea's plot to kill Theseus, he had both her and their son exiled. Aegeus died at his own hand when he mistakenly thought that Theseus had died.
Aegipan -- May be the same as Pan. He is a god of several things, including shepherds, forests, wildlife, and fertility.
Aeneas -- A prince of Troy, he's given credit for going to Italy and founding the Roman race. He also began the city of Lavinium. Aeneas was the son of Anchises and Aphrodite. Father of: Ascanius, by his Trojan wife Creusa; and Silvius by his Italian wife, Livinia.
Aeolus -- King or regent of the four winds (north, east, south, and west).
Aether -- The upper air/sky. He was the son of Nyx and Erebus.
Agamemnon -- King of both Argos and Mycenae. Leader of the Greeks during the Trojan War. Menelaus's brother. Sacrificed his daughter, Iphigenia, so Artemis would allow the Greek fleet to proceed. After the war, he was murdered by his wife, Clytemnestra (who was understandably upset with him).
Aglaia -- Of the three Graces, she was the one who personified beauty. Her sisters were Euphrosyne and Thalia.
Agrius -- A Giant in the war against the Olympians. Died at the hands of the Fates.
Ajax of Locris -- Warrior in the Trojan War. Offended Athena by kidnapping Cassandra from the goddess's shrine and raping her. This brought ruin to the Greeks who had been victorious.
Ajax of Salamis -- Hero in the Trojan War. He killed himself after losing Achilles's armor through a contest with Oddyseus. Called the "Greater Ajax."
Alcmene -- Mortal. Mother of Hercules, by Zeus.
Alcyoneus -- A Giant in the war against the Olympians. Killed by Heracles.
Alecto -- One of the Furies
Amaltheia -- The goat nymph who nursed Zeus as a baby.
Amphitrite -- Poseidon's wife and a sea goddess. Their children included Triton, Rhode, and Benthesicyme.
Andromeda -- Mortal. Married Perseus after he rescued her from a sea monster.
Anius -- King of Delos. One of Apollo's prophets/priests. Father of three daugthers with magical abilities: Elais, Spermo, and Oino. They had the ability to turn whatever they touched into oil, corn, or wine.
Antigone -- Both sister and daughter to King Oedipus of Thebes. After his exile, she wandered with him until he died. She was either buried alive by her uncle Creon after she performed funeral rites for her brother, or she married her cousin and killed herself when her son was sentenced to death by Creon.
Antiope -- An Amazon queen. She was taken away by Theseus and has a son by him named Hippolytus (after her sister, Hippolyta). She was killed in battle, but it was an accident. The killing blow came either from Theseus or Penthesileia.
Aphrodite -- Who doesn't know her as the goddess of love?! She was born from the sea foam in which Uranus's castrated genitals fell into. She had several children: Aeneas (by Anchises); Priapus (by Dionysus); Hermaphroditus (by Hermes); and Phobus [Panic], Deimus [Fear], and Harmonia (by Ares). She is also there to help you pull loving energy in toward yourself. Roman: Venus.
Apollo -- God of the sun. Also the god of fine arts, light, medicine, music, poetry, and eloquence. Artemis is his twin sister. Roman: Apollo, Sol.
Ares -- God of war. One of Aphrodite's lovers. See Aphrodite for list of children. Roman: Mars.
Arges -- One of the Cyclopes. Son of Gaia and Uranus.
Artemis -- Goddess of the moon and the hunt and Apollo's twin sister. One of the three virgin goddesses. Roman: Diana.
Asclepius -- One of Apollo's sons. A god associated with healing and medicine.
Asteria -- Hecate's mother, Asteria is the daughter of Coeus and Phoebe (Titans).
Astraeus -- Fathered three of the winds: Zephyrus, Boreas, and Notus.
Atalanta -- Huntress who raced men on foot. She was so confident of her speed that she boasted she would only marry the man who could outrun her. That man was Melanion (Milanion) who outwitted her by throwing golden apples in her path. After they were married, they were eventually turned into lions.
Athena -- Sprang fully grown and dressed in armor from her father's (Zeus's) head. She is the goddess of war, wisdom, and protection. One of the three virgin goddesses. Roman: Minerva.
Atlas -- A Titan who helped command during the war with the Olympians. His fate was to hold the world up on his shoulders.
Atropos -- One of the three Fates. She held the shears that cut the threads of life.

Bacchus -- Another name for Dionysus.
Bia -- He was the son of Styx and Pallas and the personification of force.
Boreas -- The North Wind.
Briareus -- One of the Hundred-handed Giants that was son of Uranus and Gaia.
Brontes -- One of the Cyclopes.

Cadmus -- Mortal. Founded and ruled Thebes. Was Dionysus's grandfather.
Calliope -- The Muse of epic/heroic poetry.
Calypso -- Atlas's daughter, a nymph. She tried to lure Odysseus to stay on her island by offering him immortality and eternal youth.
Camenae -- Roman. Comparable to the Muses because she was a goddess of the arts.
Cassandra -- Mortal. She was a seer who was cursed by Apollo so that no one would believe her prophesies. The curse was a result of rejecting Apollo's advances.
Cephissus -- Fathered Narcissus. A river god.
Ceres -- Roman. Equated with Demeter.
Chaos -- Who/What existed before the Universe came into being. The different poets have different ideas of the form that Chaos took.
Charon -- The Underworld figure who carried the dead on a ferry across the river Styx.
Cheiron -- A very old and wise Centaur. He was a teacher to many of the Greek heroes. Cheiron was immortal until he suffered a wound which caused great pain until Prometheus took his immortality so he could go to the Underworld.
Clio -- The Muse of history.
Clotho -- The Fate responsible for spinning the thread used for the weaving of mortal lives.
Clymene -- One of the Oceanids. She was the mother of Prometheus, Atlas, Menoetius, and Epimetheus (by Iapetus) and Phaethon (by Helius).
Coeus -- One of the Titans. Fathered (with Phoebe) Leto and Asteria.
Cottus -- A Hundred-handed Giant.
Cratus -- Strength. He was the son of Styx and Pallas.
Creon -- Brother-in-law and uncle to King Oedipus and Jocasta's brother. Took the throne after Oedipus's sons died.
Crius -- One of the Titans. Fathered (with Eurybia) Astraeus.
Cronus -- Ruler of the Titans. Overthrew and castrated his father, Uranus. This freed the Titans. Fathered six Olympians and was overthrown by his youngest son, Zeus. He was locked away in Tartarus by the Olympians.
Cupid -- Roman. See Eros.
Cybele -- Took care of Dionysus when he was afflicted with madness by Hera. Laid the foundation for the religious rites that he would use for his own rites.
Cymopoleia -- Fathered by Zeus, she was given by him as a gift to Briareus for helping Zeus in the battle against the Titans.

