HADES: also called Aides and Aidoneus. Son of Kronos and brother of Zeus
and PoseidonHEBE: personified Greek goddess of the blossoming maturity of youth, and
daughter of ZEUS and HERA. She was the cup bearer of the gods before Zeus bore Ganymede up to Olympus. She
was called Juventas, "yought," by the Romans, who believed that she had the power to renew
the youth of the aged.
HECATE: ancient, pre-Olympian Greek earth-goddess of fertility and magical power,
represented by Hesiod as the daughter of the Perses, the Titan. From Zeus she received a
portion of divine power in the realms of heaven, earth and ocean, and presides over good
fortune in all aspects of life, and over the bringing of youths to puberty. As earth-goddess, she
later became associated with the lower world and night, ghosts and demons, and magic and
sorcery, enchanters and sorceresses being her especial portages.
HELIOS: the Greek god of the sun, son of Hyperion and brother of Selene HEMERA: personification of Day in the ancient Greek cosmogony, born of Erebus
HEPHAETUS: Greek deity of craftsmanship, metalwork and worker with fire in general, with whom the Romans identified the god Vulcan. According to some authorities, he is the son of Zeus
and Hera; according to others, Hera bore him with out any father to spite Zeus in bringing Athena forth independently of her. He was born lame and weak, and his mother disliked him so intensely that she threw him down from Olympus. He became the great smith and artificer to the gods, being associated from ancient times with volcanic fire, and is assisted by the Cyclopes. Ironically, he was given the goddess Aphrodite as his lawful spouse. Her many amours and her infidelity to Hephaestus were notorious, and in Homer the gods enjoy a good laugh when Hephaestus, by forging an invisible net with the strength of steel, catches Aphrodite with Ares in flagrante delicto.HERA: queen of the Olympian deities, sister and wife of Zeus
. She was the eldest daughter of Kronos and Rhea. The poets represented her as constantly jealous of Zeus's various amours and so pursuing her rivals, both among the goddesses and mortal women, with implacable fury. She represents the proprieties of marriage bond and family life, and in her fertility aspect is goddess of childbirth. Her principal sanctuary was at Argos in the Peloponnesus. Her most common emblem is the peacock. Among the Romans she was identified with Juno.HERMES: Greek god of trade, riches and good fortune, also the messenger of herald of the gods, and as Psychopompos, the conductor of the shades of the dead into Hades. Also, because of the exploits ascribed to him, he was the patron deity of tricksters and thieves. He was an early fertility deity, and crude phallic images of him called hermae were set up at crossroads and in front of houses. Hermes was the son of Zeus
and Maia, daughter of ATLAS, who was one of the Titans. He is represented wearing the petasos, or broad-brimmed traveler's hat, winged sandals. He usually carries the herald's staff (caduceus), intertwined with ribbons or serpents. His Roman name was Mercury.HESPERIDES: the "daughters of Evening," the goddesses who guarded the golden apples given by Gaia
to Hera at her marriage to Zeus. They live at the western extreme of the Mediterranean, near Mt. Atlas, hence they are sometimes considered the daughters of Atlas. Their names are Aegle, Arethusa, Erytheia and Hesperia.HESPERIS: "evening," personified as a Greek goddess, wife of Atals and mother of the Hesperides.
HESTIA: daughter of Kronos and Rhea, and goddess of the hearth fire, hence presiding over domestic life. She was also the particular goddess over the altar fires in the temples. She was a virgin-goddess, and when wooed by Posedion
and Apollo, swore by the head of Zeus to remain a virgin. The Romans called her Vesta, and her round temple stood in the Forum. There was not statue of the goddess there, but she was identified with the eternal fire which had to be kept burning on her altar.HYGIEIA: personified Greek goddess of health, regarded as the daughter of Aesculapius
. She is represented as a maiden with a serpent, to whom she gives drink from a cup in their hand.HYMEN or HYMENAEUS: ancient Greek god of marriage (actually a personification of the marriage song), represented as a handsome youth, son of Apollo
and one of the Muses.HYPNOS: personified Greek god of sleep, and the son of Nox
.IRIS: personified Greek goddess of the rainbow, and regarded as
the messenger of the gods to mankind.
