She fled from Hera’s fury to Delos, where she promised the few inhabitants fame and glory if they would shelter her in childbirth. Leto, like so many girls, had caught Zeus’ eye. They were born to Leto on the island of Delos. Greek gods Apollo and ArtemisĪpollo and Artemis were brother and sister in Greek mythology. She was married to the Olympian Hephaistos, but was unfaithful, having a lengthy affair with Ares, with whom she had two children. She protected lovers and watched over women in childbirth. The goddess Aphrodite, astonishingly beautiful, reigned over all matters having to do with love. She played the unenvious role of jealous wife, as Zeus was constantly having affairs. One of Zeus’ seven wives was the Olympian Hera, who was also his sister. Greeks, afraid to draw his attention to themselves, would even avoid saying his name.
Famous for absconding with Demeter’s daughter, Persephone, he was hated among all mortals for his role as overseer of the afterlife. Not an Olympian, he ruled the underworld where all mortals went upon death. Hades was a glowering, humorless Greek god. Like Zeus, he had numerous affairs with goddesses, nymphs and mortal women. To impress Demeter, he created the horse (“hippos” in Greek), and maintained elaborate stables for his stallions on his underwater estate. Hades, who rarely emerged from underground, built a palace deep in the bowels of the earth.ĭevoted to bottle-nosed dolphins and infamous for creating earthquakes, Poseidon ruled the seas and rivers. Poseidon established a vast estate for himself under the seas. They divided up the world between themselves by drawing lots, with Zeus claiming the sky, Poseidon the seas and Hades (as the loser) the underworld. Utterly amoral, Zeus had multiple wives, conquests and children. Renowned in Greek mythology for his numerous erotic adventures, he fathered three of the Olympians.
Notorious for throwing lightning bolts when angry, he was the sky and thunder god. Zeus, son of Kronos and Rhea, sat at the head of the pantheon. Other divinities in Greek mythology often associated with them include Hades, Hekate and Hestia. The twelve Greek gods are Zeus, Poseidon, Hera, Aphrodite, Apollo, Artemis, Demeter, Hephaistos, Hermes, Ares, Athene and Dionysos. The war-god Ares was rebranded as Mars. Only Apollo, who was revered by successive Roman emperors, retained his Greek name. Zeus, the mightiest of the gods, became Jupiter. For instance, Aphrodite, the goddess of love, became Venus. When they conquered Greece, they renamed all but one of the gods. How many of us could name even half of them?ĭoing so is tricky because of the Romans. There are fully twelve Olympians and other divinities as well. As captivating as they are, individual Greek gods remain a hodgepodge to many.
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