The Greek Gods

The ancient Greek Gods and Goddesses were the imaginings of the Greeks in ancient times. The Greeks wanted some idea of how the world began so they decided to make up their own theories. The different gods and goddesses are just the imaginative figures that they came up with and they felt that the gods and goddesses gave them a reasonable explanation. The ancient Greek beliefs have been translated with several versions of what they meant and the names of the gods and goddesses were not always spelled or translated the same. Some of the stories varied considerably. No matter how the names were spelled or the stories went, the Greeks were satisfied with them and they worshiped the gods and goddesses and even gave them sacrifices.

According to the ancient Greeks, the only god there was in the beginning was named Chaos. Chaos was a dark, silent, empty, formless, lifeless, abyss. Chaos then created Earth (also known as Mother Earth, Gaea, Gaia, and Ge), and he also created Eros (Desire). Gaea then gave birth to Uranus (the Sky, Ouranos, or Heavens), Pontus (the Sea), and Ourea (the Mountains). Gaea then married Uranus and together they had children. Their children were the original 12 Titans, The 3 Cyclopes (giants with one eye in the middle of their head), and the 3 Hecatonchires (creatures with one hundred arms). The 12 Titans were, Cronus, Hyperion, Theia, Rhea, Lapetus, Oceanus, Phoebe, Coeus, Crius, Mnemosyne, Themis, and Tethys.

The 12 Titans paired off, except for Themis, who was loved by her nephew Zeus, and Lapetus, who married the nymph named Clymene. Hyperion married Theia, Oceanus married Tethys, Crius married Mnemosyne, Ceous married Phoebe, and Cronus married Rhea. Each of these pairs gave birth to children. The Titans children were known as the Olympians.

Ceous and Phoebe gave birth to Leto and Asteria. Lapetus and Clymene gave birth to Atlas, Menoetius, Prometheus, and Epimetheus. Themis and Zeus gave birth to Horae, Eunomia, Dike, Eirene, and Moirae. Mnemosyne and Zeus gave birth to the nine Muses (Clio, Urania, Melpomene, Thalia, Terpsichore, Calliope, Erato, Euterpe, and Polyhymnia. Oceanus and Tethys gave birth to the rivers, the river nymphs, the Oceanids (springs, ponds, and lakes). Hyperion and Theia had three children. They were Helios, Eos, and Selene. Cronus and Rhea gave birth to Hestia, Poseidon, Zeus, Hades, and Demeter.

The names of the three Cyclopes were, Brontes, Steropes, and Arges. They were mean but they were also very good metal workers. The names of the 3 Hecatonchires are Cottus, Briareus, and Gyges. They were giants with 100 arms and 50 heads. They, along with Cyclopes, helped Zeus win the war against the Titans.