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Copyright by Mark de la Hey, 1994, 1995.
A Phrygian or Thracian god identified with Dionysos. Perhaps only an epithet of Dionysos. His worship was associated with that of Kybele and Attis, and his cult entered Greece proper in the 5th century BC.
Greek woodland gods or spirits. They had a human upper body and the lower body of a goat. They were generally depicted as having dishevelled hair with goat horns and ears, and with an erect penis (ithyphallic). In early Greek art they were portrayed as grotesque in appearance, but Praxiteles began a later tradition in which they were shown as being handsome. The Satyrs were closely associated with Dionysos, and were related to the Silenes (qv).
See Horae.
Greek goddess of the moon. Daughter of the Titans Hyperion and Theia. Sister of Helios (sun) and Eos (dawn). Mother of Pandia by Zeus, and of fifty daughters by Endymion. She rode across the sky in a chariot drawn by two white horses. Also a tutelary deity of magicians. Selene was sometimes identified with Artemis as a moon goddess. She became syncretized with Hekate in later Greek mythology. The Romans equated her with Luna.
Minor Greek goddess. She may have originated as a Phrygian or Thracian earth goddess. Daughter of Cadmus (Kadmos) and Harmonia. According to some traditions, she was the mother of Dionysos by Zeus. The story goes that the jealous Hera tricked her into asking Zeus to prove his divinity to her. When Zeus revealed himself to her in his divine form, Semele, then a mortal, was burned to death by the intensity of his appearance. Zeus later deified her and she took her place among the gods under the name of Thyone.
Greek earth-goddesses.
Greek woodland gods or spirits. Similar to the Satyrs (qv), except that they were sometimes said to be half horse, whereas the Satyrs were half goat. The Sileni tended to be depicted as lechers and drunkards, often bald-headed and pot-bellied.
Minor Greek woodland god. Son of Hermes and Gaia, or of Pan. King of Nysa, and the teacher of Dionysos. One of the Sileni, half-man and either half-horse or half-goat. He was a talented musician.
Hybrid creatures in Greek mythology who were half bird and half woman. In Homer, there were two Sirens on an island in the western Mediterranean. Their number later increased to three or more. The names most commonly given are Parthenope, Ligeia and Leucosia. They were said to be the daughters either of the sea god Phorkys or of the river god Acheloos. They were depicted in Greek art either as birds with the heads of women, or as winged women with bird legs. They were known for luring sailors to their island with their bewitching song, where their victims starved to death. Odysseus managed to escape them by having his men stop up their ears and tie him to the mast of his boat. When the Argonauts had to pass them, Orpheus sang a song that was even more enchanting than theirs, so that the sailors paid no attention to them.
One of the Greek Gorgons. Daughter of Phorkys and Ceto. Her sisters were the Graii and her fellow Gorgons, Medusa and Euryale.
"Hateful". Greek goddess of the underworld river of the same name. According to Hesiod, she is the daughter of Okeanos and Tethys. Mother of Nike, Bia, Kratos and Zelos by the Titan Hyperion. When the gods swore their most solemn oaths, they drank water drawn from the Styx.
An Arcadian nymph or Hamadryad who turned herself into a reed to escape the advances of Pan (qv).
One of the Erinyes, the Greek avenging goddesses. Daughter of Gaia, impregnated with the blood of the castrated Ouranos. Her sisters and fellow Erinyes were Megaira and Alekto.
Greek Muse of dancing. Daughter of Zeus and Mnemosyne. She was depicted with a lyre. According to some traditions, she was also the mother of the Sirens by the river god Acheloos.
Greek demi-goddess of the sea. One of the Titans. Daughter of Ouranos (heaven) and Gaia (earth). Consort of Okeanos. Mother of the Okeanides.
Greek Muse of comedy. Daughter of Zeus and Mnemosyne. Hesiod also made her one of the three Charites (Graces), although this may have been a separate individual. As the Muse of comedy, her attributes were the comic mask and a shepherd's staff.
One of the Athenian Horai (Seasons). Thallo was associated with the spring. Daughter of Zeus and Themis. Her sister was Karpo (autumn).
Greek god of death. More usually Thanatos was merely the abstract principle of death. According to Hesiod, he was the son of Nyx (night) and had no father. Twin brother of Hypnos (sleep).
Minor Greek goddess. One of the Titans. Daughter of Ouranos (heaven) and Gaia (earth). Consort of her brother Hyperion. Mother of Helios (sun), Eos (dawn) and Selene (moon).
Greek goddess of justice and order. One of the Titans. Daughter of Ouranos (heaven) and Gaia (earth). She was the second consort of Zeus, after Metis. Mother of the Horai (Seasons) and the Moirai (Fates). She had oracular powers, and was said to have started the oracle at Delphi, which she later gave to Apollo. Her cult was popular throughout Greece, and she shared a temple at Rhamnus in Attica with the goddess Nemesis. She was often represented holding a pair of scales.
Minor Greek goddess or nymph. Daughter of the sea god Nereus. Wife of the mortal Peleus. Mother of Achilles. Thetis attempted to make Achilles invulnerable by dipping him in the waters of the river Styx. It was at her wedding that the goddess Eris rolled the Golden Apple that began the dispute among the gods which eventually led to the Trojan War, in which Achilles died. She lived in the ocean depths attended by a retinue of Nereids.
