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The Gods. The Greeks believed that the universe created the gods. This belief is the reverse of most creation stories. For example, the native Americans believed that the great spirits created the earth. The Greeks also believed the universe was the first parent.
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The Gods • The Greeks believed that the universe created the gods. This belief is the reverse of most creation stories. For example, the native Americans believed that the great spirits created the earth. • The Greeks also believed the universe was the first parent. • The universe’s children were the Titans.
The gods were the children of the Titans and the grandchildren of the universe.
The Titans and the Twelve Great Olympians • The Titans were the Elder gods. • They were giant in size and strength. • The Titans reigned supreme in the universe for a very long time. • There were many Titans but there are few stories written about them. • Cronus or Saturn (Latin) ruled until Zeus fought and dethroned him.
Cronus had swallowed all of his children up until Zeus. Cronus swallowed his previous children, Hestia, Hera, Hades, and Poseidon because of a prophesy that one of his children would dispose him. Rhea and her mother Gaia wrapped a stone in a baby bunting and Cronus who believed this was Zeus swallowed the stone instead of the baby. Rhea hid Zeus in a cave in Crete so Cronus would not be able to swallow him. When Zeus became a young man he made his father regurgitate his brothers and sisters.
Zeus’s siblings rose up and fought the Titans. • When Zeus or Jupiter became the ruler Cronus or Saturn fled to Italy bringing the “Golden Age”. This was a time of great peace and happiness. • Ocean was a river that encircles the earth. His wife was Tethys.
Some noteworthy Titans were Hyperion, father of sun, moon, and dawn. • Mnenmyosyne- meaning memory. • Themis-meaning Justice. • Iapetus- who was important because of his sons. • Atlas-who held up the pillars that separated the earth and the heavens.
Prometheus-who brought fire to the humans. • These older gods were lowered in status when Zeus arrived. • The twelve gods called the Olympians were supreme among the gods. • They were called Olympians because they lived on Olympus.
Originally Olympus was associated with Mt. Olympus which was the highest mountain in Greece. • In the Iliad, Zeus talks to the gods from the “topmost peak of the many ridges of Olympus.” • Then further in the Iliad, Zeus could “hang earth and sea from a pinnacle of Olympus.”
Zeus’s siblings drew lots to determine what domains they would control. • Poseidon ruled the seas. • Hades ruled the dead. • Zeus ruled heaven. • Olympus was common to all three realms.
The 12 Olympians are the following: • Zeus/Jupiter • Poseidon/Neptune • Hades/Pluto • Hestia/Vesta • Hera/Juno • Ares/Mars • Athena/Minerva
Apollo • Aphrodite/Venus • Hermes/Mercury • Artemis/Diana • Hephaestus/Vulcan
Zeus Zeus pursues lots of women and tries to hides his affairs from Hera (his wife). Zeus is a patchwork quilt of the many different gods. He gets a lot of different characteristics from various gods. When the worship of Zeus spread to a particular village where there was an ultimate ruler the two gods would slowly merge together.
When the two gods merged the wife of the previous god was transferred to Zeus. This is were his endless love affairs come into the myths. • All of the gods had conflict within their personalities. They had some not so attractive qualities such as Zeus’s philandering ways and his demand that people sacrifice and take the right course.
His breastplate was the aegis or a shield. • His bird was the eagle. • His tree was the oak. • His will was interpreted by the listening to the rustling of oak leaves. • His oracle to interpret the leaves was Dodona.
Hera • Hera was Zeus’s wife and sister. • She was raised by the Titan Ocean. • Hera was the protector of married women. • She was praised in poetry but mainly seen as punishing Zeus’s women. • Hera judged and punished Zeus’s women all equally harshly whether or not they were tricked by Zeus or not.
Hera held grudges in fact she extended the Trojan war because a Trojan had judged another goddess lovelier than she. • Hera’s daughter Ilithyia helped women in childbirth. The cow and the peacock are sacred animals to Hera. Argos is her favorite city.
Poseidon/Neptune • Poseidon is the ruler of the sea. • He is second only in importance to Zeus. The sea was very important to the Greeks as it was central to life for Greeks on either side of the Aegean. The Greeks are fishermen and sailors. This stresses the importance that Zeus holds for them.
Poseidon’s wife’s name is Amphitrite. • She is a granddaughter of the Titan Ocean. • What kind of things can you think of that could go wrong on the seas? • Poseidon controls storm, calm, and the surges of the sea. • He calms the seas via a golden car that drives over the waters. The waves subside in stillness in the spots where the wheels of the car pass over.
` • He has a trident, a three pronged spear, that can shake or shatter anything he decides on. • He has a beautiful palace under the sea but prefers to be on Olympus. • He gave the first horse to humans and they were extremely grateful for that. • He is also connected with bulls but lots of other gods are as well.
Hades/Pluto • Hades is the third brother of the Olympians. • He rules the Underworld and the realm of the dead. • He is also known as Pluto, the god of wealth and precious metals in the earth. Some examples of precious metals are gold, and titanium can you name any others? • He has an invisibility cap or helmet.
I like to think of Hades as a hermit, who does not like leaving the Underworld and seldomly does so. • He is characterized as a terrible god. • He does not feel any sympathy. • So of all the gods there doesn’t seem to be the normally present struggle with Hades between good and bad. The other gods struggle and this shows that the gods are human like and flawed.
