Twelve Olympians
Part of a series on |
Greek mythology |
---|
Deities |
Heroes and heroism |
Related |
Ancient Greece portal Myths portal |
In ancient Greek religion and mythology, the twelve Olympians are the major deities of the Greek pantheon, commonly considered to be Zeus, Poseidon, Hera, Demeter, Aphrodite, Athena, Artemis, Apollo, Ares, Hephaestus, Hermes, and either Hestia or Dionysus.[2] They were called Olympians because, according to tradition, they resided on Mount Olympus.
Besides the twelve Olympians, there were many other cultic groupings of twelve gods.
Olympians
The Olympians were a race of
The canonical number of Olympian gods was twelve, but besides the (thirteen) principal Olympians listed above, there were many other residents of Olympus, who thus might be considered to be Olympians.
Twelve gods
Besides the twelve Olympians, there were many other various cultic groupings of twelve gods throughout ancient Greece. The earliest evidence of Greek religious practice involving twelve gods (
Olympia apparently also had an early tradition of twelve gods.[16] The Homeric Hymn to Hermes (c. 500 BC) has the god Hermes divide a sacrifice of two cows he has stolen from Apollo, into twelve parts, on the banks of the river Alpheus (presumably at Olympia):
Next glad-hearted Hermes dragged the rich meats he had prepared and put them on a smooth, flat stone, and divided them into twelve portions distributed by lot, making each portion wholly honorable.[17]
Pindar, in an ode written to be sung at Olympia c. 480 BC, has Heracles sacrificing, alongside the Alpheus, to the "twelve ruling gods":[18]
[Heracles] enclosed the
Altis all around and marked it off in the open, and he made the encircling area a resting-place for feasting, honoring the stream of the Alpheus along with the twelve ruling gods.[19]
Another of Pindar's Olympian odes mentions "six double altars".[20] Herodorus of Heraclea (c. 400 BC) also has Heracles founding a shrine at Olympia, with six pairs of gods, each pair sharing a single altar.[21]
Many other places had cults of the twelve gods, including
Plato connected "twelve gods" with the twelve months and implies that he considered Pluto (Or Hades) one of the twelve in proposing that the final month be devoted to him and the spirits of the dead.[25]
The Roman poet
List
There is no single canonical list of the twelve Olympian gods. The thirteen Greek gods and goddesses, along with their Roman counterparts, most commonly considered to be one of the twelve Olympians are listed below.
Greek | Roman | Image | Functions and attributes |
---|---|---|---|
Zeus | Jupiter |
King of the gods and ruler of Mount Olympus; god of the sky, lightning, thunder, law, order and justice. The youngest child of the Titans Cronus and Rhea. Brother and husband of Hera and brother of Poseidon, Hades, Demeter, and Hestia. He had many affairs with goddesses and mortals, such as his sister Demeter and Leto, mortals Leda and Alcmene, and more.[27] His symbols include the thunderbolt, eagle, oak tree, bull, scepter, and scales. | |
Hera | Juno | Queen of the gods and the goddess of marriage, women, childbirth and family. The youngest daughter of Cronus and Rhea. Sister and wife of Zeus. Being the goddess of marriage, she frequently tried to get revenge on Zeus' lovers and their children. Her symbols include the peacock, cuckoo, and cow. | |
Poseidon | Neptune | God of the seas, water, storms, hurricanes, earthquakes and horses. The middle son of Cronus and Rhea. Brother of Zeus and Hades. Married to the Nereid Amphitrite ; although, as with many of the male Greek gods, he had many lovers. His symbols include the trident, horse, bull, and dolphin. | |
Demeter | Ceres | Goddess of the harvest, fertility, agriculture, nature and the seasons. She presided over Despoine, Arion . Her symbols include the poppy, wheat, torch, cornucopia, and pig. | |
Apollo | Apollo | God of Sun, light, prophecy, philosophy, archery, truth, inspiration, poetry, music, arts, manly beauty, medicine, healing, and plague. The son of Zeus and Leto, and the twin brother of Artemis. His symbols include bow and arrow, lyre, raven, swan and wolf. | |
Artemis | Diana | Goddess of the hunt, the wilderness, virginity, the Moon, archery, childbirth, protection and plague. The daughter of Zeus and Leto, and the twin sister of Apollo. Her symbols include the Moon, horse, deer, hound, she-bear, snake, cypress tree, and bow and arrow. | |
Ares | Mars | God of war, violence, bloodshed and manly virtues. The son of Zeus and Hera, all the other gods despised him except Aphrodite. His Latin name, Mars, gave us the word "martial". His symbols include the boar, serpent, dog, vulture, spear, and shield. | |
Athena | Minerva | Goddess of wisdom, handicraft, and warfare. Oceanid Metis , she rose from her father's head fully grown and in full battle armor. Her symbols include the owl and the olive tree. | |
Hephaestus | Vulcan | Master blacksmith and craftsman of the gods; god of the forge, craftsmanship, invention, fire and volcanoes. The son of Hera, either by Zeus or through parthenogenesis. Married to Aphrodite. His Latin name, Vulcan, gave us the word "volcano". His symbols include fire, anvil, axe, donkey, hammer, tongs, and quail. | |
Aphrodite | Venus | Goddess of love, pleasure, passion, procreation, fertility, beauty and desire. The daughter of Zeus and the Oceanid or Titaness venereal". , and rose.
