Helios was the son of the Titans Hyperion and Theia, by whom he was the brother of Selene (the moon) and Eos (the dawn). This made him one of the primordial gods. While he was probably imagined as the sun disk itself, he was also portrayed as an athletic young man driving a four-horse chariot... Continue Reading →

In Greek mythology, the Titans were the rulers of heaven before the Olympian gods. They were the children of Gaia, the personification of the earth and one of the first gods to emerge from the water of Chaos, and Uranus, Gaia’s son and the god of the sky. Together Gaia and Uranus had several groups... Continue Reading →

Hermes was one of the Olympian gods and was considered a divine messenger, often acting on behalf of Zeus. He was also considered a Chthonic god with responsibility for showing people the path to the underworld. This seems to have been an extension of his role as the god of crossroads, which meant that he... Continue Reading →

Eros, better known by his Roman name Cupid, was the winged figure carrying a bow and arrow. If he shot you with his arrow, you would fall in love with the person he chose for you. But while that is the most popular image of Eros that survives today, the oldest sources for Greek religion... Continue Reading →

According to most accounts of Greek cosmology, Chaos, or more accurately Khaos, was the very first Greek deity. The goddess emerged at the dawn of creation as an atmosphere of invisible fog and mist that formed a great void. She personified the primal force that lies beneath the universe and all existence. Greek Cosmology After... Continue Reading →

Metis was an Oceanid nymph, one of the 3,000 daughters of the Oceanus with his sister Tethys. Like many of Oceanus’ children, Metis joined Zeus in his battle against his father Cronos, and many of his Titan children, for control of Olympus and the universe. According to the myth, fearing his children with his wife... Continue Reading →

Both the Greeks and Romans had goddesses of victory personified, called Nike by the Greeks and Victoria by the Romans. While they are often described as one and the same goddess, and shared a mythology since the Romans were in the habit of applying Greek myths to their own gods, they had quite different roles... Continue Reading →

Styx was a Titan goddess who was both the personification of hatred and the dread water that may have separated the underworld of Hades from the world of the living. She was the first god to ally herself with Zeus before the Titanomachy, so Zeus made her the goddess of divine oaths and adopted her... Continue Reading →

Selene, also sometimes called Mene and known as Luna by the Romans, was the Greek goddess of the moon. While several Greek goddesses were associated with the moon, Selene was considered the personification of the moon itself. She was imagined as riding a chariot across the sky each night, illuminating the sky above the mortal... Continue Reading →

Leto was one of the second-generation Titans in Greek mythology, the daughter of Coeus and Phoebe. With Zeus, she was the mother of the Olympian gods Apollo and Artemis, which made her an enemy of Zeus’ wife, Hera. She was considered a mother goddess in ancient Lycia, from where she was probably imported to Greece.... Continue Reading →