Greco-Roman Ancient History

I love reading about those non-existent, but fascinating Greco-Roman gods and goddesses. More tidbits can be found on numerous internet sources, but this is my little contribution. Let the true Greek/Roman mythology fan stand up! I’ve been an avid reader of all things pertaining to the Greek/Roman myths and these details are from my brain, many story books, dictionaries and internet articles. The Greek letters are also here and I got them off a dictionary. I used Corel WordPerfect to find the letters of the Greek alphabet. The Greek gods and goddesses were gotten from a virtual plethora of source e.g. books, online databases, etc. Then, move over to case the Roman deities.

Myths

[+] The Fates: 3 sisters in Greek myth that are thought to control birth, life and death of an individual. They are: Clotho who spins the thread of life, Lachesis who guides it and Atropos who clips the thread of life.
[+] The Furies or Erinye in Greek myth are the 3 goddesses of vengeance namely: Tisiphone, Alecto and Megaera.
[+] The Muses in Greek myth live in Pierian and are the 9 goddesses of the Liberal arts who are daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne. Check this site for more muse info:

  1. Calliope – the muse of epic poetry
  2. Clio – the muse of history
  3. Erato – the muse of love poetry
  4. Melpomene – the muse of tragedy
  5. Euterpe – the muse of music and lyric poetry
  6. Polyhymnia – the muse of sacred lyrics
  7. Terpsichore – the muse of dancing
  8. Thalia – the muse of comedy
  9. Urania – the muse of astronomy

[+]The Graces (Aglaia, Euphrosyne and Thalia)
[+] Phaedra: (in Greek myth) fell in love with her stepson, but committed suicide after being spurned by him.
[+] Actaeon: (in Greek myth) was turned into a hart by Diana, the goddess of hunting, for looking at her while she was bathing.
[+] Phaeton: (in Greek myth) was the son of Helios, the sun god, who died while driving his father’s chariot.
[+] Daidalos: made the Cretan labyrinth and made wings for himself and his son, Icarus.
[+] Lethe: mythical river in Hades, producing forgetfulness of the past.
[+] Narcissism : From Narkissos, a Greek youth wo fell in love with his reflection and was turned to a flower.
[+] Promethean : From Prometheus, a mortal who brought fire to Earth and was punished by Zeus (or Jupiter). He was chained to a rock and a vulture was put to torture him.
[+] Tantalize: From Tantalus, a mythical king punished in Hades by the sight of water which ebbed whenever he stopped to drink and fruit which drew back when he reached for them.
[+] Adonis: a youth loved by Venus.
[+] Naiad: a water nymph; Nereid, a sea nymph; Dryad, a wood nymph
[+] Achilles: the great Hero in the Trojan war who was invulnerable except in the heel by which his mother held him when she dipped him in the Styx.
[+]Penelopise: From Penelope, wife of Ulysses who undid the work she did at night in order to gain time.
[+] Argus: a hundred-eyed monster whose many eyes Hera, wife of Zeus transferred to a peacock’s tail.
[+] Cyclops: a one eyed giant.
[+] Phoebus: Greek god of sun (Apollo)
[+] Phoebe: his sister, Artemis
[+] Sisyphus: a legendary king of COrinth who was punished in Hades.
[+] Phlegethon: a fiery river in Hades
[+] Styx: a dark gloomy river in Hades.
[+] Philomela: daughter of Pandion changed into a nightingale or swallow
[+] Kronos: god of Greeks and son of Quanos and Gaia, dethroned by his own son, Zeus.
[+] Picus: Italian god, son of Saturn turned to a wood pecker by Circe.
[+] Selene: Greek Moon goddess
[+] Orpheus: mythical Thracian musician who could make inanimate objects move with music from his lyre.
[+] Uranus: father of Kronos [Saturn] and the Titans.
[+] Rhea: daughter of Uranus and Ge, wife and sister of Kronos. Also the 5th satellite of Saturn.
[+] Stentor: a loud voiced Greek at Troy.
[+] Typhoeus: in Greek myth, a monster buried under Mt. Etna
[+] Typhon: son of Typhoeus later identified with him – father of Dangerous winds.
[+] Pleiad: one of the seven daughers of Atlas and Pleione changed into stars.
[+] Argonaut: one of the heroes who sailed in the ship, Argo, with Jason in search of the golden fleece.
[+] Nestor: name of one of the Greeks at Troy. A wise old counsellor.
[+] Achates: Aenas’s friend (Fidus achates).
[+] Asphodel: immortal flower of the Greek Elysium.
[+] Erebus: a dark gloomy cavern between Earth and Hades.
[+] Minotaur: offspring of Pasiphae, wife of Minos, a legendary king of Crete.
[+] Hercules: son of Zeus and Alcmene. Alcmene was the wife of King Amphitryon who was the king of the Tiryns.
[+] Danae: mother of Perseus who killed his grandfather unknowingly
[+] Apollo turned Midas’ ears to an ass’s ear because Midas preferred Pan’s music from reeds to his (Apollo’s)
[+] Ixion murdered his fatehr by flinging him in a burning ditch and was punished thus by being tied to a rotating wheel placed over a bon fire.