Daedalus -- Mortal. An inventor. He was Icarus's father, the one would built the wax wings to escape the Labyrinth he had built.
Daphne -- A nymph from the mountains who turned herself into a laurel bush after being chased by Apollo.
Deianira -- Heracles's wife. Accidentally killed him by sending a cloak that had been soaked in poison.
Deimus -- Fear's personification.
Demeter -- The goddess of fertility and harvest. Persephone's mother. Also an important goddess for childbirth and being involved with children. Roman: Ceres.
Despoena -- Poseidon and Demeter's daughter. A nymph.
Diana -- Roman. Very closely related to Artemis. Goddess of the moon and the hunt.
Dike -- Justice, also one of the Seasons (Horae).
Dione -- A Pleiade, parented by Atlas and Pleione.
Dionysus -- As close to a "party" god as one can get. He's the god of wine, grapes, and partying (revelry). He freely wandered the world to spread his own religion and its rites. He made a lot of enemies for his focus on having fun. Also known as Bacchus and Bromius.
Dryope -- Nymph mother of Pan.
Dryops -- Pan's grandfather and a son of Apollo.

Echo -- A jabberbox of a nymph who attended Hera at one time. Because she distracted Hera from Zeus's affairs with some of the other nymphs, she was cursed by only being able to repeat what other people said. Also fell in love with Narcissus spurned her. She wasted away and only her echo was left in the hills to repeat whatever was said.
Eileithyia -- A goddess of childbirth. One of Zeus and Hera's daughters.
Eirene -- Peace. Also one of the Seasons (Horae).
Eos -- Goddess of dawn. Mothered three of the winds: Zephyrus, Boreas, and Notus. Also had other children. Roman: Aurora.
Erato -- Muse of love poetry and marriage songs.
Erebus -- Of the Underworld, he is the Darkness. Erebus is the son of Chaos and fathered Hemera and Aether.
Erichthonius -- Son of Hesphestus's seed spilled onto Athena then wiped onto Gaia (which caused her to bear this son). King of Athens. Supposedly had a snake tail rather than legs.
Erinyes -- Another name for the Furies.
Eris -- Discord and strife. Think of the short bratty goddess who always hung out with Ares on the TV show Hercules and you got the picture. Roman: Discordia.
Eros -- Love. The mover behind the Creation. Roman: Amor or Cupid.
Eumenides -- Formerly the Furies. Athens's patron dieties.
Eunomia -- Law and order. One of the Seasons (Horae).
Euphrosyne -- One of three Graces.
Euryale -- An immortal Gorgon.
Eurybia -- She is the daughter of Pontus and Gaia.
Eurynome -- 1. From a Pelasgian myth (Pelasgians being Greeks who immigrated from Asia minor), she was the Goddess of All Things. She was said to have created the universe by laying the Universal Egg. 2. The Oceanid who was said to have saved Hephaestus after he was kicked out of Olympus for being ugly. She also gave birth, through Zeus, the three Graces.
Eurytion -- 1.Son of Ares. He guarded Geryon cattle and was killed by Heracles. 2. Mortal. King of Phthia. Antigone's father.
Eurytus -- 1. Giant that was killed by Dionysus during the war between the Olympians and the Giants. 2. Father of Heracles's wife, Iphitus. Also taught Heracles archery.
Euterpe -- The Muse associated with music and lyrical poetry.
Evenus -- One of Ares's sons.

Furies -- There are three. They seek to avenge wrongs against a family. They are Alecto, Tisiphone, and Megara. They were born of the blood that dripped to the earth from Uranus's castrated genitals.

Gaia -- The Earth Mother. She also gave birth to Uranus and Pontus by herself. After that, she and Uranus had the Giants, the Cyclopes, then the Titans.
Glaucus -- A sea god in love with a girl named Scylla. When he asked Circe to give him a love potion, she became very jealous and turned Scylla into a monster.
Gration -- One of the Giants killed in the war against the Olympians. He was killed by an arrow from Artemis.
Gyges -- One of the hundred-handed Giants.

Hades -- Master of the Underworld. One of the Olympians. He fell in love with Persephone and kidnapped her to his kingdom.They were eventually married. Roman: Pluto.
Halirrhothius -- One of Poseidon's sons. After he tried to rape one of Ares' daughters, Alcippe, he was killed by Ares. This was the first case of a murder trial. Ares was acquitted.
Harmonia -- Ares and Aphrodite's daughter. She married Cadmus who was a King of Thebes.
Hebe -- One of Zeus and Hera's daughters. Perpetual youthfulness and beauty. She married Heracles after he joined the gods on Olympus.
Hecate -- A goddess who started out as benevolent and good. She came to be associated with sorcery. She was also an attendent to Persephone.
Helen -- Said to be the most beautiful woman in the entire world. She was married to Menelaus. When Helen was kidnapped by Paris of Troy, the Trojan war was begun.
Helius -- A sun god. He was the son of Hyperion and Theia.
Hemera -- Day. Nyx and Erebus's daughter.
Hephaestus -- The only ugly god. Lamed by being thrown from Olympus by Hera. The god of smithing, metalworking, and fraftsmanship. He made things for the other gods, especially weapons. Roman: Vulcan.
Hera -- One of the Olympians. She married her brother, Zeus. She is the goddess of marriage and childbirth. Through Zeus, she gave birth to Hebe, Ares, and Eileithyia. On her own, she gave birth to Hephaestus. Hera also was known for stalking and causing suffering to the many mistrisses of Zeus. Roman: Juno.
Heracles -- The most famous hero of Greek mythology. He was the son of Zeus and the mortal Alchemene. He killed his first wife, Megara, and their children because insanity caused by Hera. Hera followed and tormented him his entire mortal life. To make up for the death of his family, Heracles was forced to perform ten labors (which ended up being twelve). During this time he killed many monsters and captured many beasts. He fathered over 100 children and after being tricked into putting on a poison shirt, he ended his mortal life and moved to Olympus where he married Hebe. Roman: Hercules.
Hermaphroditus -- Born of Hermes and Aphrodite, double-sexed.
Hermes -- An Olympian. The messenger God. Patron of traverlers, merchants, rogues, and thieves. Hermes also served as a guide to dead souls tothe Underworld. Roman: Mercury.
Hestia -- A virgin goddess. Patroness of the hearth, home, and community.
Hippolytus -- One of the Giants killed during the war against the Olympians. He was killed by Hermes.
Horae -- The Season. Three daughters of Zeus and Themis. They are Eunomia, Dike, and Eirene.
Hydra -- Under Lernean Hydra.
Hymen -- A later god of marriage.
Hyperion -- A Titan and early god of the sun.
Hypnos -- Sleep. One of Nyx's children.

