side effects include:
 - impressing the opposite sex with your knowledge
 - Going to college
 - Getting an A+ in school
 - Impressing your boss thus getting a FAT bonus (we all need bonus’ in this economy, unless you’re seriously wealthy!)

First Generation

Uranus

Ruler of the sky, son and husband of Gaea. Immortal children. 3 of 100 handed giants. He feared his six kids were too strong so he bound them and dropped them down into the earth

Pontus

Sea god, son and husband of Gaea. Children were Nereus, Thaumus, Phorcys, Ceto, Eurybia, aigaios, the telkhines, the fish Thassala. Appears as a giant head rising from the sea.

Gaea

Mother earth goddess, supported the sea and mountains of her breast. Mother for most gods. No parents.

Second Generation

Cronus

 Youngest Child, ruler of the Titans. Cronus married his sister Rhea, and had six kids: Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, Hera, Demeter, Hestia. Cronus killed his father, Uranus, as his mother requested he do so as vengeance. God of the sky after Uranus.

Rhea

Mother earth goddess, married her brother Cronus. Titaness daughter of Uranus. 

Oceanus

 A river, personified and portrayed as a god. Oceanus flowed around the earth in a constant circle.

Atlas

 Atlas was the strongest Titan who was condemned to hold up the sky.

Prometheus

 Prometheus was creative and clever, his name means “forethought”. He loved mankind and helped them a lot. He gave the humans fire and created mortal man. He also helped Zeus conquer the Titans. Prometheus one tricked Zeus and as a punishment, Zeus’ servants chained him to a rock. Zeus wanted to find out the mother of his child, but Prometheus never gave up. An eagle would rip his liver out daily and each day it would grow back.

Epimetheus

Married pandora, Prometheus’ brother. He was often seen as a scatter-brain, and he created mankind.

Pandora

Pandora was the first mortal woman, and she married Epimetheus. Pandora means, “the gift of all”. She is evil to men, and very curious. She got a box from the gods and was forbidden to open it. Curiosity got the best of her and out came plagues, sorrow, mischief, misfortune, but hope remained in the box because she closed it in time.

Third Generation

Zeus

 Son of Cronus and Rhea, Zeus, lord of all gods and goddesses’, had many love affairs. He was married to Hera, but loved other women. He was the youngest, smartest and most powerful. His trademark weapon is the thunderbolt. He maintains order amongst the mortals. Roman name is Jupiter.

Poseidon

Roman name is Neptune – Poseidon is son of Cronus and Rhea. He is the god of sea and shores, and is armed with a trident. He travelled in a chariot pulled by half horse half serpent like creatures. Poseidon desperately wanted to be worshipped by a city, but the city always wanted someone else. Poseidon became angry which caused a drought. When he fell in love with Argos the drought stopped. Married to Amphitite. 

Hades

Hades was the son of Cronus and Rhea. Hades joined Zeus when he decided to revolt against Cronus. God of the underworld, rule over the dead. Called Pluto by the Romans. He had a helmet that made anyone who wore it invisible.

Athena

Zeus’ favorite daughter. Athena was the goddess of arts, crafts, and a defensive war, helper of heroes. Romans called her Minerva. Shuttle is her weapon. She thought the apple should be hers and promised Paris Helen. Athena took Pallas’ name when she died. Pallas and Athena grew up together.

Persephone

Demeter’s daughter was Persephone. She was very beautiful. Hades took her to the underworld, but Demeter would cry and cry. Demeter made all the crops dry up. Eventually an agreement was made, where Persephone spends some time with Hades and some time with Demeter. This is how seasons were started.

Apollo

Apollo was the song of Zeus and Leto. He was one of Greece’s greatest gods. Apollo was born on Asteria, later renamed Delos. He was an archer, a musician, played the lyre and rode in a chariot. Apollo was also God of Truth.

Hera

Daughter of Cronus and Rhea. Zeus loved Hera, and they got married. Zeus had many affairs which caused Hera to become very jealous. She was called Juno by the Romans, and protected wives and legal marriages. She was the principle goddess of Argos.

Demeter

 Demeter was the greek goddess of grain and harvest. She causes the seasons.

Hestia

 Goddess of the hearth, home and family. Hestia got sick and tired of the pettiness of Olympians, so she gave up her seat to the god of wine, Dionysus. 

