Greek Mythology Index

This is an index explaining the different Greek gods. I will tell you who they are, what the major gods' Roman names are, and who their parents are. The Greek name is in bold, the Roman name is in bold, in parenthesis, and italicized. This index is for the major Greek gods. It will not list small ones.

Gaea is the earth. She is the mother of all living things.

Uranus is the sky. He was cruel and flung the cyclops and the 50 headed ones into Tartus (see Tartus.) Gaea the earth and Uranus the sky came out of nothingness so long ago that nobody knows how they were created.

The Titans were the first children of Gaea and Uranus. They were taller than the mountains Gaea created for their thrones.

Mnemosyne was the goddess of memory. She was a Titan and the mother of the 9 muses.

The Nine Muses each had their own special art. Apollo trained them to sing.

Phoebe, Thia, Coeus, Tethys, Themis, and Crios were Titans.

Hyperion was a Titan and the father of Selene the moon, Helios the sun, and Eos the dawn.

Japet was a Titan and the father of Prometheus, Epimetheus, and Atlas.

Atlas held up the world and was tricked by Hercules into picking the apples of immortality in one of Hercules' quests.

Prometheus could predict the future.

Epimetheus did stuff with Premetheus.

Oceanus was the father of Metis.

Metis was one of the wives of Zeus and mother of Athena. An oracle predicted that one of the sons of Zeus would overthrow him. Zeus tricked Metis into changing into a fly and then swallowed her. Metis gave birth to Athena inside of him. Athena burst fully formed from Zeus' skull. He was okay. He just had a headache, a bad headache.

Cronus (Saturn) for a while was the ruler of the universe. His wife, Rhea was his queen. Cronus was afraid that one of his children would be stronger than him and overthrow him, so he swallowed them all as they were born. Rhea tricked him when her sixth son, Zeus, was born. She wrapped a stone in baby's clothes and gave it to Cronus to swallow. Zeus grew up in secret on the island of Crete. Metis tricked Cronus into eating an herb that made him vomit up all of his other children. They were the gods Hades and Poseidon, and the goddesses Hestia, Demeter, and Hera. Then Zeus killed Cronus.

Hestia (Vesta) was the daughter of Cronus and Rhea and goddess of the hearth. She gave up her thrown on Olympus to Dionysus.

Demeter (Ceres) was the daughter of Cronus and Rhea and the goddess of nature. She was the mother of Persephone (see Persephone.)

Hera (Juno) was the wife, queen, and sister of Zeus. She was jealous all the time of Zeus' other wives and affairs.

Poseidon (Neptune) was the lord of the sea. He was married to Amphitrite who was the queen of the sea. (I named my fishy Neptune Poseidon!)

Hades was the lord of the dead. He ruled over the dead with his queen Persephone (see Persephone.)

Zeus (Jupiter) was the king of the gods. He was married to Hera. (See Metis and Cronus.)

Persephone (Proserpine) was the daughter of Demeter and Zeus and queen of Hades. Hades kidnapped her and forced her to be his queen. Demeter was so sad that she no longer looked over the harvest of the people. They were suffering and called out to Zeus to save them. Zeus tried to force Hades into giving Persephone back to her mother, but Persephone had eaten 3 pomegranate seeds and could not leave Hades. Zeus made a compromise where Persephone would spend 3 months in Hades every year and the rest of the time with her mother. Those three months are winter because Demeter does not care for the harvest when her daughter is gone.

Hermes (Mercury) was the god of shepards, travelers, merchants, and thieves and all others who live by their wits.

Hephaestus (Vulcan) was the god of fire Aphrodite's husband

Aphrodite (Venus) was the goddess of love, mother of Eros (Cupid), Hephaetus's wife.

Ares (Mars) was the god of war. He was the son of Zeus.

Athena (Minerva) was the goddess of wisdom and war. Ares and Athena did not get along. (See Metis.) Athena and Poseidon both wanted Athens for their city. It was decided that whoever could give the city the best gift would have the city. Poseidon gave a spring of water, but it was as salty as the sea he ruled. Athena gave an olive tree and it was decided to be the better of the two gifts. And so Athens is named for Athena and the Parthenon was built in her honor.

Apollo (Apollo) was the god of music and light and prophesy. (see Artemis.) The Oracle of Delphi is Apollo's.

Artemis (Diana) was the pitiless goddess of the hunt. When Hera found out that Leto, one of Zeus' other wives, was going to give birth, she was ordered that all the lands refuse her shelter. But Poseidon had raised a new island from the sea and it wasn't quite land yet because it was not anchored. The little island welcomed Leto but Hera had prohibited the goddess of childbirth to visit her. The other goddesses felt sorry for Leto and swayed Hera by giving her a necklace of amber and gold. It was nine yards long. So Iris the messenger goddess whisked the goddess of childbirth down the rainbow to Leto. Leto gave birth to the twins of Artemis and Apollo.

Dionysus (Bacchus) was the god of wine. (Mom calls Tuffy the dog Dionysus when he whines.)