Iacchus -- Persephone's brother, son of Zeus and Demeter.
Iapetus -- A Titan.
Indiges -- Aeneas. He became a god after his mortality was washed away.
Ino -- One of Cadmus and Harmonia's daughters. Took care of Dionysus when he was young. After Hera drove her mad, Ino boiled her son Melicertes and then jumped into the sea with him. At that point, she became Leucothea, a sea goddess.
Iolaus -- Heracles's nephew. He was his very close friend and helped when Heracles defeated the Hydra.
Iris -- The rainbow goddess. She also served as a messenger, mostly to Zeus and Hera.
Ismenius -- A river god.
Ixion -- Father, by a cloud, of the Centaurs. This happened when he tried to seduce Hera and Zeus found out and put a cloud in her place.

Janus -- Roman. Porter of heaven and guarded all of the gates.
Jason -- Quested on the Argo for the Golden Fleece.
Jocasta -- Wife and mother of King Oedipus. Originally wife of Laius. She hanged herself after she found out that she had married her own son. Mother of Oedipus by Laius; and of Eteocles, Polyneices, Antigone, and Ismene by Oedipus.

Kore -- Persephone's name before Hades kidnapped her and took her to the Underworld.

Lachesis -- The Fate that measures the span of each mortal life/thread.
Laius -- Father of King Oedipus. He was the King of Thebes until he was killed by his son who didn't know of the relationship.
Leto -- Artemis and Apollo's mother by Zeus. Coeus and Phoebe's daugther. Roman: Latona.

Machaon -- A god of healing. Apollo's grandson, Asclepius's son.
Maia -- A Pleaide (one of Atlas's daughters). Mother of Hermes by Zeus.
Medea -- A sorceress. Also a priestess of Hecate. She married Jason after helping him to obtain the Golden Fleece. When he abandoned her, she killed his children and new wife. After that, she ran to Athens where she married King Aegeus and had a son (Medus). Finally, she was banished after she tried to get Theseus killed.
Medusa -- Of three Gorgons, she was the only mortal. Mother of Pegasus and Chrysaor. Medusa was decapitated by Perseus who proceeded to use the Gorgon head as a weapon.
Megara -- 1. A Fury. 2. The first wife of Heracles who was killed when he went mad.
Melicertes -- Son of Ino. Was thrown into a boilding cauldron when his mother went mad because of Hera. After that, he and and mother jumped into the sea. Melicertes became a sea god and took the name Palaemon.
Melpomene -- Muse usually associated with tragedy.
Menelaus -- Helen's husband in Sparta. Took her back after Sparta won the Trojan war of 10 years.
Menoetius --
Merope -- A Pleiade. She was the only one to marry a mortal. When her husband died, she refused to have him buried properly so he would have a reason to return.
Metis -- An Oceanid. She was Zeus's first lover. While she was pregnant for Athena, Zeus swallowed her. She was a very wise individual (although one would think she'd be wise enough not to get involved with Zeus) and kept giving him advice from inside his belly.
Mimas -- One of the Giants in the war against the Olympians. He was either killed by Ares or Hephaestus.
Mnemosyne -- A Titan. Mother of the nine Muses by Zeus.
Moirai -- The Fates: Clothos, Lcheses, and Atropos. Roman: Parcae.
Moros -- Doom. One of Nyx's children.
Muses -- There are nine: Clio, Euterpe, Thalia, Melponmene, Terpsichore, Erato, Polyhymnia, Urania, and Calliope. Each one inspires a particular type of art/artist.

Narcissus -- A very beautiful young man who fell in love with his own reflection as a curse after spurning the love of Echo and others. He pined away until all was left was a flower that was to be called "narcissus."
Nemesis -- One of Nyx's daughters, she was a goddess of retribution.
Nereids -- The 50 sea nymph daughters of Nereus and Doris. Thetis and Amphitrite are the two most famous.
Nereus -- A sea god. Son of Pontus and Gaia, fathered the Nereids (50 daughters between him and Doris). Also known as the Old Man or the Sea, or simply The Old Man.
Nike -- Victory. Styx and Phallas's son. One of Zeus's buddies.
Notus -- The South Wind.
Numincius -- The river god that washed Aeneas's body to sea to prepare him for godhood as Indiges.
Nyx -- Night.Chaos's daughter. With Erebus, she had Hemera and Aether. On her own, she gave birth to Moros, thanatos, Hypnos, nemesis, Eris, the keres, and the Moirai. Orphic myth has her as having laid the Egg of the World (by the Wind).

Oceanids -- Oceanus and Tethys's 3000 daughters.
Oceanus -- The old god of the river. He circled the entire world in one big river. The first Titan to be born. Fathered the Oceanids and all the world's rivers.
Odysseus -- King of Ithaca. Wandered at sea for ten years after the Trojan War ended. Of twelve ships in his convoy, his was the only one to survive. At the end of the ten years, he got home to find that suitors had flooded his home in hopes of marrying his wife, Penelope, who remained faithful to him all those years. He and his friend killed them (can a person blame them?).
Oedipus -- King of Thebes. Unwittingly killed his father, married his mother, then had four children by her: Eteocles, Polyneices, Antigone, and Ismene. Also solved the riddle of the Sphynx in order to save Thebes. Blinded himself and went into exile after discovering he had married his mother and killed his father. Was accompanied in his wanderings by Antigone.

