Pantheon of the Gods Flashcards
Descendants of Chaos
Erebus (Nyx), Tartarus, Eros, Gaia
“The Next Generation” (Gaia + Uranus)
The 12 Titans, Cyclops, Hecatonchires
The Titans (Sons + Theme)
- Cronus (time)
- Oceanus (oceans)
- Lapetos (mortality)
- Hyperion (light)
- Crius (constellations)
- Coeus (intellect)
The Titans (Daughters + Theme)
- Rhea (fertility)
- Tethys (fresh water)
- Mnemosyne (memory)
- Theia (sight)
- Themis (divine law & order)
- Phoebe (oracle of Delphi)
Other Children of Titans
- Horai (seasons & death bringing)
- Mourai (the fates)
- Helios (the sun)
- Selene (the moon)
- Eos (the dawn)
Other Children of Titans (Pt. 2/Sons of Lapetos)
- Atlas (held the sky)
- Prometheus (forethought/crafty counsel/molded mankind from clay)
- Epimetheus (hindsight/“after thinking”)
- Menoetius (“doomed might”/violent anger/rash action)
Castration of Uranus (Summary)
Uranus hated his children (cyclops & hecatonchires), Gaia raped by Uranus and then asked titan children to help take him down, Cronus comes in, Hyperion, Cirus, Coeus and Lapetus hold up sky at the four corners, Cronus castrates Uranus and sleeps with Gaia, Uranus fled/never seen again, heaven (Uranus) kept in place above earth (Gaia)
Birth of Aphrodite
Foam created from castration of Uranus in the sea (not only origin story)
Children of Cronus & Rhea
- Hestia
- Demeter
- Hera
- Hades
- Poseidon
- Zeus
Birth of Zeus
Prophecy of one of Cronus’ dons deposing of titans, Cronus eats his children, Rhea hides Zeus from Cronus (Crete), Cronus given stone wrapped in baby clothes, Zeus hidden until maturity
Zeus Saving Siblings
Masquerades as cup-bearer for Cronus (gain position of access & trust), help of Métis (daughter of Oceanus & Tethys, gives Cronus potion of mustard & wine, Cronus vomits out eaten children
Titanomachy
- Ten Year War
- Between Titans (led by Cronus) & Olympians (led by Zeus/with Themis/Prometheus/Hecatonchires & cyclops)
How the Titanomachy ends
- Zeus wins
- Titans are imprisoned in Tartarus (Hechonchires guarding)
- Atlas sentenced to “hold up sky” forever for siding with Titans
- Zeus rules sky/heavens, Poseidon rules the sea, Hades rules underworld
Zeus (King of Gods/Origin)
- Rise to power/supreme leader
- Had famous religious sanctuaries dedicated to him in Olympia + Dodora
Symbols of Zeus
- Sceptre/lightning bolt
- Crown of Olive Leaves
- Throne (guarded by four winged spirits, Kratos (strength)/Zelos (rivalry)/Nike (victory)/Rie?
- Mature man (long beard)
- Long robe
Hera (Queen of Gods/Origin)
- Associated with Women & Marriage
- Beautiful Woman
- Jealousy + persecution with Zeus’ objects of desires/affairs
Symbols of Hera
- Lotus-tipped sceptre
- Accompanied by peacock
Zeus & Hera Children (Outside of Pantheon)
- Hebe (youth, cup-bearer, marries Heracles)
- Eilethyia (childbirth)
Zeus & Hera Children (In the Pantheon)
- Ares
- Hephaestus
Ares (God of War/Origin)
- Dressed like standard Greek warrior (hard to identify)
- either; mature bearded warrior armed for battle
OR - nude, beardless youth with spear
Ares Symbols
- Peaked helmet
- shield
- spear
- sword (sometimes)
Hephaestus (God of Fire/Metallurgy/Origin)
- Handicapped
- “a cripple from birth”
- some stories = only hera’s child/homer = both Zeus & Hera child
- banished from Olympus due to handicap
- saved by Thetis & Eurynome
- forged the shield of Achilles
Who was there a love triangle between? (Hint: brothers & foam)
Hephaestus, Ares & Aphrodite
What was Hephaestus’ revenge?