Twelve Tasks of Hercules

  1. To slay the Nemean lion
  2. To slay the Erymanthian boar
  3. To capture the golden-antlered stag, Cerynitis
  4. To slay the nine headed Hydra
  5. To clean king Augeas stables in one day which had not been cleaned for 30 years.
  6. To slay a mad Minoan bull
  7. To slay a flock of birds called the Stymphalides
  8. To capture the savage horses of Diomedes
  9. To secure the girdle of Hippolyte, Queen of the Amazons
  10. To steal a herd of red cattle from the giant, Geryon
  11. To fetch 3 golden apples from the garden of the Hesperides
  12. To bring Cerberus, the 3-headed guard dog of Hades

[+] Harpies: vultures with women’s faces.
[+] Circaean: relating to the beautiful sorceress, Circe, who tranformed the companions of Ulysses into swine by a magic beverage.
[+] Niobe: daughter of Tantalus turned to stone as she wept for her children who were slain by Artemis and Apollo for her mockery of their mother at her few children.
[+] Hesperides: sisters who guarded in their delightful gardens in the West, the golden apples which Hera on her marriage to Zeus received from Gaea.
[+] Phoenix: mythical bird after living hundreds of years in the Arabian desert [500 years], burnt itself on a funeral pile and rose from the ashes young to live for another cycle.
[+] Oedipus: king of Thebes who solved the Sphinx’s riddle, unwittingly killed his father (Laius) and married his mother, Jocasta
[+] Electra: Greek girl who helped avenge her mother’s murder of her father, Agamemnon
[+] Tiresias:blind, old seer
[+] Danaides: punished to catch water in sieves for ever.
[+] Neptune is usually pictured with a trident.
[+] Vulcan is usually pictured with a hammer
[+]Athena is usually pictured with a helmet
[+] Arius: Unitarian of Alexandria [d. 336]
[+] Atalanta: fleet footed Arcadian or Boeotian maiden who raced her suitors and was defeated by Milanion or Hippomenes who dropped golden apples on the course to delay her.
[+] Augeas: King of Elis into whose uncleansed oxstalls Herakles (or Hercules) diverted the river, Alpheus.
[+] Parca: a Fate; any one of the Roman Goddesses Nona, Decuma and Morta; identified with Greek Moirai
[+] Eupherbos: Greek physician to Juba, king of Mauretania
[+] Tethys: sea nymph, wife of Oceanus
[+] Timon: famous Athenian misanthrope [5th century BC] celebrated by Aristophanes, Lucian, Plutarch and Shakespeare