Pallas --1. One of the Giants killed during the war against the Olympians. Athena killed him. 2. Styx's husband. Father of Zelus, nice, Cratus, and Bia.
Pan -- God of shepherds, wild animals, forests, and fertility. His parents were Hermes and one of Dryops's daughters. Pan was half goat and half god. Roman: Faunus.
Palina -- A daughter of Zeus and Seline, she was rather beautiful.
Pandora -- Ah, Pandora. She was the first woman. The gods sent her to Earth to punish men for receiving the gift of fire. The punishment was in her opening of the box containing all sorts of plagues (vice, passion, labor, old age, sickness, death...). She was also said to have only bore wicked women as her children even though she was sweet and beautiful.
Paris -- Kidnapped Helen and therefore caused the Trojan War.
Peitho -- Persuasion.
Periphetes -- Son of Hepaestus and Anticleia. He was lame and would club strangers over the head. His death was fitting: he was clubbed by Theseus.
Persephone -- Hades's wife, Queen of the Underworld. She was the daughter of Zeus and Demeter. She represents the changing of seasons because every six months she spends in the Underworld with Hades, and the other half of the year is spent above ground with her mother. This arrangement was created after she had been kidnapped by Hades and tricked into eating some pomegranate seeds. The rule in the Underworld was that eating anything condemns a person to stay there. Roman: Proserpine.
Phaethon -- As a son of Helius (by Clymene), he wanted to prove that he really was Helius's son. So he talked his father into allowing him to drive the chariot--despite Helius's warnings--and then almost crashed it into Earth. He was killed by one of Zeus's thunderbolts.
Phobus -- Fear. Ares and Aphrodite's son.
Phoebe -- A Titan. Mother of Leto and Asteria.
Phorcys -- A god of the sea. Father of the Braeae and the Gorgons by Ceto. Also a son of Gaia and Pontus.
Plutus -- A god of the Earth's wealth. Iasion and Demeter's son, half-brother to Persephone.
Polybotes -- One of the Giants in the war against the Olympians. Crushed to death by Poseidon.
Polyhymnia -- Muse associated with sacred song and oratory.
Polyphemus -- The flesh-eating Cyclopes who lived on an island and was killed by Oddyseus.
Pontus -- The Sea. Fathered Nereus, Phorcys, Thaumas, Ceto, and Eurybia by Gaia, who was also his mother.
Porphyrion -- A Giant during the war against the Olympians. He was killed by a bolt from Zeus and an arrow from Heracles after he tried to rape Hera.
Poseidon -- Although he was the god of the sea, earthquakes, and horses, he might also be considered a fertility god. He fathered many children: Triton, Rhode, and Benthesicyme, by Amphitrite; Theseus, by Aethra; Despoena and Arion, by Demeter; Pegasus and Chrysaor, by Medusa; the golden-fleeced ram by Theophane; and teh giants Polyphemus, Orus, and Ephialtes.
Priapus -- The incredibly ugly son (who had enormus genitals) of Aphrodite and Dionysus.
Prometheus -- Introduce fire to man. As this was against Zeus's wishes, he was severely punished. Zeus had him chained to a rock where either an eagle or a vulture ate his liver every day. Prometheus was the son of Iapetus and Clymene.
Psyche -- Eros fell in love with her, and Aphrodite hated her because she was so beautiful that people stopped worshipping Aphrodite. Eros demanded that she not try to find out who he was, but she did anyway, and they (were) separated. After she made up with him, Zeus made her immortal. She eventually had a child with Eros named Volupta (Pleasure).
Pythia -- Apollo's priestess/prophetess. She was at Delphi.

Quirinus -- Roman. A god of war, his name was Romulus before he went to heaven.

Remus -- Roman. Romulus's brother. See Romulus for more.
Rhea -- A Titan and earth goddess. Rhea was the mother, by Cronus, of six of the Olympians: Zeus, Hera, Demeter, Poseidon, Hades, and Hestia. She helped Zeus in the scheme to overthrow Cronus.
Rhea Silva -- Roman. Mother, by Mars through seduction or rape, of the twins, Romulus and Remus. She had been appointed by her uncle Amulius to be a Vestal Virgin so she would not have any children that could become heirs to her father's kingdom (her father had been deposed). After the twins were born, Amulius had her imprisoned. Rhea Silva was never heard from again.
Romulus -- Roman. Twin of Remus. After the twins were born, they were thrown by their great-uncle Amuius into the Tiber River to drown. They were rescued by their father, Mars. After being raised by a woodpecker, a wolf, then humans, they returned to kill their uncle and return their grandfather Numitor to his throne. When the twins decided to start a city, they found they could not agree on anything. Eventually, Remus was killed by Romulus's followers. The city that was founded, Rome, grew under Romulus's control, but he became an abductor of wives and kept the city growing. Romulus was either killed by patricians of Rome or ascended to heaven to become Quirinus, a war god.

Scamander -- A river god. During the Trojan War, his stream got clogged up by bodies that had been killed by Achilles. He tried get revenge by flooding the battlefield to drown Achilles, but the plan literally went up in smoke thanks to a large flame sent by Hephaestus.
Selene -- Moon goddess. She is Hyperion and Theia's daughter and the mother of Pandia by Zeus and 50 daughters by Endymion.
Semele -- Dionysus's mother. When Hera tricked her into asking to see Zeus as he truly is, she was consumed by flames. Dionysus went to the Underworld and took her to Mount Olympus at which time her name was changed to Thyone.
Sibyl -- A very ancient prophetess who was given the power of prophecy and longevity by Apollo. She did not retain her youthfullness and beauty, however, because she refused his offer to be his mistress. Sibyl also guided Aeneas in the Underworld when he sought his father's advice. Also known as Cumaean.
Silens -- Half man, half goat. They were the gods of the forest. They followed Pan or Dionysus (or both) and enjoyed music, poetry, and drinking. They were the original party animals.
Silenus -- He was the leader of the Silens.
Sinope -- A nymph who when being chased by an amorus Apollo got him to agree to give her one wish. The wish? To be a virgin for the rest of her life.
Steropes -- A Cyclopes. Uranus and Gaia's son.
Stheno -- A Gorgon.
Styx -- She was the goddess of the main Underworld river where souls had to cross. She was also the first immortal to support the Olympians when they fought the Giants. Mother of Zelus, Nike, Cratus, and Bia (by Pallas).
Syrinx -- A nymph chased by Pan. When she changed herself into marsh reeds, Pan tied some together to create the first pan-pipes, also called syrinx.

