Greek Mythology
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Basic Information

Greek Mythology is the body of Myth and Legend of Ancient Greece.

Major themes of Greek Myth:

  • Generational Conflict: Uranus is castrated by his son, Cronus. Cronus is killed by his son, Zeus. This leads to the Titanomachy, a war between the gods and the Titans (Cronos's generation, filling the role of primal gods as well as giants). Zeus in turn sidesteps multiple prophecies concerning his own defeat at the hands of his children. Humans and gods compete frequently.
  • War: The birth of the gods lead directly to the world's first war. Wars pop up all over Greek Myth, and the Trojan War is the setting of the entire Epic Cycle.
  • Morality: It is from the Greek myths that we coin the term/trope Aesop, as many of the myths (especially those written by a fellow named Aesop) were intended as allegories to teach proper moral behavior. It's worth noting, however, that the Ancient Greek's idea of morality doesn't really match our modern concepts of the same. (Actually, it didn't always match the Ancient Greek's ideas either; some of the later philosophers worried that the older tales of randy gods didn't really inspire awe and reverence and so tried to downplay them):
    • Heroes and Greatness: The myths immortalize many great warriors, along with a few great artists, thinkers, and kings. However, some of the depictions of these heroes do not match our modern concept of heroism. Example: Achilles, "hero" of the Trojan War, is moody, vengeful, and self-centered.
      • The Tragic Flaw: Many of these heroes had a flaw or character defect which led them to destruction. Often this was hubris, or an overweening pride.
    • Kinky Sex: The greeks didn't shy away from many sexual topics that are largely taboo in our era. Zeus in particular is depicted as taking nonhuman forms to commit acts of adultery and rape, yet he's one of the "good guys" in many of the myths. See also Historical And Cultural Perspectives On Zoophilia. Sometimes this weird sex would result in weird births, like when Athena burst from Zeus' head.
  • Fate: Prophecy and Destiny figure strongly into many of the tales.
  • Transformation: There's a lot of shape-shifting in the myths, much of it involuntary. The gods transform people to punish them. The gods (especially Zeus) transform themselves for *ahem* other reasons. The Roman poet Ovid entitled his retelling of many of the old Greek myths "Metamorphoses".
  • Conflicting Truths: The greeks had more than one mythological origin of man, more than one list of the 12 Olympians, more than one version of the Trojan War myth, more than one version of the cyclops, etc. Clearly, a little contradiction in their myths wasn't viewed as a major cause of concern. See also Interpretatio Graeca, Bisociation and Syncretism for more on the subject.

For a list of tropes relevant to Greek Myth, see Classical Mythology.


Mythological Characters of Greek Myth

For their correspondences to Roman Mythology, see the Interpretatio Graeca page.

Twelve Olympians

Here's a list of the primary gods and goddesses of Greek myth. It's frequently stated that there are 12 gods and goddesses who make their home on Mount Olympus, aligning them with the months of the year and the signs of the zodiac. However, the sources don't always agree who those twelve are…

These 11 are almost always on lists of the 12 Olympians.

  • Aphrodite - "Goddess of love, beauty, desire, and fertility."
  • Apollo - "The Sun God; god of light, healing, music, poetry, prophecy, archery and truth."
  • Ares - "God of war, frenzy, hatred, and bloodshed."
  • Artemis - "Goddess of the hunt, of maidens, and the moon."
  • Athena - "Goddess of wisdom, crafts, and strategic battle."
  • Demeter - "Goddess of fertility, agriculture, nature, and the seasons."
  • Hephaestus - "Blacksmith to the Gods; god of fire and the forges."
  • Hera - "Queen of the Gods and of the heavens; goddess of women, marriage, and motherhood."
  • Hermes - "Messenger of the Gods; god of commerce, speed, thieves, and trade."
  • Poseidon - "Lord of the Sea; god of the seas, earthquakes, created horses."
  • Zeus - "King of the Gods and ruler of Mount Olympus; god of the sky, thunder, and justice."

The 12th Olympian is usually (especially on modern lists) one of these two:

  • Dionysus - "God of wine, parties, and merriment."
  • Hestia - "Goddess of the hearth and home."

But some ancient sources included one or more of the following on the list:

  • Alpheus - River god and creepy nymph-chaser. His river was the one Heracles used to clean the Augean Stables.
  • Asklepios - "God of medicine and healing."
  • the Charites - "Goddesses of charm, beauty, nature, human creativity and fertility."
  • Cronus - "Titan; father of Zeus."
  • Hades - "Lord of the Dead; god of the Underworld and earthly (gems and precious metals) wealth." More typically presented as the head of the Cthonic faction than an Olympian.
  • Hebe - "Goddess of youth, and cupbearer."
  • Helios - "Titan; Personification of the Sun."
  • Heracles - "Greatest hero of the Greek myths."
  • Persephone - "Goddess of the spring and death, daughter of Demeter." Bride of Hades and thus also, frequently, a Cthonic deity.
  • Rhea - "Titaness; mother of Zeus."

