Immortals

The Greeks created images of their deities for many purposes. A temple would house the statue of a
god or goddess, or multiple deities, and might be decorated with relief scenes depicting myths.
Divine images were common on coins. Drinking cups and other vessels were painted with scenes
from Greek myths.

Major gods and goddesses

Deity Description

NAMA Aphrodite Syracuse.jpg Aphrodite (Ἀφροδίτη, Aphroditē)

Goddess of beauty, love, desire, and pleasure. In Hesiod's Theogony (188–206), she was born from
sea-foam and the severed genitals of Uranus; in Homer's Iliad (5.370–417), she is daughter of Zeus
and Dione. She was married to Hephaestus, but bore him no children. She had many lovers, most
notably Ares, to whom she bore Harmonia, Phobos, and Deimos. She was also a lover to Adonis and
Anchises, to whom she bore Aeneas. She is usually depicted as a naked or semi-nude beautiful
woman. Her symbols include the magical girdle, myrtle, roses, and the scallop shell. Her sacred
animals include doves and sparrows. Her Roman counterpart is Venus.[1]

Pothos, lira, dan angsa (inv 6253 MANN).jpg Apollo (Ἀπόλλων, Apóllōn)

God of music, arts, knowledge, healing, plague, prophecy, poetry, manly beauty, and archery. He is
the son of Zeus and Leto, and the twin brother of Artemis. Both Apollo and Artemis use a bow and
arrow. Apollo is depicted as young, beardless, handsome and athletic. In myth, he can be cruel and
destructive, and his love affairs are rarely happy. He is often accompanied by the Muses. His most
famous temple is in Delphi, where he established his oracular shrine. His signs and symbols include
the laurel wreath, bow and arrow, and lyre. His sacred animals include roe deer, swans, and pythons.
Some late Roman and Greek poetry and mythography identifies him as a sun-god, equivalent to
Roman Sol and Greek Helios.[2]

Ares Canope Villa Adriana b.jpg Ares (Ἄρης, Árēs)

God of courage, war, bloodshed, and violence. The son of Zeus and Hera, he was depicted as a
beardless youth, either nude with a helmet and spear or sword, or as an armed warrior. Homer
portrays him as moody and unreliable, and as being the most unpopular god on earth and Olympus
(Iliad 5.890–1). He generally represents the chaos of war in contrast to Athena, a goddess of military
strategy and skill. Ares is known for cuckolding his brother Hephaestus, conducting an affair with his
wife Aphrodite. His sacred animals include vultures, venomous snakes, dogs, and boars. His Roman
counterpart Mars by contrast was regarded as the dignified ancestor of the Roman people.[3]

Diana of Versailles.jpg Artemis (Ἄρτεμις, Ártemis)

Virgin goddess of the hunt, wilderness, animals, the Moon and young girls. Both she and Apollo are
archery gods. She is the daughter of Zeus and Leto, and twin sister of Apollo. In art she is often
depicted as a young woman dressed in a short knee-length chiton and equipped with a silver hunting
bow and a quiver of arrows. Her attributes include hunting knives and spears, animal pelts, deer and
other wild animals. Her sacred animal is a deer. Her Roman counterpart is Diana.[4]

Mattei Athena Louvre Ma530 n2.jpg Athena (Ἀθηνᾶ, Athēnâ)

Goddess of reason, wisdom, intelligence, skill, peace, warfare, battle strategy, and handicrafts.
According to most traditions, she was born from Zeus's forehead, fully formed and armored. She is
depicted as being crowned with a crested helm, armed with shield and spear, and wearing the aegis
over a long dress. Poets describe her as "grey-eyed" or having especially bright, keen eyes. She is a
special patron of heroes such as Odysseus. She is the patron of the city Athens (from which she takes
her name) and is attributed to various inventions in arts and literature. Her symbol is the olive tree.
She is commonly shown as being accompanied by her sacred animal, the owl. Her Roman
counterpart is Minerva.[5]

Demeter Altemps Inv8546.jpg Demeter (Δημήτηρ, Dēmḗtēr)

Goddess of grain, agriculture, harvest, growth, and nourishment. Demeter, whose Roman
counterpart is Ceres, is a daughter of Cronus and Rhea, and was swallowed and then regurgitated by
her father. She is a sister of Zeus, by whom she bore Persephone, who is also known as Kore, i.e.
"the girl." One of the central myths associated with Demeter involves Hades' abduction of
Persephone and Demeter's lengthy search for her. Demeter is one of the main deities of the
Eleusinian Mysteries, in which the rites seemed to center around Demeter's search for and reunion
with her daughter, which symbolized both the rebirth of crops in spring and the rebirth of the
initiates after death. She is depicted as a mature woman, often crowned and holding sheafs of wheat
and a torch.[6] Her symbols are the cornucopia, wheat-ears, the winged serpent, and the lotus staff.
Her sacred animals include pigs and snakes.