Artemis

Artemis was called Diana by the Romans. She was the daughter of Zeus and Leto. Skilled in midwifery, and was best known as the huntress. Artemis took care of wild things and protected the youth from harm.

Ares

Ares was called Mars by the Romans and was the son of Zeus and Hera. Ares was the god of war, and since Greeks did not think highly of war, he was not featured in many myths. He came from Thrace, home of rude people in the northeast of Greece.

Aphrodite

Aphrodite was created from sea foam, or she was the daughter of Zeus and Dione. She was the goddess of love, and was often pictured naked. Aphrodite was married to Hephaestus, but loved Ares, god of War.

Hermes

Roman name was Mercury. A prankster, Hermes, was the messenger of the gods. He also guided dead souls to the underworld. He invented the lyre. Hermes was helpful to mankind, and his symbol was his staff, or his caduceus. He had a helmet of invisibility. Hermes had sandals with wings on them.

Dionysus

Dionysus, or Bacchus, was the child of Zeus and Semele. He was god of the vine, taught men culture of wine and how to worship him.

Hephaestus

Hephaestus, called Vulcan by the Romans, was the son of Hera alone. Since Hera had a child on her own, Hephaestus was deformed, ugly and lame. God of fire and forge – became the blacksmith of the gods.

Miscellaneous Mythological Creatures

Pan

Pan was son of Hermes and a nymph. He was the God of shepherds and flocks. Being born with the legs and horns of a goat, Pan’s mother rejected him. Pan invented the shepherds pipe, an instrument which had reeds of varying length. Pan is the reason people feel scared when they are alone.

Cupid

Cupid, with the Roman name was Eros, was the god of love. Aphrodite was said to be his mother, however other stories suggest he was made out of sea foam. He’s appearance is beautiful and youthful.

The three Furies

The three furies were spirits who tormented and haunted evil people. They specialized in terrorizing people who committed crimes against family members.

The Three Graces

The three graces were two hags who were swan like from birth. They had one eye and

one tooth.

Medusa

Medusa was the mortal in many myths who had snakes on her head. Anyone who looked

at her was instantly turned to stone. She was slain by Perseus, who looked at her only

through a reflective shield.

Centaurs

Centaurs were animals who were part human and part horse. The centaurs were children

of Centaurus, son of the music god Apollo. Most centaurs had a reckless personality, and

small amounts of alcohol made them go wild.

 In a myth, Heracles was being entertained

by Pholus, a centaur, and he suggested he drink some wine. Pholus’ brothers smelled the

wine and attacked Heracles. Heracles eventually got them to retreat with flaming arrows.

Chiron was a famous centaur, his father was Cronus. Chiron was known for his wisdom

and excellence as a mentor. He mentored hHeracles, Jason, taught music, medicine and

hunting.

Satyrs

Woodland spirits who looked like men but had various animal features. These features included, a horses tail, goats legs. Dionysus, the wine god, travelled with Silenuswho was a satyr. They together, spread the sophistication and cultivation of grapes.

Cerberos

Cerberos was Hades’ guard dog, a relative of Chimera and the Hydra. Herecles carried Cerberus up from Hades. Herecles did this after a battle with Cerberos; he was mauled by the hound and menaced by snakes growing from his back and tail.

Cyclops

Cyops was a one eyed giant of the race that built Olympus for the gods. A Cyclops almost destroyed Odysseus and his shipmates on their return from the Trojan war. This Cyclops name was Polyphemus.

The Fates

The fates have a powerful and subtle power: deciding a mans destiny. The fates choosee if a man is good or evil. They also decide how long a man lives.

-          Clotho, the spinner (spins the thread of life)

-          Lachesis, the measurer (chooses the lot in life one will have and how long it is to be_

-          Atropos, at death, cuts off the tread of life with her shears.

The Muses

Zeus and Mnemosyne created the muses. They are recognized for their music, as anyone who hears their songs become joyful.

-          Clio (History)

-          Urania (Astronomy)

-          Melpomene (Tradgedy)

-          Thalia (Comedy)

-          Terpsichore (Dance)

-          Calliope (Epic Poetry)

-          Erato (Love Poetry)

-          Polyhymnia (Songs to the Gods)

-          Euterpe (Lyric Poetry)

Mythological Places

Mt Olympus

Mt Olympus comes up from the centre of the earth. The major gods live there and hold court. It is an unknown fact weather it is an actual mountain of some sort of province in the heavens.

