The Twelve Olympians

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The Twelve Olympians
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The Elder Generation
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The Children of Zeus Hera
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Other Olympian children of Zeus

• Zeus Leto
• Apollo
• Artemis
• Zeus Semele
• Dionysus
• Zeus Maia
• Hermes
• Zeus Dione
• Aphrodite
• Zeus ( Metis)
• Athena

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Hestia

• daughter of Cronus and Rhea
• hearth (family polis)
• protects city
• Virginal
• Rejects Poseidon
• Rejects Apollo
• cultic significance

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Hades

• son of Cronus and Rhea
• Zeus of the Underworld
• Death
• receives all
• ill-luck
• Pluto (the enricher)
• Mineral wealth
• Agricultural bounty

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Hades

• cap of invisibility
• Persephone
• demons

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Zeus

• son of Cronus and Rhea
• dios (sky)
• sky and weather
• cloud gatherer, dark clouded
• thunderer on high
• mountains (Olympus)

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Zeus attributes

• thunderbolt
• lightning
• eagle
• aegis
• bull sacrifice

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Zeus functions

• victory (esp. in battle)
• athletic competitions
• Olympia
• sexual potency and fertility
• father of men and gods
• justice
• makes mortal kings
• guest-host relationship (xenia)
• universal (all-powerful, cause of all)

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Zeus Consorts Children

• Metis Athena
• Themis Hours, Order, Justice, Peace, Fates
• Demeter Persephone
• Mnemosyne The Nine Muses
• Leto Artemis Apollo
• Dione Aphrodite
• Semele Dionysus
• Maia Hermes
• Hera Hebe, Eileithyia, Ares (Hephaestus)

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Zeus Interpretations

• double standard
• sacred marriage (hieros gamos)
• nature allegories

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Zeus Cult Centers Olympia
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Zeus Cult CentersDodona
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Hera

• daughter of Cronus and Rhea
• queen of the gods
• Women
• maid
• Wife
• widow

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Hera

• functions
• weddings
• marriage
• equal partner to Zeus
• family
• fidelity
• jealous of Zeus
• not motherhood

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Hera

• cult centers
• Argos
• Samos
• Olympia

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Children of Zeus HeraEileithyia

• childbirth

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Children of Zeus Hera Hebe

• youthful bloom
• Cupbearer

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Children of Zeus Hera Hephaestus

• son of Hera
• smith god
• fire, craftsmen, technology
• Lame
• thrown from Olympus
• by Zeus
• by Hera
• no father
• motif of lame craftsman
• Marriages
• Charis (Iliad )
• Aphrodite (Odyssey)

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Children of Zeus Hera Ares

• son of Zeus and Hera
• violent warfare
• brutality blood-lust
• father of
• Phobos (panic)
• Deimos (fear)
• Harmonia
• Adultery with Aphrodite

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Children of Zeus Mnemosyne Muses

• Calliope (epic)
• Clio (history)
• Euterpe (flute)
• Melpomene (tragedy)
• Terpsichore (dance)
• Erato (love poetry)
• Urania (astronomy)
• Thalia (comedy)
• Polyhymnia (sacred music)

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Children of Zeus Themis

• Horae
• Order
• Justice
• Peace
• Fates
• Clotho (spinner)
• Lachesis (apportioner)
• Atropos (inflexible)