Family Tree Of The Greek Gods
From the Pantheon Of Gods and Goddesses, Heroes and Heroines.
The Twelve Olympians, in Greek mythology, were the principal gods of the Greek pantheon, residing atop Mount Olympus. There were, at various times, fourteen different gods recognized as Olympians, though never more than twelve at one time.
Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Ares, Hermes, Hephaestus, Aphrodite, Athena, Apollo, and Artemis are always considered Olympians.
Hestia, Demeter, Dionysus, and Hades are the variable gods among the Twelve.
Hestia gave up her position as an Olympian to Dionysus in order to live among mankind (eventually she was assigned the role of tending the fire on Mount Olympus).
Persephone spent six months of the year in the underworld (causing winter), and was allowed to return to Mount Olympus for the other six months in order to be with her mother, Demeter.
And, although Hades was always one of the principal Greek gods, his home in the underworld of the dead made his connection to the Olympians more tenuous. The Olympians gained their supremacy in the world of gods after Zeus led his siblings to victory in war with the Titans; Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Demeter, Hestia, and Hades were siblings; all other Olympians (with the exception of foam-born Aphrodite) are usually considered the children of Zeus by various mothers (except for Athena, who was possibly born of Zeus alone).
Additionally, it is also possible that Hephaestus was born of Hera alone as Hera's revenge for Zeus's solo birth of Athena.
Zeus is the highest ranking and most powerful god,
the ruler of Mount Olympus greatest of the Olympian gods, and the
father of gods and men, was a son of Cronus and Rhea, a
brother of Poseidon, Hades (Pluto), Hestia,
Demeter, Hera, and at the same time
married to his sister Hera. When Zeus and
his brothers distributed among themselves the government of the
world by lot, Poseidon obtained the sea, Hades the lower world, and Zeus the heavens and
the upper regions, but the earth became common to all.
Later mythologers enumerate three Zeus in their genealogies two Arcadian ones and one Cretan; and tne first is said to be a son of Aether, the second of Coelus, and the third of Saturnus. This accounts for the fact that some writers use the name of the king of heaven who sends dew, rain, snow, thunder, and lightning for heaven itself in its physical sense.
According to the Homeric account Zeus, like the other Olympian gods, dwelt on Mount Olympus in Thessaly, which was believed to penetrate with its lofty summit into heaven itself.
Poseidon, together with Hades is one of the two
next most senior gods, controlling the oceans the god of the
Mediterranean sea. His name seems to be connected with Trorauos,
according to which he is the god of the fluid element.
He was a son of Cronos and Rhea (whence he is called Kpovios and by Latin
poets Saturnius.) He was accordingly a brother of Zeus, Hades, Hera, Hestia and Demeter, and it was determined by lot that he
should rule over the sea.
In the earliest poems, Poseidon is described as indeed equal to Zeus in dignity, but weaker. Hence we find him angry when Zeus, by haughty words, attempts to intimidate him; nay, he even threatens his mightier brother, and once he conspired with Hera and Athena to put him into chains; but, on the other hand, we also find him yielding and submissive to Zeus.
The palace of Poseidon was in the depth of the sea near Aegae in Euboea, where he kept his horses with brazen hoofs and golden manes. With these horses he rides in a chariot over the waves of the sea, which become smooth as he approaches, and the monsters of the deep recognise him and play around his chariot.
Hades is the second of the next most senior gods, taking
care of all souls after they leave the earth
The god of the lower world; Plato observes that people preferred
calling him Pluton (the giver of wealth) to pronouncing the
dreaded name of Hades or Aides. Hence we find that in ordinary
life and in the mysteries the name Pluton became generally
established, while the poets preferred the ancient name Aides or
the form Pluteus.
As, however, the earth and Olympus belonged to the three brothers in common, he might ascend Olympus, as he did at the time when he was wounded by Heracles. But when Hades was in his own kingdom, he was quite unaware of what was going on either on earth or in Olympus, and it was only the oaths and curses of men that reached his ears, as they reached those of the Erinnyes.
He possessed a helmet which rendered the wearer invisible, and later traditions stated that this helmet was given him as a present by the Cyclopes after their delivery from Tartarus. (Apollodorus i. 2. § 1.)
Athena is the goddess of wisdom, the arts, inner
beauty, education and war and one of the great divinities of the
Greeks. Homer calls her a daughter of Zeus, without any allusion to her mother or to
the manner in which she was called into existence, while most of
the later traditions agree in stating that she was born from the
head of Zeus.
