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Greek mythology,body of testimonies in regards to the gods, heroes, and rituals of the ancient Greeks. That the myths contained a considerable element of fiction was recognized by the more critical Greeks, like the philosopher Plato in the 5th-4th centuries bc. In general, however, in the popular piety of the Greeks, the myths were considered true accounts. Greek mythology has consequently had extensive influence on the humanities and literature of Western civilization, which fell heir to much of Greek culture.

This guide is designed to help you find details about Greek mythology and mythological characters using the Internet and/or your local public library.This section provides information about the twelve main gods of the Greek Mythology.

After the Titanomachy between your gods of new and older generation for that rule around the globe, Gods chose Mount Olympus as their residence, the highest mountain in Greece. Zeus was their leader and Hera was his sister-wife. The twelve Olympian Gods actually contains Zeus and his siblings, as well as some children of Zeus who have been born later. People gave the gods unique domains of rule and also credited them human qualities.

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Zeus, was the god of the world and the sky. His symbols were the thunderbolt, the eagle, the bull and the oak. Although he was married to Hera, his elder sister, he would frequently cheat on her with many mortal women. Other goddesses and nymphs. He is portrayed in statues and paintings as a middle-aged man seating on his throne or tossing a thunderbolt.

Hera, was the queen of the Gods. Pictured as a middle-aged still charming woman, Hera was the protector of women and marriage. She was jealous in character and when she knew a good infidelity of Zeus, his mistress might suffer a great deal. The peacock was her symbol.According to the myth, Hera seemed to be the protector from the Amazons.

Poseidon, the god of the sea and the earthquakes, was much adored in ancient Greece. As numerous cities had a strong naval power, Poseidon was the protector of these cities. He usually mated with nymphs from the water coupled with many children. His symbols were the trident, the dolphin, the fish and the horse. He was seen as old man riding his horse-carriage from the waves.

Hades, another brother of Zeus, was the ruler from the Underworld, the world of the dead. The traditional people depicted him being an old man with white hair and beard. His kingdom was discovered under the earth. Using a trick, this old man married an attractive young girl, Persephone, daughter of goddess Demeter.

Hestia , was the goddess of the hearth and also the household. She was the noblest and most lovable goddesses for that ancient Greeks and she or he symbolized harmony in the household and the city. Every household and public building in ancient Greece had an altar dedicated to Hestia in the middle of your room that burnt all day and night. Hestia never was married or had children. Not being able to bear the constant quarrels between the gods, Hestia left Olympus and visited live somewhere quieter, giving her place to Dionysus.

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Aphrodite, was the goddess of beauty. She was forever beautiful and young. Shallow in nature, Aphrodite provides extensive affairs with mortals. Her son was Cupid, the familiar young boy with wings who played with his arrows and made people fall madly in love. Aphrodite wasn’t any directly connected to Zeus. She was probably an era older than another Olympian Gods. The myth says that they was born out of the foam of the sea either near Paphos Cyrpus or near Kythira island.
Demeter was the goddess of grain and fertility. She maintained the circle of life on earth (the circle of old and young, life and death), alternating the seasons and reviving nature in spring. She’s depicted in statues holding a tuft of grain. A very important festival, the Elefsenian Mysteries, occured each year focused on Demeter and her daughter Persephone.

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Apollo, was another famous god, not really a brother but a son of Zeus. Apollo and Artemis were twins that Zeus obtained from Leto, a mortal woman. Apollo was born in Delos, which later became his sacred island. He was the god of music and lightweight, poetry and the arts, medicine, truth and prophecy. Observe that the Oracles in ancient Greece were focused on god Apollo and people thought that god was actually talking with them through the priests. He was pictured like a young, handsome and sensitive man.

Artemis, his twin sister, would be a fierce female. She enjoyed sports and especially hunting. Her emblems were the bow and arrows. She accustomed to hide in the forests with her companions. Wild in nature, Artemis had asked her father not to confine her with marriage and she kept her virginity for all her life. Her female companions also ought to be virgins.

Ares, the god of warfare and violence, was son of Zeus and Hera. He was not a pleasant god in ancient Greece, which is why there are no many temples of Ares. However, people were afraid of his anger and incorporated him within their offerings.

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Athena, was also a goddess of war, but more of strategic war, not physical violence like Ares. She seemed to be the goddess of wisdom and justice. The daughter of Zeus and a mortal lady, Athena was created from the head of Zeus when her pregnant mom was killed out of Hera’s jealousy. Noble anyway, Athena didn’t complement men and would mostly deal with warfare.

Hermes, the son of Zeus and the daughter of a Titan, was probably the most foxy of all of the Olympian Gods. He was the messenger from the Gods, which is why he knew all their secrets. He was also the guide to the Underworld and also the protector of thieves, shepherds, orators, road travelers and merchants. He wore winged sandals to fly and provide messages quickly.

Aside, from these 12 gods, there are many other deities of less importance, like nymphs, or of later generation,for example Dionysus, the protector of wine, festivals and theatre. Several gods are intended through the mind of Greeks and also have native qualities, while other gods, like Dionysus, have been “imported” by eastern civilizations.

Think about notice would be that the ancient greek gods were gods because of their supernatural powers and eternity, not their character. These were far different from the modern notion of gods. The Olympian Gods were weak anyway and had faults, while they often merged with mortals and caused problems with with their lives. Actually, the traditional Greek gods were duplicates of human characters and culture.

