Who’s Sitting on Mt. Olympus?

The 12 Gods of OlympusModified by Linda Williams

Resource: slideshare.net

The Olympians are a group of 12 gods who ruled after the overthrow of the Titans. All the Olympians are related in some way. They are named from their dwelling, Mount Olympus.

Mount Olympus is the highest mountain in Greece at 2,919 meters high (9,570 feet). Since its base is located at sea level, it is one of the highest mountains in Europe in terms of topographic prominence, the relative altitude from base to top. It is located about 100 km away from Thessaloniki, Greece's second largest city. Mount Olympus is noted for its very rich flora with several endemic species. The highest peak on Mount Olympus is Mitikas at 2,919 meters high (9,570 feet), which in Greek means "nose" . Mitikas is the highest peak in Greece. Any climb to Mount Olympus starts from the town of Litochoro, which took the name City of Gods because of its location on the roots of the mountain.

Mount Olympus & Litochoro Mitikas, the highest peak

Zeus The Supreme God

•Roman Name: Jupiter

•Zeus was lord of the sky, the rain god and the cloud gatherer.

•His weapon was a thunderbolt which he hurls at those who displease him. His tree was the oak.

•He was married to Hera, but was famous for his many affairs.

•He was also known to punish those that lie or break oaths.

PoseidonGod of the Sea

Roman Name: Neptune

Brother of Zeus

God of Seas and Water, second only to Zeus in power amongst the gods.

His weapon was a trident, which could shake the earth, and shatter any object. Also known as “The Earth Shaker”.

He was married to Amphitrite, a nereid.

Under the ocean, he had a marvelous golden palace, its grottos adorned with corals and sea-flowers lit with a phosphorescent glow.

He rose forth in a chariot drawn by dolphins, sea-horses and other marine creatures.

Hades King of the Underworld

•Roman Name: Pluto

•Brother to Zeus

•Ruler of the dead, but not the God of Death (Thantos).

•He was the third most powerful of the gods but was not considered one of the twelve Olympian gods because he did not have a throne on Mt. Olympus. This was by choice because he rarely left the underworld, however, Hades is from the Olympian generation.

•His wife was Persephone whom Hades abducted and forced to be his queen.

•He had a helmet that made him invisible.

•Hades was a greedy god who was greatly concerned with increasing his subjects and favored those whose calling increase the number of dead .

•He was also the god of wealth, due to the precious metals mined from the earth.

HeraQueen of the Gods

•Roman name: Juno

•Zeus’ wife and sister.

•Goddess of marriage , she was the protector of motherhood, family and married women.

•The pomegranate is her fruit which is the symbol of fertility.

•Her sacred animals are the crow and the peacock. Hera is said to have had a wagon pulled by peacocks.

•Known for her temper and jealous ways, Hera often punished the mistresses of Zeus.

Hestia Goddess of the Hearth

•Roman Name: Vesta

•Zeus’ sister

•Goddess of the Hearth (sacred fire) and the Home.

•She was a virgin goddess and played no part in myths as she was attending to the fires of Olympus.

•In the Greek and Roman households, the hearth fire was not allowed to go out, unless it was ritually extinguished and ritually renewed accompanied by impressive rituals of completion, purification and renewal.

•Hestia, was also once known as "Chief of the Goddesses" and "Hestia, First and Last". A very hospitable goddess, she was the most influential and widely revered of the Greek goddesses.

•Hestia as the goddess of the family union was the personification of the idea of home; she was the symbol of the house around which a new born child was carried before it was received into the family. • As the city union is only the family union on a large scale, she was regarded as the goddess of the state. Hestia symbolized the alliance between colonies and their mother cities, therefore each city also had a public hearth sacred to Hestia.

DemeterGoddess of the Harvest

•Roman Name: Ceres

•Zeus’ sister

•Demeter was the goddess of Harvest and the Earth.

•Demeter’s symbol is wheat. She often appears with wheat, a wreath usually of wheat, a hand torch, grain sheaf, and scepter.

•Her chariot is a drawn by two winged serpents.

•It was Demeter that makes the crops grow each year. The first loaf of bread from the harvest was sacrificed to her.

•Demeter was intimately associated with the seasons.

AresThe God of War

•Roman Name: Mars

•Son of Zeus and Hera

•Disliked by both parents

•God of war and battle lust

•A bloodthirsty god – he is considered the idea of slaughter personified

•Considered cowardly by the Greeks and favored by the Romans

•Lover of Aphrodite

•Symbolized by the vulture and the dog

•Had a quadriga, which is a chariot drawn by four fire-breathing horses

•His children by Aphrodite: Deimos (terror) and Phobos (fear) accompanied him on the battlefield

AthenaGoddess of Wisdom

•Roman Name: Minerva

•Daughter of Zeus

•She sprang full grown in armor from his forehead, thus has no mother (Metis).

•Goddess of War and Wisdom

•She was the goddess of the city, handicrafts, and agriculture.