Other Gods and Titans

This is a list of additional divinities, deities, gods, titans, primordials, cthonics, supernatural beings, anthropomorphic personifications, etc, in Greek Mythology:

  • Adrestia - “She who cannot be escaped”, goddess of revolt and retribution, affiliated with Nemesis
  • Aether (mythology) - Personification of the upper sky and the air reserved for the gods to breathe
  • Alpheus - River god and creepy nymph-chaser. His river was the one Heracles used to clean the Augean Stables.
  • Amphitrite - Queen of the Sea. Wife of Poseidon. Goddess of calm seas and safe passage.
  • Ananke - Primordial goddess of inevitability. Mother of the Fates. Carries a spindle.
  • Anemoi - Minor gods of specific wind directions.
  • Anteros - The god of “I love you, too.”
  • Aphrodite - "Goddess of love, beauty, desire, and fertility."
  • Apollo - "The Sun God; god of light, healing, music, poetry, prophecy, archery and truth."
  • Ares - "God of war, frenzy, hatred, and bloodshed."
  • Artemis - "Goddess of the hunt, of maidens, and the moon."
  • Asclepius / Asklepios - God of medicine, bearer of the snake-entwined Rod of Asclepius
  • Athena - "Goddess of wisdom, crafts, and strategic battle."
  • Atropos - eldest of the three fates (see moirae)
  • Bia - Personification of violent force and raw anger. She chained Prometheus to the rock.
  • Boreas - God of the North Wind
  • Chaos
  • Charites - Three minor "Goddesses of charm, beauty, nature, human creativity and fertility."
  • Charon - Psychopomp who ferries the newly dead across the River Styx and River Acheron
  • Chloris
  • Chronos - "Personification of time."
  • Circe - sometimes credited as a Goddess, other times as "merely" a powerful Enchantress
  • Clotho - one of the three fates (see moirae)
  • Cratos - "Personification of power."
  • Cronus - "Titan; father of Zeus."
  • Cybele - Wild imported Phrygian earth goddess. Her priests were eunuchs.
  • Cyclops - One-eyed giants that smithed Zeus' thunderbolts
  • Deimos - God of dread on the eve of battle. Twin brother of Phobos. Son of Ares.
  • Demeter - "Goddess of fertility, agriculture, nature, and the seasons."
  • Dione - "Mother of Aphrodite by Zeus."
  • Dionysus - "God of wine, parties, and merriment."
  • Echidna (mythology) - "Mother of Monsters"
  • Eileithyia - "Goddess of childbirth; daughter of Hera and Zeus."
  • Empusa - a shape-shifter with one leg made of copper, she works for Hecate
  • Enyo - "Sister of War". Goddess of war who destroyed entire cities.
  • Eos - "Personification of Dawn."
  • Erebus - primordial god of darkness; also, a region of the Underworld
  • Erinyes - the furies, spirits of vengeance
  • Eris - "Goddess of Discord."
  • Eros - "God of lust and desire."
  • Eurus - the east wind or southeast wind
  • Gaia
  • Galanthis - helped birth Heracles. Hera turned her into a weasel
  • Ganymede - "Cupbearer of the gods palace at Olympus."
  • Glycon
  • Hades - "God of the underworld and death, brother of Zeus. Lord of the Dead; god of the Underworld and earthly (gems and precious metals) wealth."
  • Harmonia
  • Hebe - "Goddess of youth, and cupbearer."
  • Hecate - Triplicate goddess of magic.
  • Helios - "Titan; Personification of the Sun."
  • Hemera
  • Hephaestus - "Blacksmith to the Gods; god of fire and the forges."
  • Hera - "Queen of the Gods and of the heavens; goddess of women, marriage, and motherhood."
  • Heracles - "Greatest hero of the Greek myths."
  • Hermaphrodite
  • Hermes - "Messenger of the Gods; god of commerce, speed, thieves, and trade."
  • Hesperus
  • Hestia - "Goddess of the hearth and home."
  • Horae - "Wardens of Olympus."
  • Hygeia
  • Hypnos
  • Irene
  • Iris - "Personification of the Rainbow, also the messenger of Olympus along with Hermes."
  • Lachesis third of the three fates (see moirae)
  • Leto - "Titaness; the mother of Apollo and Artemis."
  • Moirae - an instance of the Three Ladies.
  • Mormo - a mysterious figure called upon by certain occult practices in the ancient world
  • Morpheus - "God of Dreams."
  • Muses - "Nine ladies of science and arts."
  • Nemesis - "Greek goddess of retribution and revenge."
  • Nike - "Goddess of victory."
  • Notus
  • Nyx
  • Ouranos
  • Paean - "Universal healer."
  • Palaemon
  • Pan - "God of the wild, shepherds, nature, and animals."
  • Persephone - "Goddess of the spring and death. Daughter of Demeter and wife of Hades, her trips to the underworld created winter."
  • Pheme
  • Phoebe - titaness of the moon or an epithet of any moon goddesss except Hecate.
  • Phobos
  • Phosphorus - often an epithet of Hecate
  • Poseidon - "Lord of the Sea; god of the seas, earthquakes, created horses."
  • Priapis
  • Rhea - "Titaness; mother of Zeus."
  • Selene - Moon goddess, personification of the moon, also called Mene, niece of the Titaness Phoebe and sometimes called by the same name.
  • Semele
  • Tartarus
  • Thanatos
  • The Furies - spirits of vengeance, ironically known as the Eumenidies or "kindly ones".
  • Themis
  • Tyche
  • Zelus – "Emulation."
  • Zephyrus
  • Zeus - "King of the Gods and ruler of Mount Olympus; god of the sky, thunder, and justice."

