Greek Mythology : Gods And Goddesses

Zeus was the son of Cronus and Rhea. When Cronus heard someone say that one of his sons would overthrow him just like he did to his father he got very angry and scared. This led to Cronus swallowing each of his children to make sure he stayed in power. Only one of the children got out by having Rhea feed Cronus a stone wrapped in cloth instead of Zeus. After Rhea saved Zeus he left and trained because he would one day come back and overthrow his father and force his to give back his siblings.

These six would now be called the Olympians; Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, Hera, Demeter, and Hestia. After the fall of Kronos Zeus, Poseidon and Hades, the 3 sons of Kronos, dived all the land into 3 sections. The heavens were covered by Zeus, the waters were covered by Poseidon, and the underworld, or the land of the dead, was covered by Hades. When Zeus (also known as Jupiter according to Roman mythology) took over the heavens it would mean that he was the one in charge so he ruled over the heavens and all the other gods and goddess. A summary of Zeus would him wearing a helmet, holding a thunderbolt, and protected by aegis, which is basically a shield, he also had an eagle with him which symbolized his power.

It all started with Uranus and Gaea. They were the first God and Goddess. Gaea is the Goddess of the Earth. Uranus is the God of sky. Another name that refer to Gaea is Mother Earth. Uranus and Gaea First children are called the titans. They had 6 titans, which are boys. They also had 6 titanesses, which are girls. The titan had ridiculous amount of strength. One of the titans was named Cronus. Uranus and Gaea had 3 cyclops children. There names were Lightning, Thunder,and Thunderbolt. The cyclopes are strong smiths. Then Uranus and Gaea had a 3 generation of kids, which were 3 sons. They had 50 heads & 100 strong arms. Uranus put the cyclops and 3rd generation of children into Tartarus. Gaea told her Titan kids to help her and kill Uranus for sending there other kids into Tartarus. Gaea told her children, who ever chooses to kill there father get the title lord of the universe and also free his siblings. Cronus said he would, but his father fled before he got the chance.

When the cyclopes were locked in Tartarus, Zeus was fighting the Titans. Gaea told Zeus to go to Tartarus and unlock the cyclopes and also their brothers, the Hekatoncheires. Zeus freed them. The cyclopes were so grateful that they made a lightning bolt for Zeus, a cap of invisibility for Hades and a trident for Poseidon. With the Cyclopes help the Olympians won the Titanomachy.

Zeus was revered by all. Mortal kings would boast that they were descendants of Zeus.

In Ancient Greece, there was believed to have been many gods who controlled specific components of the Earth. Cronus (or Kronos) was the Titan King. He was married to Rhea and they had six children: Hera, Hestia, Demeter, Poseidon, Hades, and Zeus. Kronos swallowed each of his children when they were born to avoid a prophecy that he had been told. Rhea hid her youngest child, Zeus, so he would not be swallowed by Cronus. She gave Cronus a stone wrapped in cloth to trick him, and he fell for it. Zeus grew up in hiding from his father in a cave on Crete. Since his mother had to return to Cronus, Zeus had to be raised by Amalthea, a goat, and a nymph named Melissa. They nursed him and took care of the young child. Melissa and Amalthea had to entertain Zeus very often so Cronus

When people wonder about Ancient Greece the first thing that comes to their minds is Greek mythology; gods and goddesses that have helped shape many historical events. “In ancient Greece, stories about gods and goddesses and heroes and monsters were an important part of everyday life.” (“Greek Mythology.”) The civilization showed that numerous characters and stories helped shape Greeks. The beliefs the Greeks had with mythologies was they understood the meaning behind all the characters that are known today. However, to the Greeks, they were not just characters, these were their gods and goddesses who gave them meaning and understanding of the world around them. Worshiping the gods and goddesses helped them with their religious rituals and the temperament of the weather. A famous wine-jar that was made during this time period was “Achilles killing the Amazon Queen Penthesilea, 540-530 BCE, black-figured amphora”. (Khan Academy) The civilization that they lived in grew around their worship and achievements.

The war went on for years and all the men of the Golden Age were killed. Zeus saved all of his brothers and sisters from Kronos and he built Olympus, which was a palace of the gods. Zeus married Hera, his sister, and they had many children. Soon, the world was filled with many gods.

