Nemesis, goddess of justice and revenge, was born from Nyx to torment mortals. She made sure that everyone had an equal balance of happiness and sorrow in their lives. This minor goddess is
Appearance
The goddess is usually shown with wings and a double-edged sword. One edge of the sword represents darkness and the other side represents light. According to Greek mythology, a sword is a highly respected symbol of power so being killed by one was a highly respected way to die. She is associated with an apple branch, a wheel, a whip, or scales. Her eyes are covered by a blindfold which shows her neutrality.
Narcissus
Narcissus, an arrogant son of Cephissus and Liriope, was punished by Nemesis. After rejecting many of his admirers, one named Echo asked the goddess, Nemesis, to punish him. The goddess heard her pleas and lured
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Her mother, Nyx, was the goddess of the night and her father, Erebus, was the primordial god of darkness. Some myths believe that her father was either Zeus or Oceanus and her mother was either Tethys or Dike. Others say that she did not have a father and only had a mother. The revenge goddess had eighteen godly brothers and sisters. They were Aether and Hemera, Moros, Ker, Thanatos, Hypnos, Oneiroi, Momus, Oizys, Hesperides, Moirai, Keres, Apate, Philotes, Geras, and Eris.
Offspring
One myth states that Nemesis unwilling mated with the god of the sky, Zeus. She turned into many different animals such as a fish in order to escape Zeus. She turned into a goose and Zeus turned into a swan. He mated with her and laid an egg. The egg hatched into two sets of twins. One set was Helen of Troy and Clytemnestra, and the other was Castor and Pollux.
Some others says that she wasn’t the mother of the two sets of twins. They say that Leda, the daughter of Thestius, gave birth to them because she unwillingly mated Zeus. Others say that the egg Nemesis bore was given to Leda by a shepherd.
Zeus’s sister and like Athena and artemis, a virgin goddess. No distinct personality. Goddess of the hearth, the symbol of the home.
Hercules, born of Alcmena and Zeus, was conceived when Zeus took the form of Alcmena’s husband and lay with her. Her true husband lay with her again later that night and she conceived twins. One would be born to her human husband, and the other fathered by Zeus himself (Hamilton). Zeus bragged about his soon to be born son alerting and infuriating Hera to Hercules existence. Hera was notorious for tormenting her husbands’ illegitimate offspring since she couldn’t harm Zeus outright for his infidelity (Hamilton). Hera persuaded Eileithyia to slow Alcmena’s labor in a fit of piqué, almost killing her (Hamilton). Alcmena in fear of Hera’s wrath gave her son to nature. Zeus (in some accounts Hermes) stole him away to Olympus, where he suckled at Hera’s breast while she lay sleeping, granting him immortality (McLeish). When Hera awoke during the suckling she pushed Hercules away and the milk that sprayed out formed the Milky Way (Leeming). Zeus took the infant and placed him back in his crib before departing to Olympus again. Enraged Hera sent two massive serpents to kill Hercules and his brother as they lay sleeping
His affair with a woman named Leto led to the birth of the twins Apollo and Artemis. Hera being the jealous wife she was, forced Leto to roam the earth in search of a place to give birth, for Hera had stopped her from gaining shelter on land or at sea. The only place she could go was to the isle of Delos in the middle of the Aegean Sea, for Delos was a floating island. This would be one of many of Hera’s revenges on her husband’s affairs. Zeus used many different disguises to seduce women. When he seduced the Spartan queen Leda, he transformed himself into a beautiful swan, and from the egg which Leda produced, two sets of twins were born. They were Polydeuces and Castor and Clytemnestra and Helen of Troy. He also visited princess Danae as a shower of gold, and from this, the hero Perseus was born. He kidnapped the Phoenician princess Europa, disguised as a bull, then carried her on his back to the island of Crete where she had three sons. They were Minos, Rhadamanthys, and Sarpedon. These were just some of his many children. Zeus had many Temples and festivals in his honor, the most famous was Olympia, the magnificent "Temple of Zeus", which held the gold and ivory statue of the enthroned Zeus, which was sculpted by Phidias. It was later to become one of the "Seven Wonders of the Ancient World". Also the Olympic Games and many other numerous festivals throughout Greece were held in
her to give him the baby so he could swallow it. She hid Zeus in a
Some Greek deities can also be identified with Egyptian ones, in particular the Greek Dionysus and the Egyptian Osiris. They both preside over fertility, in addition to their other duties. Another similarity is that they are both twice-born. Dionysus was born first from Semele’s womb and then later from Zeus's thigh. Osiris was the son of Geb and Nut and was resurrected by Isis after being murdered by Set. (Livingston, Greek and Egyptian Religious Parallels) Other Gods and Goddesses that are similar include Horus and Apollo, Isis and Demeter, Hathor and Aphrodite, Neith and Athena and Bast and Artemis. (FOOTNOTE GREEK AND EGYPTIAN RELIGIOUS PARALLELS) There appears to be an overlap between many deities in Greek and Egyptian mythologies.
