Greek Olympians Calendar

By

Carlson Hui

January-ZeusJanuary is the start of the year therefore the god who represents it will be the

most important. Zeus is the ruler of the Olympian gods and the ruler of the

sky. He has two brothers, Poseidon and Hades. His wife is Hera but is was also

famous for his many affairs. He punishes those who lie or break oaths. As the

king of gods, Zeus has supreme authority on earth and on Mount Olympus.

MYTH: It is believed that Zeus has shamed Hera into marrying him by

disguising himself as a rain-soaked cuckoo. When Hera saw the poor bird she

kindly brought him near her breast to provide warmth and to dry him. Zeus

then turned into his true form and raped her.

February-PoseidonPoseidon is the brother of Zeus. He is also the god of the sea and water. He is still widely

worshipped by Greek seamen nowadays. He married Amphitrite, a granddaughter of the

Titan Oceanus. He is the second most powerful Olympian god. It is believed that he is

greedy. He often had disputes with other gods when he tried to take over their cities.

MYTH: Poseidon once cursed the wife of King Minos by making her to give birth to the

monstrous Minotaur. Minos had proved his divine right to rule Crete by calling Poseidon

to send a bull from the ocean and to sacrifice it. However Minos liked it too much and he

refused to sacrefice it later. So Poseidon make Mino's queen to fall in love with the bull

and give birth th the half-man, half-bull Minotaur.

March-HadesHades is also the brother of Zeus. He overthrow his father with Zeus

and Poseidon for shares of the world. Unfortunately, his share was the

worst. He became the god of the underworld. He duty was to rule the

dead. He is a greedy god who is greatly concerned with increasing his

subjects. He favours in more deaths. Also, he never let any of his

subjects to leave the underworld. In addition, he is also the god of

wealth due to the precious metals mined from the earth. MYTH:

Hades's wife was Persephone. However she was actually abducted by

Hades into the underworld. At first, after Hades fall in love of

Persephone, Zeus told him that Persephone's mother will never agree.

Therefore, Hades opened up the earth when Persephone was reaching

for a fragrant blossom and grabbed her to the underworld. In the

underworld, Hades gave Persephone a piece of fruit to eat.

Persephone ate the fruit without realizing that anyone who ate

anything in the underworld shall never leave there.

April- HestiaHestia is Zeus's sister. She is the Goddess

of virgin and the Hearth. She is also the

symbol of the house around which a

newborn baby is carried before it was

received by the family. MYTH: Heista was

considered as the first and the last god

and goddesses to be born. She was Cronus

and Rhea's first child. Therefore she was

the first one to get swallowed. However,

she was also the last one to be disgorged

after Rhea and Zeus tricked Cronus into

swallowing a rock wrapped in swaddling

instead of the infant Zeus. Therefore

Hestia was often called as “Hestia, First

and Last”.

May- HeraHera is Zeus wife and also his sister. She

was raised by the Titans Ocean and Tethys.

She is also the supreme goddess, the

goddess of marriage and childbirth. She

takes special care of married women. Her

sacred animals are the cow and the

peacock. MYTH: Hera was the only one ever

to convinced the other gods to join a revolt

against Zeus. They bound the sleeping Zeus

to a couch and tie him up. After tieing him

up, the god and the goddesses started to

argue. Briareus, overheard the argument

and slipped in to release Zeus. After Zeus

found out it is Hera who started everything

he hung her from the sky and made her

promise to never rebel again.

June- AresAres is the son of Zeus and Hera but he was

disliked by both of them. He is the god of war

since he is considered murderous and

bloodstained. He was also a coward at the

same time. His bird is vulture and his animal is

the dog. MYTH: Ares fought in a human war

with the Trojans. This disobeyed Zeus law so

Zeus gave permission to Athena to drive Are

away from the battlefield. Therefore Athena

encouraged Diomedes to attack Ares. Ares was

then wounded by Diomedes's spear. After Ares

fled to Mount Olympus, forcing the Trojans to

fall back. After this, Ares always wanted

avenge for his precious injury on Athena. But

he was never successful.

July- AthenaAthena is the Greek virgin goddess because

of her intelligent activity, arts and literature. She is the daughter of Zeus.

She sprang full grown in armour after she was born. She is also the symbol of

bravery. Athena is Zeus's favourite child and among all the gods and goddesses,

she was the only one who was allowed to use Zeus's thunderbolt. Her bird is the

owl and The Olive is her tree. MYTH: Both Athena and Poseidon wanted to be patron

deity for Athens once. To prove her power, Athena caused an olive tree to spring up on the citadel of Athens, the Acropolis. On the other hand, Poseidon striked the ground with his trident and

caused a spring of water to rush out. But since he was the god of sea, the water

was seawater therefore it is salty. Athenians considered Athena's gift to be

more useful so she became the city's patron deity eventually.