Cronus was a titan and controlled the world along with the other titans when Zeus was born. Cronus usually swallowed his children after they were born, but Rhea took Zeus to Mount Dicte where he was hidden from Cronus. He then came back to Cronus when he was older and made Cronus regurgitate his brothers and sisters. His brothers were Hades and Poseidon and his sisters were Hestia, Demeter, and Hera. He ended up marrying Hera and had eight children with her. He was infamous for his affairs with other women while married to Hera. He had many children and some of importance were Ares, Apollo, Artemis, Athena, Aphrodite, Hermes and Dionysus Hercules, Perseus the Muses, the Graces, and Helen of Troy were only a few of his children. He had many children that were gods and he had a few that were heros as

Unlike religious gods today, the Greek gods resembled human being in their form and their emotions, and suffered from the same dilemmas humans throughout time have faced. The Greeks believe in many gods and think they are very much like people. They have both supernatural powers and human weaknesses. The gods would fight, play on each other, gets angry or jealous, and steal from each other. The Olympian Gods live atop Mt. Olympus in Greece behind a gate of clouds. They watch the mortals down on earth which they can visit any time, and are responsible for the success or failure of human life. The Greeks worship their gods, pray, give offerings, and build temples to please the gods so they will not give any punishments.

Like the Egyptians, Greek civilization had multiple gods that were immortal and very powerful, but there were twelve major gods that were the most important. Some of these gods and goddesses were Zeus, Hera, Athena, and Apollo to name a few. They were believed to reside on Mt. Olympus. Greek gods were immortal. The people of Greece built temples (much like the pyramids that were in Egypt), and gods were worshipped at these temples. Ceremonial rituals or any other special occasions took place here also. Most of the temples were constructed to honor a god, and they were sacred in their being. They sacrificed animals, held festivals, and sporting events. It is apparent that the Greeks adapted some similar qualities from Egyptian religion, but they are still unique in their own way.

Growing up as a citizen of ancient Greek and Rome being raised to follow Greek and Roman mythology caused the ancient people to believe that they must act and behave like the gods. In creating this ideology, the people developed same personality and behavior habits as the gods in various myths. But even as the myths were written, the personalities of the gods and goddesses reflected the average human in that time period. The gods were so much like humans that it was normal to behave like them. Ancient Greek Philosophy stated “the gods depicted by Homer acted selfishly and were driven by emotions such as favoritism and jealousy. They behaved like ordinary people except they were immortal and had supernatural powers.” Unlike other religions were the gods have never sinned and are very different from humans, the gods in ancient Greek mythology make mistakes and commit horrific crimes that in today’s society would be highly unacceptable. For the people, it is a lot easier to be human and make mistakes rather than try to be perfect and sinless.

The victors were the classical Greek pantheon, also called Homeric (for its portrayal in Homer' Iliad) or Olympian (for Mt. Olympus, home of the gods). The Olympian gods grew large in the imagination of the Greeks and came to rule over religious worship. So powerful and at the same time so vulnerable to human weaknesses, they regulated the fortunes and the lives of those they both loved and hated. Splendid, magnificent, each one with its own character, they became objects of worship for many centuries.

Once Zeus was fully grown he returned to his father’s realm and with the help of his mother, hoodwinked Cronus to drink an emetic that made him disgorge his children (Leadbetter). It was these children: Hades, Poseidon, Hestia, Hera and Demeter who helped Zeus wage the Titan war against Cronus. The women titans refused to help Cronus defeat the Olympians and even a few male titans helped aid the Olympians. After ten years of battles, the Olympians were able to banish the Titans into the Underworld (Titanomachy). It was after this war that Zeus seized the throne and divided the sky, the underworld, and the sea amongst him and his brothers. (Hades: the underworld, Poseidon: the sea, and Zeus: the sky.)

In Greek Mythology, perhaps one of the most rudimental yet one of the most important elements are the Greek Gods and Goddesses. The ancient Greeks created the stories about the lives and journeys of the Greek Gods, known as myths, simply as an endeavor to elucidate nature and all phenomena which were difficult to explain using modern science and logic. These myths about the Gods were spread around the world by explorers and storytellers, and later merged with Greek religion. To this day, numerous myths survived through many writings and through much art. Each of these myths is very unique, and moreover, tells us much about the Greek Gods. The Greek myths in particular convey to us that Greek Gods and Goddesses looked and acted like humans,