According to Hesiod, Metis, the first wife of Zeus, was the mother of Athena, but when Metis was pregnant with her, Zeus, on the advice of Gaea and Uranus, swallowed Metis up, and afterwards gave birth himself to Athena, who sprang from his head.
Pindar adds, that Hephaestus split the head of Zeus with his axe, and that Athena sprang forth with a mighty war-shout. Others relate, that Prometheus or Hermes or Palamaon assisted Zeus in giving birth to Athena, and mentioned the river Triton as the place where the event took place.
Other traditions again relate, that Athena sprang from the head of Zeus in full armour, a statement for which Stesichorus is said to have been the most ancient authority.
Ares is the god of war and heroes and the son of
Zeus and Hera.
A later tradition, according to which Hera conceived Ares by
touching a certain flower, appears to be an imitation of the
legend about the birth of Hephaestus, and is related by Ovid.
Athena represents thoughtfulness and
wisdom in the affairs of war, Ares, on the other hand, is nothing
but the personification of bold force and strength, and not so
much the god of war as of its tumult, confusion, and horrors.
The destructive hand of this god was even believed to be active in the ravages made by plagues and epidemics. This savage and sanguinary character of Ares makes him hated by the other gods and his own parents.
In the Iliad, he appears surrounded by the personifications of all the fearful phenomena and effects of war, but in the Odyssey his character is somewhat softened down.
Artemis is the goddess of the hunt, animals, fertility
and chastity.
Her name is usually derived from uninjured, healthy, vigorous;
according to which she would be the goddess who is herself
inviolate and vigorous, and also grants strength and health to
others. According to the Homeric account and the Theogony of Hesiod she was the
daughter of Zeus and Leto. She was the sister of Apollo, and born with him at the same time in
the island of Delos.
The Arcadian Artemis | The Taurian Artemis | The Epliesian Artemis
According to a tradition which Pausanias found in Aeschylus, Artemis was a daughter of Demeter, and not of Leto, while according to an Egyptian story she was the daughter of Dionysus and Isis, and Leto was only her nurse.
But these and some other legends are only the results of the identification of the Greek Artemis with other local or foreign divinities.
Hephaestus is the god of fire, worksmanship,
artisans and weaponry was, according to the Homeric account, the
son of Zeus and Hera The Romans, when speaking of the Greek
Hephaestus, call him Vulcan or
Vulcanus, although Vulcanus was an original Italian divinity.
Later traditions state that he had no father, and that Hera gave birth to him independent of Zeus, as she was jealous of Zeus having given birth to Athena independent of her.
Hephaestus is the god of fire, especially in so far as it manifests itself as a power of physical nature in volcanic districts, and in so far as it is the indispensable means in arts and manufactures, whence fire is called the breath of Hephaestus, and the name of the god is used both by Greek and Roman poets as synonymous with fire.
As a flame arises out of a little spark, so the god of fire was delicate and weakly from his birth, for which reason he was so much disliked by his mother, that she wished to get rid of him, and dropped him from Olympus. But the marine divinities, Thetis and Eurynome, received him, and he dwelt with them for nine years in a grotto, surrounded by Oceanus, making for them a variety of ornaments.
Apollo is the god of dance, music, healing and medicine,
archery and reason. The son of Leto by
Zeus, had Artemis as his slightly older twin sister.
They were born on the island of Delos under the shade of the only
tree that grew on it, a palm. The Roman traveler Pausanias said
that there was a symbolic bronze palm tree in the sanctuary of
Apollo when he visited Delos in the second century AD. Apollo was
also the god of music, fine arts, poetry and eloquence. Like his
sister, Artemis, was a hunter.
The day of Apollo's birth was believed to have been the seventh of the month and, according to some traditions, he was a seven months' child. The number seven was sacred to the god; on the seventh of every month sacrifices were offered to him and his festivals usually fell on the seventh of a month. Immediately after his birth, Apollo was fed with ambrosia and nectar by Themis, and no sooner had he tasted the divine food, than he sprang up and demanded a lyre and a bow, and declared, that henceforth he would declare to men the will of Zeus. Delos exulted with joy, and covered herself with golden flowers.
Aphrodite is the goddess of love, committed
sexuality, outer beauty and attraction, and some traditions
stated that she had sprung from the foam of the sea, which had
gathered around the mutilated parts of Uranus, that had been thrown into the sea by
Cronus after he had unmanned his
father.
