Download Ancient Greek Gods/Goddesses

Ancient Greek Gods/Goddesses
Aphrodite
THE GODDESS OF LOVE has an ancient history.
Ishtar/Astarte was the Semitic goddess of love. In Greece
she was called Aphrodite, worshipped especially on the
islands of Cyprus and Kythera. As goddess of love she was
instrumental in the myths about Atalanta, Hippolytus,
Myrrha, and Pygmalion. Adonis and Anchises were her
human lovers. Venus, the Roman goddess, was worshiped
originally as a goddess of fertility, both human, and of the
garden. The Greek aspects were added on and for most
practical purposes, Venus is synonymous with Aphrodite.
The Romans had a special respect for Venus as the
ancestor of the Roman people through her liaison with
Anchises.
Apollo
•
•
Short Excerpt from Jungian author, Edward
Edinger's book - The Eternal Drama: "Apollo's
attributes are the sun, light, clarity, truth. He
represents the principle of rational
consciousness which, in so many of the positive
and heroic figures of mythology, faces great
difficulties in being born. Hera in her jealousy
(of Zeus' affairs) pursued Apollo's mother, Leto,
so that no place on earth could be found for his
birth. Finally he was born on the floating island
of Delos, which shows us in what tenuous ways
the light of "consciousness" first comes into the
world…
Apollo killed the Python of Delphi and took over
that oracle, so he is vanquisher of unconscious
terrors. He is golden-haired like the sun; he is
an archer who shoots arrows of insight and/or
death; he is a god of music and the lyre.
Healing belongs to his realm: he was the father
of Asclepius, the god of medicine. The Muses
are part of his retinue, so that music, history,
dreams, poetry, dance, all belong to him. The
Muses are those we call on when we evoke
creative imagination to give us helpful images…
•
Ares was the Greek god of war, and according
to mythology, war, battles, and bloodshed
were his major preoccupations. In certain
respects, there is not too much more to Ares
than this connection to war, as he is portrayed
as being somewhat one-dimensional. Or at
least limited in his pleasures. However, there
is one other area in which Ares was
interested, and that is indeed pleasure - with
the goddess Aphrodite, that is. He engaged in
an ongoing tryst with Aphrodite which is the
stuff of legend (and myth), in defiance of that
fact that the lovely goddess was already
married (to the god Hephaistos). There is a
wonderfully charming tale in the Odyssey of
Homer about how this couple's romantic
rendezvous came to an abrupt, and comic,
end.
Artemis
• Artemis swore an oath of the gods, Swore by the
beard of her father: "I shall always be a virgin And
live on summits of the great Sierras, Hunting in
the forests: O grant me this!" Her father nodded in
approval. Now gods And mortals call her by her
thrilling name, The deer-slaying-hunter, And she is
pure of marriage or erotic love.
Athena
• Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom, war, the
arts,
• industry, justice and skill. She was the favorite
child of
• Zeus. She had sprung fully grown out of her
father's head.
• Her mother was Metis, goddess of wisdom and
Zeus' first
• wife.
•
Demeter is the giver of grain. She is also known
as Ceres (Roman) and sometimes Deo. Her
attributes in iconography can include a torch, a
crown, a sceptre, and stalks of grain. She is
often portrayed with her daughter,
Persephone/Kore.
Eris
•
Eris played a significant part in Greek mythology.
One of the most important legends in which she is
involved begins with a wedding - the wedding of
Peleus and Thetis, to be precise. Apparently,
someone forgot to invite the goddess of discord to
the festivities. That was the first mistake in a long
chain of disastrous events. For Eris simply
showed up at the wedding anyway, with mayhem
on her mind. When she arrived, the goddess
tossed a golden apple into the crowd of famous
faces. This tempting apple was tagged with the
phrase "to the fairest".
Cupid
•
Cupid (Eros in Greek), the
mischievous and winged god of love,
was the son of Venus (Aphrodite in
Greek). He was her constant
companion; and, armed with bow and
arrows, he shot the arrows of desire
into the bosoms of both gods and men
.
Hades
•
Hades also called Pluto.
God of the underworld, the place left after Zeus got the
sky and Poseidon,the sea. His abduction of Persephone
(with Zeus' approval), paints him as evil. The world of the
dead, ruled by Pluto and Persephone. Guarded by
Cerberus, it was either underground or in the far west
and was separated from the land of the living by five
rivers. One of these was the STYX, across which the dead
were ferried. Three judges decided the fate of souls;
heroes went to the ELYSIAN FIELDS, evildoers to
TARTARUS. The Underworld was a place for both saints
and sinners, and Hades basically was the innkeeper.
