Gods and Goddesses
Click on a god or goddess’s name below to find out about them and how their stories have been used in English literature:
Aphrodite (Roman name: Venus)
Aphrodite is the goddess of love, beauty and sexual rapture.
Apollo
The most widely revered and influential of Greek gods
Artemis (Roman name: Diana)
The virgin huntress
Athena (Roman name: Minerva)
Goddess of the ‘nobler’ aspects of war
Atlas
He bore the heavens upon his shoulders
Charites (Roman name: Gratiae or Graces)
The personification of grace and beauty in nature and culture.
Cronus (Roman name: Saturn)
Cronus overthrew his father to become ruler of the Universe, but was later usurped by his own son, Zeus.
Daphne
Personification of the laurel tree
Demeter (Roman name: Ceres)
Goddess of the harvest
Dionysus (Roman name: Bacchus)
God of wine, sexual rapture, and religious ecstasy
Erinyes (Roman name: The Furies)
The Erinyes are the goddesses of vengeance. They pursue and punish the guilty.
Eros (Roman name: Cupid)
God of love and sexual desire.
Greek Creation Myths
Explanatory myths about the creation of the universe and the birth of the gods and mankind.
Hades (Roman name: Pluto)
Ruler of the Underworld, Lord of the dead
Hebe (Roman name: Juventas)
The goddess of youth
Hephaestus (Roman name: Vulcan)
God of fire, volcanoes and metalworking; patron of blacksmiths.
Hera (Roman name: Juno)
Goddess of marriage and childbirth, Zeus’ main consort
Hermes (Roman name: Mercury)
Herald of the Olympian gods
Hestia (Roman name: Vesta)
Goddess of the hearth fire and domestic life
Medusa
Snake-haired gorgon who turned men to stone
Mount Olympus
Created by Zeus as the home of the Olympian Gods.
Narcissus and Echo
The beautiful youth who became a byword for self-obsession, and the nymph whose story explained the existence of echoes
Orion
The legendary hunter and giant who was turned into a constellation
Pan (Roman name: Faunus)
God of fertility and unbridled sexuality
Pegasus
Legendary winged horse
Persephone (Roman name: Proserpine)
Beautiful goddess whose abduction into the underworld explains the changing seasons
Poseidon (Roman name: Neptune)
God of the sea and earthquakes.
Prometheus
Endured eternal punishment for stealing fire from the gods to give to Man
Scylla and Charybdis
Mythological sea monsters that imperilled passing ships
Tartarus
The lowest region of the underworld, where evildoers were imprisoned.
Uranus
God of the Sky and first Ruler of the Universe