The
Twelve Olympians, also known as the
Dodekatheon , in
Greek mythologyGreek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the ancient Greeks concerning their gods and heroes, the nature of the world, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices. They were a part of religion in ancient Greece...
, were the principal gods of the Greek
pantheonA pantheon is a set of all the gods of a particular polytheistic religion or mythology.Max Weber's 1922 opus, Economy and Society...
, residing atop
Mount OlympusMount Olympus is the highest mountain range in Greece, its highest peak Mýtikas rising to 2,919 metres high . Since its base is located at sea level, it is one of the highest peaks in Europe in terms of topographic prominence, the relative altitude from base to top...
. The first ancient reference of religious ceremonies for them is found in the Homeric Hymn to Hermes. The classical scheme of the Twelve Olympians (the Canonical Twelve of art and poetry) comprises the following gods:
ZeusIn Greek mythology, Zeus is the king of the gods, the ruler of Mount Olympus and the god of the sky and thunder. His symbols are the thunderbolt, eagle, bull, and oak. In addition to his Indo-European inheritance, the classical "cloud-gatherer" also derives certain iconographic traits from the...
,
HeraIn the Olympian pantheon of classical Greek Mythology, Hera or Here was the wife and older sister of Zeus. Her chief function was as goddess of women and marriage. In Roman mythology, Juno was the equivalent mythical character. The cow, and later, the peacock were sacred to her...
,
PoseidonIn Greek mythology, Poseidon was the god of the sea and, as "Earth-Shaker," of earthquakes. The name of the sea-god Nethuns in Etruscan was adopted in Latin for Neptune in Roman mythology: both were sea gods analogous to Poseidon...
,
DemeterDemeter , in Greek mythology, is the Goddess of grain and fertility, the pure...
,
AresIn Greek mythology, Ares is the son of Zeus and Hera. Though often referred to as the Olympian god of warfare, he is more accurately the god of bloodlust, or slaughter personified: "Ares is apparently an ancient abstract noun meaning throng of battle, war."-Etymology:Ares is the god of war...
,
HermesHermes is the Messenger of the gods in Greek mythology as well as a guide to the Underworld. An Olympian god, he is also the patron of boundaries and of the travelers who cross them, of shepherds and cowherds, of thieves and road travelers, of orators and wit, of literature and poets, of...
,
HephaestusHephaestus was a Greek god whose Roman equivalent was Vulcan. He was the god of technology, blacksmiths, craftsmen, artisans, sculptors, metals, metallurgy, fire and volcanoes. Like other mythic smiths but unlike most other gods, Hephaestus was lame, which gave him a grotesque appearance in Greek...
,
AphroditeAphrodite is the Greek goddess of love, beauty and raw sexuality. According to Greek poet Hesiod, she was born when Cronus cut off Ouranos's genitals and threw them into the sea, and from the aphros arose Aphrodite.Because of her beauty other gods feared that jealousy would interrupt the peace...
,
AthenaIn Greek mythology, Athena is the goddess of wisdom, peace, warfare, strategy, handicrafts and reason, shrewd companion of heroes and the goddess of heroic endeavour...
,
ApolloIn Greek and Roman mythology, Apollo , is one of the most important and many-sided of the Olympian deities...
,
ArtemisArtemis was one of the most widely venerated of the Ancient Greek deities. In the classical period of Greek mythology, Artemis was often described as the daughter of Zeus and Leto, and the twin sister of Apollo...
,
HestiaIn Greek mythology, virgin Hestia, daughter of Cronus and Rhea, is the goddess of the hearth, of the right ordering of domesticity and the family, who received the first offering at every sacrifice in the household. In the public domain, the hearth of the prytaneum functioned as her official...
