Guest post written by @ivanareljanovic from instagram!
Ancient Greeks were polytheists which means they worshiped many gods. One of the most important characteristics of Greek mythology is anthropomorphism, since Greeks imagined and described their gods like beings with human characteristics, shape and emotions. In addition, they believed that gods have flaws and are sinful, just like “normal people”.
The oldest written sources of Greek mythology were created during the 7th and 8th century BC by Greek poets Homer and Hesiod. Homer, rhapsodist and aed, is well-known for his epic poems Iliad and Odyssey, while Hesiod, who was younger than Homer, wrote a poem called Theogony, which is also known as The Genealogy or Birth of the Gods. According to the Greek myth of origin, at the beginning, there were no gods nor people, only Chaos, from whom came Gaia (Earth) and the others. Gaia gave birth to her first son Uranus (Sky). The two of them had many children, including Cronus.
To take his father’s throne, Cronus castrated Uranus. That left Uranus powerless, and hence Cronus successfully claimed the much-wanted throne, but he must overcome another obstacle – according to the prophecy, he will be despised and overthrown by his own children. Because of that, Cronus had immediately swallowed them, so they would not be able to take him down, until his wife Rhea didn’t come up with a neat solution to stop his madness. Zeus, their youngest son was the key person in that plan, alongside Rhea’s cleverness.
Rhea managed to trick Cronus by giving him a rock to swallow instead of her newborn, while Zeus was hidden in a cave on the island of Crete. Later, Zeus became his father’s cupbearer and thus managed to put a special potion in wine that caused Cronus to vomit. Cronus did not only vomit his children – Hestia, Demeter, Hades, Poseidon and Hera, but also the rock that Rhea used to trick him. Zeus reunited with his siblings and convinced them to start a rebellion against their father.
Soon after, the rebellion transformed into a long and bloody war called Titanomachy in which the Olympians (Zeus and siblings) fought against the Titans. Zeus had help from Cronus’ brothers – Cyclopes and Hecatoncheires since he freed them from Tartarus. The Olympians came out victorious. After the war, all Titans, except Prometheus and Themis who fought alongside Zeus, were put in Tartar, while Zeus (sky), Poseidon (sea) and Hades (underworld) divided the universe.
There are 12 Olympians gods:
Zeus – the supreme leader of the gods, god of sky and thunder
Hera – Zeus’ sister and wife, goddess of marriage
Poseidon – god of sea
Hades – god of underworld
Apollo – symbol of man’s beauty, god of art and Sun
Hephaestus – god of fire and volcanoes, protector of blacksmiths
Ares – god of war
Athena – goddess of war and wisdom
Aphrodite – goddess of love and beauty
Artemis – goddess of hunting
Hermes – gods’ messenger
Demeter – goddess of agriculture