See Teisiphone.
Secondary race of Greek gods. The children of Ouranos (heaven) and Gaia (earth). They formed six married pairs: Kronos and Rhea, Okeanos and Tethys, Hyperion and Theia, Coeus and Phoebe, Iapetos and Clymene, Crius and Eurybia. The Titans were also siblings of the Cyclops and Hekatoncheiroi. Led by Kronos, the Titans overthrew their father Ouranos. In turn, however, they were themselves were overthrown by Zeus and the Cyclops. Zeus then hurled them into the underworld, where he kept them imprisoned.
Minor Greek sea god. He was depicted as a merman, with the upper body of a man and the tail of a dolphin or a fish. Son of Poseidon and Amphitrite. According to Hesiod, he lived with his parents in a golden palace at the bottom of the sea. The Greeks often thought of there being many Tritons rather than just one. His attribute was the conch shell, which he blew as a horn.
Greek goddess of fate and fortune. According to Hesiod, she was the daughter of Okeanos and Tethys. In Pindar, Zeus is given as her father. She was often associated with Agathos Daimon, the "Good Spirit", and with Nemesis, the goddess of justice and vengeance. Tyche was depicted with a rudder or a cornucopia, and often with wheel as a symbol of the transitory nature of fortune and of the fickle character of the goddess herself. She had a temple at Argos, where the first set of dice were said to have been invented. Her temple at Antioch remained intact at least until the reign of the Roman Emperor Theodosius (AD 379-95).
"Whirlwind". A monster in Greek mythology. Son of Gaia (earth) and Tartaros (underworld). He had a hundred dragon-heads and either snake's feet or a body covered in snakes. His sister and wife was the monster Echidna, by whom he was the father of Cerberus, the Chimaera, the Lernean Hydra, the Nemean Lion, and the Sphinx. At one point, he attacked and imprisoned Zeus, who had to be rescued by Hermes and Pan. Zeus then imprisoned Typhon either in the underworld or under Mt. Aetna. He was believed to cause dangerous winds and earthquakes. Typhon later came to be identified with the Egyptian god Seth.
Greek Muse of astronomy and astrology. Daughter of Zeus and Mnemosyne. Her attributes were the globe (representing the heavenly sphere) and compass.
See Ouranos.
Chief god in Greek Orphism. Said in Orphism to be the son of Zeus and Persephone. Zagreus seems to have originated as a pre-Hellenic god of animals and hunting.
Supreme god of the Thracian Getae and Dacians. Known only from the writings of Herodotus. Zalmoxis was said to have taken human form and lived among humans for a time. He then disappeared into the underworld for three years before returning in the fourth year.
"Zeal". Son of Hyperion and Styx. He was a companion of Zeus.
Greek god of the west wind. Son of Astraios and Eos. Believed to live in a cave in Thrace. Known to the Romans as Favonius.
Supreme Greek god and head of the Greek pantheon. In addition, Zeus functioned as a sky god or weather god, and as a god of justice and freedom. Son of the Titans Kronos and Rhea. Consort of Hera. His cult probably dates back to the Mycenean and Minoan civilizations. According to Homer, he lived on Mt. Olympus in Thessaly, where he gathered the other gods under his dominion. After his birth, Rhea saved the infant Zeus from being swallowed by Kronos along with his siblings by substituting a stone dressed in swaddling cloths. She then hid the child in a cave on the island of Crete, where the Kouretes performed a dance in which they clashed their weapons about him in order to drown out his cries. His nurse while in Crete was Amalthea, either a nymph or a goat. Upon reaching maturity, Zeus overthrew the Titans and forced Kronos to disgorge his siblings. Zeus then cast Kronos into Tartaros and established himself as head of a new pantheon in which he and his siblings had the most prominent roles. He divided dominion over the world with his brothers Poseidon and Hades. Zeus's sexual prowess was legendary, and he either seduced or forced himself upon numerous goddesses, nymphs, and mortal women, fathering countless children in the process. He assumed many different forms in pursuit of his numerous affairs. He appeared to Leda in the form of a swan, to Danae as a shower of gold, and to Europa as a white bull. Ares, Eleithyia and Hephaistos were the most prominent of his children by his official consort Hera, whom he originally seduced in the form of a cuckoo (although some sources say that it was Hera who seduced Zeus). He fathered Apollo and Artemis by Leto, Persephone by Demeter, Hermes by Maia, Dionysos by Semele, the Horai and Moirai by Themis, the Muses by Mnemosyne, and Herakles by Alkmene. Athena was also said to have been born from his forehead after he had swallowed Metis. Zeus may also have had a homosexual relationship with Ganymede, whom he made the cupbearer of the gods. The cult of Zeus was of universal significance in the Greek world, although his cult was often secondary in individual locations to the local tutelary deity, such as Athena in Athens. Greek households typically had statues of Zeus in their forecourts, and he was often associated with mountaintop shrines. He had temples in every Greek city, two of the more notable being in Athens and at Olympia. His most important festival was at Olympia. The oracle at Dodona in Epirus was dedicated to Zeus. He was depicted as a bearded and physically imposing man of middle age. His most common attributes were the thunderbolt and the eagle.
Thracian storm god.