Talus -- Last of the bronze giants (a very old race). He was killed when Medea bewitched him and pierced a vein near his ankle.
Teirisias -- Old seer who warned Oedipus of his fate and gave advice to Odysseus. It was said that he spent seven years as a woman and that he was blinded by Hera after supporting Zeus in an arguemnt about sex.
Telegonus -- Son of Circe and Oddysseus who killed his father without realizing who it was. Eventually married Penelope, Oddyseus's wife.
Telemachus -- Son of Penelope and Oddysseus who helped his father kill the suitors who had stayed in the palace in Ithaca hoping to marry Penelope. Eventually married Circe, mother of Oddyseus's other son. Circe granted Telemachus immortality.
Terpsichore -- Muse usually associated with dance.
Tethys -- A Titan and sea goddess. Mother of the earth's rivers and Oceanids by Oceanus.
Thalia -- 1. Muse usually associate with comedy. 2. A Grace.
Thanatos -- Death, son of Nyx.
Thaumas -- One of Pontus and Gaia's sons. Father of Iris by Electra, an Oceanid.
Theia -- A Titan. Mother of Helius, Selen, and Eos, all by Hyperion, her brother.
Themis -- A Titan. Mother of the Seasons (Horae) and Fates (Moirai), all by Zeus.
Theseus -- King of Athens. Performed many heroic deeds, including the slaying of the Minotaur and bringing democracy to government.
Thetis -- Ancient sea goddess. She married Peleus and was the mother of Achilles.
Thoas -- 1. A Giants in the war against the Olympians. He was beaten to death by the Fates. 2. Son of Dionysus.
Tisiphone -- One of the Furies.
Tityus -- A Giant. He tried to rape Leto and was killed by the twins Artemis and Apollo. As punishment, an eagle eats his liver every day.
Triton -- A sea god. He was the son of Amphitrite and Poseidon.

urania -- Muse usually associated with astronomy.
Uranus -- The sky and son and mate of Gaia. After fathering the Hundred-handed Giants, Cyclopes, and twelve of the Titans, he was castrated, overthrown, then imprisoned in Tartarus by his son, Cronus.

Volupta -- Pleasure. Cupid and Psyche's daughter.

Zelus -- Zeal. He was the son of Styx and Pallas. One of Zeus's buddies.
Zephyrus -- The West Wind.
Zeus -- The strongest of the Olympian gods and the youngest of the twelve of Rhea's children. Overthrew his father Cronus after Cronus had eaten his eleven older siblings. He was the ruler of the gods, humans, and the earth and heaven (Mt. Olympus). Also the god of thunder, his weapon was the thunderbolt. Zeus had many, many children by many, many lovers. He was the quintessential unfaithful husband--to a very jealous Hera. Roman name: Jupiter.

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Aphrodite is one of the oldest of the divinities in the Greek pantheon. An entity representing romance, love, sex, fertility has been in existence actually predating the Greek civilization. One could actually go back to the earliest eras of upright humans to find statues of fertility mother-goddesses identified by their well-rounded chests and hips. A sexual goddess has existed across many different pantheons from the Evening Star, Inanna of Sumerian mythos to the goddess of both love and war, the two strongest emotions, Ishtar of Babylon to Isis, the goddess of the Nile. Other contemporaries include Cybele, Freya, and even the Virgin Mary is a mother-goddess of a sort. All of these goddesses reside in the Southern European/Middle Eastern area of the world known as the cradle of civilization.

It is theorized that Aphrodite was first installed as a divinity in the area currently known as Greece when an Indo-European people invaded and introduced her worship to the locale. Most likely Aphrodite then merged with a pre-existing local fertility goddess such as Cybele of Crete making the transition of worshipping an otherwise foreign goddess easier until both races knew her only as Aphrodite. In Botticelli's painting to the left, Aphrodite emerges from the sea when she first came to the world; perhaps a last, remaining link to her dual identity with Cybele of Crete.

Although Aphrodite is married to Hephaestos, the lame Smith God, her affair with Ares is renowned, continuing despite being caught in bed by all of the Olympians. She is also known for originating the Trojan War by seducing Helen, the wife of the Greek King for Paris, prince of Troy and an Aphrodite favorite. She protected the Trojans during the ensuing war as well as saving her son, the Trojan prince Aeneas, from the final razing of the city. Other myths include her affair with the mortal Adonis and her animation of Pygmalion's statue. Aphrodite succumbs to flattery and usually grants her favours to handsome males or desperate lovers. She epitomizes the Greek ideal of the dual nature of love: selfishness yet compassionate, passionate and impulsive yet enduring, erotic yet loving.

Identifiable icons/attributes: mirror, seashell.

Famous Followers: Paris of Troy, Pygmalion, Aeneas (founder of Rome).

Cult Regions: Cyprus and Cytherea.

Apollo appears to be the greek ideal of manhood: both physically and mentally. He appears as a young, vibrant god, an athlete, an archer. Yet he is not just brawn, he also represents the intellectual ideal. An almost archetypical hero figure, youthful, slayer of the dragonlike Python, intellectual, musical and poetic, romantic, and yet spurned in nearly all of his sexual advances. In fact, Apollo epitomizes the many contradictions existent in the human condition. He is both healer and slayer, criminal and justice-maker, an athlete and an intellectual, rational yet headstrong, compassionate and ruthless, passionate yet loveless. Examples of his extremes are many: his ruthlessness is demonstrated in his punishment of Niobe and Marsyas and his vengeance for the death of his son, Asclepius. His crimes of passion include a failed revolt against Zeus, the slaying of the Python of Delphi and his slaying of the cyclops who fashioned Zeus' lightning bolts. Yet, a more compassionate and just Apollo can be seen in his earnest defense of Orestes in the world's first jury trial at the Areopagus in Athens. Despite his seemingly headstrong irrational nature, Apollo also represents logic and reason. The walls of his temple at Delphi bear two Greek maxims, "Know Thyself" and "Nothing in Excess", the very counterpoint to the irrational and unthinking.

