Chapter 1 The Olympian Gods The Olympian gods

Chapter 1 The Olympian Gods

The Olympian gods Roman name Greek name Jupiter Zeus king of the gods Neptune Poseidon god of the sea Pluto Hades god of the underworld, the region inhabited by souls of the dead Juno Hera queen of the gods, goddess of marriage Venus Aphrodite goddess of love Apollo god of prophecy, music, archery and disease Mars Ares god of war Diana Artemis goddess of hunting, childbirth and young women Minerva Athena goddess of wisdom, weaving, and war Ceres Demeter goddess of agriculture Bacchus Dionysus god of wine, fertility and frenzy Vulcan Hephaestus the blacksmith god of fire Mercury Hermes the messenger of the gods and the god of travellers and thieves Vesta Hestia goddess of the hearth and home

Jupiter, king of the gods ● Jupiter became king of the gods after killing his father, Saturn ○ ○ ○ ○ Saturn heard a prophecy that one of his children would take his place Saturn ate each of his children when Jupiter was born, Saturn’s wife tricked him into swallowing a stone instead of the baby Jupiter grew up in secret Jupiter and his mother tricked Saturn into drinking a potion that made him vomit up all of his children Jupiter and his siblings defeated Saturn Jupiter, Neptune and Pluto ruled over a section of the world each

Trouble on Mount Olympus: Juno and Vulcan ● ● ● Juno was the wife of Jupiter but Jupiter was not a faithful husband Juno decided to have a child on her own and gave birth to Vulcan unlike the other Olympians, Vulcan was ugly Vulcan was very clever; he became the god of fire and metalworking Vulcan and the Cyclopes made weapons for the gods Jupiter threw Vulcan out from Mount Olympus; different myths give different reasons for this

Vengeful gods ● ● ● Vulcan was angry because he had been thrown out from Mount Olympus in revenge Vulcan made a special throne which trapped Juno Vulcan said he would only release Juno if he could marry Venus Jupiter had to agree; Venus was angry because she loved Mars Venus was unfaithful

Wisdom and war: Minerva and Mars ● one of Jupiter’s affairs produced Minerva, the goddess of wisdom, war and crafts ○ ○ ○ Jupiter had swallowed Metis, when Metis was pregnant with Minerva Metis gave birth to Minerva inside Jupiter Metis and Minerva gave Jupiter terrible headaches Vulcan hit Jupiter in the head with an axe Minerva sprang forth, fully armed and ready for war

The power of the gods ● Romans believed that the gods were responsible for many things, for example, Ceres, the goddess of agriculture, was believed to be responsible for the seasons; ○ ○ ○ Proserpina, the daughter of Ceres was kidnapped by Pluto to be his bride Ceres searched for her daughter and did not attend to the growing of crops Jupiter finally decreed that Proserpina would spend part of the year in the Underworld with Pluto and part of the year with her mother; this explains why crops do not grow for part of the year ● some gods had power over a large number of different things at the same time