# data[].attributes.body
Goddess of Love and Beauty
Relationship to Zeus: Zeus's daughter
3 Adjectives: Beautiful, Accomplished, Heavenly
Symbol: Venus, dove
Source of Information (Website URL):
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Aphrodite-Greek-mythology

# data[].attributes.attachment_caption
Apollo | Facts, Symbols, Powers, & Myths

# data[].attributes.body
God of Sun and Light
Relationship to Zeus: Zeus's first son
3 Adjectives: Healing, Serene, Calm
Symbol: bow and lyre
Source of Information (Website URL): https://www.britannica.com/topic/Apollo-Greek-mythology

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Apollo, byname Phoebus, in Greco- Roman mythology, a deity of manifold function and meaning, one of the most widely revered and influential of all the ancient Greek and Roman gods. Though his original nature is obscure, from the time of Homer onward he was the god of divine distance, who sent or threatened from afar; the god who made men aware of their own guilt and purified them of it; who presided over religious law and the constitutions of cities; and who communicated with mortals through prophets and oracles his knowledge of the future and the will of his father, Zeus (Roman: Jupiter). Even the gods feared him, and only his father and his mother, Leto (Roman: Latona), could easily endure his presence. He was also a god of crops and herds, primarily as a divine bulwark against wild animals and disease, as his Greek epithet Alexikakos (Averter of Evil) indicates. His forename Phoebus means "bright" or "pure," and the view became current that he was connected with the Sun. See Helios.

Among Apollo's other Greek epithets was Nomios (Herdsman), and he is said to have served King Admetus of Pherae in the lowly capacities of groom and herdsman as penance for slaying Zeus's armourers, the Cyclopes. He was also called Lyceius, presumably because he protected the flocks from wolves ( lykoi); because herdsmen and shepherds beguiled the hours with music, scholars have argued that this was Apollo's original role. In art Apollo was represented as a beardless youth, either naked or robed. Distance, death, terror, and awe were summed up in his symbolic bow. A gentler side of his nature, however, was shown in his other attribute, the lyre, which proclaimed the joy of communion with Olympus (the home of the gods) through music, poetry, and dance.

Though Apollo was the most Hellenic of all gods, he derived mostly from a type of god that originated in Anatolia and spread to Egypt by way of Syria and Palestine. Traditionally, Apollo and his twin, Artemis (Roman: Diana), were born on the isle of Delos. From there Apollo went to Pytho ( Delphi), where he slew Python, the dragon that guarded the area. He established his oracle by taking on the guise of a dolphin, leaping aboard a Cretan ship, and forcing the crew to serve him. Thus, Pytho was renamed Delphi after the dolphin ( delphis), and the Cretan cult of Apollo Delphinius superseded that previously established there by Earth ( Gaea). During the Archaic period (8th to 6th century bce), the fame of the Delphic oracle spread as far as Lydia in Anatolia and achieved Panhellenic status. The god's medium was the Pythia, a local woman over 50 years old who, under his inspiration, delivered oracles in the main temple of Apollo. The oracles were subsequently interpreted and versified by priests. Other oracles of Apollo existed on the Greek mainland, on Delos, and in Anatolia, but none rivalled Delphi in importance.

Of the Greek festivals in honour of Apollo, the most curious was the octennial Delphic Stepterion, in which a boy reenacted the slaying of the Python and was temporarily banished to the Vale of Tempe.

Although Apollo had many love affairs, they were mostly unfortunate: Daphne, in her efforts to escape him, was changed into a laurel, his sacred shrub; Coronis (mother of Asclepius) was shot by Apollo's twin, Artemis, when Coronis proved unfaithful; and Cassandra (daughter of King Priam of Troy) rejected his advances and was punished by being made to utter true prophecies that no one believed.

In Italy Apollo was introduced at an early date and was primarily concerned, as in Greece, with healing and prophecy; he was highly revered by the emperor Augustus because the Battle of Actium (31 bce) was fought near one of his temples.

Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content. Subscribe Now

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Apollo | Facts, Symbols, Powers, & Myths

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Apollo, byname Phoebus, in Greco-Roman mythology, a deity of manifold function and meaning, one of the most widely revered and influential of all the ancient Greek and Roman gods.

# data[].attributes.body
God of War
Relationship to Zeus: Zeus's son
3 Adjectives: Magnanimous, Unconquered, Boisterous
Symbol: boar, dog, wolf, spear, sword, and vulture
Source of Information (Website URL): https://www.theoi.com/Olympios/Ares.html

# data[].attributes.body
Goddess of Chastity, Hunting, and the Moon
Relationship to Zeus: Zeus's daughter
3 Adjectives: Fierce, Defensive, Fiery-tempered
Symbol: bow and arrow
Source of Information (Website URL): https://www.britannica.com/topic/Artemis-Greek-goddess

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Artemis, in Greek religion, the goddess of wild animals, the hunt, and vegetation and of chastity and childbirth; she was identified by the Romans with Diana. Artemis was the daughter of Zeus and Leto and the twin sister of Apollo. Among the rural populace, Artemis was the favourite goddess. Her character and function varied greatly from place to place, but, apparently, behind all forms lay the goddess of wild nature, who danced, usually accompanied by nymphs, in mountains, forests, and marshes. Artemis embodied the sportsman's ideal, so besides killing game she also protected it, especially the young; this was the Homeric significance of the title Mistress of Animals.

The worship of Artemis probably flourished in Crete or on the Greek mainland in pre-Hellenic times. Many of Artemis's local cults, however, preserved traces of other deities, often with Greek names, suggesting that, upon adopting her, the Greeks identified Artemis with nature divinities of their own. The virginal sister of Apollo is very different from the many-breasted Artemis of Ephesus, for example.

Dances of maidens representing tree nymphs ( dryads) were especially common in Artemis's worship as goddess of the tree cult, a role especially popular in the Peloponnese. Throughout the Peloponnese, bearing such epithets as Limnaea and Limnatis (Lady of the Lake), Artemis supervised waters and lush wild growth, attended by nymphs of wells and springs (naiads). In parts of the peninsula her dances were wild and lascivious.

Outside the Peloponnese, Artemis's most familiar form was as Mistress of Animals. Poets and artists usually pictured her with the stag or hunting dog, but the cults showed considerable variety. For instance, the Tauropolia festival at Halae Araphenides in Attica honoured Artemis Tauropolos (Bull Goddess), who received a few drops of blood drawn by sword from a man's neck.

The frequent stories of the love affairs of Artemis's nymphs are supposed by some to have originally been told of the goddess herself. The poets after Homer, however, stressed Artemis's chastity and her delight in the hunt, dancing and music, shadowy groves, and the cities of just men. The wrath of Artemis was proverbial, for to it myth attributed wild nature's hostility to humans. Yet Greek sculpture avoided Artemis's unpitying anger as a motif. In fact, the goddess herself did not become popular as a subject in the great sculptural schools until the relatively gentle 4th-century-bce spirit prevailed.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Artemis, in Greek religion, the goddess of wild animals, the hunt, and vegetation and of chastity and childbirth; she was identified by the Romans with Diana. She was the daughter of Zeus and Leto and the twin sister of Apollo. Among the rural populace, Artemis was the favorite goddess.

# data[].attributes.attachment_caption
Athena | Goddess, Myths, Symbols, Facts, & Roman Name

# data[].attributes.body
Goddess of Wisdom and Military Victory
Relationship to Zeus: Zeus's daughter and first child
3 Adjectives: Confident, Practical, Clever
Symbol: Owl
Source of Information (Website URL):
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Athena-Greek-mythology

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Athena, also spelled Athene, in Greek religion, the city protectress, goddess of war, handicraft, and practical reason, identified by the Romans with Minerva. She was essentially urban and civilized, the antithesis in many respects of Artemis, goddess of the outdoors. Athena was probably a pre-Hellenic goddess and was later taken over by the Greeks. Yet the Greek economy, unlike that of the Minoans, was largely military, so that Athena, while retaining her earlier domestic functions, became a goddess of war.

