THE GODS

The most important Elder God was CRONUS, who was dethroned by his son ZEUS and seized the
power for himself. Zeus ascended the throne and he fled Cronus fled to Italy reigned there.

The other notable Titans were OCEAN, the river that was supposed to encircle the earth; his
wife Tethys; Hyperion, the father of the sun, the moon and the dawn; Mnemosyne, which means
MEMORY; Themis known to be JUSTICE and Iapetus who is know for his two sons, ATLAS, who bore the
world on his shoulders and PROMETHEUS, the savior of mankind.

The twelve great Olympians were supreme among the gods who succeeded to the Titans. Zeus
got the universe as his share after his two other siblings, HADES, the god of the underworld and
POSEIDON, the ruler of the sea, drew lots. Their other siblings were HERA who happened to be the wife
of Zeus, known for being jealous and the protector of marriage. Athena, known in Rome as MINERVA,
was said to be the daughter of Zeus who sprang from the father’s head and came out full-grown and
full-armor who is regarded for being a ruthless battle-goddess. There were also the twin of Zeus and
Leto. APOLLO, who is said to be the most Greek of all the gods because of his inclination to Greek
poetry, music and art. His twin sister ARTEMIS or Diana in Roman myth is known to be the Lady of Wild
Things and the huntsman-in-chief of the gods. Artemis is known to be one of the Virgin goddesses like
Athena and HESTIA, who is known as the goddess of the hearth. There maybe no significant story about
Vesta, but her importance in every home is emphasized. APHRODITE, the goddess of love and beauty
was said to be married to HEPHAESTUS, who does forging inside a volcano that causes every eruption. It
is said that when his mother bore him and saw that he was deformed, he was casted out of Olympus
and was tagged as the ugliest among the immortals. His works would support the reign of ARES as the
god of war but was regarded by Homer as murderous but strangely, a coward too, because he would
bellow his pains and run fast when he is wounded. He is not like HERMES, who could easily transport
himself using his winged hat and sandals, and is also considered as the Zeus’s messenger.

These gods were all great while they dwell on their respective places like HADES who ruled the
underworld together with the abducted wife PERSEPHONE who would come back to earth every time to
appease the mother DEMETER who yields many bushels of corn.

On the other hand, another god who is known for his mysterious escape every time he is twined
with ivy-plants by pirates. DIONYSUS is called the god of the wine is always seen with BACHANNTES
who are all frenzied and drunk.

These stories told by the Greeks are different because of their image of theirs gods where they
follow the human characteristics, unlike the EGYPTIAN who combine the animal and human features for
their gods. However, the MESOPOTAMIAN mythology would view their gods in weird combination of
animal features like a lions body with eagles wings with the tails that of a serpent.