He is the son of Cronus and Rhea and was swallowed by his father along with HADES, DEMETER, HESTIA and HERA. However, in some folklore stories it is believed that Poseidon, like ZEUS, was not swallowed by Cronus because his mother Rhea who concealed him among a flock of lambs and pretended to have given birth to a colt, which was devoured by CRONUS instead.

After the gods defeated the Titans, the world was divided into three and Zeus, Hades and Poseidon drew straws to decide which they would rule. Zeus drew the skies, Hades the underworld, and Poseidon the seas. There is only one reference to this divide, by Homer in the Iliad.
ALLUSION

She was also known to turn her anger towards mortals who crossed her as well – for example, Paris, who chose APHRODITE over Hera as the most beautiful goddess at the marriage of the sea-nymph Thetis to a mortal called Peleus.

In images and statues, Hera is portrayed as being majestic and solemn, crowned with the polos – a high cylindrical crown worn by many of the Great Goddesses.

Even before her marriage with Zeus, she ruled over the heavens and the Earth. This is one reason why she is referred to as ‘The Queen of Heaven’ – ruling over Mount Olympus where all the gods and goddesses live.
ALLUSION

She is known most specifically for her strategic skill in warfare and is often portrayed as companion of heroes and is the patron goddess of heroic endeavour.

Athena was born from ZEUS after he experienced an enormous headache and she sprang fully grown and in armour from his forehead. She has no mother but one of the most commonly cited stories is that Zeus lay with Metis, the goddess of crafty thought and wisdom, and then swallowed her whole as he feared she will give birth to a child more powerful than him because of a prophecy – but she had already conceived.
ALLUSION

Orpheus fell in love with Eurydice a woman of unique beauty; they got married and lived happily for many years. Hymen was called to bless the marriage and he predicted that their perfection was not meant to last for years.

At some time, soon after his omen, Eurydice was wandering in the forest with the Nymphs, when Aristaeus, a shepherd saw her and was beguiled by her beauty. He started chasing her and making advances on her. Eurydice got scared and tried to escape, but she was bitten by a snake and died.

Orpheus sang his grief with his lyre and managed to move everything living or not on the world; both humans and Gods were deeply touched by his sorrow and grief.
ALLUSION

While in Crete Daedalus created the plan for the Minoan Palace of Knossos, one of the most important archaeological sites in Crete and Greece today. It was a magnificent architectural design and building, of 1,300 rooms, decorated with stunning frescoes and artifacts, saved until today. The sculpture of Ariadne in Knossos and many others in Elounda and Karia are also his.

King Minos and Daedalus had great understanding at first, but their relationships started deteriorating at some point; there are several versions explaining this sudden change, although the most common one is that Daedalus was the one who advised Princess Ariadne to give Theseus the thread that helped him come out from the infamous Labyrinth, after killing the Minotaur.

The Labyrinth was a maze built by Daedalus; King Minos wanted a building suitable to imprison the mythical monster Minotaur, and according to the myth, he used to imprison his enemies in the labyrinth, making sure that they would be killed by the monster.

Minos was infuriated when found out about the betrayal and imprisoned Daedalus and his son Icarus in the Labyrinth.
ALLUSION

Hades means “The Unseen One” – a suitable name since Hades is the ruler of the invisible world. However, the Ancient Greeks rarely used this name – just like Christians rarely used the word “Hell” during the Middle Ages. So, since minerals and precious metals are found underground, they often referred to Hades euphemistically as Plouton – namely, “The Wealth-Giver.” Unsurprisingly, Hades’ Roman equivalent is called Pluto as well.

As the ruler of the dead, Hades was a grim and ghastly figure, inspiring awe and terror in everybody. Consequently, he was rarely depicted in art. When he was, he was most commonly portrayed with a beard, and a solemn, mournful look. He frequently wears a helmet, named the Helm of Darkness or the Cap of Invisibility. Cerberus, the three-headed dog which guarded the entrance to the Underworld, is usually beside him. Every so often he carries a scepter or holds the key to his kingdom. At a later stage, he became associated with his weapon of choice, the bident, a two-pronged fork modeled after Poseidon’s trident. As Plouton, he was sometimes shown with a cornucopia, the horn of plenty.
ALLUSION

Most scholars think that Hermes’ name derives from the Greek word herma, which means “a heap of stones” or “cairn.” Cairns were a common sight in the Ancient world, serving as trail- or boundary-markers. Some say that the first cairn was erected by the gods, when they cast all their stones in favor of Hermes, during his trial for slaying Argus Panoptes.