She was the daughter of Zeus, produced without a mother, so that she emerged full-grown from his forehead. There was an alternative story that Zeus swallowed Metis, the goddess of counsel, while she was pregnant with Athena, so that Athena finally emerged from Zeus. Being the favourite child of Zeus, she had great power.

Athena's association with the acropolises of various Greek cities probably stemmed from the location of the kings' palaces there. She was thought to have had neither consort nor offspring. She may not have been described as a virgin originally, but virginity was attributed to her very early and was the basis for the interpretation of her epithets Pallas and Parthenos. As a war goddess Athena could not be dominated by other goddesses, such as Aphrodite, and as a palace goddess she could not be violated.

In Homer's Iliad, Athena, as a war goddess, inspires and fights alongside the Greek heroes; her aid is synonymous with military prowess. Also in the Iliad, Zeus, the chief god, specifically assigns the sphere of war to Ares, the god of war, and Athena. Athena's moral and military superiority to Ares derives in part from the fact that she represents the intellectual and civilized side of war and the virtues of justice and skill, whereas Ares represents mere blood lust. Her superiority also derives in part from the vastly greater variety and importance of her functions and from the patriotism of Homer's predecessors, Ares being of foreign origin. In the Iliad, Athena is the divine form of the heroic, martial ideal: she personifies excellence in close combat, victory, and glory. The qualities that lead to victory are found on the aegis, or breastplate, that Athena wears when she goes to war: fear, strife, defense, and assault. Athena appears in Homer's Odyssey as the tutelary deity of Odysseus, and myths from later sources portray her similarly as helper of Perseus and Heracles (Hercules). As the guardian of the welfare of kings, Athena became the goddess of good counsel, of prudent restraint and practical insight, as well as of war.

In post- Mycenaean times the city, especially its citadel, replaced the palace as Athena's domain. She was widely worshipped, but in modern times she is associated primarily with Athens, to which she gave her name. Her emergence there as city goddess, Athena Polias ("Athena, Guardian of the City"), accompanied the ancient city-state's transition from monarchy to democracy. She was associated with birds, particularly the owl, which became famous as the city's own symbol, and with the snake. Her birth and her contest with Poseidon, the sea god, for the suzerainty of the city were depicted on the pediments of the Parthenon, and the great festival of the Panathenaea, in July, was a celebration of her birthday. She was also worshipped in many other cities, notably in Sparta.

Athena became the goddess of crafts and skilled peacetime pursuits in general. She was particularly known as the patroness of spinning and weaving. That she ultimately became allegorized to personify wisdom and righteousness was a natural development of her patronage of skill.

Athena was customarily portrayed wearing body armour and a helmet and carrying a shield and a lance. Two Athenians, the sculptor Phidias and the playwright Aeschylus, contributed significantly to the cultural dissemination of Athena's image. She inspired three of Phidias's sculptural masterpieces, including the massive chryselephantine (gold and ivory) statue of Athena Parthenos once housed in the Parthenon; and in Aeschylus's dramatic tragedy Eumenides she founded the Areopagus (Athens's aristocratic council), and, by breaking a deadlock of the judges in favour of Orestes, the defendant, she set the precedent that a tied vote signified acquittal.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Athena | Goddess, Myths, Symbols, Facts, & Roman Name

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Athena, in Greek religion, the city protectress, goddess of war, handicraft, and practical reason, identified by the Romans with Minerva. Representing the intellectual and civilized side of war and the virtues of justice and skill, Athena was superior to Ares, the god of war, who represented mere blood lust.