. The respective
Roman schemeThe Dii Consentes were the twelve major deities in the pantheon of Ancient Rome. They were listed by the poet Ennius about the 3rd Century, B.C.E. Their gilt statues stood in the Forum, later apparently in the Porticus Deorum Consentium. The number 12 was taken from the Etruscans, which also...
comprises the following gods:
JupiterIn Roman mythology, Jupiter or Jove was the king of the gods, and the god of sky and thunder. He is the equivalent of Zeus in the Greek pantheon. He was called Iuppiter Optimus Maximus ; as the patron deity of the Roman state, he ruled over laws and social order...
,
JunoJuno was an ancient Roman goddess, the protector and special counselor of the state. She is a daughter of Saturn and sister of the chief god Jupiter and the mother of Juventas, Mars, and Vulcan...
,
NeptuneNeptune is the god of water and the sea in Roman mythology, a brother of Jupiter and Pluto. He is analogous with but not identical to the god Poseidon of Greek mythology. The Roman conception of Neptune owed a great deal to the Etruscan god Nethuns....
,
CeresIn Roman mythology, Ceres is the goddess of growing plants and of motherly love. Ceres was worshipped in Ancient Roman religion, and is today again worshipped in Roman Neopaganism...
,
MarsMars was the Roman god of war, the son of Juno and Jupiter, husband of Bellona, and the lover of Venus. He was the most prominent of the military gods that were worshipped by the Roman legions. The martial Romans considered him second in importance only to Jupiter...
,
MercuryMercury was a messenger, and a god of trade, profit and commerce, the son of Maia Maiestas, also known as Ops, the Roman version of Rhea, and Jupiter. His name is related to the Latin word merx...
,
VulcanIn ancient Roman religion and Roman Neopaganism, Vulcan is the god of beneficial and hindering fire, including the fire of volcanoes. He is also called Mulciber in Roman mythology and Sethlans in Etruscan mythology...
,
VenusVenus was a major Roman goddess principally associated with love, beauty and fertility, who played a key role in many Roman religious festivals and myths. From the third century BC, the increasing Hellenization of Roman upper classes identified her as the equivalent of the Greek goddess...
,
MinervaMinerva was the Roman goddess whom Hellenizing Romans from the second century BC onwards equated with the Greek goddess Athena. She was the virgin goddess of warriors, poetry, medicine, wisdom, commerce, weaving, crafts, magic and the inventor of music...
,
ApolloIn Greek and Roman mythology, Apollo , is one of the most important and many-sided of the Olympian deities...
,
DianaIn Roman mythology, Diana was the goddess of the hunt, being associated with wild animals and woodland, and also of the moon. In literature she was the equivalent of the Greek goddess Artemis, though in cult beliefs she was Italic, not Greek, in origin...
and
VestaVesta was the virgin goddess of the hearth, home, and family in Roman mythology. Although she is often mistaken as analogous to Hestia in Greek mythology, she had a large, albeit mysterious, role in Roman religion long before she appeared in Greece. Little is known about the goddess, since, unlike...
.
There was, however, a great deal of fluidity when it came to who was counted among their number in antiquity. Around 400 BC
HerodorusHerodorus was a native of Heraclea and wrote a history on Heracles. Plutarch references Herodorus several times in his account of Theseus in Parallel Lives....
included in his Dodekatheon the following deities: Zeus, Poseidon, Hera, Athena, Hermes, Apollo, Alpheus,
CronusCronus or Kronos was the leader and the youngest of the first generation of Titans, divine descendants of Gaia, the earth goddess, and Ouranos, the sky...
,
RheaThis page is about the Greek mythological figure. For the bird, see Rhea .Rhea was the Titaness daughter of Ouranos, the sky, and Gaia, the earth, in classical Greek mythology...
and the
CharitesIn Greek mythology, a Charis is one of several Charites , goddesses of charm, beauty, nature, human creativity and fertility. They ordinarily numbered three, from youngest to oldest: Aglaea , Euphrosyne , and Thalia...
. Wilamowitz agrees with Herodorus' version of the Twelve.