Archaic artists portrayed Hermes as a mature bearded man. However, later on, he was represented as an athletically built nude youth, immediately recognizable by four attributes: a broad-brimmed hat (petasos), winged sandals (talaria), a purse, and a herald’s wand (kerykeion, or caduceus in Latin). Hermes’ wand – a short-winged staff, entangled by two identical serpents – had magical powers, bringing sleep upon people or rousing them from it. It is very similar and frequently confused with the Rod of Asclepius, which is why Hermes’ wand is often incorrectly used as a symbol of medicine.
Allusion

Perseus was the demigod offspring of the unusual union between Zeus and Danae: the supreme god came to the imprisoned princess of Argos in the form of a golden shower through a crack in the roof of her chamber. Afterward, locked in a wooden chest, both were thrown into the sea by Danae’s father Acrisius, who had known from the oracle that he would eventually be killed by his grandson.

Acrisius, the king of Argos, had a beautiful daughter by the name of Danae. Once he was told by the Oracle of Apollo that there would come a day when one of Danae's sons would kill him. To thwart the prophecy, Acrisius imprisoned his daughter in bronze, underground chamber; that way – he thought – she would never be able to marry, let alone have any offspring.
ALLUSION

Medusa – whose name probably comes from the Ancient Greek word for “guardian” – was one of the three Gorgons, daughters of the sea gods Phorcys and Ceto, and sisters of the Graeae, Echidna, and Ladon. All of Medusa’s siblings were monsters by birth and, even though she was not, she had the misfortune of being turned into the most hideous of them all.

From then on, similarly to Euryale and Stheno, her older Gorgon sisters, Medusa was depicted with bronze hands and wings of gold. Poets claimed that she had a great boar-like tusk and tongue lolling between her fanged teeth. Writhing snakes were entwining her head in place of hair. Her face was so hideous and her gaze so piercing that the mere sight of her was sufficient to turn a man to stone.
ALLUSION

On their voyage to Kolchis the Argonauts had many adventures. One of the more notable was the rescue of Phineus from the Harpies at Salmydessos in Thrace. These terrible winged creatures had been sent by Zeus to torment the blind Phineus as punishment for blinding his own sons on the advice of their scheming step-mother. Zetes and Kalais, themselves winged, chased away or killed the Harpies thus earning the gratitude of Phineus who gave them favourable winds and advice on the best route to Kolchis. Other diversions occurred on the island of Lemnos where the female inhabitants sought to ensnare the heroes, on the island of the Doliones where they were attacked by savage giants, and on the island of the Mysians where Hercules was lost to the expedition as he searched for his lover Hylas, taken by the water nymphs.
ALLUSION

Odysseus was a legendary hero in Greek mythology, king of the island of Ithaca and the main protagonist of Homer's epic, the “Odyssey.” The son of Laertes and Anticlea, Odysseus was well known among the Greeks as a most eloquent speaker, an ingenious and cunning trickster. One of the suitors of Helen, Odysseus was obliged to join the Trojan expedition – something he didn’t want to, since he was more than happy alongside his wife, Penelope, and his newborn son, Telemachus, and he knew from a prophecy that if he goes to Troy, it will take him a long time to come back home. So, he tried feigning madness, but Palamedes exposed him, and Odysseus had no choice but to leave. He played a crucial part during the Trojan War – both as a strategist and as a warrior – eventually coming up with the famous stratagem which decided the outcome of the bloody conflict: the Trojan Horse. Afterward, he set sail for Ithaca, but, after blinding his son, the Cyclops Polyphemus, he angered Poseidon so much that the sea god did whatever he could to obstruct Odysseus’ journey homeward. After numerous memorable adventures – Circe, the Sirens, Scylla and Charybdis, the Laestrygonians, Calypso – Odysseus finally managed to reach Ithaca, ten years after leaving Troy and twenty after joining the Trojan expedition. There, he reunited with Telemachus and Penelope and, after killing all of his wife’s Suitors, reclaimed his throne. He died an old man, probably accidentally killed by Telegonus, a child he had fathered with Circe during one of his many adventures.
ALLUSION

Demeter was sick with worry and grief. She asked Helios the sun god what had happened. When she learned that Hades had captured her daughter she became very angry. For a year she caused crops and plants to wither and die. A terrible famine gripped the earth.

Zeus commanded that Hades release Persephone. Persephone was overjoyed. However he tricked her into eating some pomegranate seeds before she left the underworld. He knew that if she ate anything from the land of the dead, she would have to return to him for a part of each year.
Demeter was delighted that her daughter had returned to her. However every time Persephone had to return to Hades, Demeter mourned terribly again. This is why for a part of each year the plants and crops stop growing. When Persephone returns to earth, the land once again bursts with life.
ALLUSION