Hera, he had countless affairs and many children. His father, who he overthrew, was Cronos, and his mother was Rheas. He had five siblings, Poseidon and Hades, who he divided the realms with, Demeter, Hera, and Hestia. He was married to his sister, Hera, and had four children with her, Ares, Eileithyia, Hebe, Enyo, Eris, Angelos, and Hephaestus. Other gods that he had children with were Demeter, who gave birth to Persephone; Dione, who gave birth to Aphrodite; Eurynome, who gave birth to the Charities (Aglaea, Euphrosyne, and Thalia), and 23 other gods who bore him around 35 other children. While he had many affairs with gods, he had even more with mortals. A few of the many were Electra, who gave birth to Dardanus, Harmonia, and Iasius; Europa who gave birth to Minos, Rhadamanthys, Alagonia, Carnus, Dodon, and Sarpedon; and Leda, who gave birth to Polydeuces and Helen. He had another 43 affairs with mortals, and at least 54 other children with
First off the origin of Hades himself. So his parents Cronus and Rhea had three boys, but as Rhea had the children Cronus ate them for he feared that once they were older they would
Zeus was birthed by the Titans Cronus, the god of time, and Rhea, the goddess of female fertility. He was the youngest of six siblings, which were all consumed by his father, who out of his fear of one of his children overthrowing him, “swallowed every child Rhea…[had given] birth to” (Gods, 2017). He was able to grow up without his father devouring him since his mother and Gaia had tricked Cronus into believing
Nyx represents the night. Being born from Chaos she is among the oldest of the gods. She also resides in Hades.
Zeus was birthed by the Titans Cronus, the god of time, and Rhea, the goddess of female fertility. He was the youngest of six siblings, which were all consumed by his father, who out of his fear of one of his children overthrowing him, “swallowed every child Rhea…[had given] birth to” (Gods, 2017). He was able to grow up without his father devouring him since his mother and Gaia had tricked Cronus into
After Medusa's affair with Poseidon she got pregnant with two children, Pegasus a winged horse, and Chrysaor, he of the Golden sword. They were sprang from Medusa's neck when Perseus cut her head. This myth of Medusa and Perseus is one of the most famous ones. Perseus was the
The story of Cronos, king of the Titans, was that he had four children with his wife Rhea. These Children are Hestia, Demeter, Poseidon, and Hades, all of whom he swallowed because his parents had warned that he would be overthrown by his child. When Zeus was born, Rhea hid him in Crete and tricked Cronos into swallowing a stone instead. Zeus grew up with nymphs and a goat named Amalthae. When Zeus heard what had happened to his siblings he gave Cronos poison, which forced Cronos to throw-up his brothers and sisters. A war was then fought between the two groups, and the Olympians won, and ruled over the
Athena and Aphrodite have similar myths about their births. According to GreekMythology.com “Athena is the daughter of Zues; her birth is unique in that she did not have a mother. Instead, she sprang full grown and clad in armour from Zeus ' forehead.” Aphrodite’s birth was similar, according to Micha Lindemans of Pantheon.org “She was born when Uranus was castrated by his son Cronus. Cronus threw them into the ocean. From the sea foam arose Aphrodite, and the sea carried her to Cyprus.” Athena and Aphrodite both have strange and similar beginnings to their lives. Neither myth mentions them having a mother, Athena arose from Zeus’ split skull after he complained of headache and Aphrodite arose from the sea foam on a sea shell. Another
Hera was born to Cronus, the Greek Titan god of time and the ages, and to the Greek Titan goddess queen of heaven and the mother of the gods.
Zeus fell in love with a Greek woman named Alcmene, and impregnated her. When the wife of Zeus, Hera, found out she tried to prevent the birth of the child. Hera could not stop the birth, and the child was named Hercules, which means “glorious gift to Hera” in Greek. Hercules was a demi-god because of one human parent and one god parent. Hera tried to kill the baby by placing snakes in his crib, butt the child strangled the snakes before they could kill him. Hera wanted to get revenge on Zeus by making Hercules life miserable.