GODS AND HEROES
of the Ancient Greek Religion
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The story of the birth of the Gods; this link will take you to what is likely the most important page on the entire website: Orphic Theogony.
Introduction to the qualities and characteristics of the Thæí (the Gods): The Nature of the Gods.
Dictionary of terms related to Deity: Glossary of Hellenic Theistic Terminology.
We know the various qualities and characteristics of the Gods based on metaphorical stories: Mythology.
Dictionary of terms related to ancient Greek mythology: Glossary of Hellenic Mythology.
How do we know there are Gods? Experiencing Gods
GODS AND HEROES
The following list groups the Heroes together with the Gods because the Heroes are at the Eighth Level, the stage just before divine realm; they are demi-Gods, almost Gods, soon-to-be Gods.
Achilles - See Akhilléfs.
Ádônis and the Adóhnia (Adônis) - Ádônis is a God known for his great beauty, whose festival has multiple meanings.
Adonis - See Ádohnis and the Adónia.
Ækátî (Hecate) - Ækátî is a mighty Goddess who stands by our side as we walk the path of arætí.
Ælefthæría (Eleutheria) - Freedom (Ἐλευθερία), the ninth Natural Law, and The Four Laws of Freedom.
Ælios - See Ílios.
Ærmís (Hermês)- Ærmís is the great Olympian God of Movement in the Divine World.
Ǽrôs (Erôs) - Ǽrôs, the power of attraction, makes possible the relationship with Gods.
Æstía (Hestia) - Æstía is the great Olympian Goddess who we honor first in every ritual.
Aidis - See Ploutohn.
Aidoneus (Aidohnéfs) - See Ploutohn.
Aidohnéfs - See Ploutohn.
Aióhn (Eôn or Aiôn) - The word Αἰὼν is used in various ways in ancient Greek. It can mean eôn, as in a vast period of time, but sometimes it means other things. See also: The Twelve Days of Diónysos.
Akhilléfs (Achilles) - Akhilléfs is the great hero of the Greeks in the Trojan War.
Andǽrôs (Anteros) - Andǽrôs is the God of returned love.
Anteros - See Andǽrôs.
Aphrodítî (Aphroditê) - Aphrodítî is the great Olympian Goddess of Harmony.
Apóllôn (Apollô) - Apóllôn is the great Olympian God of Freedom who is the guardian of the Mysteries.
Arætí (Aretê) - Arætí is Virtue, an impersonal deity as well as the greatest offering which can be given to the Gods.
Compassion in Ancient Greek Religion
Aretê - See Arætí.
Árîs (Arês) - Árîs is the great Olympian God who has dominion over the Natural Law of Life.
Aristaios (Aristaeus) - Aristaios is, amongst many other things, the rustic God of beekeeping.
Ártæmis (Artemis) - Ártæmis is the great Olympian Goddess who has dominion over the Natural Law of Energy.
Asklîpiós (Asclêpius) - Asklîpiós is the great God of healing.
Athîná (Athena or Minerva) - Athîná is the great Olympian Goddess who has dominion over the Natural Law of Co-Influence.
Átropos - See Mírai.
Baubô - See Vavvóh.
Bitôn and Cleobis - See Klǽovis and Vítôn.
Castor - See Dióskouri.
Cleobis and Bitôn - See Klǽovis and Vítôn.
Clôthô - See Mírai.
Corybantes - Please visit this page: Kourítæs (Curêtes).
Corybas - See Korývas.
Cronus - See Krónos.
Curetes - See Kourítæs.
Daimôn (Daemôn) - Daimôn is a word that has many meanings.
Dêmêtêr - See Dîmítîr.
Dîmiourgós (Dêmiurge) - The Dîmiourgós is Zefs (Zeus) as Creator, but the Dîmiourgós does not create the universe out of nothing, as they say of the Christian god, but rather, he reveals what pre-exists and has potential.
Dîmítîr (Dêmêtêr) - Dîmítîr is the great Goddess of agriculture who is associated with the Mysteries.
The Orphic Hymn to Dîmítîr Ælefsínia
Diónysos (Dionysus) - Diónysos is the fulfillment of the providence and compassion of Zefs (Zeus). He is the God who gives us wine, which is the Divine Aithír (Ether), the influence of Zefs which transforms the soul:
Diónysos - The Epithets I: A through K
Diónysos - The Epithets II: L through Z
Dióskouri (Dioscuri) - The Dióskouri, Kástohr and Polydéfkis, are brother Gods who divide their time between Ólympos and the Earth.
Dôdækáthæon (Dôdecatheon) - This is the introductory page to the Twelve Olympian Gods.
