The Olympians The Divine Family of Greek and Roman Myth, part I

The Greek gods were a family, led by Zeus (Roman name Jupiter), whose authority commanded his two brothers, three sisters and eight children. In myth, the family squabbled and fought, a macrocosm of real families; the goddesses, while under paternal authority, often pursued their own agendas. Older appearance Thunderbolt or Lightning God of the sky Called upon to provide Justice Many love affairs You’ll learn a lot more about Zeus later in this section! Zeus (Jupiter)

Zeus’s brother Poseidon was god of the sea, armed with a trident. Father of the Cyclopes He is also a god of earthquakes, and associated with horses. Poseidon (Neptune)

He features in few myths and is seldom pictured without his wife, Persephone, whose femininity and fertility make the Death god less appalling. “Hades” is the word for the underworld, so Hades is almost an elemental power like the Titans. Hades (Pluto)

Apollo  Apollo was a very important god to both the Greeks and Romans, as shown by the fact that he is the only god with the same name in both cultures  Apollo is the god of prophecy and had two very important oracles: Delphi in Greece and Cumae in Italy  Apollo is also god of music and can be easily recognized by his lyre  Apollo also had many affairs, most of which ended badly

Hephaestus, god of the forge and craftsmanship, was married to Aphrodite – the ugliest god married to the most beautiful. Either Hera or Zeus threw him off Olympus and he fell for seven days, crashing into the island of Lemnos and was forever crippled He was born of Hera, in some versions, without any father. Hephaestus often provided comic relief in myth with his appearance and speech. Hephaestos (Vulcan)

Ares, son of Zeus and Hera, was the god of war, but his warfare was more brutish and less respected than Athena’s. He was also Aphrodite’s lover – a mixture of Love and War. He was not much worshipped in the Greek world, mainly only in sacrifices before battle. But the Romans honored him as Mars. Roman myth portrayed both Mars and his lover, Venus, as ancestors of their race. Ares (Mars)

Hermes (Mercury)  Hermes is the messenger god  He delivers the will of Zeus to those it affects  He guides the souls of the dead to the underworld  He appears in more myths than any other deity  He can be easily identified by his helmet (which brought the wearer invisibility), his winged sandals, and the caduceus, now a symbol of medicine

Dionysus was the last born of the gods. Like Athena, he was born directly from Zeus: this time from his thigh. Dionysus was the god of wine and madness, and was both loved and distrusted by the Greeks. He was often portrayed with grapes His chariot was drawn by two panthers Dionysus (Bacchus)