ANCIENT GREECEThe Pantheon of Greek Gods and Goddesses

In the BeginningAccording to legend, before

anything existed, there was a nothingness called Chaos.

From this Mother Earth, or Gaea, was formed.

She gave birth to the sky; called Uranus.

Gaea and Uranus had many children but the most important were the Titans.

The Rise of CronosUranus banished some of his children

to a gloomy place under the Earth called the Underworld.

Gaea was angered by this and encouraged the Titans to rise up against their father Uranus.

Led by Cronos they overthrew Uranus.Cronos became king of the Titans and

married his sister Rhea (I know, its weird).

Zeus is BornCronos had been warned that one

of his future children would kill him, so he ate his first five children.

When Rhea was giving birth to their sixth child, Zeus, she tricked Cronos by giving him a stone wrapped up in clothes.

She then sent Zeus to be raised by Nymphs.

TitanomachyZeus returned as an

adult and slipped a potion into Cronos’ drink.

This caused him to throw up Zeus’ trapped siblings.

They waged a war against Cronos, and the Titans of the Underworld, called Titanomachy.

Zeus VictoriousZeus became King of the gods and ruler of

the sky.His brother Poseidon became King of the

Ocean.His other brother Hades became King of

the Underworld.His sister Hestia became goddess of the

hearth and home.His other sister Demeter became goddess

of plants and the harvest.His third sister Hera became protector of

women and marriage; also married Zeus.

The OlympiansThe new gods

were called the Olympians because the Greeks believed they lived on Mount Olympus.

There were generally 12 main gods and several demigods the Greeks believed in.

The Other OlympiansAres – god of warAphrodite – goddess of loveApollo – god of the Sun, light and

truthHephaestus – god of craftsmenArtemis – goddess of the moon and

huntAthena – goddess wisdom and warDionysus – god of wine and playsHermes – messenger of the gods