Zeus

Roman Name: Jupiter

The Greeks loved to tell stories about the magical family who ruled the heavens. The Greeks truly believed that their gods could interfere in their lives, to help or hinder them. According to Greek myth, Zeus was the king of all the gods. Zeus had two brothers and three sisters. When their father died, the boys - Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades - divided the world up between themselves. Zeus took all of the heavens, Poseidon took the sea, and Hades took the underworld. Each was quite content with their selection. Zeus had a very jealous wife named Hera. He also had a whole bunch of kids. Zeus was very fond of all his children. Each of his children had special magical powers. Zeus had more powers than anyone. Zeus could throw his voice, and sound like anybody. He could shape shift, and look like anybody. In fact, he was so good at shape shifting that he could shape shift into the form of an animal. He could throw lightning bolts. His horse, Pegasus, carried his lightning bolts for him. Zeus had a quick temper, a big sense of humor, and lots of girlfriends. He was not afraid of anything except Hera, his wife.

Poseidon

Roman Name: Neptune

Poseidon was the Lord of the Sea. His brothers were Zeus - the king of all the gods, and Hades - the king of the underworld. Poseidon was a good looking fellow. He had deep blue eyes and streaming green hair. He was a restless fellow, always on the move. Poseidon was very powerful. He could raise his hand and a new island would appear! The Greeks were terrified of Poseidon. All the Greeks, but especially those who lived in coastal towns, built a temple to honor Poseidon. They brought special gifts to the temple every day, hoping to keep him happy. Sometimes it worked. Sometimes it didn't. Poseidon was very moody. Poseidon had many wives. But his main wife was not jealous, so Poseidon did not have the problems at home that Zeus did.

Hades

Hades and Zeus were brothers.

Roman Name: Pluto

Hades had a seat on Mount Olympus, the magical mountain on which all the main gods, the Olympians, lived. But Hades did not live on Mount Olympus. When the three sons of Cronos divided up the world, Zeus took the sky, Poseidon took the sea, and Hades took the underworld. Zeus became the king of the gods. Poseidon married happily. Hades was content, living in the Underworld. Hades was NOT the lord of death. His job was to run the Underworld. He was a good ruler. Parts of the Underworld were very nice, like the Elysian Fields, where heroes dwelled after they died. Parts were not so nice. Those were for people who were not so nice during their lifetime. You might think Hades would be terribly lonely, surrounded by the souls of the dead. But he wasn't lonely. Not at all. His brother Zeus visited, as did his nephews Apollo, Hermes, and Ares. Hades came up to the surface now and then, if he had to be on Mount Olympus for a meeting of the gods or something. The truth was, Hades preferred the Underworld. It was home. Hades had everything he needed. He had an invisible helmet, which he liked very much. He had a golden chariot, which was his pride and joy. He had his faithful and deeply loved companion, his three-headed dog, Cerberus. He was perfectly content. At least he was content, until he fell in love with the beautiful Persephone. But that's a different story. If you wish to read it, see the links below.

Artemis

Roman Name: Diana Artemis was the daughter of Zeus and Leto. She was Apollo's twin sister. Artemis was very different from her brother. To took a lot to get Apollo angry. He was usually pretty gentle and full of warmth. But Artemis was nearly always cold and pitiless. The only thing Artemis loved besides her family were her floppy-eared dogs. Artemis was the goddess of the hunt and the goddess of the moon.

Pegasus, the Flying Horse

Pegasus, the flying horse, was the son of Poseidon, king of the ocean, and Medusa, a horrible monster with snakes for hair. Yet the stories of Pegasus are wonderful and warm. Some tell how Pegasus carried wounded Greek soldier from battle. Many people tried to kidnap this famous horse. Some succeeded. But the gods always intervened, always on the side of Pegasus, and always to the disadvantage of whomever had kidnapped him. Ultimately, after many adventures, Pegasus found a home on Mount Olympus. He became the thundering horse Zeus rode in the stars.

Eros

Roman Name: Eros was the son of Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty. Cupid When Eros shot his little arrows into an unwary victim, that victim fell in love with the very next person they saw! You would not think the gods would need help falling in love, as they seemed to do that all the time. But his arrows worked on mortals as well as deities, which, according to myth, caused the Greeks all kinds of trouble!

Hera

Roman Name: Juno

Hera was married to Zeus. She was the queen of all the gods, and also the goddess of marriage. Hera was very jealous of her famous and powerful husband, Zeus. Hera was rarely nice to the many children Zeus had by other mothers. There are many myths about Hera's jealously, anger, and revenge. Other myths share stories about Hera's servant, Argus. Argus had 100 bright eyes all over his body. He was a great guard because he never closed more than half his eyes at one time!

