The Great Gods: Olympians and Others

name the fates

-clotho - spun the bright threads of youth -lachesis - wound them on her distaff or spindle, distributing and directing them along the course of each human destiny -atropos - the eldest, somber symbol of death, who cut the threads with her sharp slender shears

aeneas

aphrodite's son; a mortal man, considered to be the ancestor of the romans

eros

aphrodite's son; the roman cupid, shoots arrows which causes men and women to fall in love.

artemis

apollo's twin sister; goddess of hunting and of wild things; she is associated with the moon; she is sometimes called 'cynthia'

athena

daughter of zeus [born, it is said, from his brain, when he had a bad headache]; she is the goddess of wisdom and war, patriotism and good citizenship; she is the protector and namesake for the city of athens

Dionysus

god of wine and revelry, dancing and drama; myths tell of his coming from faraway lands, bringing with him a new ecstatic [emotionally rapturous] religion and dancing followers of wild behavior, including the maenads ["raving women"], satyrs [half goat, like pan], and sileni [half horse]. his opponenets, defenders of more dignified old-time religions, despised his cult and fought it. but in the end, dionysus was recognized as a god --perhaps the most popular of all gods.

Pan

god of woods and fields, who was a half man [his upper part] and half goat [lower part]. he was not often seen , but when he played on the pipes the woods were full of rather eerie music, which, especially at twilight, often scared people just to hear it, causing them to panic. the word panic comes from the name PAN.

Zeus

king of the gods; he is sometimes angry at the behavior of gods and people, but he can also be a gentle and caring ruler; he is particularly fond of beautiful women, regardless of whether they are goddesses or mortals.

urania

muse of astronomy

thalia

muse of comic drama

calliope

muse of epic poetry

clio

muse of history

erato

muse of love poetry

euterpe

muse of lyric poetry

polyhymnia

muse of sacred poetry [hymns]

melpomene

muse of tragic drama

hephaestus

son of zeus and hera, the lame blacksmith god of fire

apollo

son of zeus; god of poetry, music, and medicine, and god of light; he is associated with the sun

hermes

son of zeus; messenger of the gods, he is also the god of science and invention

ares

son of zeus; terrible god of war

aphrodite

the wife of hephaestus, she is the goddess of love and beauty; she is said to have been born of the sea foam

fates

three goddesses who controlled the destiny of every mortal person, man, or woman

poseidon

zeus's brother; god of the ocean and of earthquakes; he is often distinguished in art by the fisherman's trident he carries -- a 3-pronged spear

hades

zeus's older brother, more commonly known as Pluto; lord of the dead and the underworld where the dead go

hestia

zeus's sister; goddess of the hearth and home

demeter

zeus's sister; she is the very important goddess of grain and agriculture; she is a kind of bond between heaven and earth

hera

zeus's wife; queen of the gods, guardian of marriage; she is a great lady and diplomat; though she is often jealous and nags her husband, she can also be a tender and loving wife

muses

(9) daughters of zeus and mnemosyne who lived on the heights of mounts parnassus, pindos, and helicon, whose springs and streams were sacred to them, as were the palm tree and the laurel. apollo was their patron and leader. they were goddesses of various arts, mostly literary.

terpsichore

a muse of choral song and dance