Eros - See Ǽrôs.
Fates, The - See Mírai (Moirae).
Freedom - See Ælefthæría.
Gaia - See Yaia.
Ge - See Yaia.
Hades - See Ploutôn.
Hecatê - See Ækátî.
Hêlios - See Ílios.
Hephaestus - See Íphaistos.
Hêra - See Íra.
Hermês - See Ærmís.
Hêroes - See Íroæs.
Hestia - See Æstía.
Hipta - See Ipta.
Iásôn (Jason) - Iásôn is the principal hero of the Argonaftiká (Argonautica) who led the campaign to find the Golden Fleece.
Ílios (Hêlios) - Ílios is the Sun.
Íphaistos (Hephaestus) - Íphaistos is the great Olympian God of Form.
Ippa - See Ípta.
Ípta (Hipta or Ippa) - Ípta is the mighty Goddess who is called the soul of the world.
Íra (Hêra) - Íra is the great Olympian Goddess and consort of Zefs (Zeus).
Írôæs (Hêrôes) - The Írôæs are semi-divine beings, almost Gods.
Glossary of the Hellenic Hêrôes
Jasôn - See Iásôn.
Kástôr - See Dióskouri (Dioscuri).
Kings, The Six - See Vasileis, The Six.
Kleobis and Bitôn - See Klǽovis and Vítôn.
Kleops and Bitias - See Klǽovis and Vítôn.
Klǽovis and Vítôn (Cleobis and Bitôn) - Klǽovis and Vítôn are two of the most famous Kouri.
Klôthóh (Clôthô) - See Mírai.
Korybantes - Please visit this page: Kourítæs (Curêtes).
Korývas (Corybas) - (see the link below)
Kourítæs (Curêtes) - The Kourítæs play a role in the Mystíria and the mythology of the infancy of mighty Zefs.
Kouros - Kouri (κοῦροι) are deified young men, often depicted in sculpture as standing, naked, young men.
Krónos (Cronus) - Krónos is the fourth in the succession of The Six Vasileis (Kings).
There is a great myth of Ællinismόs (Hellenismos; Gr. Ἑλληνισμός), the ancient Greek religion, in the Politikós (Statesman; Gr. Πολιτικός), a dialogue of the philosopher Plátohn (Plato; Gr. Πλάτων), which concerns Krónos: The Age of Krónos and the Reversal of Time.
Lachesis - See Mírai.
Lákhæsis (Lachesis) - See Mírai.
Law - See Nómos.
Mírai (Moirae) - The Mírai are three Goddesses known collectively as the Fates.
Mnîmosýnî (Mnêmosynê) - Mnîmosýnî is the Goddess of Remembrance.
Moerae - See Mírai.
Moirai - See Mírai.
Móros - Móros is the brother of the Mírai.
Mousai (Muses) - The Mousai are the nine Goddess of the arts in the entourage of Apóllôn.
Muses - See Mousai.
Nature - See Phýsis.
Nómos - Nómos is the personification of Divine Law and a manifestation of Zefs (Zeus).
Nýmphai (Nymphs) - The Nýmphai are divine beings that are often represented as bees.
Nymphs - See Nýmphai.
Nyx - Nyx is the Goddess of the Mystical Darkness.
Olympian Gods and Diónysos - This is the introductory page to the Twelve Gods.
Orphéfs (Orpheus) - The Greeks call him simply "the Great Theologian" who taught us the religion.
Orpheus - See Orphéfs.
Ouranós (Uranus) - Ouranós is the third God in the succession of Six Vasileis (Kings).
Pærsæphónî (Persephonê) - Pærsæphónî is the daughter of the Goddess Dîmítîr (Dêmêtêr).
Persephonê - See Pærsæphónî.
Phánîs (Phanês) - Phánîs is the first of The Six Kings.
Phýsis - Phýsis, or Nature, is divine and personified as a Goddess and also as the God Pan.
Ploutôn (Pluto or Hades) - Ploutôn is Zefs (Zeus) of the Earth, the king of the terrestrial world with all its magnificent verdure.
Plutô - See Ploutôn.
Pollux - See Dióskouri (Dioscuri).
Polydéfkîs - See Dióskouri (Dioscuri).
Poseidóhn (Poseidôn) - Poseidóhn is the great Olympian God of Progress.
Poseidæa: a festival of Poseidóhn
Rǽa (Rhea) - Rǽa is the second Goddess in the progression of Earth known as the Three Vasíleiai (Queens).
Rhea - See Rǽa.
Titánæs (Titans) - Titánæs is the plural of Titán; they gave the Basket of Mysteries to Diónysos.
