Poseidon (God of Sea)

Poseidon is a god of many names. He is most famous as the god of the sea. The son of
Cronus and Rhea, and his brothers and sisters include: Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades, and
Zeus. Poseidon is one of six siblings who eventually "divided the power of the world."
The division of the universe involved him and his brothers, Zeus and Hades. Poseidon
became ruler of the sea, Zeus ruled the sky, and Hades got the underworld. Poseidon was
similar to his brother Zeus; he had many love affairs and fathered numerous children.

Poseidon was a very moody divinity. When he was in a good mood, Poseidon created
new lands in the water and a calm sea. In contrast, when he was in a bad mood, Poseidon
would strike earthquakes, cause unruly springs, ship wrecks, and drownings. Though he
could be difficult and assert his powers over the gods and mortals, Poseidon could be
cooperative and it was he who helped the Greeks during the Trojan War.

Nemesis (God of righteous vengeance)

Nemesis is the goddess of divine justice and vengeance. Her anger is directed toward
human transgression of the natural, right order of things and of the arrogance causing it.
Nemesis pursues the insolent and the wicked with inflexible vengeance. She is portrayed
as serious looking woman with in her left hand a whip, a rein, a sword, or a pair of scales.

Narcissus (handsome mortal)

Narcissus is a beautiful young man who spurned sex and died as a result. He is the son of
the river god Cephissus and the nymph Liriope. Tiresias, the seer, told his parents that the
child "would live to an old age if it did not look at itself." Many nymphs and girls fell in
love with him but he rejected them. One of these nymphs, Echo, was so distraught over
this rejection that she withdrew into a lonely spot and faded until all that was left was a
plaintive whisper. The goddess Nemesis heard the rejected girls prayers for vengeance
and arranged for Narcissus to fall in love with his own reflection. So, Narcissus fell in
love with his own reflection in a spring and, in desperation, killed himself. This story
give an origin to the narcissus flower, which grew where Narcissus died.

Echo (Beautiful nymph who loved Narcissus, cursed by Zeus)

The chief god Zeus had many affairs with both mortals and gods, much to his wife's
dislike. While he pursued his amours, it was Echo's duty to beguile Hera's attention by
incessantly talking to her. Hera discovered the trick and as punishment, she made Echo
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always repeat the voice of another. One day, Echo fell in love with a vain youth named
Narcissus, who ignored her. Narcissus found a pool of water and stared at his lovely
reflection until he died. Echo watched him until she pined away, now her voice remains,
repeating the last few things people say.

Nike (Goddess of victory)

Nike is the Greek personification of victory. She can run and fly at great speed. She is a
constant companion of Athena. She was represented as a woman with wings, dressed in a
billowing robe with a wreath or staff.

Apollo (God of Light & Music)

Apollo was the god of music (principally the lyre, and he directed the choir of the Muses)
and also of prophecy, colonization, medicine, archery (but not for war or hunting),
poetry, dance, intellectual inquiry and the carer of herds and flocks. He was also a god of
light, known as "Phoebus" (radiant or beaming, and he was sometimes identified with
Helios the sun god). He was also the god of plague and was worshiped as Smintheus
(from sminthos, rat) and as Parnopius (from parnops, grasshopper) and was known as the
destroyer of rats and locust, and according to Homer's Iliad, Apollo shot arrows of plague
into the Greek camp.

Hermes (Messenger of Gods: led dead souls to the underworld)

Hermes, the herald of the Olympian gods, is the son of Zeus and the nymph Maia,
daughter of Atlas and one of the Pleiades. Hermes is the god of shepherds, land travel,
merchants, weights and measures, oratory, literature, athletics and thieves, and known for
his cunning and shrewdness. Most importantly, he is the messenger of the gods.

Aphrodite (Goddess of love, Roman name: Venus, son was cupid).

The Greek goddess of love. Unlike her Roman counterpart Venus, with whom she was
identified, Aphrodite was not only a deity of sexual love but also of affection and all the
impulses that underpin social life. Her amorousness may be partly explained by one of
the legends concerning her birth. Inside the divine flesh a goddess was nurtured, whom
the Greeks called Aphrodite, ‘she who came from the foam’.

Of historical interest are the two stories that connect Aphrodite with Troy. While
Aphrodite was instrumental in saving a remnant of the Trojans through providing them

Source: “Encyclopedia Mythica,” http://www.pantheon.org/main/search.html

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with the leadership of Aeneas after the fall of the city to the Greeks, she contributed to
the fatal conflict herself. In order to be judged the most beautiful of the goddesses by
Paris, the son of Priam and Hecuba, when he was serving as a shepherd, Aphrodite
promised him the hand of Helen, already the wife of the Spartan King Menelaus. The
abduction of Helen by Paris brought about the Trojan War.

Eros (God of love; “Cupid” in Roman version)

Eros, the Greek god of love and sexual desire (the word eros, which is found in the Iliad
by Homer, is a common noun meaning sexual desire). He was also worshiped as a
fertility god, believed to be a contemporary of the primeval Chaos, which makes Eros one
of the oldest gods. It was also written that Eros hatched our race and made it appear first
into the light. It is said that he was responsible for the embraces of Uranus (Heaven or
Sky) and Gaia (Earth), and from their union were born many offspring.

Eros is usually depicted as a young winged boy, with his bow and arrows at the ready, to
either shoot into the hearts of gods or mortals which would rouse them to desire. Eros as
being bitter sweet, and cruel to his victims, yet he was also charming and very beautiful.

Psyche (goddess of love & the souls “psychology”)

In Greek and Roman mythology, a princess who was so lovely that Eros (Cupid), the god
of love, fell in love with her. Her beauty was such that worshipers began to turn away
from Venus, and the envious goddess commanded her son Cupid to make Psyche fall in
love with the most despicable of men. But Cupid himself fell in love with Psyche and hid
her in a remote place, where he visited her secretly under cover of darkness. One night
she lit a lamp and discovered her lover's identity. He left angrily, and Psyche wandered
the earth searching for him performing difficult and dangerous tasks, until at last she was
captured by Venus. After Cupid rescued Psyche, Jupiter made her immortal and gave her
in marriage to Cupid.

Source: “Encyclopedia Mythica,” http://www.pantheon.org/main/search.html