THE LESSER GODS

OF OLYMPUS, THE
WATER, THE EARTH
AND THE
UNDERWORLD
The Lesser Gods of Olympus
Eros (Cupid)
■ God of Love
■ Son of Aphrodite
■ Married to Psyche
■ He was often represented as blindfolded
because love is often blind.
Hebe

■ Goddess of Youth
■ The daughter of Zeus and Hera
■ Sometimes she appears as
cupbearer to the gods.
Iris

■ Goddess of the Rainbow and

the messenger for the Gods ( Illiad,
for them she is just a messenger.)
Two Bands of Lovely Sisters MUSES
and GRACES
■ GRACES
• Aglia (Splendor) - She married Hephaestus, they are
treated as separate personalities but always together, a triple
incarnation of grace and beauty.
• Euphrosye (Mirth)
• Thalia ( Good Cheer)
* They were the daughters of Zeus and Eurynome (child of titan,
Ocean).
■ MUSES – the daughter of Zeus and Mnemosyne
(Memory). “Their hearts are set upon song and their spirit
is free from care.
• Clio – Muse of History
• Urania of astronomy
• Melpomene of tragedy
• Thalia of comedy
• Terpsichore of the dance
• Calliope of epic poetry
• Erato of love poetry
• Polyhyme of songs of the gods
• Euturpe of lyric poetry
The Lesser Gods of the Water
Ocean

■ A Titan
■ was Lord of the river ocean
■ Husband of Tethys
(also a titan)
Pontus

■ which means a deep sea

■ Son of mother Earth and a father
of Nerues, a sea god far more
important that he himself was.
Nerues

■ “The Old Man of the Sea”

■ Father of the Nereids
■ Nymphs of the Sea
■ A trusty God and gentle
■ His wife was Doris, a daughter of Ocean.
Triton

■ “Trumpeter of the Sea”

■ Son of Poseidon and
Amphitrite (Sea Nymph)
Proteus

■ Son of Poseidon
■ Could foretell the future
■ Could change shape at will
Naiads

■ Water nymphs ( brooks,

springs, fountains)
■ NOT same with Nereids
The Lesser Gods of the Earth
Demeter (Ceres)

■ Goddess of the Corn and harvest.

■ Mother of Persephone
■ Lives on Earth
Dionysus (Bacchus)

■ God of Wine
■ Lives on Earth
■ Mother was mortal
■ Can bring joy, but can cause
Madness and brutality.
Pan

■ Son of Hermes
■ Part man, part goat
■ Companion of the nymphs
■ Played the pipes
Satyrs and Centarus
■ Satyr – half man, half goat.
■ Centarus – half man, half horse
Nymphs and Dryads

■ Nymphs – minor nature goddesses that lived in rivers,

trees, caves, etc.
■ Dryads – tree nymphs
Gorgons

■ 3 females
■ 2 are immortal, and
the 3rd is Medusa (the mortal one)
■ Gaze turns men into stone
The Graiae

■ Sisters of the gorgons

■ Old grey women
■ Share an eye
The Fates

■ Clotho – the spinner

■ Lachesis – disposer of lots
(assigns design)
■ Atropos – cuts the thread
at death
The Lesser Gods of Underworld
 The kingdom of the dead was ruled over by
one of the twelve great Olympians. Hades or Pluto,
amd his Queen Persephone.
Two Divisions of Underworld
1. Tartarus – Deeper of the two, “prisons of the Sons of
Earth”.
■ Erebus – Where the dead pass as soon as they die.
■ Originally vague as shadowy place.
■ Develops gradually into place where :
•Wicked are punished
•Good are rewarded
■ Bordered by “great rivers”
• Acheron (woe)
■ Cocytus ( lamentation)

■ Phlegethon (fire)
■ Styx ( unbreakable oath)

■ Lethe (forgetfulness)
Charon

■ An underworld daemon who

ferries the souls of the dead
accross Acheron to Hades.
■ ONLY the dead
■ ONLY those “duly buried”
(coins for the ferryman”
Cerberus

■ 3 headed dog that guards

the gate of Hades.
Judges of Hades

■ Minos
■ Rhadamanthus
■ Aeacus
Furies

■ Punish Evildoers, inexorable, but just.

1. Tisiphone
2. Megaera
3. Alecto