With the exception of the Homeric hymn on Aphrodite there is no trace of this legend in Homer, and according to him Aphrodite is the daughter of Zeus and Dione.
Later traditions call her a daughter of Cronos and Eurynome, or of Uranus and Hemera. According to Hesiod and the Homeric hymn on Aphrodite, the goddess after rising from the foam first approached the island of Cythera, and thence went to Cyprus, and as she was walking on the sea-coast flowers sprang up under her feet, and Eros and Himeros accompanied her to the assembly of the other great gods, all of whom were struck with admiration and love when she appeared, and her surpassing beauty made every one desire to have her for his wife.
Hera, the
consort of Zeus, and the goddess of marriage, sacrifices and
fidelity. Zeus himself listened to her counsels, and communicated
his secrets to her rather than to other gods. Hera also thinks
herself justified in censuring Zeus when he consults others
without her knowing it; but she is, notwithstanding, far inferior
to Zeus in power: she must obey him unconditionally and she is
chastised by him when she has offended him.
The Romans identified their goddess Juno with the Greek Hera.
Apollodorus (Apollodorus i), however, calls Hestia the eldest daughter of Cronos; and Lactantius calls her a twin-sister of Zeus. According to the Homeric poems she was brought up by Oceanus and Thetys, as Zeus had usurped the throne of Cronos; and afterwards she became the wife of Zeus, without the knowledge of her parents.
This simple account is variously modified in other traditions. Being a daughter of Cronos, she, like his other children, was swallowed by her father, but afterwards released, and, according to an Arcadian tradition, she was brought up by Temenus, the son of Pelasgus.
Hestia is the goddess of the home, family and the hearth
and a daughter of Cronus and Rhea. She was the first-born daughter of Rhea,
and was therefore the first of the children that was swallowed by
Cronus. She was, like Artemis and
Athena, a maiden divinity, and when
Apollo and Poseidon sued for her hand, she swore by the
head of Zeus to remain a virgin for ever.
Originally listed as one of the Twelve Olympians, Hestia gave up
her seat in favour of Dionysus to tend to the sacred fire on
Mount Olympus.
According to the common tradition, she was the first-born daughter of Rhea, and was therefore the first of the children that was swallowed by Cronus. (Theogony of Hesiod 453. Apollodorus i)
As the hearth was looked upon as the sacred centre of domestic life, so Hestia was the goddess of domestic life and the giver of all domestic happiness and blessings, and as such she was believed to dwell in the inner part of every house and to have invented the art of building houses.
Demeter is the goddess of the earth, flowers and plants,
food, preservation of marriage and agriculture and she and her
daughter Persephone were the
central figures of the Eleusinian Mysteries that also predated
the Olympian pantheon. The Roman equivalent is Ceres. Demeter is easily confused with Gaia or Rhea. The
goddess's epithets reveal the span of her functions in Greek
life. Demeter and Kore ("the
maiden") are usually invoked as to theo "The Two Goddesses",
and they appear in that form at Mycenaean Pylos in pre-Hellenic
times.
These two etymologies, however, do not suggest any difference in the character of the goddess, but leave it essentially the same. Demeter was the daughter of Cronus and Rhea, and sister of Hestia, Hera, Aides, Poseidon, and Zeus. Like the other children of Cronus she was devoured by her father, but he gave her forth again after taking the emetic which Metis had given him. (Theogony of Hesiod 452-Apollodorus i.)
Dionysus is the youngest god of the Pantheon, and
is the god of wine and open sexuality
The youthful, beautiful, but effeminate god of wine. He is also called both by Greeks and Romans Bacchus, that is, the noisy or riotous god, which was originally a mere epithet or surname of Dionysus, but does not occur till after the time of Herodotus.
According to the common tradition, Dionysus was the son of Zeus and Semele, the daughter of Cadmus of Thebes; whereas others describe him as a son of Zeus by Demeter, lo, Dione, or Arge.
The common story, which makes Dionysus a son of Semele by Zeus, runs as follows: Hera, jealous of Semele, visited her in the disguise of a friend, or an old woman, and persuaded her to request Zeus to appear to her in the same glory and majesty in which he was accustomed to approach his own wife Hera. When all entreaties to desist from this request were fruitless, Zeus at length complied, and appeared to her in thunder and lightning. Semele was terrified and overpowered by the sight, and being seized by the fire, she gave premature birth to a child.
Family Trees
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