Heroes and their most famous adventures


Non-Human Species in Greek Myth

See also Mythological Creatures and Fantasy Races.

Children of Echidna

By some accounts, the following menagerie all had the same mother (Echidna). Some or all of them also had the same father, usually Typhon.

Intelligent Non-Human Species in Greek Myth

Fantastical Beasts of Greek Mythology

These are in addition to the children of Echidna (above)


Treasures of Greek Mythology


Greek Mythology as Religion

Religions and Cults

Rites and Practices

Sacred Places

Other Traditions


Greek Mythology as History or Story

Written Sources

Ages of Man

  • Golden Age - the rule of Cronus, and the origin of the Gods. For man, it is a time of peace, and men lived to old age. Spirits of the dead live on as Guardians.
  • Silver Age - the rule of Zeus. Humans were infants for 100 years, and only briefly as adults. Zeus destroyed mankind for their impiety. Spirits of dead went to the underworld, where they are blessed.
  • Bronze Age - The new men were hard, and focused on war. Homes were made of bronze. Their spirits went to the underworld are unnamed.
  • Heroic Age - Age of demigods and heroes, an improvement upon the Bronze Age. Heroes died and went to Elysium. The Age Homer wrote about.
  • Iron Age - The Age that Hesiod lived and wrote in. Marked by toil and misery, dishonor, the loss of hospitality, and the abandonment of humanity by the Gods.

Cross-Mythological Pollinization

The Greeks had a habit of assuming everybody elses Gods were simply avatars of their own gods, and would rename them as such. See Interpretatio Graeca for the details, but the concept can be summed up simply as: the Egyptian god Amon had certain traits of the Greek god Zeus, so the Greeks decided that Amon was a facet of Zeus. Then then applied that principle to every deity and religion they encountered. This sort of Syncretism allows the practitioner of the ancient Greek religion to tolerate foreign gods, rather than worry that expansionism might anger the local dieties.

Greek Myth, along with Roman Mythology, is the bulk of Classical Mythology. This is because Greek Mythology was largely incorporated into Roman Mythology, via a process called Interpretatio Romana, whereby the Romans too would assume that local gods were aspects of their own deities. For example, the Romans built their own god Jupiter on the existing Greek myths of Zeus, who as we saw had already borrowed elements of Amon. Most Roman myth is based heavily on Greek Myth, and Etruscan Mythology, but also has elements incorporated from other cultures the Roman Empire conquered or traded with.

Classical mythology largely takes this bissociation in stride, with many modern writers not really caring to distinguish between Zeus and Jupiter. To the modern point of view, it's all Classical Mythology. Strangely enough, most modern writers still usually distinguish between Zeus and Amon despite the Greeks and Romans thinking they were basically the same god. Likewise, Heracles and Thor were sometimes combined by the ancients via something called Interpretatio Germanica, but our modern viewpoint sees them as distinctly different characters.


Tropes:

A list of Tropes used in myth can be found on the Classical Mythology page.


Sources

Most of the one-line summaries of the Gods were quoted directly from Wikipedia pages, especially the page on the 12 Olympians.


Game and Story Use

  • Suggests more than one campaign setting:
    • A campaign set in Ancient Greece will see Greek Mythology as an active Religion. The GM can decide for their own campaign whether the myth is "just myth" or a higher truth. Does any of the glory of the early ages remain? Will any of the historical personages of ancient greece make a cameo?
    • The Heroic Age is a natural campaign setting, probably more exciting than the historical reality. This is an era where the gods are still capable of meddling in the affairs of man, but prefer to act via mortal heroes. The biggest event of the era is the Trojan War, which deprived all of Greece of a generation of men and upset the political and power structure of the whole world.
    • Various parallels to classical mythology can be made in any setting. You could have the Illiad in space, with space amazons and the Trojan Space Station.
    • For a different take, that blends the Celts and the Greeks, see Celtic Troy.
  • Is Interpretatio Graeca accurate or foolhardy? Are the gods merely Mythago who continually reinvent and reform themselves to accommodate the latest interpretations? Or are Zeus and Amon distinct individuals, and somewhat annoyed at how often they get lumped together?
    • A campaign set in the parts of Greece that end up conquered by the Roman Empire, could feature some conflict between the "old" local priests and the "newer" or "imported" Roman counterparts. Or the conflict may be between the Gods. Jupiter vs Zeus in a secret war. Maybe the battle is between the Priests, who cast it as a war of Gods.
  • Hide the women! Zeus is on the prowl!
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