Hephaestus
•
Hephaestus, the god of fire, especially
the blacksmith's fire, was the patron of
all craftsmen, principally those working
with metals. He was worshiped
predominantly in Athens, but also in
other manufacturing centres. He was the
god of volcanos. Later, the fire within
them represented the smith's furnace.
Hephaestus was associated with Mount
Etna, which is on the island of Sicily.
Known as the lame god, Hephaestus
was born weak and crippled. Displeased
by the sight of her son, Hera threw
Hephaestus from Mount Olympus, and
he fell for a whole day before landing in
the sea.
Hera
•
Hera is an immortal goddess. This means that though she
was born, she will never die. A goddess cannot be killed,
though she can be confined. Zeus confines deities in Tartarus
who should no longer be active. All goddesses have a number
of attributes which Hera shares. They can move through the
air and are often symbolized with wings because of this. They
can change their shape so they can appear to mortals as a
bird, a beast, or another mortal. They know what has
happened and will happen. They can fortell the future and
they live outside of time and are not bound by time. They
are, however, bound by fate, and necessity. Every goddess is
assigned a realm at conception. Some realms are small, such
as a spring, or a tree. Others are much larger and can be a
natural process. Hera was assigned the realm of marriage.
This means that she is the personification of marriage. This
means that she is not different from the marriage institution
and her personality can be directly derived from it. It is her
realm because her thoughts determine the natural laws of
that marriage. She also listens to prayers on that subject and
issues modifications where desirable. It is here that her main
power lies. A goddess has no real enemies, but Zeus
encourages them to strive against one another. In order to
bring about action in another realm a goddess will have to
make a deal with the deity that controls that realm.
Hercales
•
Heracles, or Herakles (both: h r´ kl
z´´) (KEY) , most popular of all Greek
heroes, famous for extraordinary strength
and courage. Alcmene, wife of Amphitryon,
made love to both Zeus and her husband on
the same night and bore two sons, Hercules
(son of Zeus) and Iphicles (son of
Amphitryon). Hercules incurred the
everlasting wrath of Hera because he was
the child of her unfaithful husband. A few
months after his birth Hera set two serpents
in his cradle, but the prodigious infant
promptly strangled them.
Hermes
•
Hermes is the son of Zeus and Maia,
goddess of clouds and one of the
Pleiades, the seven daughters of Atlas.
He was born in Arcadia, near the
mountain Cyllene. He was washed by
nymphs at the mountain Tricrena, also in
Arcadia. While some babies enjoy rubber
duckies, Hermes' holy-bird was Gallus,
the cock or rooster (also known these
days as a messenger of sorts). The ram
(as in Aries) is also considered one of
Hermes' favored pets.
Hestia
•
The presence of Hestia was
found in the center of a fire and Hestia's fire served to
make sacred whatever place it
dwelled. Hestia's deep abiding
presence was felt and seen
only in the center of her
warming fire. Thus... she could
be found in every temple and in
every home. As such, her
energies centered around her
sense of spirituality and with
her home.
Poseidon
• Poseidon is the god of
the sea. He is also
known as Neptune
(Roman) and the Earthshaker. His attributes in
iconography include the
trident and the fish.
Selene(Luna)
•
Selene, the moon goddess,
is known for her countless
love affairs. The most famous
of her loves is the shepard
Endymion. Other affairs of
Selene's include involvement
with Zeus with whom she had
three daughters, and Pan
who gave her a herd of white
oxen. Some sources report
that the Nemean lion, which
fell to the earth from the
moon was the result of an
affair of Zeus and Selene.
She was involved in many
love affairs, however, not as
many as her sister, Eos, the
dawn.
Zuez
•
As evidenced from Greek and Roman
mythology, Zeus or Jupiter had affairs
numbering in the hundreds with both
goddesses and mortal women. Among
the goddesses there was Metis, Themis,
Mnemosyne, and Demeter. His wife
Hera often attempted to punish both
Zeus and his lovers for their
wrongdoing. There were many mortal
women that Zeus pursued as well.
Alcmene was pursued by Zeus and gave
him Heracles, whom Hera tortured
throughout his lifetime. The affairs
which this web page focuses on are
some of his most well known, those of
Semele, Io, Europa, Danae, Leda, Leto,
and Ganymede.