[+] Thyestean: of Thyestes, the Greek who was made to eat his own sons
[+] Thespian: pertaining to tragedy after Thespis, the founder of Greek tragedy
[+] Sop: the drugged drink (sop) that the sibyl gave to cerberus to gain passage for Aenas
[+] Hippocrates: Greek physician and philosopher [b. 460BC]
[+] Damocles: flatterer of Dionysius of Syracuse who was taught the insecurity of happiness by being made to feast with a sword suspended over his head by a single hair hence carrying the threat of imminent calamity
[+] Three Judges: Aeacus, Minos and Rhadamanthus. They were the judges of the dead who decided where the souls of the dead would go to: Elysian fields or Tartarus
[+] Ardiaeus: punished to spend the rest of time being dragged backwards and forwards through a hedge of thorns
[+] Orpheus: whose mom was Calliope, despised Thracian women after Eurydice’s death. Thus, he was killed by Bacchanalian revels. His head was thrown into River Hebrus and washed up on the Isle of Lesbos
[+] Scylla: daughter of Nisus, king of Megara. For love of Minos, she sacrificed her father and the city by pulling out Nisus’ purple hair. She was changed into a bird when she followed Minos who despised her love
[+]Berenice: wife of Ptolemy III of Egypt, and her hair became a counstellation
[+] Syrinx: an Arcadian nymph who jumped into river Ladon to escape Pan. She was changed into a reed from which Pan made his pipes
[+]Antaeus: son of Poseidon and the earth, invincible so long as he remained in contact with his mom, Earth. Hercules lifted him from the ground and strangled him.

Greek Alphabet

Greek alphabet (English
spelling)
Lowercase
Uppercase
Alpha α Α
Beta β Β
Gamma γ Γ
Delta δ Δ
Epsilon ε Ε
Zeta ζ Ζ
Eta η Η
Theta θ Θ
Iota ι Ι
Kappa κ Κ
Lambda λ Λ
Mu μ Μ
Nu ν Ν
Xi ξ Ξ
Omicron ο Ο
Pi π Π
Rho ρ Ρ
Sigma σ Σ
Tau ς Τ
Upsilon υ Υ
Phi φ Φ
Chi χ Χ
Psi ψ Ψ
Omega ω Ω

Grecian Deities

Greek Gods
Greek Goddesses
Zeus, king of all gods Hera, queen of all gods
Kronos, god of Agriculture Charis, goddess of what imparts graciousness to life
Hermes, god of theft, eloquence, merchandise and messenger of the gods Athena, goddess of wisdon
Asclepios, god of healing Artemis, goddess of hunting
Ares, god of war Hymen, goddess of marriage
Dionysius, god of wine and revelry Nemesis, goddess of vengeance
Eros, god of love Eos, goddess of dawn
Poseidon, god of the sea Tyche, goddess of fortune
Morpheus, god of dreams Themis, goddess of law and justice
Hypnos, god of sleep Ate, goddess of mischief, rash actions and their results
Hephaetus, god of fire and metal working Hygeia, goddess of health
Hades, god of the underworld Nike, goddess of victory
Pan, god of pastures, flocks and woods Ilythia, goddess of childbirth
Priapus, god of procreation Eris, mother of strife
  Gaea, earth-mother
  Rhea, mother of gods
  Hebe, spirit of Eternal youth
  Hecate, goddess of witches
  Selene, moon goddess
  Demeter, goddess of tillage and corn
  Hestia, goddess of the hearth and home

Roman Deity

Roman gods
Roman goddesses
Jupiter, king of the gods Juno, queen of goddesses
Cupid, god of love Venus, goddess of love
Terminus, god of boundaries Diana, goddess of hunting
Lupercus, god of fertility and flocks Minerva, goddess of wisdom
Neptune, god of the sea Tellus, goddess of the earth
Vulcan, god of fire and metal working Pomona, goddess of fruits
Pluto, god of the underworld Lucina, goddess of childbirth
Saturn, god of agriculture Aurora, goddess of dawn
Somnus, god of sleep Bellona, goddess of war
Bacchus, god of wine Palilia, goddess of flocks
Mercury, god of theft, eloquence, merchandise and messenger of the gods Vesta, goddess of the hearth
Plutus, god of wealth  
Ceres, god of tillage and corn  
Mars, god of war  
Janus, god of doors  
Aesculapis, god of health