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Pantheon - Principal Gods |
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From Chaos came forth Erebus and black Night; but of Night were born
Aether and Day, whom she conceived and bare from union in love with
Erebus. And Earth first bare starry Heaven, equal to herself, to cover
her |
Gaia
- Earth  |
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| Primordial Goddess born from Chaos, she
gave birth to Pontos (sea), Mountains and Ouranos. With Ouranos as her husband gave birth to Titanes (the first generation of gods), Cyclopes and Hekatocheires. |
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| Ouranos
- Sky |
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| Is the god of the sky. Ouranos is the son
and husband of Gaia and from their union all elements of cosmos and all
life forms were born. But this union should be stopped in a given time
so everything that was born till then to have a stable shape and evolve
-- there is no way to have order in a universe which always create forms
in other words is 'under construction'. So Gaia was tired of her exuberant fertility and asked her sons to save her from the excessive embrace of Ouranos. Kronos was the one who accepted and armed with a sickle he castrated Ouranos, and the blood which fell from the mutilation gave birth to Erinyes (Furies), Giants, Nymphs and from the severed genitals, which fell in the sea, white foam appeared and Aphrodite the goddess of love and desire was born. |
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| Eros
- Love |
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| Known as the god of Love.
Eros is an always existed primal power of cosmos, or according to some
myths is born from Chaos and Gaia or from Tartarus and
Night or that is the son of Aphrodite. Is the personification of the
cosmic power of contraction, which makes the principal particles to congregate
and combine. Eros cannot create but with his energy all particles have
the tendency to join and from this junction, live arise. One of the most
important places, where Eros was worshiped, is Thespies in Boiotea -
every five years the Eroteia festival took place. |
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| Kronos
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| Kronos with his wife Rhea took the throne
of cosmos after Ouranos' castration. He is the god of harvest and
chaotic freedom. During the festival of Kronia (in honor of Kronos), just before the new year, there is a revival of Kronos' kingdom, which reminds the people of that 'golden era' where the people lived without limitations and restrictions from labor and laws. With the new year the 'order' takes over (Zeus' kingdom) and everything comes to normal again, but with a feeling of freshness and renewal from this temporally dive in the primitive origin of life. The myth says that when Kronos learned that he would be overthrown by one of his children, he began to swallow his newborns, taking them at birth and swallowing them whole. Rhea didn't like this and with the help of Gaia, they wrapped a stone with baby clothes and gave it to Kronos who swallowed thinking it was a child. The child (Zeus) was taken to Crete and there in a cave raised with the milk of a goat (Amalteia). When Zeus had grown, he returned and fight with his father who after his defeat, he forced to regurgitate the children he had previously swallowed, so Demetra, Hades, Hera, Hestia and Poseidon were saved and fight with Zeus against the Titanes (Titanomachy). |
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| Rhea
- She who flows |
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| Is the sister and wife of Kronos. Rhea was
identified from the people of Asia minor with Kybele, the great mother
of all gods. |
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| Iapetos
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| His wife is Clymene and their children are
Atlas, Menoitios, Prometheus and Epimetheus. |
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| Themis
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| Personification of the divine justice, law
and order. One of Zeus wives. Themis' daughters are the Horae, the
Moirai and the virgin Astraia. |
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| Oceanos
- Ocean |
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| The first child of Ouranos and Gaia. Is
the personification of the vast ocean, the river of the rivers. His wife
is Tethys and their children are the Rivers (over 3000) and Oceanids
(over 3000, with best known Kalypso). . |
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| Tethys
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| Wife of Oceanos. |
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| Hypereion
- He who walks upwards |
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| He's the husband of Theia and their
children are: Sun, Selene and Eos. Considered as one of the suns. |
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| Theia
- She who runs (?) |
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| The dawn with her soft light running
across the celestial dome, wife of Hypereion. |
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| Creios
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| Probably one of the suns, husband of
Eurybia. His children are: Astraios, Pallas and Perses. |
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| Mnemosyne
- Memory |
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| She is one of Zeus wives. Their children
are the Muses. |
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| Coeos
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| Probably one of the suns, husband of Phebe.
Their children are: Leto and Asteria. |
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| Phebe
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| Golden crowned, wife of Coeos. |
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| Helios
- Sun |
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| The son of Hyperion and Theia, who later
on is identified with Apollon. According to the myth, Helios rises from
the east (land of the Aithiops) and descends at night in the west (land
of Hesperides), and passing through Earth (land of the deads) returns in
the east again to shine over the world. Famous center of his worship was
Rhodos, where a very known huge statue was built in his honor, the
Colossos of Rhodes (the sixth of the seven wonders of the ancient world). |
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| Hecate
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| Moon goddess, daughter of Perseus and
Asterias. She is considered as the protector of the women in childbirth,
she's also the protector from outside evils, Hecate Propylaia (Hecate
before the gate), thus it was used to put a statue of her outside of the
sanctuaries and houses. She is represented as a triple head figure
(Trimorphos) - dog, snake, horse. Her field of action is the underworld (Hecate Cthonia), the night and magick. She's also known as Vendes (Thracian name) and worshipped inside of caves |
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| Hades
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| Son of Kronos and Rhea, ruler of the
underworld (the world of the deads) which is also called Hades. He is the brother of Zeus, Poseidon, Hera and Hestia Hades also referred to as Plouton (the rich one) because people believe that through his mediation the earth gives all the goods. Hades shares his throne with Persephone, who have been abducted by him, for four months and the other eight months Persephone is returning to her mother Demetra. |
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