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Who’s Sitting on Mt. Olympus?
The 12 Gods of Olympus
Modified 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.
Poseidon
God 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.
Hera
Queen 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.
Demeter
Goddess 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.
Ares
The 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
Athena
Goddess 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.
Artemis
Goddess 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.
Apollo
God 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.
Hermes
Messenger 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
Dionysus
God 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.
Aphrodite
Goddess 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.
Eros
God 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.