HerodotusHerodotus of Halicarnassus was a Greek historian who lived in the 5th century BC and is regarded as the "Father of History" in Western culture. He was the first historian known to collect his materials systematically, test their accuracy to a certain extent and arrange them in a...
includes
HeraclesIn Greek mythology, Heracles or Herakles , Alcides or Alcaeus , was a divine hero, the son of Zeus and Alcmene, foster son of Amphitryon and great-grandson of Perseus...
as one of the Twelve.
LucianLucian of Samosata was an Assyrian rhetorician, and satirist who wrote in the Greek language. He is noted for his witty and scoffing nature.-Biography:...
also includes Heracles and
AsclepiusAsclepius is the god of medicine and healing in ancient Greek religion. Asclepius represents the healing aspect of the medical arts; his daughters are Hygieia , Iaso , Aceso , Aglæa/Ægle , and Panacea...
as members of the Twelve, without explaining which two had to give way for them. At Kos, Heracles and
DionysusIn classical mythology, Dionysus or Dionysos is the god of wine, the inspirer of ritual madness and ecstasy, and a major figure of Greek mythology, and one of the twelve Olympians, amongst whom Greek mythology treated him as a late arrival...
are added to the Twelve, and Ares and Hephaestus are left behind. However,
PindarPindar , was an Ancient Greek lyric poet. Of the canonical nine lyric poets of ancient Greece, Pindar is the one whose work is best preserved...
,
ApollodorusApollodorus of Athens son of Asclepiades, was a Greek scholar and grammarian. He was a pupil of Diogenes of Babylon, Panaetius the Stoic, and the grammarian Aristarchus of Samothrace...
, and Herodorus disagree with this. For them Heracles is not one of the Twelve Gods, but the one who established their cult.
PlatoPlato , was a Classical Greek philosopher, mathematician, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world...
connected the Twelve Olympians with the twelve months, and proposed that the final month be devoted to rites in honor of
PlutoPluto was the Roman god of the underworld, known in Latin as Tertius, the counterpart of the Greek Hades.-Overview:Pluto was God of the underworld and its riches...
and the spirits of the dead, implying that he considered
HadesHades refers both to the ancient Greek underworld, the abode of Hades, and to the god of the underworld. Hades in Homer referred just to the god; the genitive , Haidou, was an elision to denote locality: "[the house/dominion] of Hades"...
to be one of the Twelve. Hades is phased out in later groupings due to his
chthonicChthonic designates, or pertains to, deities or spirits of the underworld, especially in relation to Greek religion.Greek khthon is one of several words for "earth"; it typically refers to the interior of the soil, rather...
associations. In
Phaedrus Plato aligns the Twelve with the Zodiac and would exclude Hestia from their rank.
Hestia is sometimes displaced by Dionysus.
HebeIn Greek mythology, Hēbē is the goddess of youth . She is the daughter of Zeus and Hera. Hebe was the cupbearer for the gods and goddesses of Mount Olympus, serving their nectar and ambrosia, until she was married to Heracles, ; her successor was the young Trojan prince Ganymede...
,
HeliosIn Greek mythology the sun was personified as Helios Homer often calls him simply Titan or Hyperion, while Hesiod and the Homeric Hymn separate him as a son of the Titans Hyperion and Theia or Euryphaessa and brother of the goddesses Selene, the moon, and Eos, the dawn...
and
PersephoneIn Greek mythology, Persephone was the embodiment of the Earth's fertility at the same time that she was the Queen of the Underworld, the korē , and the parthenogenic daughter of Demeter and, in later Classical myths, a daughter of Demeter and Zeus...
are other important gods, goddesses, which are sometimes included in a group of twelve.
ErosEros , in Greek mythology, was the primordial god of lust, beauty, love, and intercourse; he was also worshipped as a fertility deity. His Roman counterpart was Cupid, "desire", also known as Amor, "love". In some myths, he was the son of the deities Aphrodite and Ares, but according to Plato's...
is often depicted alongside the other twelve, especially his mother Aphrodite, but is rarely considered one of the Olympians.