Apollo's main temple: The Oracle of Delphi, was famed in myth and history for both its accuracy and mystery of its prophecies.

Identifiable icons/attributes: lyre, laurel wreath, cithara, bow, sun.

Famous Followers: Cassandra, Chryseis, Asclepius
(son, god of medicine)

Cult Regions: Delphi, Delos


Apollo the Archer

Artemis is a daughter of Zeus and a mortal woman, Leto. She is also the twin sister to Apollo, the god of light. Strangely enough, both siblings were lacking in sexual relationships, Apollo was constantly rejected, and Artemis was constantly rejecting. As a goddess of chastity, Artemis provides an ready foil for the physical sexuality of Aphrodite, especially in Euripedes' play "Hippolytus". Contrasting with Aphrodite's voluptuous sensuality is Artemis' utter rejection of love and her quest for absolute purity. The finalness of her judgements for violating her purity are renowned as evidenced by her transformation of Actaeon, her vengeance on a wayward follower, Callisto, and the slaying of Niobe's daughters for their mother's hubris. In this aspect, Artemis is also a harbinger of doom, as she metes out her judgements with her arrows of destruction.
Like her brother Apollo, Artemis is also gifted with bowmanship, a sensible skill for the Goddess of the Hunt. She is usually surrounded by a group of like-minded followers, chaste female hunter-maidens. Although Artemis is commonly depicted as detesting male companionship, and is certainly the most anti-male of the Olympians, strangely enough, she may have initially started out as a mother goddess figure of an older pantheon. Artemis is also known to be a goddess of the Moon, an aspect which may explain her associations with childbirth and female fertility in several myths, associations incongruent as one of three virgin goddesses in the pantheon (Athena and Hestia are the other two.) The Greeks may have associated her initial mother goddess role from pre-Hellenic times to lunar worship as they associate the lunar cycle with women's menstrual cycle and hence, a woman's fertility and thus childbirth. Actually Artemis is not alone amongst the Greek divinities in representing the moon. There are three distinct manifestions of Greek moon goddesses: Selene is the heavenly aspect of the moon, Hecate, the fertility goddess of witches, is the darker, Cthonian moon aspect in the realm of Hades, and Artemis represents the aspect upon earth.

Identifiable icons: bow, quiver, dogs, stags.

Famous Followers: Callisto, Orion

Cult Regions: Anatolia, Ephesus

(Note: The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus was reputed to be one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World).

Athena was said to have sprung directly from the forehead of Zeus, her father, after he swallowed her mother, Metis, in order to avoid a prophecy that the son of Metis would be greater than the father. Fortunately for Zeus, the firstborn was Athena, (and to ancient Greek minds, a female goddess did not pose as much a threat to Zeus as would a male) and obviously, Metis never bore any further children. Athena sprung full-grown and fully armed with spear, armor and helm all adorned. As her clothing implied, she became the goddess of war and military strategy. As she was born from the very brain of Zeus, she also became the goddess of wisdom. Due to her strange birth, emerging from Zeus, a masculine form, she swore to be chaste and is one of three virgin goddesses of the pantheon (Artemis and Hestia are the others).


One of the greatest of Greek cities, Athens was named after Athena as it was her most devout city of worship. According to myth, Athena competed with Poseidon for the worship of the city and her citizens. Each deity was to gift the city, and the citizens would then decide based upon the gift, and hence which god Athens would favour. A river sprung from the earth where Poseidon struck it with his trident. His gift would give the city a fresh water supply, a rare commodity in Greece. Wily gray-eyed Athena however, gifted Athens with the olive tree. Not only would the tree provide wood and fruit to the city, but the tree could grow amidst rocky Greece, a rarity as most of Greece could not sustain large scale agricultural husbandry. Olives also made oils which could be used for numberless applications, or traded if not used. Hence, Athena won the competition and the city.
Athena is an odd mixture of both the male and female yet she is widely loved and accepted by the Greeks. She is a female warrior, an oddity on the battlefield yet not unheard of as shown by the Amazons (yes, they did exist in Ancient Greece). This Greek valkyrie was chaste and pure, and thus one of the three Olympian virgins. Yet her femininity is portrayed as she is also the goddess of all womanly crafts such as weaving, and her sphere of influence extended into such male crafts as horse-taming and training, charioteering, and ship-building. Her aspect as the goddess of wisdom and Zeus' counselor also shows her androgynous position, as she represents both the male and female, impartial in her justice, resolute in her support. There are few myths associated with Athena's sexuality. She seems to be beyond the merely physical, she represents both sexes and yet she herself is androgynously neither. Athena is an icon, an ideal of virgin perfection; she is a fusion of the martial and intellectual that exemplifies the best of the ancient Greek civilization.

In comparison with her half-brother Ares, Athena represents military strategy and honor amongst warriors, whereas Ares symbolizes the brutality and barbarism on the battlefield. Typically Athena is more cherished by the Greek warriors whereas Ares is vilified as a brutish oaf, but his worship grew with the Hellenization of the conquering Roman Empire.


Identifiable icons/attributes: Aegis (shield), helmet, olive tree, owl, spear.

Famous Followers: Diomedes, Odysseus, Perseus.

Cult Regions: Athens.

Hephaestus is commonly known as the Greek god of forging and smithing. As with many gods, his sphere of worship gradually expanded to include craftsmanship, skills and fire. Therefore he is worshipped not only by smiths, but also leatherworkers, artisans and other craftsmen. He is commonly depicted as a muscular man lamed in one leg, aided by a crutch. There are two explanations for his laming. One myth describes this son of Zeus and Hera, interrupting one of his parents' many arguments and siding with his mother. In a fit of anger, Zeus seized Hephaestus and threw him down to earth to land upon the Isle of Lemnos laming him in the process. The other possibility is that Hephaestus was deformed from birth, the only physically deformed god of the Pantheon.

