Major Greek Gods and Goddesses Essay

The next god is Poseidon. Poseidon is the god of the sea, earthquakes, and horses. He was most known for his three pointed trident. He is one of the three most powerful gods along with Zeus and Hades. Poseidon rules over the ocean and all bodies of water. The greek sailors and greek

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.)

Beginning around 700 B.C., stories by Homer and other Greek poets told of the lives of powerful gods who involved themselves in human affairs. Supreme among these gods was Zeus, but to the Romans he was known as Jupiter. Zeus was the supreme god and ruler of Olympus. He was known by many titles: Lord of the Sky, the Cloud- gatherer, the Rain-god, and Zeus the Thunderer. All of which are the most popular names dating back to ancient Greek history and mythology.

Zeus, he was the king of the gods and the supreme ruler of people. He originally was a god of the sky. In time, the Greeks regarded him as the only god who concerned him-self with the whole universe. They also associated Zeus with justice and believed that he punished the wicked and rewarded the good. He belonged to the race of Titans, and was the son of Cronus and Rhea. After overthrowing Cronus, Zeus took his father's place and ruled from Mount Olympus. He headed a family of twelve major gods, called the Olympians.

Zeus was considered to be the leader of the Olympian gods of Mount Olympus. He was the god of the sky and thunder. He had many powers but the most significant was the power to wield lightning bolts. He could hurl lightning bolts at people who defied him or other gods who he was displeased with. He was the youngest child of Cronus and Rhea and was planned to get eaten by Cronus like all of his brothers and sisters before him, but he was hidden from Cronus at Mount Dicte. He then went on to overthrow Cronus and control the gods. He had twenty-four children and some of them were powerful gods. He also had some half god children like Hercules. He lives on the top of Mount Olympus with Hera, his wife.

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 supreme deity of Greek mythology has his lusty, tempestuous story recast in engaging fashion by Stone”(ProQuest). Zeus was thought of as the father of gods and men. While he did not make them, he protected them, and therefore was considered a father to them. He ruled over the sky and air, and controlled everything that happened in his domains from his throne on Mount Olympus. To gain his throne, he overthrew his father, Cronos, with the help of his siblings, and then dividing up the realms between him and his two elder brothers. Zeus became lord of the sky and rain, Poseidon took the title lord of the sea, and Hades became ruler of the underworld. He then banished his father to the shadowy Tartarus in the underworld. Zeus was the most

Poseidon (also known as Neptune according to the Roman mythology) who ruled over the waters, in myths has appeared as a violent god, because of his savage sea storms and earthquakes. A summary of Poseidon would be very tall with a long flowing

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.

In the religion and mythology of ancient Greece, Poseidon was the god of the sea and of water in general. Unpredictable and often violent, he frequently represented the destructive power of the sea and was also the god of earthquakes. He was closely associated with horses as well. In art, Poseidon was typically shown as a bearded man carrying a trident (a three-pronged fishing spear) and accompanied by a dolphin or a tuna. He traveled over the sea in a chariot pulled by creatures that had the heads and bodies of horses and the tails of fish.

Poseidon is the god of the sea, earthquakes, and horses. “He was violent and moody and carried a three-pronged spear called a trident” (Gall 46). Poseidon had two brothers, Zeus, and Hades. Poseidons wife was Amphitrite. His father was the head titan Cronus, his mother was Rhea. All of the olympian gods hated the titans. Poseidon was one of the twelve olympian gods. The olympians fought against the titans and won. All of them were the rulers of the world. They were better than the titans. The twelve of them called themselves the twelve olympian gods because their kingdom was on top of Mt. Olympus and there were twelve of them. When the gods chose which god controlled what domain of the world poseidon picked the sea. The greeks made him the god of earthquakes and horses too. If he was mad he created earthquakes. He created the horse for Demeter. So

In Zeus’s life he accomplished many things. Not only did he overthrow his father, he also defeated the Titans at Titanomachy. This is how Zeus got in power. Before the battle of Titanomachy the Titans were in power. The Titans were the children of Uranus. Cronus, a Titan, was a very powerful being and was not easy to stop or control. Although Zeus did not defeat the Titans by himself it is still an important accomplishment.

In Greek mythology the gods and goddesses of Mount Olympus played a major role in everyday life. The Greeks respected them and thought of the gods as all mighty.

The Greek gods and goddess carry many attributes, most human. They are very much like humans in the way that they have weaknesses and strengths. Even though the gods display their characteristics much more drastically than humans do, the similarities are obvious. In Rosenberg and Baker’s book, the Greek gods have many human characteristics such as vengeance, jealously, and love.

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,