ENGLISH 31

World Literature
 Olympian gods
• The concept of the "Twelve Gods" is older than any extant Greek
or Roman sources, and is likely of Anatolian origin.[3] The gods
meet in council in the Homeric epics, but the first ancient
reference to religious ceremonies for the Olympians collectively
is found in the Homeric Hymn to Hermes. The Greek cult of the
Twelve Olympians can be traced to 6th-century BC Athens and
probably has no precedent in the Mycenaean period. The altar to
the Twelve Olympians at Athens is usually dated to the
archonship of the younger Pesistratos, in 522/521 BC.
• In Greek mythology, the Twelve Olympians, also known as the
Dodekatheon were the principal deities of the Greek pantheon,
residing atop a mythical Mount Olympus. The Olympians gained
their supremacy in a war of gods in which Zeus led his siblings to
victory over the Titans.
12 olympian gods
Aprhodite • The goddess of love, beauty,

Ἀφροδίτη pleasure, procreation, and sexual

rapture. Her Roman equivalent is the
goddess Venus.
• Because of her beauty, other gods
feared jealousy would interrupt the
peace among them and lead to war,
so Zeus married her to Hephaestus,
who was not viewed as a threat
• Aphrodite is also known as Cytherea
(Lady of Cythera) and Cypris (Lady of
Cyprus) after the two cult-sites,
Cythera and Cyprus, which claimed
her birth. Myrtles, doves, sparrows,
horses, and swans are sacred to her
and became her symbols.
• Aphrodite had many lovers, and Ares
was the famous among them 
 Birth of Aphrodite
• In the most famous version of her myth, her birth was the
consequence of a castration: Cronus severed Uranus'
genitals and threw them behind him into the sea. The foam
from his genitals gave rise to Aphrodite (for which reason
she is called "foam-arisen"), Hesiod states that the genitals
"were carried over the sea a long time, and white foam
arose from the immortal flesh; with it a girl grew." This girl
became Aphrodite. She floated ashore on a scallop shell.
This image of a fully mature "Venus rising from the sea"
(Venus) was one of the iconic representations of Aphrodite
 Adulthood
• Aphrodite had no childhood: in every image and each reference she is born
as an adult, nubile, and infinitely desirable. She is often depicted nude in
many images. Aphrodite, in many of the late anecdotal myths involving
her, is characterized as vain, ill-tempered and easily offended.
• Due to her immense beauty, Zeus was feared she would be the cause of
violence between the other gods. He married her off to Hephaestus, the
dour, humorless god of smithing. In another version of this story, Hera,
Hephaestus' mother, had cast him off Olympus; deeming him ugly and
deformed. His revenge was to trap her in a magic throne, and then to
demand Aphrodite's hand in return for Hera's release.
• Hephaestus was overjoyed at being married to the goddess of beauty and
forged her beautiful jewelry, including the cestus, a girdle that made her
even more irresistible to men. Her unhappiness with her marriage caused
Aphrodite to seek out companionship from others, most frequently Ares,
but also Adonis.
 The judgement of paris
• The gods and goddesses, as well as various mortals, were invited to the
marriage of Peleus and Thetis (the eventual parents of Achilles). Only the
goddess Eris (Discord) was not invited, but she arrived with a golden apple
inscribed with the word kallistēi ("to the fairest one"), which she threw among
the goddesses. Aphrodite, Hera, and Athena all claimed to be the fairest, and
thus the rightful owner of the apple.
• The goddesses chose to place the matter before Zeus, who, not wanting to favor
one of the goddesses, put the choice into the hands of Paris. After bathing in the
spring of Mount Ida (where Troy was situated), the goddesses appeared before
Paris. Paris, having been given permission by Zeus to set any conditions he saw
fit, required the goddesses to undress and allow him to see them naked.
(Another version of the myth says the goddesses themselves chose to undress.)
Still, Paris could not decide, as all three were ideally beautiful, so the goddesses
resorted to bribes.
• Hera tried to bribe Paris with control over all Asia and Europe, while Athena
offered wisdom, fame, and glory in battle, and Aphrodite offered the most
beautiful mortal woman in the world as a wife, and he accordingly chose her.
This woman was Helen, who was, unfortunately for Paris, already married to
King Menelaus of Sparta. The other two goddesses were enraged by this, and
through Helen's abduction by Paris, they brought about the Trojan War.
 Pygmaleon and galatea
• A version of this myth tells that the women of the village where Pygmalion lived
grew angry that he had not married. They asked Aphrodite to force him to
marry. Aphrodite agreed and went that very night to Pygmalion, and asked him
to pick a woman to marry. She told him that if he did not pick one, she would do
so for him. Not wanting to be married, he begged her for more time, asking that
he be allowed to make a sculpture of Aphrodite before he had to choose his
bride. Flattered, she accepted.
• Pygmalion spent a lot of time making small clay sculptures of the goddess,
claiming it was needed so he could pick the right pose. As he started making the
actual sculpture he was shocked to discover he actually wanted to finish. The
reason he wanted to finish it was he had fallen in love with the sculpture. The