Dionysos Louvre Ma87 n2.jpg Dionysus (Διόνυσος, Diónusos)/Bacchus (Βάκχος, Bákkhos)

God of wine, fruitfulness, parties, festivals, madness, chaos, drunkenness, vegetation, ecstasy, and
the theater. He is the twice-born son of Zeus and Semele, in that Zeus snatched him from his
mother's womb and stitched Dionysus into his own thigh and carried him until he was ready to be
born. In art he is depicted as either an older bearded god (particularly before 430 BC) or an
effeminate, long-haired youth (particularly after 430 BC). His attributes include the thyrsus, a
drinking cup, the grape vine, and a crown of ivy. He is often in the company of his thiasos, a group of
attendants including satyrs, maenads, and his old tutor Silenus. The consort of Dionysus was
Ariadne. It was once held that Dionysius was a later addition to the Greek pantheon, but the
discovery of Linear B tablets confirm his status as a deity from an early period. Bacchus was another
name for him in Greek, and came into common usage among the Romans.[7] His sacred animals
include dolphins, serpents, tigers, and donkeys.

Hades-et-Cerberus-III.jpg Hades (ᾍδης, Háidēs)/Pluto (Πλούτων, Ploutōn)

King of the underworld and the dead. He is also a god of wealth. His consort is Persephone. His
attributes are the drinking horn or cornucopia, key, sceptre, and the three-headed dog Cerberus. His
sacred animals include the screech owl. He was one of three sons of Cronus and Rhea, and thus
sovereign over one of the three realms of the universe, the underworld. As a chthonic god, however,
his place among the Olympians is ambiguous. In the mystery religions and Athenian literature,
Plouton ("the Rich one") was his preferred name, because of the idea that all riches came from the
earth. The term Hades was used in this literature to refer to the underworld itself. The Romans
translated Plouton as Dis Pater ("the Rich Father") or Pluto.[8]

Vulcan Coustou Louvre MR1814.jpg Hephaestus (Ἥφαιστος, Hḗphaistos)

God of fire, metalworking, and crafts. Either the son of Zeus and Hera or Hera alone, he is the smith
of the gods and the husband of the adulterous Aphrodite. He was usually depicted as a bearded,
crippled man with hammer, tongs, and anvil, and sometimes riding a donkey. His sacred animals
include the donkey, the guard dog, and the crane. Among his creations was the armor of Achilles.
Hephaestus used the fire of the forge as a creative force, but his Roman counterpart Vulcan was
feared for his destructive potential and associated with the volcanic power of the earth.

Hera Campana Louvre Ma2283.jpg Hera (Ἥρα, Hḗra)

Queen of the gods, and goddess of women, marriage, childbirth, heirs, kings, and empires. She is the
goddess of the sky, the wife and sister of Zeus, and the daughter of Cronus and Rhea. She was
usually depicted as a regal woman in the prime of her life, wearing a diadem and veil and holding a
lotus-tipped staff. Although she is the goddess of marriage, Zeus's many infidelities drive her to
jealousy and vengefulness. Her sacred animals include the heifer, the peacock, and the cuckoo. Her
Roman counterpart is Juno.

Hermes Ingenui Pio-Clementino Inv544.jpg Hermes (Ἑρμῆς, Hērmês)

God of boundaries, travel, trade, communication, language, writing, cunning and thieves. Hermes
was also responsible for protecting livestock and presided over the spheres associated with fertility,
music, luck, and deception.[9] The son of Zeus and Maia, Hermes is the messenger of the gods, and a
psychopomp who leads the souls of the dead into the afterlife. He was depicted either as a
handsome and athletic beardless youth, or as an older bearded man. His attributes include the
herald's wand or caduceus, winged sandals, and a traveler's cap. His sacred animals include the
tortoise. His Roman counterpart is Mercury.

Hestia Giustiniani.jpg Hestia (Ἑστία, Hestía)

Virgin goddess of the hearth, home, domesticity and chastity. She is a daughter of Rhea and Cronus,
and a sister of Zeus. Not often identifiable in Greek art, she appeared as a modestly veiled woman.
Her symbols are the hearth and kettle. She plays little role in Greek myths, and although she is
omitted in some lists of the twelve Olympians in favour of Dionysus, no ancient tale tells of her
abdicating or giving her seat to Dionysus.[10] Her Roman counterpart Vesta, however, was a major
deity of the Roman state.
AMI - Isis-Persephone.jpg Persephone (Περσεφόνη, Persephónē)

Queen of the Underworld, wife of Hades and daughter of Demeter and Zeus. Her symbols include
the pomegranate, grain, torches, wheat and the asphodelus. After her abduction by Hades, she was
forced to split the year between the world of the dead with her husband and the world of the living
with her mother. She was worshipped in conjunction with Demeter, especially in the Eleusinian
Mysteries. In ancient art she is usually depicted as a young woman, usually in the scene of her
abduction.