We generally find many metaphysical phenomena and myths once we get into research for Gods in ancient Greece. Theories regarding birth, death, and love make us amazing. A famous Greek writer, Hesiod mentioned a term, theology, which is related to Ancient Greece Gods.
Greek gods are popular and known even today around the world. Due to movies, games and other pop culture references, there has been a fascination about Greek mythology and their gods which has led to more research and unearthing of more information.
According to Greek mythology, before the Gods appeared, there was nothing but chaos and darkness in the world. An eerie darkness that filled the lives they came to love the creator of all started the creation of the world.
Ancient Greek Gods
The Greeks believed in many gods: they were polytheistic. The ones who were most worshipped and the ones to which the most people were sacrificed to were Zeus, Aphrodite, Athena, Demeter, Hera, Apollo, Artemis, Poseidon, Hermes, Ares, and Hades.
However, there were many others apart from the above Greek Gods Names. It was a common belief that the local stream, an especially big tree, an oddly shaped rock had their own god inside them, who had to be worshipped or he or she would get angry. It was, as Keith Hopkins has said, “the world full of gods.”
In ancient Greece, Gods were responsible for everything good or bad. In those days, the Greeks believed in a simple concept; worship the gods, make sacrifices to them and they will ensure that you are favorably blessed.
The people of Greece divided god into four categories. For the Earth, Desire, Heaven, and the sea are the four gods.Different functions were performed by Gaea, Eros, Uranus, and Pontus. The task performed by Uranus is to be a protective cover of the earth. Due to the effective coordination between Gaea and Uranus, they were soon known as the divine couple
The Olympians
The twelve Olympians are considered to be the principal gods in the Greek pantheon. The council of the Olympians were supposed to have ruled the Greek gods.
They lived at the mount of Olympia, and therefore no other humans were allowed to live at the highland. Even the ancient Olympics were contested in honour of the Olympian gods.
- Aphrodite: the god of love, beauty, and passion. She was considered the most beautiful Goddess and always carried with her a girdle, the seashell, and a mirror. Her vanity was of utmost importance to her, and she was very amorous, but she was a love affair with Ares, the God of war.
- Apollo: the most beautiful God. He was the god of light, medicine, and music. Apollo also had a gift of prophecy, which was given to him by his father Zeus at birth. The handsome Apollo carried with him a lyre, tripod and navel stone.
- Ares: the God of all things dark, the God of war, Ares was Aphrodite’s lover and father to many children. He was also called Mars and is the son of Zeus and Hera. Ares was always surrounded by dogs and carried a spear.
- Artemis/Diana was the goddess of the hunt and Apollo’s twin sister.
- Athena: Goddess born of Zeus, she who is called Minerva, like Artemis was a virgin Goddess. She was the patron goddess of Athens and Goddess of wisdom, skill, and war.
- Hephaestus: This God of Fire and Forge was given the Roman name (Greek Gods Names) of Vulcan. He was the son of Zeus and Hera and was rumored to be conceived before their nuptials. He was husband to Aphrodite, but never her true lover, because he lacked what Aphrodite prized, beauty.
- Hera: She, Juno is the Queen of the Gods and Goddesses, and wife to King of the Gods Zeus. She was the Goddess of Marriage and family. Hera hated her husband Zeus’s love child Hercules by a mortal woman.
- Hermes: He was the messenger of the Gods and quite naturally the Greek God of Trade. He was also called Mercury.
- Hestia/Vesta was the goddess of hearth and home, and Hera’s sister.
- Poseidon: He was the most feared, this God of the sea and earthquakes. Every time there was a storm, a quick prayer was sent to calm the wrath of Poseidon. His Greek Names were Neptune by the Romans.
- Zeus: King of the Gods, Zeus was the Greek God of the sky and was invincible. He was the ultimate authority on Mount Olympus and has the most power. He was called Jupiter by the Romans and was born of the Titans Cronus and Rhea.
- Demeter/Ceres was the goddess of the harvest and Hera’s other sister. Persephone was Demeter’s daughter and the Greek’s reason for the seasons.
The Titan Gods
The titans are the pre-Olympian gods and were born from Garia(earth) and Uranus(god of heaven). They are also said to have ruled the world.
- Cronus: He was the god of harvest among the Titans.
- Rhea: She was known as the goddess of fertility and generation and determined the flow of things.
- Oceanus: She was the goddess of sea among the Titans and was the personification of water.
- Tethys: she was the goddess of rivers and fresh waters and, also the wife of Oceanus and mother of around 3000 river gods.
- Hyperion: He was the God of light who symbolized eternal splendor.
- Theia: She was the goddess of aether.
- Iapetus: He was the god of mortal life among the Titans who symbolized mortality and life span.
- Crius: He was known as the God of constellations among the Titans
- Coeus: He was the god of intellect among the Titans.
- Themis: He was the god of divine law and order who had the power to predict the future.
- Mnemosyne: She was the goddess of memory and the personification of memory and remembrance.
The Primordial gods
According to Greek mythology, the primordial gods are supposed to have existed before the beginning of the world. We get information about them through Hesiod’s work known as Theogony. They were mainly the personification of natural forces and components in the cosmos.
- Achlys: She was the eternal goddess of night and is said to have existed even before chaos.
- Aion: He was the god of eternity and is the personification of time itself.
- Ananke: she used the goddess of inevitability, compulsion and necessity.
- Aether: He was the god light and sparked life on each of the living creatures.
- Chaos: He is the God of void and he existed even before any life.
- Chronos: He was the god of Time.
- Erebus: He was the god of darkness and shadow, symbolizing silence and depth of night.
- Eros: He was the god of love and procreation.
- Gala: He was the goddess of earth and considered the primeval mother and symbolized the maternal side of the universe.
- Hemera: She was the goddess of day.
- Hypnos: He was the God of sleep.
- Nemesis: she was the goddess of retribution
- Nessoi: She was the goddess of islands.
- Nys: she was known as the goddess of night.
- Ourea: He was the God of mountains.
- Pontus: He was the god of sea and also considered as the father of sea creatures
- Tartarus: He was the god of the underworld from the deepest and darkest parts.
- Thalassa: She was the goddess of the sea and also the wife of god Pontus
- Thanatos: He was the god of death.
- Uranus: He was the god of heaven and was also said to have been the ruler of the world.
