I was watching CSI:NY a few days back... and in the case of finding out the murderer... the murderer uses some interesting arts of the Greek Gods and creatures to portray what he's up to... but it was found out by the CSI team and at the end they crack the code and caught the murderer... I was drew into the stories of the Greek Gods... which make me to write about this post...
The Twelve Olympians also known as Dodekatheon which means the twelve of the gods, were the principle gods... they dwelt in a magnificent palace on the heights of Mount Olympus, which they took their names... the Twelve Olympians comprises of Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Demeter, Ares, Hermes, Hephaestus, Aphrodite, Athena, Apollo, Artemis, and Dionysus... which I will briefly explain each of them...
Zeus, Roman name JupiterHe was the god of all gods... he was the youngest son of the titan Cronus and Rhea... when he was born, Cronus intended to swallow him as Cronus has all of his siblings; Poseidon, Hades, Hestia, Demeter and Hera... But Rhea hid him in a cave on Mount Dicte in Crete... when Zeus grown up, he caused Cronus to vomit up his sisters and brothers, and they joined him in fighting to wrest control of the universe from the Titans and Cronus, their king... having vanquished his father and the other Titans, Zeus imprisoned most of them in the underworld of Tartarus... he and his brothers Poseidon and Hades divided up creation... Poseidon received the sea as his domain, Hades got the Underworld and Zeus took the sky... Zeus also was accorded supreme authority on earth and on Mount Olympus....
Hera, Roman name JunoShe was the goddess of marriage, the wife of Zeus and Queen of the Olympians... she hated Heracles, Roman name Hercules, since he was the son of Zeus and a mortal woman... when Heracles was still an infant, she sent snakes to attack him in his crib... Hera, on the other hand, aided Jason, who would never have retrieved the Golden Fleece without her help...
Poseidon, Roman name NeptuneHe was the god of the sea, earthquakes and horses... although he was one of the supreme gods of Mount Olympus, he spent most of his time in his watery domain... Poseidon was father of the Theseus, although the mortal Aegeus also claimed this distinction... Theseus was happy to have two fathers, enjoying the lineage of each when it suited him... Poseidon cursed the wife of King Minos... Minos had proved his divine right to rule Crete by calling on Poseidon to send a bull from the sea, which the king promised to sacrifice... Poseidon sent the bull, but Minos liked it too much to sacrifice it... so Poseidon asked Aphrodite, the goddess of love, to make Minos's queen, Pasiphae, fall in love with the bull.... the result was the monstrous Minotaur, half-man, half-bull...
Demeter, Roman name CeresShe was the goddess of agriculture, sister of Zeus and the mother of Persephone... Persephone was gathering flowers in a meadow one day when a huge crack opened up in the earth and Hades, King of the Dead, emerged from the Underworld... he seized Persephone and carried her off in his chariot, back down to his realm below, where she became his queen... Demeter was heartbroken the earth in search of her daughter, during which time the crops withered and it became perpetual winter... Hades was persuaded to surrender Persephone for one half of every year, the spring and summer seasons when flowers bloom and the earth bears fruit once more... the half year that Persephone spends in the Underworld as Hades' queen coincides with the fall and winter seasons...
Ares, Roman name MarsHe was the god of war... though an immortal deity, he was bested by Heracles in battle and was almost killed when stuffed into a jar by two giants... when another hero wounded him during the Trojan War, he received scant sympathy from his father Zeus... Ares was handsome and cruel... his throne on Mount Olympus was said to be covered in human skin...
Hermes, Roman name MercuryHe was the messenger of the gods and guide the dead souls to the Underworld... he was a prankster and inventive genius from birth... He was the son of Zeus and a mountain nymph... as a newborn he was remarkably precocious.... on his very first day of life, he found an empty shell of a tortoise, stringing sinews across it, he created the first lyre...
Hephaestus, Roman name VulcanHe was the lame god of fire and crafts, hence of blacksmiths... He was the son of Zeus and Hera or, in some accounts, of Hera alone... he limped because he interceded in a fight between Zeus and Hera, and Zeus took him by the foot and threw him from Olympus to the earth far below... he accomplished numerous prodigies of craftsmanship, such as the marvelous palaces that he built for the gods atop Mount Olympus... He also created the first woman, Pandora, at the command of Zeus, in retaliation for the various tricks by which the Titan Prometheus had benefited mortal men at the expense of the gods... Pandora was given to the Titan's brother, Epimetheus, as his wife...
Aphrodite, Roman name VenusShe was the goddess of love, beauty and fertility... she was also a protectress of sailors... she was said to be born of sea-foam... when the Trojan prince Paris was asked to judge which of three Olympian goddesses was the most beautiful, he chose Aphrodite over Hera and Athena... the latter two had hoped to bribe him with power and victory in battle, but Aphrodite offered the love of the most beautiful woman in the world which was Helen of Sparta, who became infamous as Helen of Troy when Paris subsequently eloped with her...
Athena, Roman name MinervaShe was the goddess of crafts and the domestic arts and also those of war... Zeus was once married to Metis, a daughter of Ocean who was renowned for her wisdom... when Metis became pregnant, Zeus was warned by Earth that a son born to Metis would overthrow him... So he swallowed Metis.... later he was overcome with a splitting headache and summoned help from the craftsman god Hephaestus... Hephaestus cleaved Zeus's forehead with an ax, and Athena sprang forth fully armed... both Athena and Poseidon wanted to be patron deity of Athens... Athena caused an olive tree to spring up on the citadel of Athens, the Acropolis... Poseidon sought to outdo her by striking the ground with his trident and causing a spring of water to gush forth.... as he was god of the sea, the water was salty... Athena's gift to the Athenians was considered to be more useful, so she became the city's patron deity...
Apollo, Roman name ApolloHe was the god of prophesy, music and healing... Apollo is often depicted playing the lyre... he did not invent this instrument, but was given by Hermes in compensation for cattle theft... he won several musical contests by playing this instrument... he bested Pan, who competed on his own invention, the shepherd's pipe... on this occasion, King Midas had the bad sense to say that he preferred Pan's music, which caused Apollo to turn his ears into those of a donkey...
Artemis, Roman name DianaShe was the virgin goddess of the hunt... she helped women in childbirth but also brought sudden death with her arrows... she and her brother, Apollo were the children of Zeus and Leto... she was born first and helped her mother to deliver Apollo... Niobe, queen of Thebes, once boasted that she was better than Leto because she had many childrens while the goddess had only two... Artemis and Apollo avenged this insult to their mother by killing all or most of Niobe's children with their arrows... the weeping Niobe was transformed into stone, in which she continued to weep...
Dionysus, Roman name BacchusHe was the god of wine... he was the son of Zeus and the mortal heroine Semele... he rescued Ariadne after she had been abandoned by Theseus... he also saved his mother from the Underworld, after Zeus showed her his true nature as storm god and consumed her in lightning... Dionysus also granted Midas the power to turn whatever he touched into gold, but he take the power back when it proved inconvenient...
There are many more Greek Gods... this is just a tiny little part... there are many articles and website out there that wrote about all this myths, the stories behind it, and what people used to believe in... and hopefully we could learn something from it... hope you enjoyed reading...
If you are interested, you could check it out yourself at
Wikipedia or
Theoi Greek Mythology… I would recommend the later one…
My EHM post this week...
run out of ideas...
have to start thinking ideas for next week...
