World Religions in Credo: Greek Pantheon

In Greek religion and mythology, goddess of fertility, love, and beauty (Roman Venus). Homer designated her the child of Zeus and Dione.

In Greek and Roman mythology, the god of sun, music, poetry, prophecy, agriculture, and pastoral life, and leader of the Muses. He was the twin child (with Artemis) of Zeus and Leto.

The Greek god of war, son of Zeus and Hera, often perceived as hostile, rather than as a national deity, as in other mythologies.

In Greek mythology, the goddess of chastity, all young creatures, the Moon, and the hunt (Roman Diana). She was the daughter of Zeus and the Titaness Leto, and the twin sister of Apollo.

In Greek mythology, the goddess of war, wisdom, and the arts and crafts (Roman Minerva). She was reputed to have sprung fully-armed and grown from the head of Zeus, after he had swallowed her mother Metis, the Titaness of wisdom.

In Greek mythology, the goddess of agriculture, especially corn (Roman Ceres); daughter of the Titans Kronos and Rhea; and mother of Persephone by Zeus.

In Greek mythology, the god of wine, mystic ecstasy, and orgiastic excess; son of princess Semele and Zeus. In his original savage form he was attended by satyrs, lustful, drunken creatures; and maenads, women considered capable of tearing animals to pieces with their bare hands when under his influence.

In Greek mythology, the god of fire and metalcraft (Roman Vulcan); the lame son of Zeus and Hera; and in Homer's Odyssey, husband of Aphrodite, goddess of love.

In Greek mythology, the goddess of women and marriage (Roman Juno); sister and consort of Zeus; and mother of Hephaestus, god of fire and metalcraft, the war god Ares, and Hebe, the original cupbearer to the gods.

In Greek mythology, the messenger of the gods; son of Zeus and Maia, one of the Pleiades. Homer's Odyssey presented the god as the conductor of the dead (shades) to Hades, in which capacity he became associated with the underworld and dreams.

In Greek religion and mythology, god of the sea, protector of all waters. After the fall of the Titans, Poseidon was allotted the sea.

In Greek mythology, the chief of the Olympian gods (Roman Jupiter). He was the son of Kronos, whom he overthrew; his brothers included Pluto and Poseidon, his sisters Demeter, Hestia, and Hera.

Table or platform for the performance of religious sacrifice. In its simplest form the altar is a small pile, with a square or circular surface, made of stone or wood.

Ceremonies in honour of the Greek deities Demeter, goddess of corn, and her daughter Persephone, queen of the underworld, celebrated in the precincts of the temple of Demeter at Eleusis, in the territory of Athens. They formed the basis of a secret cult, requiring initiation for entrance. The rituals were agrarian in origin and had a strong chthonic (pertaining to the underworld) aspect, dealing with the cycle of growth and decay represented by Persephone's half-yearly absence from her mother.

From The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia
In Greek mythology, an afterworld or paradise.

From The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia
In Greek mythology, the underworld where spirits (shades) went after death, usually depicted as a cavern or pit underneath the Earth, the entrance of which was guarded by the three-headed dog Cerberus.

Principal figure of ancient Greek literature; the first European poet. Two epic poems are attributed to Homer, the Iliad and the Odyssey.

From The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia
Any of various cults of the ancient world that were open only to the initiated; for example, the cults of Demeter (see Eleusinian Mysteries), Dionysus, Cybele, Isis, and Mithras.

A Greek epic poem, ascribed to Homer, describing the ten-year wanderings of Odysseus (Ulysses) on his way home from the Trojan war to Ithaca. In time, the tale of Troy became the center of a great cycle of songs, depicting and glorifying the regular heroic theme of an attack on a town.

In religious devotion or service, the practice of certain set formulas that either mark a particular important event in a person's life - such as birth rituals or death rituals - or form a patterned daily, weekly, or annual cycle. Rituals are usually understood to hold deep symbolic meaning.

A type of religious offering, or gift to a superior or supreme being, in which the offering is consecrated through its destruction.

Place regarded as holy due to an association with a divine figure, relic, or event. Shrines are important places in most religions, and are often a focus of worship or meditation.

From Milestone Documents of World Religions
Hesiod was an ancient Greek poet known principally for one of his two surviving epic poems: Theogony, written sometime around 700 bce to relate the mythology of the gods.