Hestia

Roman Name: Vesta

Hestia was the goddess of heath and home. Her sisters were famous. One of her sisters was Hera, wife of Zeus, queen of the gods, and the goddess of marriage. Her other sister was Demeter, goddess of agriculture and the harvest. You would think that there would be lots of myths about such an important goddess. But there are not a lot of myths about Hestia. But Hestia was deeply honored by the ancient Greek women. Every day, when the women gathered in the central courtyard of their homes, to do their sewing and cooking, they knew that Hestia was keeping watch over them. The women of ancient Greece listened to stories about the other gods. But they took comfort from Hestia. To them, Hestia was perhaps the most famous of all.

Heros
Greek gods

All the gods knew that Hercules was half man and half god. His mother was a mortal. But his father was a king - the king of all the gods, the mighty Zeus. But Hercules did not know he was part god until he had grown into a man. Hera, Zeus' wife, was very jealous of Hercules. She tried all kinds of ways to kill him, including sending a couple of really big snakes into his crib. He was just a baby, but Hercules crushed those snakes and barely noticed. Hercules was incredibly strong, magically strong, even as a baby! Zeus admired strength. He loved his little son. He figured that sooner or later, Hera might actually find a way to kill little Hercules. To keep Hercules safe from attack, Zeus sent him to live with a mortal family on earth. Hercules grew up loved and noble. But he didn't fit in on earth. He was too big and too strong. One day, his earth father told him he was a god, well, part god anyway. The rest of the story of Hercules is a series of stories, tasks, and adventures, as Hercules earned his way into the heavens, to take his place with the gods. As the story goes ..... Eurystheus was the mortal cousin of Hercules. When Eurystheus was crowned king of Tiryns (a little village in the city-state of Argos), Hera helped Eurystheus design 12 Labors (missions or tasks) that Hercules had to complete. Supposedly, when Hercules had completed the 12 missions, he would earn his immortality. That's what the Oracle at Delphi had said. Actually, the oracle had said, "If you complete 12 Labors, immorality will be yours." Of course, being an oracle, she never explained what she meant by "immortality" - would he live forever in legend or for real? Hercules never asked. (She would not have told him anyway.)

The truth was that Eurystheus was afraid of Hercules. He did not want Hercules coming after his crown. It would never have occurred to Hercules to do so. But an evil little man like Eurystheus would never have believed that. Each time Eurystheus and Hera gave Hercules a task to accomplish, they were sure that Hercules would never live through it. But Hercules surprised them. He not only lived, he had great adventures, discovered true friends, and rid the world of some really nasty critters.

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Hercules

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Jason

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Bellerophon

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Theseus

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Theseus

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Odysseus

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The Story Of Narcissus: Once upon a time, there was a boy called Narcissus. He was the son of a god and he was very, very handsome. Many women fell in love with him, but he turned them away. One of the women who loved Narcissus was a nymph called Echo. Echo could not speak properly - she could only repeat what was said to her, so she couldn't tell Narcissus that she loved him. One day, when Narcissus was walking in the woods with some friends, he became separated from them. He called out "Is anyone here?" Echo replied "Here, Here". Echo stepped forward with open arms, wanting to cuddle him. But Narcissus refused to accept Echo's love. Echo was so upset that she left and hid in a cave, until nothing was left of her, except her voice. The Maiden, a goddess, found out about this, and she was very angry. She made Narcissus fall in love with himself. When Narcissus looked at his reflection in a pond one day, he fell in love. He stayed on that spot forever, until he died one day. Where he died a flower grew, and that flower is called a Narcissus. The Story Of Echo: Hera, the Queen of Mt. Olympus, cast a spell over her servant Echo for talking too much. As a punishment, Echo could henceforth only repeat what someone else said. Poor Echo! She was in love with handsome Narcissus, and yearned to tell him so! One day Echo saw Narcissus admiring himself in a clear pond. Looking at his reflection, he vainly said to the face in the water, "I love you." Echo repeated, "I love you," and meant it. But Narcissus thought it was his reflection that spoke and stood gazing at himself until he died and Hermes led him away to the Land of the Dead. Echo pined for him till she, too, faded away. All that was left of her was her voice that can still be heard in certain hollow places, senselessly repeating the words of others.

Daedalus and Icarus

Daedalus was trying to escape punishment after killing his nephew Talos. He escaped from the king of Athens and travelled to Crete where King Minos welcomed him. He built wonderful buildings for King Minos and created a labyrinth below the city. King Minos was pleased with the labyrinth but he did not want anyone to know the way in or out. He decided that he would imprison Daedalus and Icarus to protect his secret. They soon got fed up and decided to try and escape again. Daedalus made frames and fastened feathers to them. They learned to fly and prepared to escape. Daedalus told Icarus not to go high, to keep right away from the sun. They climbed up onto the windowsill, leapt into the air, started to fly and soared away into the clouds. They went up and down, twisted and turned. Icarus got so excited that he left his father. he went higher and higher. His father shouted for him to come down. The sun saw Icarus getting close. He turned his rays onto Icarus. Icarus tried to get back down, but too late. The sun melted the wax that held the feathers in place and Icarus' wings fell apart. He fell to the ground and died.

The Cyclops Cave and the Sirens

Eros and Psyche

King Midas and the Minotaur

The River Styx