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The daughter of Leto and Zeus, and the twin of Apollo. Artemis is the goddess of the backwoods, the hunt and wild animals, and fertility. She was often represented with the crescent of the moon above her temple and was sometimes identified with Selene (goddess of the moon). Artemis was one of the Olympians and a virgin goddess. Her main vocation was to roam mountain jungles and uncultivated land with her nymphs in presence hunting for lions, panthers, hinds and stags. Contradictory to the later, she helped in safeguarding and seeing to their well-being, also their protection and duplication. She was armed with a bow and arrows which were produced by Hephaestus and the Cyclopes.

In one tale, Artemis was born one day before her brother Apollo. Her mother gave birth to her on the island of Ortygia, then, almost immediately after her birth, she helped her mother to cross the straits over to Delos, where she then delivered Apollo. This was the commencing of her role as protector of young kids and patron of women in childbirth. Being a goddess of contradictions, she was the protectress of women in labor, but it was said that the arrows of Artemis brought them sudden death while giving birth. As was her brother, Apollo, Artemis was a divinity of healing, but also brought and spread illnesses such as leprosy, rabies and even gout.

Being associated with chastity, Artemis at an earlier age asked her father, the great god Zeus, to grant her eternal virginity. Also, all her companions were virgins.

Artemis was very protective of her purity, and gave grave punishment to any man who attempted to dishonor her in any form. Actaeon, while out hunting, unintentionally came upon Artemis and her nymphs, who bathing naked in a secluded pool. Seeing them in all their naked beauty, the stunned Actaeon stopped and gazed at them, but when Artemis saw him ogling them, she transformed him into a stag. Then, incensed with disgust, she set his own hounds upon him. They chased and killed what they thought was another stag, but it was their master.

As with Orion, a giant and a great hunter, there are several legends which tell of his death, one involving Artemis. It is said that he tried to rape the virgin goddess, so wiped out him with her bow and arrows. Another says she conjured up a scorpion which killed Orion and his dog.

Orion became a constellation in the night sky, and his dog became Sirius, the dog star. Yet another version says it was the scorpion which stung him and was changed into the constellation with Orion, the later being Scorpio. Artemis was enraged when one of her nymphs, Callisto, allowed Zeus to seduce her, but the great god contacted her in one of his guises; he came in the form of Artemis.

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The young nymph was unwittingly tricked, and she gave birth to Arcas, the ancestor of the Arcadians, but Artemis showed no mercy and transformed her into a bear. She then shot and killed her. As Orion, she was sent up to the heavens, and became the constellation of the Great Bear.

Artemis was very controlling. She would show her wrath on anyone who disobeyed her wishes, especially against her sacred animals. Even the great hero Agamemnon came upon the wrath of Artemis, when he killed a stag in her sacred grove. His consequence came when his ships were becalmed, while he made his way to besiege Troy.

With no winds to sail his ships he was told by the seer Calchas that the only way Artemis would bring back the winds was for him to sacrifice his daughter Iphigenia. Some versions say he did sacrifice Iphigenia, others that Artemis interchanged a deer in her place, and took Iphigenia to the land of the Tauri (the Crimea) as a priestess, to organize strangers for sacrifice to Artemis.

Artemis with her twin brother, Apollo, put to death the children of Niobe. The reason being that Niobe, a mere mortal, had boasted to Leto, the mother of the divine twins, that she had bore more children, which must make her superior to Leto. Apollo being outraged at such an insult on his mother, informed Artemis. The twin gods hunted them down and shot them with their bows and arrows; Apollo wiped out the male children and Artemis the girls.

Artemis was worshiped in most Greek towns but only as a 2nd deity. However, to the Greeks in Asia Minor (today’s Turkey) she was a prominent deity. In Ephesus, a principal city of Asia Minor, a great temple was built in her honor, which became one of the “Seven Wonders of the Ancient World”. But at Ephesus she was worshiped mainly as a fertility goddess, and was recognized with Cybele the mother goddess of eastern lands.

The cult figurines of the Ephesian Artemis differ greatly from those of mainland Greece, whereas she is depicted as a huntress with her bow and arrows. Those found at Ephesus show her in the eastern style, standing erect with numerous nodes on her chest. There have been many theories as to what they represent. Some say they are breasts, others that they are bulls testes which were sacrificed to her. Which is the true meaning remains uncertain, but each represent fertility.

There were festivals in honor of Artemis, such as the Brauronia, which was held in Brauron; and the festival of Artemis Orthia, held at Sparta, when young Spartan boys would try to steal cheeses from the altar. As they tried they would be whipped, the meaning of Orthia and the nature of the ritual whipping has been lost and there is no logical description or translation.

Among the epithets given to Artemis are: Potnia Theron (mistress of wild animals) this title was described by the great poet Homer; Kourotrophos (nurse of youth’s); Locheia (helper in childbirth); Agrotera (huntress); and Cynthia (taken from her birthplace on Mount Cynthus on Delos). When young girls reached adolescence they were begun into her cult, but when they decided to marry, which Artemis was not against, they were asked to lay in front of the altar all the paraphernalia of their virginity, toys, dolls and locks of their hair, they then left the domain of the virgin goddess.

Read More articles and see the pictures about greek gods and greek goddesses:

• Greek Gods
• Greek Myth
• Ancient Greece
• Zeus Greek God
• Titans
• Historical Greek
• Wanderings of Dionysus
• Zeus Pictures
• Pictures of Aphrodite
• History of Greek Goods
• Greek Goddesses

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