While mythological
characters haven’t been dinner-table topics for quite some time, they are
undeniably playing roles in our daily lives. As such, these Greek and Roman
mythological characters have enlivened English speeches for centuries. Welcome
to the world of mythology!!!
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GREEK
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ROMAN
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TITLE
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Aphrodite
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Venus
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goddess of
love and beauty
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Apollo
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Apollo
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god of
music,poetry,and the sun
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Ares
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Mars
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god of war
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Artemis
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Diana
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goddess of the
moon
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Asclepius
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Aesculapius
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god of
medicine
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Athena
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Minerva
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goddess of
wisdom
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Cronus
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Saturn
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god of the sky
and agriculture
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Demeter
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Ceres
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goddess of
fertility and crops
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Dionysus
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Bacchus
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god of
wine,ecstacy
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Eros
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Cupid
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god of love
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Gaea
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Terra
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Mother Earth
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Hades
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Dis/Pluto
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god of the
underworld
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Hephaestus
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Vulcan
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god of
fire,craftsman for the god
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Hera
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Juno
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queen of the
gods;goddess of marriage
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Hermes
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Mercury
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messenger of
the gods,travel
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Persephone
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Proserpina
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queen of the
underworld
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Poseidon
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Neptune
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god of the sea
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Zeus
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Jupiter
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ruler of the
gods
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Zeus,the
King
Zeus is acknowledged as
the leader of the new generation of gods. He is consistently identified as the
sky-god. Many of his attributes and titles are attributed to his functions as
the god of the sky, e.g Rainer, Thunderer, Cloud Gatherer, Lightning God,
Sender of Fair Winds.
Division
of Authority
Zeus and his brothers
determine the spheres of their authority: Zeus won the sky; Poseidon, the sea;
and Hades, the underworld. The surface of the Earth and Mt. Olympus are neutral
territories.
Hera
The wife of Zeus, Hera,
is considered as the queen of the Olympians. Her name is originally a title
which meant “Our Lady” or “Great Lady”. She became greatly associated with the
Earth, chiefly with marriage and childbirth. Her Roman name is Juno. Due to her
husband’s tendency to womanize, Hera is pictured as a wife who was troubled by
her husband’s apparent infidelities. Since she could not directly punish the
ruler of the gods, she takes vengeance on his mistresses or even on the
children produced from these romances.
Poseidon
Poseidon is primarily
the god of the sea but he is also associated with earthquakes and horses. His
Roman equivalent is Neptune. Like the sea, Poseidon is unpredictable and easily
aroused to anger. He is frequently pictured with a trident, a three-pronged
spear which is used by fishermen.
Hestia
Hestia is the goddess
of the family hearth and its fire. By extension, she came to be regarded as the
guardian of the home, the family, the local community and the state as the
whole. Vesta is her Roman name.
The
Vestal Virgins
The rites of Vesta were
performed by priestesses who were called the Vestal Virgins; each of whom took
a vow of virginity in honor of the goddess they served.
Demeter
Demeter is the goddess
of the grain and the Earth’s fertility in general. Her Roman equivalent is
Ceres. Demeter’s marriage to Zeus produced a daughter names Persephone (Roman:
Proserpina). Demeter and Persephone represented essentially the same thing: the
fertility of the Earth. When a distinction was made, Persephone represented the
seed and Demeter, the blossoming grain.
Artemis
The birth of Artemis
marks the second generation of the gods of Olympus. Diana is the Roman
equivalent to Artemis. Artemis is the goddess of wild nature and of the animals
who live there. She is often portrayed as the huntress with a bow and arrow,
but she also carefully protects the animals in her domain. She could be unpredictable,
like the open country. She could be benevolent and merciful but also harsh and
deadly.
Apollo
Apollo is a god said to
be as complex and mysterious as Zeus. He is the god of reason and moderation,
the giver of laws and thus, the rewarder of right action and the punisher of
the wrong. He is, along with his sister Artemis, a god of archery and could
send disease or cure to humans with his arrow. He was the god of the sun as
Artemis is of the moon. He is also the god of poetry and music, and, in what
perhaps his best known attribute, prophecy.
Athena
Athena is a virgin
goddess of domestic arts and crafts, of wisdom and war. She is the patroness of
Athens and the protector of the cities, in general. She is known to Romans as
Minerva. According to stories, an early goddess of wisdom, Métis, became
pregnant by Zeus. It is foretold that her child would produce a son who will
overthrow Zeus. To keep the prophecy from being fulfilled, Zeus swallowed Metis as she was about to give birth.
Athena, their child, burst forth from his head. Zeus now becomes both the
mother and the father of the child and has avoided the consequences of the
prophecy.
Ares
He is the son of Zeus
and Hera and is considered the god of war. He represents the uncontrollable
frenzy of battle and all the destruction and horrors of war.
Aphrodite
She is the goddess of
physical love and passionate desire. Her Roman equivalent is Venus. Some say
that she is the daughter of Zeuz and Dione,a daughter of Oceanus. Other claims
that she is born from the mating of “aphros” which means foam of the sea. She
is married to Hephaestus, but largely due to her nature, she has many affairs.
Hephaestus
He is the master
craftsman and metal worker of the gods. His forge is always a place of much
activity as he designs and produces ingenious and artistic creations.
Hermes
While Hermes is the
youngest of the gods, he had very primitive origin. He is the messenger of Zeus,
the herald of the gods, the guide of travelers, the leader of spirits of the underworld,
giver of fertility and the patrons of orators, writers, businessmen, thieves
and athletes. His Roman name is Mercury. As a messenger and herald of the gods,
he is pictured wearing a broad-rimmed hat, and with winged shoes or sandals.
Hades
Hades is the god of the
underworld. His name means,the “ unseen one”. The Greeks hesitated a lot to
mention his name so they often called him Pluto, which means “ rich” or “
wealthy” to refer to both the number of the spirits under his authority and to
the fact that all crops grow from beneath the Earth. The Romans borrowed the
name Pluto from the Greeks to refer to their god of the underworld. Although,
they also call him Dis. His wife is Persephone.
Dionysus
He is the god of wine
and by extension, everything associated with it. Dionysus was from the
beginning associated with the fertility of the grape vine and gradually this
function expanded to include fertility in general ( crop, animal, human).He is
in this regard, the male counterpart of Demeter.
