List of Greek deities

[1] They were conceived of as individual persons, rather than abstract concepts or ideas,[2] and were described as being similar to humans in appearance, though they were considered larger and more beautiful.

[3] Though typically found in mythology and religion in an anthropomorphic visage, the gods were also capable of taking on the form of various animals.

[4] The emotions and actions of deities were largely the same as those of humans;[5] they frequently engaged in sexual activity,[6] and were fickle and amoral.

[18] Worship was the means by which the Greeks honoured their gods, as they believed deities had the power to bring to their lives various positive outcomes which were beyond their own control.

[19] Greek cult, or religious practice, consisted of activities such sacrifices, prayers, libations, festivals, and the building of temples.

[22] The cult a of deity contributed to how they were viewed, based upon the kinds of sacrifices made in their honour, the relation of their rituals to the social order, and the location of their sanctuaries.

[23] In addition to their name and cult, a god's character was determined by their mythology, the collection stoies told about them, and their iconography, how they were depicted in ancient Greek art.

[28] Artistic representations allow us to understand how deities were depicted over time from the early archaic period, and works such as vase paintings can significantly predate literary sources.

[29] Art contributed to how the Greeks conceived of the gods, and depictions would often assign them certain symbols, such as the thunderbolt of Zeus or the trident of Poseidon.

[17] The principal gods of the Greek pantheon were the twelve Olympians,[30] who lived on Mount Olympus,[31] and were connected to each other as part of a single family.

[32] Zeus was the chief god of the pantheon, though Athena and Apollo were honoured in a greater number of sanctuaries in major cities, and Dionysus is the deity who has received the most attention from modern scholars.

[35] Personifications of abstract concepts appeared frequently in Greek art and poetry,[36] though many were also venerated in cult, with some being worshipped as early as the 6th century BC.

[37] Groups or societies of deities could be purely mythological in importance, such as the Titans, or they could be the subject of significant worship, such as the Muses or Charites.

A temple would house the statue of a god or goddess, or multiple deities, and might be decorated with relief scenes depicting myths.

In Hesiod's Theogony (188–206), she was born from sea-foam and the severed genitals of Uranus; in Homer's Iliad (5.370–417), she is daughter of Zeus and Dione.

[39] God of music, arts, knowledge, healing, plague, prophecy, poetry, manly beauty, and archery.

The son of Zeus and Hera, he was depicted as a beardless youth, either nude with a helmet and spear or sword, or as an armed warrior.

In art she is often depicted as a young woman dressed in a short knee-length chiton and equipped with a silver hunting bow and a quiver of arrows.

She is depicted as being crowned with a crested helm, armed with shield and spear, and wearing the aegis over a long dress.

God of wine, fruitfulness, parties, festivals, madness, chaos, drunkenness, vegetation, ecstasy, and the theater.

It was once held that Dionysius was a later addition to the Greek pantheon, but the discovery of Linear B tablets confirm his status as a deity from an early period.

Hephaestus used the fire of the forge as a creative force, but his Roman counterpart Vulcan was feared for his destructive potential and associated with the volcanic power of the earth.

She was usually depicted as a regal woman in the prime of her life, wearing a diadem and veil and holding a lotus-tipped staff.

Hermes was also responsible for protecting livestock and presided over the spheres associated with fertility, music, luck, and deception.

[46] The son of Zeus and Maia, Hermes is the messenger of the gods, and a psychopomp who leads the souls of the dead into the afterlife.

In some stories he rapes Medusa, leading to her transformation into a hideous Gorgon and also to the birth of their two children, Pegasus and Chrysaor.