Titans - See Titánæs.
Uranus - See Ouranós.
Vasíleiai, The Three - The Three Vasíleiai (Queens) are progressions of the primordial Earth.
Vasileis, The Six - The Six Vasileis (Kings) are progressions of the primordial Water.
Vavvóh (Baubô) - Vavvóh, often identified with Iámvî (Iambê, Ἰάμβη), is the nurse of Dîmítîr associated with the Eleusinian Mysteries.
Virtue - See Arætí.
Vítôn and Kleobis - See Klǽovis and Vítôn.
Yaia (Gaia) - Yaia is Earth, the primordial Goddess and mother of us all.
Zefs (Zeus) - Zefs is the great Olympian God of Life in the Divine World, the mighty father of Gods and men (Πατὴρ ἀνδρῶν τε Θεῶν τε).
The Orphic Hymn 15 to Zefs (from the Orphic Hymns)
The Orphic Rhapsodic Hymn to Zefs (from the Orphic theogony)
The Hymn to Zeus by Callimachus of Alexandria
Zeus - See Zefs.
Zeuses, The Three - The three brothers, Zefs, Poseidóhn, and Ploutôn, have dominion over the earth, the sea and middle sky, and the vast heavens beyond the moon.
THE PHILOSOPHERS OF HELLENISMOS:
Æmbædoklís (Empedoclês) - Æmbædoklís was a pre-Socratic philosopher who taught reincarnation.
Apuleius was the Platonic philosopher and writer of the 2nd century C.E. who wrote The Golden Asse.
Damáskios (Damascius) - Damáskios was the last head of the philosophical Academy of Athens.
Empedocles - See Æmpædoklís.
Plethon - See Yæóhryios Yæmistós Plíthôn. (Geôrgius Gemistus Plêthôn)
Yæóhryios Yæmistós Plíthôn (Geôrgius Gemistus Plêthôn) was a Neoplatonic philosopher and believer in the Gods who had a seminal influence on the Italian Renaissance.
"...to see in whatever forms our horizon, nothing but fields, houses, or trees, is to be but superficial; all the aspects of things are thoughts of God." (Victor Hugo, speaking of the splendor of Paris. From Victor Hugo's Les Misérables, Marius, Book First, Chapter 5. Translated by Charles E. Wilbour in 1862. As can be found in the 1998 Everyman's Library edition, Alfred A. Knopf, [New York, London, Toronto] on p. 577)
The story of the birth of the Gods: Orphic Theogony.
We know the various qualities and characteristics of the Gods based on metaphorical stories: Mythology.
Dictionary of terms related to ancient Greek mythology: Glossary of Hellenic Mythology.
Introduction to the Thæí (the Gods): The Nature of the Gods.
This logo is the principal symbol of this website. It is called the CESS logo, i.e. the Children of the Earth and the Starry Sky. The Pætilía (Petelia, Πετηλία) and other golden tablets having this phrase (Γῆς παῖς εἰμί καὶ Οὐρανοῦ ἀστερόεντος) are the inspiration for the symbol. The image represents this idea: Earth (divisible substance) and the Sky (continuous substance) are the two kozmogonic substances. The twelve stars represent the Natural Laws, the dominions of the Olympian Gods. In front of these symbols is the seven-stringed kithára (cithara, κιθάρα), the lyre of Apóllôn (Apollo, Ἀπόλλων). It (here) represents the bond between Gods and mortals and is representative that we are the children of Orphéfs (Orpheus, Ὀρφεύς).
PLEASE NOTE: Throughout the pages of this website, you will find fascinating stories about our Gods. These narratives are known as mythology, the traditional stories of the Gods and Heroes. While these tales are great mystical vehicles containing transcendent truth, they are symbolic and should not be taken literally. A literal reading will frequently yield an erroneous result. The meaning of the myths is concealed in code. To understand them requires a key. For instance, when a God kills someone, this usually means a transformation of the soul to a higher level. Similarly, sexual union with a God is a transformation .
The story of the birth of the Gods: Orphic Theogony.
We know the various qualities and characteristics of the Gods based on metaphorical stories: Mythology.
Dictionary of terms related to ancient Greek mythology: Glossary of Hellenic Mythology.
SPELLING: HellenicGods.org uses the Reuchlinian method of pronouncing ancient Greek, the system preferred by scholars from Greece itself. An approach was developed to enable the student to easily approximate the Greek words. Consequently, the way we spell words is unique, as this method of transliteration is exclusive to this website. For more information, visit these three pages:
Pronunciation of Ancient Greek
Transliteration of Ancient Greek
Pronouncing the Names of the Gods in Hellenismos
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