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Gods of Olympus

The Olympians, heroes, and monsters of ancient Greece, drawn from Hesiod, Homer, and the classical mythographers.

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31 entries

A

AeolusKeeper of the WindsKeeper of the winds on the floating island of Aiolia. He gave Odysseus a leather bag holding every gale but one — and the crew opened it.DeityAphroditeGoddess of Love and BeautyBorn from sea foam or fathered by Zeus — the goddess of desire, whose power over gods and mortals starts wars as easily as marriages.DeityApolloGod of Prophecy, Music and the BowTwin of Artemis, lord of Delphi. God of prophecy, music, healing and plague — the far-shooter whose arrows bring both the cure and the sickness.DeityAresGod of WarThe Greek god of war as slaughter rather than strategy — hated by his own father, beaten by Athena, and worshipped anyway on the edges of the Greek world.DeityArtemisGoddess of the Hunt and the WildVirgin huntress, mistress of animals, twin of Apollo. Protector of the young and the wild — and a goddess whose arrows kill without warning.DeityAthenaGoddess of Wisdom and WarGoddess of wisdom, strategy and craft, born fully armed from the head of Zeus. Patron of Athens, of heroes, and of Odysseus above all.Deity

C

CalypsoNymph of OgygiaImmortal nymph of the hidden island of Ogygia. She kept Odysseus for seven years and offered him deathlessness; he chose a mortal wife and a rocky island.DeityCerberusThe Hound of HadesThe many-headed hound who guards the gates of the underworld. He fawns on everyone who enters and devours anyone who tries to leave.CreatureCirceEnchantress of AiaiaGoddess-enchantress of the island of Aiaia. She turned Odysseus' crew into swine, then became the one guide who told him how to reach the dead.DeityThe CyclopesThe Round-Eyed OnesThe round-eyed ones — three divine smiths who forged Zeus's thunderbolt, a race of lawless one-eyed shepherds, and the builders of walls no man could lift.Creature

D

DemeterGoddess of the Grain and the HarvestGoddess of grain and the mother who stopped the world's harvest to get her daughter back. Founder of the Eleusinian Mysteries.DeityDionysusGod of Wine, Ecstasy and the TheatreTwice-born god of wine, madness and the mask. He dissolves the boundary between god and beast, and destroys the cities that refuse him.Deity

H

HadesLord of the UnderworldLord of the underworld and of the wealth beneath the earth. Not a devil — a grim, lawful king whose only rule is that no one leaves.DeityHeraQueen of the GodsQueen of the gods. Zeus's sister, wife and most dangerous opponent — goddess of marriage in cult, and in Homer the one Olympian he is genuinely wary of.DeityHermesMessenger of the GodsMessenger of the gods and guide of the dead. Patron of travellers, traders, heralds and thieves, and the only Olympian who crosses every boundary at will.Deity

I

IthacaKingdom of OdysseusThe rocky island kingdom of Odysseus and the destination of the Odyssey — a small, goat-grazed place worth ten years of sailing to get back to.Realm

L

The Lotus-EatersThe Flower-Eating MenThe flower-eating men — Homer's gentlest disaster, a people whose food is no weapon and yet erases the desire to go home.Concept

M

MedusaThe GorgonThe Gorgon. The only mortal one of three sisters, whose gaze turned men to stone and whose severed head became the most powerful protective emblem in Greek art.CreatureMinotaurBull of the LabyrinthBull of the labyrinth. The bull-headed son of a Cretan queen, hidden in a maze and fed Athenian children until Theseus followed a thread in.CreatureMount OlympusHome of the GodsHome of the gods. A real snow-capped mountain in northern Greece that Homer made into a cloudless upper world where the twelve immortals hold court.Realm

O

OdysseusKing of IthacaKing of Ithaca and the man of many turns. Homer's cleverest hero, who took ten years to sail home from Troy and had to fight for his own house.Hero

P

PenelopeQueen of IthacaQueen of Ithaca and wife of Odysseus. She held a kingdom together for twenty years with a loom, a riddle, and a bow contest nobody could win.HeroPersephoneQueen of the UnderworldThe girl carried off in a chariot and the dread queen of the dead. Persephone divides her year between the grain above and the throne below.DeityPolyphemusThe CyclopsThe one-eyed Cyclops of Odyssey 9. A cave-dwelling giant and son of Poseidon, blinded by a man who called himself Nobody.CreaturePoseidonGod of the SeaGod of the sea, earthquakes and horses. Brother of Zeus, wielder of the trident, and the divine enemy who keeps Odysseus from reaching home.Deity

S

Scylla and CharybdisThe Strait of No Good ChoiceThe twin sea-terrors of Odyssey 12 — a six-headed cliff monster and an all-swallowing whirlpool, set close enough that avoiding one means meeting the other.CreatureThe SirensSingers of the Deadly SongBird-bodied singers of the Odyssey whose song promises knowledge, not romance. Odysseus heard them lashed to his mast, his crew rowing with waxed ears.Creature

T

TelemachusPrince of IthacaPrince of Ithaca and son of Odysseus. The Odyssey opens with his coming of age: a boy with no father learning how to be a man in a hall full of enemies.HeroTiresiasThe Blind Seer of ThebesThe blind prophet of Thebes who lived seven generations, spent seven years as a woman, and kept his mind intact among the dead.HeroThe TitansThe Elder Gods Before OlympusThe twelve children of Sky and Earth who ruled before Zeus. Cronus, Rhea, Oceanus, Prometheus' line — and the ten-year war that buried them in Tartarus.Concept

Z

ZeusKing of the GodsKing of the gods and lord of the sky, thunder and justice. He overthrew his own father, divided the universe by lot, and guaranteed the laws of hospitality.Deity