# data[].attributes.body
Goddess of Agriculture
Relationship to Zeus: sister and consort
3 Adjectives: Mother, Lover, Unrelenting
Symbol: Cornucopia
Source of Information (Website URL): https://www.britannica.com/topic/Demeter

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Demeter | Characteristics, Family, & Myth

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Demeter, in Greek religion, daughter of the deities Cronus and Rhea, sister and consort of Zeus (the king of the gods), and goddess of agriculture. Her name indicates that she is a mother. Demeter is rarely mentioned by Homer, nor is she included among the Olympian gods, but the roots of her legend…

# data[].attributes.attachment_caption
Dionysus | Powers, God, Parents, Meaning, Symbols, & Facts

# data[].attributes.body
God of Wine and Ecstasy
Relationship to Zeus: Zeus's son
3 Adjectives: Powerful, Cheerful, Short-tempered
Symbol: grape vine, grapes
Source of Information (Website URL):
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Dionysus
https://symbolsage.com/dionysus-god-of-wine/

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Dionysus, also spelled Dionysos, also called Bacchus or (in Rome) Liber Pater, in Greco-Roman religion, a nature god of fruitfulness and vegetation, especially known as a god of wine and ecstasy. The occurrence of his name on a Linear B tablet (13th century bce) shows that he was already worshipped in the Mycenaean period, although it is not known where his cult originated. In all the legends of his cult, he is depicted as having foreign origins.

Dionysus was the son of Zeus and Semele, a daughter of Cadmus (king of Thebes). Out of jealousy, Hera, the wife of Zeus, persuaded the pregnant Semele to prove her lover's divinity by requesting that he appear in his real person. Zeus complied, but his power was too great for the mortal Semele, who was blasted with thunderbolts. However, Zeus saved his son by sewing him up in his thigh and keeping him there until he reached maturity, so that he was twice born. Dionysus was then conveyed by the god Hermes to be brought up by the bacchantes ( maenads, or thyiads) of Nysa, a purely imaginary spot.

As Dionysus apparently represented the sap, juice, or lifeblood element in nature, lavish festal orgia (rites) in his honour were widely instituted. These Dionysia ( Bacchanalia) quickly won converts among women. Men, however, met them with hostility. In Thrace Dionysus was opposed by Lycurgus, who ended up blind and mad.

In Thebes Dionysus was opposed by Pentheus, his cousin, who was torn to pieces by the bacchantes when he attempted to spy on their activities. Athenians were punished with impotence for dishonouring the god's cult. Their husbands' resistance notwithstanding, women took to the hills, wearing fawn skins and crowns of ivy and shouting the ritual cry, "Euoi!" Forming thyai (holy bands) and waving thyrsoi (singular: thyrsus; fennel wands bound with grapevine and tipped with ivy), they danced by torchlight to the rhythm of the aulos (double pipe) and the tympanon (handheld drum). While they were under the god's inspiration, the bacchantes were believed to possess occult powers and the ability to charm snakes and suckle animals, as well as preternatural strength that enabled them to tear living victims to pieces before indulging in a ritual feast ( ōmophagia). The bacchantes hailed the god by his titles of Bromios ("Thunderer"), Taurokeros ("Bull-Horned"), or Tauroprosopos ("Bull-Faced"), in the belief that he incarnated the sacrificial beast.

In Orphic legend (i.e., based on the stories of Orpheus), Dionysus-under the name Zagreus-was the son of Zeus by his daughter Persephone. At the direction of Hera, the infant Zagreus/Dionysus was torn to pieces, cooked, and eaten by the evil Titans. But his heart was saved by Athena, and he (now Dionysus) was resurrected by Zeus through Semele. Zeus struck the Titans with lightning, and they were consumed by fire. From their ashes came the first humans, who thus possessed both the evil nature of the Titans and the divine nature of the gods.

Dionysus had the power to inspire and to create ecstasy, and his cult had special importance for art and literature. Performances of tragedy and comedy in Athens were part of two festivals of Dionysus, the Lenaea and the Great (or City) Dionysia. Dionysus was also honoured in lyric poems called dithyrambs. In Roman literature his nature is often misunderstood, and he is simplistically portrayed as the jolly Bacchus who is invoked at drinking parties. In 186 bce the celebration of Bacchanalia was prohibited in Italy.

Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content. Subscribe Now

The followers of Dionysus included spirits of fertility, such as the satyrs and sileni, and in his rituals the phallus was prominent. Dionysus often took on a bestial shape and was associated with various animals. His personal attributes were an ivy wreath, the thyrsus, and the kantharos, a large two-handled goblet. In early Greek art he was represented as a bearded man, but later he was portrayed as youthful and effeminate. Bacchic revels were a favourite subject of vase painters.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Dionysus | Powers, God, Parents, Meaning, Symbols, & Facts

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Dionysus, also spelled Dionysos, also called Bacchus or (in Rome) Liber Pater, in Greco-Roman religion, a nature god of fruitfulness and vegetation, especially known as a god of wine and ecstasy. The occurrence of his name on a Linear B tablet (13th century bce) shows that he was already worshipped in the Mycenaean period, although it is not known where his cult originated.

# data[].attributes.body
God of the Underworld
Relationship to Zeus: Zeus's brother
3 Adjectives: Aloof, Stern, Pitiless
Symbol: pomegranates, snakes, dogs, chariots, white poplars, cypress trees
Source of Information (Website URL):
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Hades-Greek-mythology

# data[].attributes.body
God of Fire
Relationship to Zeus: Zeus's son
3 Adjectives: Craftsman, Blacksmith, Ill-matched
Symbol: hammer, tongs, anvil, volcanoes
Source of Information (Website URL): https://www.britannica.com/topic/Hephaestus
https://www.theoi.com/Summary/Hephaistos.html
https://symbolsage.com/hephaestus-greek-god/
https://musescore.com/user/21257/scores/143749

# data[].attributes.body
Goddess of Marriage, Women, and Wind
Relationship to Zeus: Zeus's wife and sister
3 Adjectives: Envious, Severe, Maternal
Symbol: scepter, pomegranate
Source of Information (Website URL):
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Hera
https://www.greek-gods.info/greek-gods/hera/

# data[].attributes.body
God of Travel and Trade; Messenger/Herald of the Gods, protector of merchants, thieves, and travelers
Relationship to Zeus: Zeus’s son
3 Adjectives: Mischievous, Athletic, Compassionate
Symbol: Caduceus, Winged sandals
Source of Information: https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/EJ2134050204/SUIC?u=mnsminitex&sid=bookmark-SUIC&xid=c95075e5

# data[].attributes.body
Goddess of the Hearth and the Family
Relationship to Zeus: Zeus’s oldest sister
Adjectives: Swore to always remain a virgin (Pure), Selfless, Protective
Symbol: the hearth, Vesta
Source of Information (Website URL): https://www.britannica.com/topic/Hestia
https://www.worldhistory.org/Hestia/

# data[].attributes.body
God of the Sea, Storms, and Earthquakes
Relationship to Zeus: Zeus’s brother
3 Adjectives: Disruptive, Envious, Vengeful
Symbol: the Trident
Source of Information (Website URL):
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Poseidon
https://www.worldhistory.org/poseidon/

# data[].attributes.body
God of Thunder, Lighting, Rain and Winds
Relationship to Zeus: is Zeus
3 Adjectives: Powerful, Deceptive, Amorous
Symbol: thunderbolt, eagle
Source of Information (Website URL):
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Zeus

# data[].attributes.body
Reason for the War: Helen, the wife of Menelaus (king of Sparta), went off to Troy with Paris, the Trojan king. Menelaus started the war to seek revenge against Troy.
Major Parties Involved: the Greeks (Spartans) and the Trojans
The Trojan Horse Explained: In the midst of the Trojan War, the Greeks pretended to surrender the war by setting up the guise that they were returning to Sparta, leaving a large hollow wooden horse behind at the gates of Troy, as well as one of their men to explain that this horse was an offer to Athena (Goddess of War), so if the Trojans were to take it inside their gates, their war abilities would be strengthened by the gods. The Trojans brought the horse inside, and that evening, Greeks came out from inside the horse and opened the gates, allowing their own Greek army to charge ahead into Troy when they were least expecting it.
Outcome of the War: The Greeks defeated the Spartans (actually as a result of the Trojan Horse).
Great Heroes of the War: Achilles, Odysseus, Ajax, Diomedes, Patroclus, Antilokus, Menestheus, and Idomenus
Source of Information (Website URL):
https://www.britannica.com/event/Trojan-War
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Trojan-horse