The Twelve Olympians gained their supremacy in the world of gods after Zeus led his siblings to victory in
warIn Greek mythology, the Titanomachy, or War of The Titans , was the ten-year series of battles fought between the two races of deities long before the existence of mankind: the Titans, fighting from Mount Othrys, or Mount Etna and the Olympians, who would come to reign on Mount Olympus...
with the
TitansIn Greek mythology, the Titans , were a race of powerful deities that ruled during the legendary Golden Age...
. Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Demeter, Hestia, and Hades were siblings. Ares, Hermes, Hephaestus, Aphrodite, Athena, Apollo, Artemis, the Charites, Heracles, Dionysus, Hebe, and Persephone were children of Zeus. Although some versions of the myths state that Hephaestus was born of Hera alone, and that Aphrodite was born of Ouranos.
Classical Olympians
| Greek Name | Roman Name | Statue | God(dess) Of... | Generation |
|---|
| Zeus In Greek mythology, Zeus is the king of the gods, the ruler of Mount Olympus and the god of the sky and thunder. His symbols are the thunderbolt, eagle, bull, and oak. In addition to his Indo-European inheritance, the classical "cloud-gatherer" also derives certain iconographic traits from the...
|
JupiterIn Roman mythology, Jupiter or Jove was the king of the gods, and the god of sky and thunder. He is the equivalent of Zeus in the Greek pantheon. He was called Iuppiter Optimus Maximus ; as the patron deity of the Roman state, he ruled over laws and social order...
|
|
King of the Gods and ruler of Mount Olympus; god of the sky, thunder, and justice. |
First |
HeraIn the Olympian pantheon of classical Greek Mythology, Hera or Here was the wife and older sister of Zeus. Her chief function was as goddess of women and marriage. In Roman mythology, Juno was the equivalent mythical character. The cow, and later, the peacock were sacred to her...
|
Juno Juno was an ancient Roman goddess, the protector and special counselor of the state. She is a daughter of Saturn and sister of the chief god Jupiter and the mother of Juventas, Mars, and Vulcan...
|
 |
Queen of the Gods and of the heavens; goddess of women, marriage, and motherhood. |
First |
PoseidonIn Greek mythology, Poseidon was the god of the sea and, as "Earth-Shaker," of earthquakes. The name of the sea-god Nethuns in Etruscan was adopted in Latin for Neptune in Roman mythology: both were sea gods analogous to Poseidon...
|
NeptuneNeptune is the god of water and the sea in Roman mythology, a brother of Jupiter and Pluto. He is analogous with but not identical to the god Poseidon of Greek mythology. The Roman conception of Neptune owed a great deal to the Etruscan god Nethuns....
|
 |
Lord of the Sea; god of the seas, earthquakes, created horses. |
First |
DemeterDemeter , in Greek mythology, is the Goddess of grain and fertility, the pure...
|
CeresIn Roman mythology, Ceres is the goddess of growing plants and of motherly love. Ceres was worshipped in Ancient Roman religion, and is today again worshipped in Roman Neopaganism...
|
 |
Goddess of fertility, agriculture, nature, and the seasons. |
First |
HestiaIn Greek mythology, virgin Hestia, daughter of Cronus and Rhea, is the goddess of the hearth, of the right ordering of domesticity and the family, who received the first offering at every sacrifice in the household. In the public domain, the hearth of the prytaneum functioned as her official...
|
Vesta Vesta was the virgin goddess of the hearth, home, and family in Roman mythology. Although she is often mistaken as analogous to Hestia in Greek mythology, she had a large, albeit mysterious, role in Roman religion long before she appeared in Greece. Little is known about the goddess, since, unlike...
|
 |
Goddess of the hearth and home (left so Dionysus could be in the twelve). |
First |
AphroditeAphrodite is the Greek goddess of love, beauty and raw sexuality. According to Greek poet Hesiod, she was born when Cronus cut off Ouranos's genitals and threw them into the sea, and from the aphros arose Aphrodite.Because of her beauty other gods feared that jealousy would interrupt the peace...