Tartaros

Tartaros lies beneath the “disk of the world”. It is even deeper than Hades kingdom of the underworld. It is remote, unreachable and unpleasant. Tartaros is sometimes used as the ultimate prison.

Elysian Fields

The Elysian Fields are a section of the underworld. It is ruled by Rhadamanthys. In ancient mysteries, virtuous dead and initiates were sent to dwell.

Some of the situations that the gods were placed in showed how creative the Greeks could be and how their gods could be like them and be it situations they humans may be in. Foremost, when Cronus, ruler of the universe, discovered one of his children would dethrone him, he did something to stop it from ever happening. He ate all of his children to prevent them from ever becoming powerful enough to overpower him. As a mother, Rhea loved all of her children, and couldn’t bear to have no child to love and nurture. Since she was also a god, and ruled the universe along with Cronus, she went against her husband’s word and hid Zeus and gave him a substitute. She sent him off to Crete, where he was grown in secret. Although Rhea was a god, this myth puts her in the position of a human mother, by saving her child by going against an authority figure’s order. Another example of the human-like situations was after Prometheus gave the humans fire for protection when being created.

Since fire was something that was in Olympus and the Gods had, Zeus felt that the humans did not deserve to have it, but he could not take it back now that the humans had it. Like a human, he was mad and wanted revenge. He swore payback on humankind and then their friend. All of the gods would constantly give Pandora all of these beautiful things. Zeus gave her to the men, and became an evil to man and a character to do evil things. Since Zeus did not yet get the satisfaction of revenge, he made all of the gods put something evil into a box, and prohibited her from ever opening it. As being a woman, curiosity took the better of her, and she opened it. All the bad things that exist in the world today came out of the box, and only one good thing; hope. Yet again, a god (Zeus) was placed in a human-like situation, which made him angry and swear revenge on someone or something (mankind). There were some other situations and mistakes that the gods had that made them more like the Greeks in some ways.

Secondly, the Greeks made the Gods even more like themselves by involving the gods in interpersonal relationships, also showing how creative they are by doing so. One example of this is in the story of Prometheus and Io. In this myth, Zeus fell in love with a beautiful young white woman named Io. When they were together, Zeus hid them from Hera by covering the Earth in dark clouds. Hera, as a jealous wife, knew Zeus had something to do with it, since he was not in the heavens, so she went down to Earth and found Zeus and Io together. She asked him who she was, and he lied and told her he just found her as she sprung out of Earth just then. Zeus lied to protect Io from being tortured by Hera, but Hera did not believe a word of it, and made Zeus give her to Hera as a present. He knew that if he did not, she would know of their relationship, so he did. Hera turned Io into a cow and made her wander, at the same time keeping Zeus from rescuing her by making Argus, a beast with one-hundred eyes, watch over her all the time. Zeus made Hermes put him to sleep, and then kill him. In return, Hera put a bug on Io that would never let her stop wandering, even for food or drink.

Eventually, she reached the Nile River, where Zeus returned her to her human form, and where she bore Zeus’ son, Hercules. The first strip of land that she wandered was named Ionian in honor of her. Another example of the interpersonal relationships among the gods was between Zeus and Europa. Zeus found her as she awakened at dawn one morning, and was picking flowers in a meadow with a group of girls the same age as her. As he watched the scene from the heavens, Cupid, the son of Aphrodite, struck Zeus in the heart with one of his arrows. He was cautious in approaching Europa, for fear of Hera, so he transformed into a beautiful bull like no other, and approached Europa in the fields. He laid down at her feet and she got on his back. Before the other girls could get on, he sped off over the ocean. Zeus talked to her and told her he would take care of her and take her to Crete, where she would bear two sons, Minos and Rhadamanthus. All of this happened, and Hera never found a thing of their relationship.

Observing the interpersonal relationships among gods, and the gods being in more humanlike situations in Edith Hamilton’s Mythology, the myths demonstrates just how creative the Ancient Greeks were. Creativity is not only represented in writings, so the empire of the Greeks must have been on of the most beautiful and unique.