| GREEK NAME | ROMAN NAME | ROLES | FAMOUS FOR |
|---|
ZEUS (Ζεύς) | JUPITER | King of the Olympian gods. King of the sky and heavens. | Throwing lightning bolts. Making love to mortal women. Wore the Aegis: a breastplate with an image of Medusa in the centre. |
HERA (Ήρα) | JUNO (also Heraea) | Wife and sister of Zeus. Goddess of marriage. | Punishing all the mortal women her husband had made love to. She liked cows and peacocks. |
HADES (Άδης) | PLUTO (Plutus) | Brother of Zeus King of underworld King of the dead | Possessing a helmet that made invisible whoever wore it. |
POSEIDON (Ποσειδῶν) | NEPTUNE (Neptunus) | Brother of Zeus King od the seas & oceans. | Being an earth-shaker, hence the originator of earth-quakes. Carried a trident. |
ARES (Ἄρης) | MARS | Son of Jupiter and Juno God of War | Lover of Venus. He liked vultures, dogs, woodpeckers and the eagle owl. He had a quadriga: a chariot drawn by four stallions emitting fire/light and bridled in gold. |
APOLLO (Ἀπόλλων) | APOLLO | Son of Jupiter & Leto God of the Sun & Light God of Truth & Oracles Protector of Medicine Master of Music & Poetry. Protector of Archers | For being quite a busy god. He liked the laurel tree, dolphins and crows. Leader of the Muses. Protector of Delphi hence the prophetic deity of the Delphic Oracle. He had a son called Ascleplius to oversee the application of medicine and healing. |
HERMES (Ἑρμῆς) | MERCURY (Mercurius) | Son of Zeus & the Pleiade Maia God of Commerce & Sports God of boundaries & travellers Patron of shepherds & cowherds Patron of the cunning of thieves, liars and harlots. | Messenger of the Gods. Wore a winged hat and winged sandals. Carried a staff called the Caduceus. In ancient depiction the two snakes formed a figure of 8 on top of the staff. In Roman depiction the two snakes formed a double helix along the staff and a pair of wings were also shown at the top. Was a polutropos and could even enter the underworld. |
ATHENA (Ἀθηνᾶ) | MINERVA | Daughter f Zeus alone and no mother. Goddess of heroic endevour
Protector of Athens (Athena) Protector of Rome (Minerva) | She was given birth by Zeus and sprang out of his head fully grown and wearing a full armour! She is the protector of justice, civilized life, wisdom, strength, cunning and skills such as handicrafts and agriculture. She was the first to tame the horse thus inventing the bridle. She favoured olive trees and owls. She was a virgin. Like Zeus, Athena also wore the Aegis (see Zeus). |
APHRODITE (Ἀφροδίτη) | VENUS | Born from Uranus' genitals Goddess of Love, Beauty & Sex. | According to Hesiod's Theogony, the birth of Aphrodite happened after Cronus cut off Uranus's genitals and through them into the sea, out of which arose the goddess Venus. Hence the famous painting by Botticelli of Venus arising from the sea out of a mother-of-pearl. To keep the peace among the Olympian Gods Jupiter married her to Vulcan but she had Mars as her lover. The myrtle tree, doves, sparrows and swans were sacred to Venus. She was the mother of Aeneas, the hero of Vergil's Aeneid, after making love to the mortal and noble Trojan Anchises. |
ARTEMIS (Ἄρτεμις) | DIANA | Daughter of Zeus & Latona Twin sister of Apollo Goddess of the Moon Goddess of Hunting & Forests Goddess of virgins | She was the symbol of chastity. |
HESTIA | VESTA | Sister of Zeus Spinster Goddess of the Hearth | |
HEPHAESTUS | VULCAN (Vulcanus) | | |