Despite his deformity, the others gods valued his skills so highly that Hephaestus was married to the comely yet often adulterous goddess of love, Aphrodite or in some myths, he was married instead to Aglaiea the personification of Grace. The contrasts between the lame Hephaestus and beauteous Aphrodite are many: the intelligence of Hephaestus versus the sensuality of his wife, his ugly deformity, her physical radiance, his stable workman-like attitude, her flighty etherealness are recurring paradoxes with the deformed god. All other gods are perfect in both appearance and form, a fact not lost on Aphrodite who continually betrays the long-suffering Hephaestus for his brother Ares, the strong and handsome war god.

While Aphrodite may not notice, Hephaestus has other less obvious qualities in his favour, contrasting his physical imperfection with his mental genius. Excluding Athena, the goddess of wisdom, he is the most inventive and skilled of the gods. His skill was so great as to be able to smote open Zeus' skull, enabling Athena to spring forth, and still keep Zeus alive. His creations include his robotic helpers, the twelve golden Olympian thrones, and the bronze golem Talos which guarded the city of Argos until slain by the witch Medea. He armed the gods in preparation for the Titanomachy: the war with the Titans following Zeus' overthrow of Cronus. Poseidon's trident, the bows of Apollo and Artemis, Hades' cap of invisibility, and Zeus' lightning bolts: all were artifacts of Hephaestus' genius and craftsmanship.

Hephaestus appears often in Greek myths as a gifter of his works to Greek heroes who are faced with some seemingly impossible quest. Indeed, it is actually a traditional prerequisite of the Greek heroic legend to include aid from Hephaestus (usually through intervention of another god) in some fashion. Examples include the golden breastplate of Heracles (which he later discarded in favour of the impenetrable Nemean lionskin), the armour of Achilleus, and the Aegis, the shield emblazoned with the head of Medusa. Hephaestus even crafted the first woman: Pandora

Identifiable icons/attributes: crutch, woolen hat (pilos), hammer.

Famous Followers: The Greater Cyclopes are his assistants. He has few heroic followers, but many heroes have been gifted his works.

Cult Regions: Isle of Lemnos

Even from conception, Hermes is identified with his half-brother Apollo. One myth states that on the same day as his birth, the babe Hermes steals the holy cattle of his brother, Apollo. The two squabble and Apollo brings the babe to his father Zeus for judgement. In the end, Hermes returns the cattle but Apollo trades the cattle back for Hermes' first invention: the lyre; they make up and vow to become the closest of brothers. The likeness of the two brothers are similar: both are young, strong and heroic, but Hermes is represented younger and more boyish. In fact, a statue of Hermes can be found in most Greek gymnasiums. Likewise, Apollo heroically slew the Python on his ventures, Hermes also slays Argus in his own indomitable manner by lulling the hundred-eyed giant to sleep, gaining the title Argus-slayer. It is likely that they also share a like origin as a god of sheperds.
Hermes is the son of Zeus and Maia, the daughter of the Titan Atlas. As stated above, Hermes gained the friendship of Apollo after trading him the invention of the lyre. Apollo gifted Hermes with the caduceus, a staff of prosperity and wealth, and thus Hermes became the god of luck and prosperity. Hermes wears a petasus: a traveller's hat, winged sandals, and other movement icons, representative of his additional roles as the messenger god and the god of travellers. Hermes is also responsible for guiding mortals to their final journey: the land of the dead. In fact, he represents all roles associated with travel, as guide, as messenger and as warder to the most final of destinations: Hades.

Identifiable icons/attributes: petasus (traveler's hat, often winged), caduceus (herald's wand), winged sandals.

Note: Herms are phallic statues with the head of Hermes on top, and male genitalia attached. They were symbols of prosperity commonly found in front of a house.

Famous Followers: Hermaphroditus (son of Hermes and Aphrodite)

Cult Regions: Arcadia

To the ancient Greek, Hades is the name for both a god and a place. As a deity, he is one of three sons of Cronus who drew lots for their domains. His brothers Zeus drew the sky, and Poseidon drew the seas while Hades drew the Underworld, a realm befitting his dark and silent nature. Included in his Underworld desmesne, Hades is also the god of wealth as the Greeks believed that gems and other mineral riches originate underground. Although not normally classified as an Olympian, Hades has fought on their behalf against the Titans, the Hecatonhires and other menaces to Olympus using a magical Cap of Invisibility, a gift to him from Hephaestus and his cyclops helpers, the makers also of Poseidon's trident and Zeus' thunderbolts. Most often Hades is depicted in myths as the brooding god of a mystical realm where only heroes quest. Three popular myths with the obligatory travel to the Underworld are Orpheus' failed rescue of Eurydice, the labours of Heracles, and Theseus' attempt at wooing the Queen of the Underworld, Persephone.

Hades is also a place as the Underworld realm is named after their dread ruler. Although the name of Hades is rarely mentioned in Greek society as few wish to catch the attention of the God of the Dead, unlike Christianity, Hades should not be compared to Satan as Hades is not the incarnation of evil. The Greek god of the Underworld does not need to tempt mortals to his realm; all mortals heroic and villainous eventually make their way anyways to his domain. When a person dies, a coin is placed under the person's tongue, so that the soul may pay Charon the ferryman, to cross the river Styx to enter the Underworld. Souls are led to Charon by Hermes, fulfilling his duties as guide and wayfinder. The soul is then judged by one of three kings: Minos, Rhadamanthys or Aeacus. Tarterus is the destination for those souls who are judged to have led wicked lives whereas the Isles of the Blessed is the destination for those more honorable souls. The mightiest of heroes are delivered to the Elysian Fields. Yet it is interesting to note that when Odysseus met the ghost of the hero Achilleus in Homer's "Odyssey", Achilleus stated unequivocally that it would be better to live as a slave than to reside as a ghost, even one of the honored heroes of the Elysian Fields.