|
Venus Venus was a major Roman goddess principally associated with love, beauty and fertility, who played a key role in many Roman religious festivals and myths. From the third century BC, the increasing Hellenization of Roman upper classes identified her as the equivalent of the Greek goddess...
|
|
Goddess of love, beauty, desire, and fertility. |
Second [A] |
ApolloIn Greek and Roman mythology, Apollo , is one of the most important and many-sided of the Olympian deities...
|
ApolloIn Greek and Roman mythology, Apollo , is one of the most important and many-sided of the Olympian deities...
|
 |
The Sun God; god of light, healing, music, poetry, prophecy, archery and truth. |
Second |
AresIn Greek mythology, Ares is the son of Zeus and Hera. Though often referred to as the Olympian god of warfare, he is more accurately the god of bloodlust, or slaughter personified: "Ares is apparently an ancient abstract noun meaning throng of battle, war."-Etymology:Ares is the god of war...
|
Mars Mars was the Roman god of war, the son of Juno and Jupiter, husband of Bellona, and the lover of Venus. He was the most prominent of the military gods that were worshipped by the Roman legions. The martial Romans considered him second in importance only to Jupiter...
|
 |
God of war, frenzy, hatred, and bloodshed. |
Second |
ArtemisArtemis was one of the most widely venerated of the Ancient Greek deities. In the classical period of Greek mythology, Artemis was often described as the daughter of Zeus and Leto, and the twin sister of Apollo...
|
DianaIn Roman mythology, Diana was the goddess of the hunt, being associated with wild animals and woodland, and also of the moon. In literature she was the equivalent of the Greek goddess Artemis, though in cult beliefs she was Italic, not Greek, in origin...
|
 |
Goddess of the hunt, of maidens, and the moon. |
Second |
AthenaIn Greek mythology, Athena is the goddess of wisdom, peace, warfare, strategy, handicrafts and reason, shrewd companion of heroes and the goddess of heroic endeavour...
|
Minerva Minerva was the Roman goddess whom Hellenizing Romans from the second century BC onwards equated with the Greek goddess Athena. She was the virgin goddess of warriors, poetry, medicine, wisdom, commerce, weaving, crafts, magic and the inventor of music...
|
 |
Goddess of wisdom, crafts, and strategic battle. |
Second |
HephaestusHephaestus was a Greek god whose Roman equivalent was Vulcan. He was the god of technology, blacksmiths, craftsmen, artisans, sculptors, metals, metallurgy, fire and volcanoes. Like other mythic smiths but unlike most other gods, Hephaestus was lame, which gave him a grotesque appearance in Greek...
|
Vulcan In ancient Roman religion and Roman Neopaganism, Vulcan is the god of beneficial and hindering fire, including the fire of volcanoes. He is also called Mulciber in Roman mythology and Sethlans in Etruscan mythology...
|
 |
Blacksmith to the Gods; god of fire and the forges. |
Second |
HermesHermes is the Messenger of the gods in Greek mythology as well as a guide to the Underworld. An Olympian god, he is also the patron of boundaries and of the travelers who cross them, of shepherds and cowherds, of thieves and road travelers, of orators and wit, of literature and poets, of...
|
MercuryMercury was a messenger, and a god of trade, profit and commerce, the son of Maia Maiestas, also known as Ops, the Roman version of Rhea, and Jupiter. His name is related to the Latin word merx...
|
 |
Messenger of the Gods; god of commerce, speed, thieves, and trade. |
Second |
^ According to an alternate version of her birth, Aphrodite was born of Ouranos — after
CronusCronus or Kronos was the leader and the youngest of the first generation of Titans, divine descendants of Gaia, the earth goddess, and Ouranos, the sky...
threw his castrated genitals into the sea. This supports the etymology of her name, "foam-born". As such, Aphrodite would belong to a generation above, or equal to, Zeus and his siblings.
See Aphrodite#Birth
These are not included in the classical list of the Twelve Olympians, but they are sometimes included in other lists of the Twelve Olympians, as noted above.