and goddesses!

by Kelliann

Aphrodite-Goddess.

 The Goddess of love, beauty an the child of Zeus and Dione, although there was some debate about her parents.  A myth says she was from foam of the sea, making a possibility of her being the daughter of Poseidon and Amphitrite. On top of her mysterious birth, some people wonder about her lovers. Homer, a old greek writer, writes that she was married to Hephaestus. Some legends say she was married to he long time lover, Ares.

 A famous myth about her concerned her being a major cause of the Trojan War. At the wedding of Peleus and Thetis, the sea nymph, a golden apple popped up in the banquet hall and written on it “for the fairest”.  Hera, Athena and Aphrodite said they were the fairest, so they tried to get Zeus to judge them. Zeus refused to an said Paris, the prince of Troy, to judge for him. The goddesses offered bribes to Paris , trying to get him to vote for them. Aphrodite, who offered the prize of the fairest human woman in the world, was chosen as the fairest. Paris was given the prize of Helen, a wife of the Greek King Menelaus. With her gone, the Trojan War was started. Paris's prize was the beautiful Helen, the wife of the Greek king Menelaus.
Apollo-God

 If your listing to some music, thank Apollo. He is the god of music, sun, and prophecy. He was the son of Zeus and Leto, and the twin brother of his sister Artemis. Of his many godly things, Apollo was mainly the god of prophecy, says the old greek writer and poet Homer. Sometimes he gave the gift of prophecy on mortals. His most popular oracle was at Delphi , which is a popular tourist site today.

 He was a very good musician, and perfectly preformed ‘On the Lyre’ for the other Olympian Gods. He got the Lyre from his little brother Hermes for his Caduceus. He was fabled to be the first victor of the first Olympian Games, because of his awesome speed and archery skills. Basically, Apollo was a god of aforementioned music, the sun, and prophecy, but his godly jobs entailed him to many other things. He was also known as the Shepherd God because he protected the cattle, and the God of young men because his sister was the goddess of young women.  

Aries-God

Aries, one of my personal fav. greek gods, was the child of Zeus and Hera. He was known as the god of war. He was described as a violent, aggressive, evil, egoist god that personified the brutal nature of war. He was the most hated gods among those who praised them. in other legends he was the husband of Aphrodite, and had affairs with Deimos, the goddess of fear [which figures war and fear], Phobos, the goddess of Trout. Despite how strong he sounds, Aries is a very weak god. He was not unbeatable, even against us mortals. Worshiping him was believed to had started in Thrace , because of warlike nature in the natives. In the rest of Greece worshiping him was frowned on and sometimes you get killed for it. Yikes!  

Artemis-Goddess

Artemis was the daughter of Zeus and Leto and was the twin sister of  Apollo. She was the Goddess of the Moon, wild animals, and protector of young women. Apollo and Artemis’s godly jobs complemented each other. Sometimes she was thought of as the goddess of the hunt, as the thought of her being the goddess of wild animals. Many myths say that she is cruel and evil. It’s fabled that she was willing to help Greeks in the Trojan War after they sacrificed a young woman to her. After so she took her mighty bow, a talent helped by her brother, and led the Greeks to victory.

Athena-Goddess

Athena was the goddess of handcrafts, wisdom, battle, city, and protector of civilized life. Her parents are unknown, but Zeus claims the she was his daughter and to avoid a argument she kept quiet. She rarely actually went into battle, but if she was forced she always won.

Demeter-Goddess

 Demeter was the goddess of harvest and corn. She was the daughter of Cronus and Rhea, the Titans, and one of her brothers was Zeus. She had a child of Persephone, who was taken by Hades, to rule him as his queen.   She was upset with the other god’s unwillingness to step in, so she brought famine to the mortals by not allowing plants to grow. Once Zeus figured this out he demanded that Hades to give Persephone back. Hades agreed, [who wouldn’t?] but before he let her go he made her eat 6 pomegranate seeds which allowed her to visit him 6 months every year. Those 6 months she was gone Demeter would allow nothing to grow, those are winter and fall.

Hades-God

 Hades was the son of Cronus an Rhea and the brother of Zeus and Poseidon. He was the god of the underworld and the dead. He received his part of the world when his brothers and him tore it into three pieces. His land was divided into, again, three parts: Erebus [ the place were dead people pass when they die it was guarded by a three headed dog. ], Tartarus [ it was also guarded by the three headed dog  the deeper hell like region were evil was] and Alysian Fields a heaven such place were poets, authors, actors, an wise people just spent eternity. He was stern and merciless, but he was not evil. Actually he was known as the god of riches because fields an rare metals, that were based underground, were supposedly his doing. In he’s dark and sad life he did have one happiness. His wife, Persephone, who he captured from above land for himself.  Charon, the grim reaper-like boatsman took the dead across the River Styx to spend the eternity.

Hera-Goddess

  She was the goddess of ALL gods, an the wife of Zeus. She was also the sister him [eeeww!] and had four kids with him [double ew!]: Ares, Hephaestus, Hebe, and Ilithyia. Her godly job was to protect married girls. She was a extremely jealous- type- wife. She hated all of Zeus’s eight goddesses mistresses and fourteen mortal ones. One of his human wife’s [ Alcmene]  had a child with him, well known as Heracles. Hera spent quite a bit of time trying to hurt Heracles an or his mother. Semele, another human wife, had a kid with him. Dionysus, the god of wine. Zeus wanted his wine god son to join the council of major gods at Mount Olympus , but Hera told him not to. Homer’s novel, The Illiad, Hera shows her vindictive powers when Paris preferred Aphrodite over her. In revenge, she aided the Greeks defeat Trojan an it’s city.   

Zeus-GOD

Zeus, being king, presided over all gods at the Mount. He was the youngest son and was the brother of: Poseidon, Hades, Hestia, Demeter and Hera [yuck his wife]. His father ate his children fearing that they would over-throw him, or so says a myth. One bye one Cronus ate them when they were born. When Zeus came along his mother [Rhea] wrapped a stone in a blanket and gave that to Cronus. he thought it was the child so he ate the whole thing. Meanwhile…Zeus was safely hidden on a island [ Crete ]. On that island he was raised by  Nymphs while being fed on milk of a goat named Amalthaea.  When he got older he returned to Mount Olympus and forced his father to ..um throw up his brothers and sisters. With the help of his siblings Zeus was able to beat his father and the Titans (who sided with his father). With that they were banished to spend the rest of the eternity in Tartarus.  He and Poseidon and Hades drew lots to see who will rule which places. Zeus won the sky, Poseidon the sea, and Hades the underworld. The earth was left to be ruled by all three. Zeus was extremely unfaithful to his wife (/sister), Hera, having affairs with eight different goddesses. With them he had over twenty children and five other god kids. Apollo, god of music, archery an stars, Hermes, the messenger of gods, Aphrodite, goddess of beauty, Artemis, goddess of archery and the moon, and last but not least, Athena, the goddess of knowledge and war.