There are very few myths with Hades as the main protaganist. One of the most well-known is the "Rape of Persephone" in which the lonely, brooding god of the Underworld gains a wife in Persephone, daughter of the harvest goddess, Demeter. In a fit of longing, Hades espies Persephone and abducts her to his Underworld lair. Demeter, the mother of Persephone, searches the world over for her missing daughter and in so doing, forgets her duties and abandons the world to winter or drought. Persephone is eventually found but not before she has eaten a few pomegranate seeds from the Underworld. It is divine law however that those who have partaken of the food of the Underworld may never leave, even if they are immortal. A compromise is reached where Persephone must spend a part of the year in the Underworld with her new husband Hades in which the world becomes barren during Demeter's suffering, but Persephone is returned in the other part of the year and all the world rejoices with Demeter with the coming of spring. In this myth, Hades, Persephone and Demeter are used to explain the seasonal changes of the year, a myth common to many other mythologies. Likewise, this myth links two cthonic gods together in Demeter and Hades and may be indicative of an intermixing or adaptation between older pre-Greek gods and younger gods. In many myths thereafter, Persephone is commonly depicted as the compassionate queen ruling beside her dark, brooding husband-king.


Identifiable icons: Crown, three-headed dog (Cerberus).

Famous Followers: none.

Cult Regions: Elis.

Greek Myths are all that’s left of the ancient Greek religion. About 1200 b.c.e., the residents of, what we would call, Greece and Asia Minor shared a common belief in a group of deities that came to be known as The Olympians.

The distillation of the various regional beliefs into a coherent central religion was probably not as tidy and uniform as we would prefer, but it’s fair say that the stories of the Olympians survived because they had the largest number of followers and, most importantly, The Olympians did not forbid or punish the pursuit of knowledge. Beauty, poetry and creative activities are the blessings of The Immortals and are a vital part of the Greek tradition.

The Olympians are descended from the primal, self created gods, begining with Kaos. The Olympians are ruled by Zeus. He is the strongest and, as you will see, without him, the other Olympians would still be held captive inside their devious father, Kronos. The Olympians are only a small part of the family of Immortals that rule the earth and sky. The various rivers, mountains and forces of nature are the ’bodies’ of the Immortals and proper respect must always be shown if you wish to have peace at home and safe passage when you travel.

The ancient texts we call Greek Myths are mostly from the period known as Classical Greece, circa 500 b.c.e. The stories behind the myths are from a much earlier time but written versions don’t exist before Classical times.

The oldest myths can be traced to three main sources: Homer, Hesiod and The Homeric Hymns, circa 800 b.c.e. That means that by the time they were written down, these works had survived 400 years of additions, subtractions and mutations to finally become the versions we now call ’authentic’. The Greek Myths are our window into the distant past, a view of a world that existed not only in the mind of the Greek poets but in the hearts of the humble and long suffering natives of ancient Greece.

In the begining there was only chaos. Then out of the void appeared Erebus, the unknowable place where death dwells, and Night. All else was empty, silent, endless, darkness. Then somehow Love was born bringing a start of order. From Love came Light and Day. Once there was Light and Day, Gaea, the earth appeared.

Then Erebus slept with Night, who gave birth to Ether, the heavenly light, and to Day the earthly light. Then Night alone produced Doom, Fate, Death, Sleep, Dreams, Nemesis, and others that come to man out of darkness.

Meanwhile Gaea alone gave birth to Uranus, the heavens. Uranus became Gaea's mate covering her on all sides. Together they produced the three Cyclopes, the three Hecatoncheires, and twelve Titans.

However, Uranus was a bad father and husband. He hated the Hecatoncheires. He imprisoned them by pushing them into the hidden places of the earth, Gaea's womb. This angered Gaea and she ploted against Uranus. She made a flint sickle and tried to get her children to attack Uranus. All were too afraid except, the youngest Titan, Cronus.

Gaea and Cronus set up an ambush of Uranus as he lay with Gaea at night. Cronus grabed his father and castrated him, with the stone sickle, throwing the severed genitales into the ocean. The fate of Uranus is not clear. He either died, withdrew from the earth, or exiled himself to Italy. As he departed he promised that Cronus and the Titans would be punished. From his spilt blood came the Giants, the Ash Tree Nymphs, and the Erinnyes. From the sea foam where his genitales fell came Aphrodite.

Cronus became the next ruler. He imprisoned the Cyclopes and the Hecatoncheires in Tartarus. He married his sister Rhea, under his rule the Titans had many offspring. He ruled for many ages. However, Gaea and Uranus both had prophesied that he would be overthrown by a son. To avoid this Cronus swallowed each of his children as they were born. Rhea was angry at the treatment of the children and ploted against Cronus. When it came time to give birth to her sixth child, Rhea hid herself, then she left the child to be raised by nymphs. To concel her act she wrapped a stone in swaddling cloths and passed it off as the baby to Cronus, who swallowed it.

This child was Zeus. He grew into a handsome youth on Crete. He consulted Metis on how to defeat Cronus. She prepaired a drink for Cronus design to make him vomit up the other children. Rhea convinced Cronus to accept his son and Zeus was allowed to return to Mount Olympus as Cronus's cupbearer. This gave Zeus the opertunity to slip Cronus the specially prepaired drink. This worked as planned and the other five children were vomitted up. Being gods they were unharmed. They were thankful to Zeus and made him their leader.

Cronus was yet to be defeated. He and the Titans, except Prometheus, Epimetheus, and Oceanus, fought to retain their power. Atlas became their leader in battle and it looked for some time as though they would win and put the young gods down. However, Zeus was cunning. He went down to Tartarus and freed the Cyclopes and the Hecatoncheires. Prometheus joined Zeus as well. He returned to battle with his new allies. The Cyclopes provided Zeus with lighting bolts for weapons. The Hecatoncheires he set in ambush armed with boulders. With the time right, Zeus retreated drawing the Titans into the Hecatoncheires's ambush. The Hecatoncheires rained down hundreds of boulders with such a fury the Titans thought the mountains were falling on them. They broke and ran giving Zeus victory.

Zeus exiled the Titans who had fought against him into Tartarus. Except for Atlas, who was singled out for the special punishment of holding the world on his shoulders.

However, even after this victory Zeus was not safe. Gaea angry that her children had been imprisoned gave birth to a last offspring, Typhoeus. Typhoeus was so fearsome that most of the gods fled. However, Zeus faced the monster and flinging his lighting bolts was able to kill it. Typhoeus was burried under Mount Etna in Sicily.

Much later a final challenge to Zeus rule was made by the Giants. They went so far as to attempt to invade Mount Olympus, piling mountain upon mountain in an effort to reach the top. But, the gods had grown strong and with the help of Heracles the Giants were subdued or killed.