KERES: ancient Greek goddesses of death and doom who also act
as avenging spirits. In later times they were regarded as the vengeful spirits of
the dead.
NEMESIS: ancient Greek personification of divine anger towards
human transgression of the natural, right order of things and of the arrogance
causing it, pursuing the insolent and the wicked with inflexible vengeance.
NIKE: personified Greek goddess of Victory, daughter of Pallas and Styx and sister of
and Zelus NOTUS: Greek god of the South Wind, son of the titan Astraeus and
Eos NOX (or Nyx): personification of Night, born of the primeval Chaos in the
ancient Greek cosmology.
NYMPHS: Greek goddesses who dwell in the various places of wild nature, such as mountians, grottoes, forests, groves and trees, rivers and springs and the ocean. They are repersented as young and pretty girls who frolic about with the Satyrs, Pan and the Silenis in the train of Dionysus, and nymphs alos range with Artemis in her hunt. Often benevolent to mankind in the places where they dwell, they will, however, take away with them those mortals to whom they take a fancy, and visit with idre punishment those unresponsive to their love. Nymphs of groves and forests are Hamadryads; nymphs of mountians and grottoes are Oreads; nymphs of fresh waters, such as springs, rivers, etc., are Naiads; nymphs of the sea are Nereids; and those of the ocean are Oceanids.
PAN: Greek nature of fertility deity, originally native to Arcadia. As
such he is god of goat herds and flocks, and is usually represented as a very
sensual creature, a shaggy human to the loins, with pointed ears, goat's horns
and legs. He wanders among the mountains and valleys, pursuing the Nymphs
or leading them in their dances. He is quiet musical, and is the inventor of the
Syrinx, or "Pipes of Pan." He is considered to be a son of and Hermes PERSEPHONE: daughter of and Zeus PLUTUS: god of wealth, son of Demeter POSEIDON: Greek god of the sea, and creator of waters, the son of
he read it he read it Kronos and Rhea and brother
and Zeus
SELENE: Greek goddess of the moon, daughter of Hyperion and sister of Helios
(the Sun) and Eos (the Dawn). She fell in love with the beautiful shepherd Endymion, and caused him to sleep so that she might caress him undisturbed.THANATOS: personified Greek god of death, son of and Nox
and twin brother of Hypnos (Sleep), and dwelling in the lower world.THEMIS: a daughter of Ouranos and Gaia
father of Iris, the rainbow goddess.TYCHE: Greek goddess, originally of fortune and chance, and then
of prosperity, having cities under her special protection. In later times, each city
was considered to have its special Tyche.
ZELUS: personified Greek god of the zeal of battle, son of Pallas and Styx and brother
of Bia and
Nike ZEPHYRUS: Greek god of the welcome West Wind of spring, son of
the Titan Astraeus and Eos
ZEUS: the head of they Olympian pantheon in Greece, father and king of gods and men. He was the youngest son of Kronos and Rhea, and brother of and Posedion, Hades, Hestia, Demeter and Hera
, the latter becoming also his wife. Kronos has swallowed his children as soon as they were born, but at the birth of Zeus, Rhea presented Kronos with a stone wrapped in swaddling clothes, which he devoured, believing it to be the child Zeus. Rhea then spirited away the infant Zeus to Crete, where she hid him in a cave on Mt. Ida or Dicte. There he was nourished by the goat Amaltheia, while the Kouretes drowned out his cries by the clashing of their swords against their shields during their armed dance. When he grew up, he took as his first consort Metis, and ancient powerful titaness, who by means of a charm had made Kronos disgorge the children whom he had swallowed. With the aid of his brother and sister deities, Zeus then overthrew Kronos and the Titans and divided the rule of the cosmos with his brothers Poseidon and Hades, Zeus obtaining the general kingship and the specific domain of the upper air and the heavens. When Metis was pregnant by him, he swallowed her, so that she might not give birth to a son who would displace him and in consequence Athena was born from his forehead. by other goddess and mortal women Zeus became the father of many deities and heroes, their various vicissitudes usually being occasioned by the vindictive jealousy of his official wife, Hera. Zeus is usually regarded as ruler of the heavens, and wielder of the thunderbolt, gatherer of clouds and bringer of the fertilizing rain. The eagle and the oak are sacred to him.