more he worked on it, the more it changed, until it no longer resembled
Aphrodite at all.
• At the very moment Pygmalion stepped away from the finished sculpture,
Aphrodite appeared and told him to choose his bride. Pygmalion chose the
statue. Aphrodite told him that could not be, and asked him again to choose a
bride. Pygmalion put his arms around the statue, and asked Aphrodite to turn
him into a statue so he could be with her. Aphrodite took pity on him and
brought the statue to life instead.
Ares • Was the Greek god of war. He is one
of the Twelve Olympians, and the son
Άρης of Zeus and Hera.[1] In Greek
literature, he often represents the
physical or violent aspect of war.
• The Greeks were ambivalent toward
Ares: although he embodied the
physical valor necessary for success in
war, he was a dangerous force,
"overwhelming, insatiable in battle,
destructive, and man-slaughtering.
Fear (Phobos) and Terror (Deimos)
were yoked to his battle chariot.
• n the Iliad his father Zeus tells him
that he is the god most hateful to
him.[5] An association with Ares
endows places and objects with a
savage, dangerous, or militarized
quality. His value as a war god is even
placed in doubt
 About the god of war
• Cult and Ritual
• Although Ares received occasional sacrifice from armies going to war, the
god had a formal temple and cult at only a few sites. At Sparta, however,
youths each sacrificed a puppy to Enyalios before engaging in ritual fighting
at the Phoebaeum. The chthonic night-time sacrifice of a dog to Enyalios
became assimilated to the cult of Ares.
• Attendants
• Deimos, "Terror" or "Dread", and Phobos, "Fear", are his companions in war
and also his children, borne by Aphrodite, according to Hesiod. The
sisterand companion of the violent Ares is Eris, the goddess of discord, or
Enyo, the goddess of war, bloodshed, and violence.
• Womanizer
• Ares had a total number of 36 femal mortal and goddess consorts, whereas
Aprhodite was the most famous of them. Because of Ares womanizing
attitude it also give birth to more than 46 children some as demigods.
 Other accounts
• In the tale sung by the bard in the hall of Alcinous,[45] the Sun-god Helios once
spied Ares and Aphrodite enjoying each other secretly in the hall of Hephaestus,
and he promptly reported the incident to Aphrodite's Olympian consort.
Hephaestus contrived to catch the couple in the act, and so he fashioned a finely-
knitted and nearly invisible net with which to snare the illicit lovers. At the
appropriate time, this net was sprung, and trapped Ares and Aphrodite locked in
very private embrace.[46]
• But Hephaestus was not yet satisfied with his revenge — he invited the Olympian
gods and goddesses to view the unfortunate pair. For the sake of modesty, the
goddesses demurred, but the male gods went to witness the sight. Some
commented on the beauty of Aphrodite, others remarked that they would eagerly
trade places with Ares, but all who were present mocked the two. Once the couple
were loosed, Ares, embarrassed, returned to his homeland, Thrace
Apollo • Apollo has been variously recognized
as a god of light and the sun, truth
Ἀπόλλων and prophecy, healing, plague, music,
poetry, and more. Apollo is the son of
Zeus and Leto, and has a twin sister,
the chaste huntress Artemis.
• Apollo was an oracular god—the
prophetic deity of the Delphic Oracle.
Medicine and healing are associated
with Apollo, whether through the god
himself or mediated through his son
Asclepius, yet Apollo was also seen as
a god who could bring ill-health and
deadly plague.
• Apollo functioned as the patron god
of music and poetry. Hermes created
the lyre for him, and the instrument
became a common attribute of
Apollo. Hymns sung to Apollo were
called paeans.
 Youth
• Four days after his birth, Apollo killed the chthonic dragon Python, which
lived in Delphi beside the Castalian Spring. This was the spring which
emitted vapors that caused the oracle at Delphi to give her prophecies.
Hera sent the serpent to hunt Leto to her death across the world. To
protect his mother, Apollo begged Hephaestus for a bow and arrows. After
receiving them, Apollo cornered Python in the sacred cave at Delphi.[73]
Apollo killed Python but had to be punished for it, since Python was a child
of Gaia.
• Hera then sent the giant Tityos to kill Leto. This time Apollo was aided by
his sister Artemis in protecting their mother. During the battle Zeus finally
relented his aid and hurled Tityos down to Tartarus. There he was pegged
to the rock floor, covering an area of 9 acres (36,000 m2), where a pair of
vultures feasted daily on his liver.
 Female Lovers
• Four days after his birth, Apollo killed the chthonic dragon Python, which
lived in Delphi beside the Castalian Spring. This was the spring which
emitted vapors that caused the oracle at Delphi to give her prophecies.
Hera sent the serpent to hunt Leto to her death across the world. To
protect his mother, Apollo begged Hephaestus for a bow and arrows. After
receiving them, Apollo cornered Python in the sacred cave at Delphi.[73]
Apollo killed Python but had to be punished for it, since Python was a child
of Gaia.
• Hera then sent the giant Tityos to kill Leto. This time Apollo was aided by
his sister Artemis in protecting their mother. During the battle Zeus finally
relented his aid and hurled Tityos down to Tartarus. There he was pegged
to the rock floor, covering an area of 9 acres (36,000 m2), where a pair of
vultures feasted daily on his liver.