Library: World Religions by Credo Reference: Greek Pantheon

Twelve Olympians

Aphrodite: Topic Page
In Greek religion and mythology, goddess of fertility, love, and beauty. Homer designated her the child of Zeus and Dione.
Apollo: Topic Page
In Greek and Roman mythology, the god of sun, music, poetry, prophecy, agriculture, and pastoral life, and leader of the Muses.
Ares: Topic Page
The Greek god of war, son of Zeus and Hera, often perceived as hostile, rather than as a national deity, as in other mythologies.
Artemis: Topic Page
In Greek mythology, the goddess of chastity, all young creatures, the Moon, and the hunt (Roman Diana).
Athena: Topic Page
In Greek mythology, the goddess of war, wisdom, and the arts and crafts (Roman Minerva). She was reputed to have sprung fully-armed and grown from the head of Zeus, after he had swallowed her mother Metis, the Titaness of wisdom.
Demeter: Topic Page
In Greek mythology, the goddess of agriculture, especially corn (Roman Ceres); daughter of the Titans Kronos and Rhea; and mother of Persephone by Zeus.
Dionysus: Topic Page
In Greek mythology, the god of wine, mystic ecstasy, and orgiastic excess; son of princess Semele and Zeus.
Hephaestus: Topic Page
In Greek mythology, the god of fire and metalcraft (Roman Vulcan); the lame son of Zeus and Hera.
Hera: Topic Page
In Greek mythology, the goddess of women and marriage (Roman Juno).
Hermes: Topic Page
In Greek mythology, the messenger of the gods; son of Zeus and Maia, one of the Pleiades.
Poseidon: Topic Page
In Greek religion and mythology, god of the sea, protector of all waters. After the fall of the Titans, Poseidon was allotted the sea.
Zeus: Topic Page
In Greek mythology, the chief of the Olympian gods (Roman Jupiter). He was the son of Kronos, whom he overthrew.

Practices & Beliefs

Altar: Topic Page
Table or platform for the performance of religious sacrifice. In its simplest form the altar is a small pile, with a square or circular surface, made of stone or wood.
Eleusinian mysteries: Topic Page
Ceremonies in honour of the Greek deities Demeter, goddess of corn, and her daughter Persephone, queen of the underworld, celebrated in the precincts of the temple of Demeter at Eleusis, in the territory of Athens.
Elysium
From The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia
In Greek mythology, an afterworld or paradise.
Hades
From The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia
In Greek mythology, the underworld where spirits (shades) went after death, usually depicted as a cavern or pit underneath the Earth, the entrance of which was guarded by the three-headed dog Cerberus.
Homer: Topic Page
Principal figure of ancient Greek literature; the first European poet.
Mystery Religions
From The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia
Any of various cults of the ancient world that were open only to the initiated; for example, the cults of Demeter (see Eleusinian Mysteries), Dionysus, Cybele, Isis, and Mithras.
The Odyssey: Topic Page
In time, the tale of Troy became the center of a great cycle of songs, depicting and glorifying the regular heroic theme of an attack on a town.
Ritual: Topic Page
In religious devotion or service, the practice of certain set formulas that either mark a particular important event in a person's life - such as birth rituals or death rituals - or form a patterned daily, weekly, or annual cycle. Rituals are usually understood to hold deep symbolic meaning.
Sacrifice: Topic Page
A type of religious offering, or gift to a superior or supreme being, in which the offering is consecrated through its destruction.
Shrine: Topic Page
Place regarded as holy due to an association with a divine figure, relic, or event. Shrines are important places in most religions, and are often a focus of worship or meditation.
Theogony of Hesiod
From Milestone Documents of World Religions
Hesiod was an ancient Greek poet known principally for one of his two surviving epic poems: Theogony, written sometime around 700 bce to relate the mythology of the gods.

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