A basic introduction to the primary Gods on Olympus. To be used in conjunction with speaking points.

1. After the epic battle with the
Titans, a new era came to the
heavens of Greece…

6. Zeus
The Supreme God
•He 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. He was married to
Hera, but was famous for his
many affairs
•An eagle attended him as a
minister of his will and for page
and cup-bearer he had
Ganymede, a boy so beautiful
that Zeus had him stolen from
Mount Ida to make him immortal
in heaven
•He was also known to punish
those that lie or break oaths
•His tree was the oak

7. Poseidon
God of the Sea
Brother of Zues
His weapon was a trident, which
could shake the earth, and
shatter any object
He was second only to Zeus in
power amongst the gods
Under the ocean, he had a
marvelous golden palace, its
grottos adorned with corals and
the sea-flowers, and lit with a
phosphorescent glow.
He rose forth in a chariot drawn
by dolphins, sea-horses other
marine creatures
Married to Amphitrite a nereid

8. Hades
God of the Underworld
•Brother to Zeus
•Rules over the dead
•Not considered an Olympian
•He was a greedy god who was greatly
concerned with increasing his subjects
• Those whose calling increase the
number of dead were seen favorably
by him
•He was also the god of wealth, due to
the precious metals mined from the
earth
•He had a helmet that made him
invisible
•He rarely left the underworld
•He was unpitying and terrible, but not
capricious. His wife was Persephone
whom Hades abducted
•He was the King of the dead but,
death itself is another god, Thantos

9. Hera
Queen of the Gods
•Zeus’ wife and sister
•From ancient religion Hera used
to be the great goddess who
ruled over the earth
•Goddess of marriage and
married women
•Known for her temper and
jealous ways
•Said to have created the Milky
Way with her breast milk feeding
baby Hercules
•The pomegranate is her fruit
(symbol of fertility)
•Sacred animals are the crow and
the peacock
•Had a wagon pulled by peacocks

10. Hestia
Goddess of the Hearth
•Zues’ sister
•She was a virgin goddess
•She was the Goddess of the Hearth,
the symbol of the house around which
a new born child was carried before it
was received into the family.
•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. Each city also
had a public hearth sacred to Hestia.
•Hestia symbolizes the alliance
between the colonies and their
mother-cities.
•Figures very little in stories as she was
tending to the fires of Olympus

11. Ares
The God of War
•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 4 fire-breathing horses
•Children by Aphrodite: Deimos
(terror) and Phobos (fear)
accompanied him on the
battlefield

12. Athena
Goddess of Wisdom
•Daughter of Zeus
•She sprang full grown in armor from his
forehead, thus has no mother (Metis).
•She was fierce and brave in battle but,
only fights to protect the state and home
from outside enemies.
•She was the goddess of the city,
handicrafts, and agriculture.
• 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 the embodiment of wisdom,
reason, and purity.
•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.
• She was a virgin goddess.

13. Apollo
God of Music
•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.
•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.
•One of Apollo's more important daily tasks
was to harness his chariot with four horses
an drive the Sun (Helios) across the sky.
•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.

14. Artemis
Goddess of the Hunt
•Daughter of Zeus and Leto
•Twin sister to Apollo
•She was the lady of the wild things
• She was the huntsman of the gods
•She was the protector of the young
Like Apollo, she hunted with silver
arrows
• She became associated with the
moon
•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 scared to her,
especially the deer.

15. Hermes
Messenger of the Gods
•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

16. Hephaestus
God of the Forge
•Brother to Ares
•Son of Zeus and Hera
•Sometimes, it was said that Hera alone produced
him and that he had no father
•He was the only god to be physically ugly
•He was also crippled due to being thrown off Mt.
Olympus twice by his parents
•He was the god of fire and the forge. He was the
smith and armorer of the gods.
•He used a volcano as his forge.
•He was the patron god of both smiths and weavers.
•He was kind and peace loving.
•His wife was Aphrodite (given to him by Zeus) who
did not love him

17. Aphrodite
Goddess of Love, Lust and Beauty
•Two creations myths: one as the
creation of sea foam, the other as the
daughter of Zeus
•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, in many of the myths
involving her, 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

18. Demeter
Goddess of the Harvest
•Sister to Zeus
•Demeter was the goddess of corn, grain, and
the harvest
•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.
•Her daughter, Persephone was abducted by
Hades to be his wife in the underworld
•In her anger at her daughter's loss, Demeter
laid a curse on the world that caused plants to
wither and die, the land became desolate.
Zeus became alarmed and sought
Persephone's return.
•It was decreed that Persephone would spend
four months each year in the underworld.
During these months Demeter grieved her
daughter's absence, and withdrew her gifts
from the world, creating winter. Her return
brought the spring.

19. Dionysus
God of Wine and Revelry
•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.
•He became associated with several key concepts. One was
rebirth after death. The other is the idea that under the influence
of wine, one could feel possessed by a greater power. Unlike the
other gods, Dionysus was not only outside his believers but, also
within them. At these times, a man might be greater then himself
and do works he otherwise could not.

20. Eros
God of Love
•Son of Aphrodite and Ares
•Married to Psyche (Soul)
•Has wings
•Sometimes depicted as a beautiful young
man, others as a young boy
•In particular he is the god of erotic,
romantic and love
• He is often represented blindfolded
because, love is often blind.
•His "weapon" was darts or arrows. In either
case, the tips have been magically treated to
produce either uncontrollable love or
insurmountable disinterest in the first
person seen be Eros' victim after wounding.
•In Roman times, Eros became Cupid.