•She was a virgin goddess and the embodiment of wisdom, reason, and purity.

•She invented the bridle, which permitted man to tame horses, the trumpet, the flute, the pot, the rake, the plow, the yoke, the ship, and the chariot.

•She was fierce and brave in battle but, only fights to protect the state and home from outside enemies.

•She was Zeus's favorite child and was allowed to use his weapons including his thunderbolt.

•Her tree was the olive.

• The owl was her bird.

ArtemisGoddess of the Hunt

•Roman Name: Diana

•Daughter of Zeus and Leto

•Goddess of Moon and the Hunt

•She was the huntsman of the gods, the lady of wild things and became associated with the moon

•Twin sister to Apollo

•She was the protector of the young like Apollo, she hunted with silver arrows

•She was a virgin goddess, and the goddess of chastity

•She also presided over childbirth, which may seem odd for a virgin, but goes back to the myth of causing her mother no pain when she was born

•The cypress was her tree

•All wild animals were sacred to her, especially the deer.

ApolloGod of Music

•Roman Name: Apollo

•Son of Zeus and Titan Grand-daughter Leto

•Twin brother to Artemis

•He was the god of music, playing a golden lyre.

•He was the god of the archer, far shooting with a silver bow.

•The god of healing who taught man medicine.

•The god of light/sun. One of Apollo's more important daily tasks was to harness his chariot with four horses an drive the Sun across the sky.

•The god of truth, who can not speak a lie.

•Apollo was considered to have dominion over disease, beauty, light, healing, colonists, medicine, archery, poetry, prophecy, dance, reason, intellectualism, and shamans, and was the patron defender of herds and flocks.

•He was famous for his oracle at Delphi. People traveled to it from all over the Greek world to divine the future.

•His tree was the laurel.

•The crow was his bird.

•The dolphin was his animal.

HermesMessenger of the Gods

•Roman Name: Mercury

•Son of Zeus and Maia (daughter of Titan Atlas)

•He was the fastest of the gods.

• He wore winged sandals, a winged hat, and carried a magic wand.

• He was the god of boundaries and of the travelers who cross them, of shepherds and cowherds, of orators, literature and poets, of athletics, of weights and measures and invention and commerce in general, of liars, and of the cunning of thieves.

• He was the guide for the dead to go to the underworld .

•He invented the lyre, the pipes, the musical scale, astronomy , weights and measures, boxing, and gymnastics.

Hephaestus God of the Forge

•Roman Name: Vulcan (Mulciber)

•Son of Zeus and Hera

•Sometimes, it was said that Hera alone produced him and that he had no father.

•Brother to Ares and was noted for being very kind and peace loving, unlike Ares.

•He was the god of fire and the forge in which he used a volcano as his forge.

•He was the smith and armorer of the gods and the patron god of both smiths and weavers.

•He was the only god to be physically ugly.

•He was also crippled due to being thrown off Mt. Olympus twice by his parents.

•His wife was Aphrodite (given to him by Zeus) who did not love him

DionysusGod of Wine and Revelry

•Roman Name: Bacchus

•Son of Zeus and mortal Semele

•Dionysus was the god of the vine. He invented wine and spread the art of tending grapes.

•He had a dual nature. On one hand, he brought joy and divine ecstasy. On the other hand, he brought brutality, thoughtlessness and rage. This reflected both sides of wine's nature.

•Dionysus wandered the world encouraging his cult. He was accompanied by the Maenads, wild women, flush with wine, shoulders draped with a fawn skin, carrying rods tipped with pine cones. While other gods had temples, the followers of Dionysus worshipped him in the woods. Here, they might go into mad states where they would rip apart and eat raw any animal they came upon.

•Dionysus was also known as the patron god of the Greek stage and the god of earth.

AphroditeGoddess of Love, Lust and

Beauty•Roman Name: Venus

•Two creations myths: one as the creation of sea foam, the other as the daughter of Zeus and Dione

•Goddess of love, desire and beauty •In addition to her natural gifts, she had a magical girdle that compelled anyone she wished to desire her.

•Aphrodite is characterized as vain, ill-tempered and easily offended.

•She was the wife of Hephaestus whom she hated because he was ugly.

•The myrtle was her tree.

•The dove, the swan, and the sparrow were her birds.

•She had an on-going affair with Ares the God of War causing her eventual divorce from her husband. Eros is said to be their son.

ErosGod of Love

•Roman Name: Cupid

•Son of Aphrodite and Ares

•Married to Psyche (Soul)

•In particular he is the god of erotic, romantic sex and love.

• He is often represented blindfolded because, love is often blind.

•Has wings

•Sometimes depicted as a beautiful young man, others as a young boy.

•His "weapon" was darts or arrows. In either case, the tips have been magically treated to produce either uncontrollable love or insurmountable disinterested in the first person seen to be Eros' victim after wounding.

•In Roman times, Eros became Cupid.