Her symbols include the dove, bird, apple, bee, swan, myrtle | |
Hermes | Mercury | Messenger of the gods; god of travel, commerce, communication, borders, eloquence, diplomacy, thieves, and games. He was also the guide of dead souls. The son of Zeus and the nymph Maia. The second-youngest Olympian, just older than Dionysus. His symbols include the caduceus (staff entwined with two snakes), winged sandals and cap, stork, and tortoise (whose shell he used to invent the lyre). | |
Most lists of the "twelve Olympians" consist of the above eleven plus either Hestia or Dionysus | |||
Hestia | Vesta | Goddess of the hearth, fire and of the right ordering of domesticity and the family; she was born into the first Olympian generation and was one of the original twelve Olympians. She is the first child of Cronus and Rhea, the elder sister of Hades, Demeter, Poseidon, Hera, and Zeus.
| |
Dionysus | Bacchus Liber |
God of wine, the grapevine, fertility, festivity, ecstasy, madness and resurrection. Patron god of the art of theatre. The son of Zeus and the mortal Theban princess Semele. Married to the Cretan princess Ariadne. The youngest Olympian god, as well as the only one to have a mortal parent. His symbols include the grapevine, ivy, cup, tiger, panther, leopard, dolphin, goat, and pinecone. |
Genealogy
Major Olympians' family tree [29] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
See also
- Dii Consentes, the Roman equivalent of the twelve Olympians
- Family tree of the Greek gods
- Interpretatio graeca, including a table of mythological equivalents
- List of Greek mythological characters
- Supreme Council of Ethnikoi Hellenes
- Hellenismos
- Olympia
- Greek mythology in popular culture
- Olympian spirits
- Æsir
- Tuatha Dé Danann
- Anunnaki
- Elohim
- Deva (Hinduism)
Notes
- ^ Walters Art Museum, accession number 23.40.
- ^ Hansen, p. 250; Burkert, pp. 125 ff.; Dowden, p. 43; Chadwick, p. 85; Müller, pp. 419 ff.; Pache, pp. 308 ff.; Thomas, p. 12; Shapiro, p. 362; Long, pp. 140–141; Morford, p. 113; Hard, p. 80.
- ^ According to Homer, Aphrodite was the daughter of Zeus (Iliad 3.374, 20.105; Odyssey 8.308, 320) and Dione (Iliad 5.370–71), see Gantz, pp. 99–100. However, According to Hesiod, Theogony 183–200, Aphrodite was born from Uranus' severed genitals, see Gantz, pp. 99–100.
- ^ Hansen, p. 250; Morford, p. 113; Hard p. 80.
- ^ Chadwick, p. 85.
- ^ Dillon, p. 114.
- ^ Ogden, pp. 2–3; Dowden, p. 43; Hansen, p. 250; Burkert, p. 125.
- ^ Herodotus, 2.43–44.
- ^ Diodorus Siculus, 4.39.4.
- ^ Homer, Iliad 15.88
- ^ Hesiod, Theogony 386–388.
- ^ Just who might be called an Olympian is not entirely clear. For example, Dowden, p. 43, describes Heracles, Hebe, the Muses, and the Graces as Olympians, and on p. 45, lists Iris, Dione, and Eileithyia among the Homeric Olympians, while Hansen, p. 250, describes Heracles, Hebe, the Horae, and Ganymede as notable residents of Olympus, but says they "are not ordinarily classified as Olympians".
- ^ Dowden, p. 43; Rutherford, p. 43.
- ^ Rutherford, pp. 43–44; Thucydides, 6.54.6–7.
- ^ Gadbery, p. 447.
- ^ Dowden, p. 43; Rutherford, p. 44; Long, pp. 58–62 (T 13), 154–157.
- ^ Long, pp. 61–62 (T 13 G), 156–157; Homeric Hymn to Hermes, 128–129.
- ^ Dowden, p. 43; Rutherford, p. 44; Long, pp. 59–60 (T 13 C), 154–155.
- ^ Pindar, Olympian 10.49.
- ^ Rutherford, p. 44; Long, pp. 58 (T 13 A), 154; Pindar, Olympian 5.5.
- ^ Dowden, p. 43; Rutherford, p. 47; Long, pp. 58–59 (T 13 B), 154; FGrH 31 F34a-b.
- ^ Rutherford, p. 45; Delos: Long, pp. 11, 87–90 (T 26), 182; Chalcedon: Long, pp. 56–57 (T 11 D), 217–218; Magnesia on the Maeander: Long, pp. 53–54 (T 7), 221–223; Leontinoi: Long, pp. 95–96 (T 32), p. 157.
- ^ Long, pp. 360–361, lists 54 Greek (and Roman) gods, including the thirteen Olympians mentioned above, who have been identified as members of one or more cultic groupings of twelve gods.