August- Apollo

He is the son of Zeus and Leto. He has a twin sister, Artemis. He is also the god of music, healing , light and truth. His is famous for his daily tasks. To dive the sun across the sky with his chariot and four horses. His tree is the

laurel. Crow is his bird and dolphin is his animal. MYTH:

Apollo was considered as a great warrior when he was young. Four days after he was born, he killed

the chthonic dragon Python in order to protect his mother using

a bow and arrows gifted by

Hephaestus.

September- AphroditeAphrodite is the goddess of love, desire and beauty.She is also Hephaestus's

wife. The myrtle is her tree. The dove, the swan, and the sparrow are her birds. She represents sex, affection and attraction that binds people

together. MYTH: Although Aphrodite was married to Hephaestus, she had a lot of romantic affairs. Her lover includes Ares, Hermes, Poseidon and

Dionysus. Knowing this, Hephaestus created a metal mesh to catch the lovers in bed. He caught Ares and her wife in bed and called the other gods

to see the guilty pair. She is also the god in this calendar's background.

October- HermesHermes was the cleverest among all of the Olympian gods. His duty was to carry messages to all the other gods. Since he is the fastest.

He wears winged sandals, a winged hat and carries a magic wand. He is the god of thieves and commerce. Other then carrying messages, his duty also includes leading the dead to the underworld. Moreover,

he is the inventor of musical scale and astronomy. MYTH: Hermes was famous for his helpfulness to mankind. When Perseus set out to face Medusa, Hermes helped him by lending him his own winged sandals.

Which granted Perseus the ability to fly.

November- Artemis

Artemis was goddess of virginity, chastity, the hunt, the moon and the natural environment. She is the daughter of

Zeus and Leto. She is also the hunter of the gods. Just like her twin brother

Apollo, Artemis hunts with silver arrows. The cypress is her tree and all wild

animals are scared to her, especially the deer. MYTH: Niobe, the Thebes queen once boasted that she was better than Artemis's mother Leto because she had many children while Leto had only two.

Artemis and her twin brother Apollo took revenge by killing most of the queen's children with their arrows. Nioble was

later transformed into a stone.

December- HephaestusHephaestus is the son of Zeus and Hera. He is a ugly god. He is also lame. He

is the god of fire and the forge and his duty is to blacksmith the gods and goddess’s armour and weapon using the volcano as his forge. He is also

kind and peace loving. His wife is Aphrodite. MYTH: After Hera gave birth to Hephaetus, she was so upset that Hephaestus was so ugly that she flung him from Mount Olympus into the sea, breaking both of his legs. This is

why Hephaestus was lame.

Artworks and photographs Credits

Botticelli, Sandro. Nascita Di Venere. 1483. Uffizi Gallery, Florence.

Burnett, Grand M. Zeus Statue. N.d. Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg.

Canova, Praxitèle. Aphrodite Syracuse. 11757. National Archaeological Museum, Athens.

Coustou, Guillaume. Vulcan Coustou Louvre. 1742. Louvre Museum, Paris.

Estatua De Poseidón. 2006. National Archaeological Museum of Athens, Athena. By Ricardo André Frantz.

The Giustiniani Hestia. 1894. Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, Torlonia.

Hades with Cerberus. 2008. Heraklion Archaeological Museum, Crete Island.

Hera Campana. 2006. Louvre Museum, Paris.

Leochares. Apollo Belvedere. 140AD. Museo Pio Clementino, Cortile Ottagono.

Leochares. Diane De Versailles. 120CE. Louvre Museum, Paris.

Machmer, Eric. Statue of Ares. 2004. Hadrian's Villa, Tivoli.

Mattei Athena. 2006. Louvre Museum, Paris.

Nguyen, Marie Lan. Hermes Ingenui. 2005. Vatican Museums, Vatican City.

Nikoxenos, Maler. God Council in Olympus: Hermes with His Mother Maia. 500BC. State Collections of Antiques, Kunstareal.

Rubens, Peter Paul. Vulcan. 1635. Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam.

Statue of Hestia. 2008. Aviad Bublil, Crete Island.

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"Greek Mythology." UXL Encyclopedia of World Mythology. Vol. 3. Detroit: UXL, 2009. 454-64. World History in Context. Web. 13 Apr. 2014.

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