- He forged a network of chains which could be broken nor undone, to bind them there
- When they caught sight of the clever device a fit of unquenchable laughter seized the blessed gods
Aphrodite & Ares Children
- Phoebus (fear)
- Deimos (terror)
- Harmonia (harmony)
- Adrestia (“she who cannot be escaped/revolt)
- The Erotes (collection of winged gods/love & sexuality/Eros = Cupid)
Athena (Goddess of Wisdom/Good Council/Origin)
- Heroic endeavours
- Odysseus (a fav of Athena)
- weaving, pottery & other crafts
- stately woman/spear, long robe, crested helm & aegis
- green-eyed/bright-eyed
- born from Zeus head
Contest between Athena & Poseidon
- Competition for the land
- Zeus judges
- Athena create first olive tree
- Poseidon brings water to the plains
- Athena wins = Athens
Hermes (Messenger to the Gods)
- son of Zeus & Maia (father of pan)
- guide to underworld
- god of;
- herds/flocks
- travellers/hospitality
- roads/trader
- thievery/cunning
- heralds/diplomacy
- language/writing
- athletic contests
- astronomy/astrology
Hermes Symbols
- Heralds Wand
- knee length robe
- short cloak
- brimmed travellers hat
- winged boots
- armed with small swords
- Herma/boundary markers
Artemis (Goddess of Hunting/Wilderness/Origin)
- childbirth & young women
- daughter of Zeus & Leto
- twin of apollo
- young woman, knee length girls robe/full length woman’s robe, cloak, headgear/moon, pelt of a deer (sacred animal)
Artemis Symbols
- bow & arrows
- quiver
- pair of hunting spears
- torch
- lyre
- water jug
Apollo (God of Prophecy/Divination/Origin)
- Patreon of music/arts/leader of muses
- famous shrine & oracle at Delphi
- “Phoebus Apollo” (“the shining one”/association with sun-god)
- violence & restraint/healer + bringer of death
- contrast with Dionysus (rational vs irrational)
Poseidon (God of the Sea)
- earthquakes, floods, droughts & horses
- trident (three pronged fishing spear)
- stern, rough & unkempt (“earthshaker”)
- rides a hippocampus (half horse/half fish)
- mature man clothed in robe or nude (cloak wrapped of arms)
- crowned with wreath of wild celery/simple headband
- lovers of both sexes/fathered mortal & immortal children
- consort the nymph (amphitrite)/had son (triton)
- fathered hero’s (possibly Theseus)
- raped Demeter/tried to sleep with hestia & thetis
- raped Medusa in Athena’s temple
Sea Deities
- Oceanus (great river that circled world/children are river gods & Oceanids)
- Triton (son of Poseidon & Amphitrite/blew on shell as trumpeter)
- Proteus (prophetic sea god, homer = “old man of sea”, can change shape)
- Nereus (prophetic sea god, father of 50 nereids)
Important Nereid: Amphitrite
- pursued by Poseidon (reluctant to wed)
- hid with atlas (dolphin god delphin tracks her down)
- marries Poseidon = son triton
Important Nereid: Thetis
- leader of 50 nereids
- can shape at will/has gift of prophecy
- prophecy to bear son greater than his father, Zeus had her marry mortal (peleus), instructed to ambush her on beach, no release, struggles & changes into various shapes
- couple then married + bore son (Achilles)
Important Nereid: Galatea
- beautiful woman riding side-saddle back of sea monster or fish tailed god
- Acis (Polyphemus/cyclops + son of Poseidon falls in love with Galatea, offers her gifts + sings to her, Galatea in love with acis & rejects her, jealous rage Polyphemus kills acis by crushing him with huge rock)
Other children of sea
- Scylla (transformed by Amphitrite or Circe/twelve feet, six necks, sharp teeth & voice like yelping dogs)
- Charybdis (whirlpool with mouth at bottom)
- Harpies (snatchers, half human/half bird, vicious, cruel & violent)
- Graeae (old women, “the grey sisters”, daughters of phorcys & creto, sisters to the gorgons, eternally old)
- Gorgons (stheno, euryale, Medusa, three sisters with hair of living, snakes, turn to stone)
Hades (God of Underworld)
- eldest son of Cronus & Rhea
- funeral rites & defended the right of dead to proper burial
- assumption that underworld = inherent “evil”
- Greeks seen hades as balance to Zeus
- dark bearded, regal god
- attended by three headed dog, Cerberus
- “Persephone’s kidnapping”
Demeter (Goddess of Agriculture)
- child of rhea and Cronus
- presided over elysium mystery cults/blessed afterlife
- mature woman, wearing crown/bearing sheaves of wheat/cornucopia (horn of plenty) & torch
- abduction of daughter (Persephone)
Persephone raped
Zeus permits hades to abduct and marry her, p gathering flowers when abducted, Demeter finds out and scorches earth, Zeus orders for p to be returned, hades tricks p eating pomegranate seeds, p released from underworld but due to eating half year in underworld half with gods/mother
Cerberus
- three heads, serpent for a tail, snakes emerging from various parts of body
- guards gates of underworld
- Heracles final/twelfth labour
Underworld characters
- Styx (hate)
- Acheron (woe)
- cocytus (wailing)
- Lethe (forgetfulness)
- Phlegethon (fire)
- Charon the ferryman
- 3 judges (Minos, rhadamanthys, aeacus)
- Furies (allecto, megaera, tisiphone)
Hestia (Goddess of the Hearth)
- first born of rhea & Cronus
- omitted from the 12 Olympian’s
- virgin goddess of the hearth & home
- associated with sacrificial flame/vestal virgins (important religious groups in rome)
- modestly veiled woman, holding flowered branch
Aphrodite (Goddess of Love)
- Castration of Uranus (Hesiod)
- Zeus & Dione (homer)
- love, beauty & marriage
- always beautiful (nude)
- dove, myrtle branch, apple, scallop shell, and mirror
- often appears with Eros
Anchises
- member of royal family of Troy
- mortal lover of Aphrodite/Venus
- blinded/killed by Zeus lightning
- had son (Aeneas/pro to founder of Rome)
Euripides Hippolytus
- son of Theseus (king of Athens)
- devotee of Artemis, swearing off love & women
Dionysus (God of Wine/Pleasure/Madness)
- wine, vegetation, pleasure, festivity, madness, “wild frenzy”
- older bearded god or long hair youth
- thyrsos (pine cone tipped staff, drinking cup, crown of ivy)
- possesses his followers
- accompanied by wild cat (leopard)
- son of Zeus & semele of Thebes (daughter of Cadmus)
Bacchae of Euripides
- Cadmus (retired, grandfather of pentheus)
- Agave (sister of semele)
- King pentheus of Thebes (son of agave)
- Dionysus (a new god insulted by agave & semeles son)