- ^ Dowden, p. 43; Rutherford, p. 47; Hard, p. 81; Long, pp. 58–59 (T 13 B), 141, 154; FGrH 31 F34a-b.
- The Laws 828 b-d.
- ^ "Greek mythology". Encyclopedia Americana. Vol. 13. 1993. p. 431.
- OCLC 1004059928.
- ISBN 9780877790426.
- ^ This chart is based upon Hesiod's Theogony, unless otherwise noted.
- ^ According to Homer, Iliad 1.570–579, 14.338, Odyssey 8.312, Hephaestus was apparently the son of Hera and Zeus, see Gantz, p. 74.
- ^ According to Hesiod, Theogony 927–929, Hephaestus was produced by Hera alone, with no father, see Gantz, p. 74.
- ^ According to Hesiod, Theogony 886–890, of Zeus' children by his seven wives, Athena was the first to be conceived, but the last to be born; Zeus impregnated Metis then swallowed her, later Zeus himself gave birth to Athena "from his head", see Gantz, pp. 51–52, 83–84.
- ^ According to Hesiod, Theogony 183–200, Aphrodite was born from Uranus' severed genitals, see Gantz, pp. 99–100.
- ^ According to Homer, Aphrodite was the daughter of Zeus (Iliad 3.374, 20.105; Odyssey 8.308, 320) and Dione (Iliad 5.370–71), see Gantz, pp. 99–100.
References
- ISBN 0-674-36281-0.
- Chadwick, John, The Mycenaean World, Cambridge University Press, 1976. ISBN 9780521290371.
- Dillon, Matthew, Girls and Women in Classical Greek Religion. London: Routledge. (2002). ISBN 0415202728.
- .
- Dowden, Ken, "Olympian Gods, Olympian Pantheon", in A Companion to Greek Religion, Daniel Ogden editor, John Wiley & Sons, 2010. ISBN 9781444334173.
- Gadbery, Laura M., "The Sanctuary of the Twelve Gods in the Athenian Agora: A Revised View", Hesperia 61 (1992), pp. 447–489.
- Gantz, Timothy, Early Greek Myth: A Guide to Literary and Artistic Sources, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996, Two volumes: ISBN 978-0-8018-5362-3(Vol. 2).
- ISBN 9780195300352.
- Hard, Robin (2004), The Routledge Handbook of Greek Mythology: Based on H.J. Rose's "Handbook of Greek Mythology", Psychology Press, 2004, ISBN 9780415186360. Google Books.
- .
- Hesiod, Theogony, in The Homeric Hymns and Homerica with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White, Cambridge, Massachusetts., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
- Homer, The Iliad with an English Translation by A. T. Murray, Ph.D., in two volumes. Cambridge, Massachusetts., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1924. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. – via Wikisource.
- Homer; The Odyssey with an English Translation by A. T. Murray, Ph.D., in two volumes. Cambridge, Massachusetts., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1919. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Vol. I , Vol. II at the Internet Archive.
- Homeric Hymn to Hermes (4), in The Homeric Hymns and Homerica with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White, Cambridge, Massachusetts., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
- Long, Charlotte R., The Twelve Gods of Greece and Rome, Brill Archive, Jan 1, 1987. Google Books.
- Morford, Mark P. O., Robert J. Lenardon, Classical Mythology, Eighth Edition, Oxford University Press, 2007. ISBN 978-0-19-530805-1.
- Müller, Karl Otfried, Ancient Art and Its Remains: Or, A Manual of the Archaeology of Art, translated by John Leitch, B. Quaritch, 1852.
- Ogden, Daniel "Introduction" to A Companion to Greek Religion, Daniel Ogden editor, John Wiley & Sons, 2010. ISBN 9781444334173.
- Pache, Corinne Ondine, "Gods, Greek" in The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece and Rome, Volume 3, Oxford University Press. 2010. ISBN 9780195170726.
- Pindar, Odes, Diane Arnson Svarlien. 1990.
- Plato, Laws in Plato in Twelve Volumes, Vols. 10 & 11 translated by R. G. Bury. Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1967 & 1968. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
- Rutherford, Ian, "Canonizing the Pantheon: the Dodekatheon in Greek Religion and its Origins" in The Gods of Ancient Greece: Identities and Transformations, editors Jan N. Bremmer, Andrew Erskine, Edinburgh University Press 2010. ISBN 978-0748637980. Online version.
- Shapiro, H. A., "Chapter 20: Olympian Gods at Home and Abroad" in A Companion to Greek Art, editors Tyler Jo Smith, Dimitris Plantzos, John Wiley & Sons, 2012. ISBN 9781118273371.
- Thomas, Edmund, "From the pantheon of the gods to the Pantheon of Rome" in Pantheons: Transformations of a Monumental Idea, editors Richard Wrigley, ISBN 9780754608080.
- Thucydides, Thucydides translated into English; with introduction, marginal analysis, notes, and indices. Volume 1., Benjamin Jowett. translator. Oxford. Clarendon Press. 1881. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.