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major figures in Greek mythology

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Last Updated: Jun 8, 2023 • Article History

Parthenon frieze with Poseidon, Apollo, and Artemis

major figures in Greek mythology, the significant characters, including gods, goddesses, heroes, and other legendary figures, of Greek mythology. The personalities are known primarily from ancient Greek literature, including such classic works as Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, Hesiod’s Works and Days and Theogony, and Ovid’s Metamorphoses. The mythological figures are also featured in the dramas of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides. This body of stories has had an extensive influence on the arts and literature of Western civilization, which is heir to much of Greek culture.

	Greek name	Description	Also called
gods and goddesses
	Aphrodite	goddess of sexual love and beauty	Venus^*
	Apollo	god of light, youth, music; twin of Artemis	Phoebus Apollo, Apollon
	Ares	god of war in its savage and brutal aspects; lover of Aphrodite	Mars^*
	Artemis	goddess of the hunt and of the moon; twin of Apollo	Diana^*
	Athena	goddess of wisdom, crafts, and war, specifically in strategy and skill in battle	Minerva^*, Pallas Athena
	Demeter	goddess of agriculture, especially grain	Ceres^*
	Dionysus	god of wine and vegetation	Bacchus^*
	Hades	god of the underworld	Pluto^*, Orcus, Dis
	Hephaestus	god of fire and the forge; blacksmith to the gods; consort of Aphrodite	Vulcan^*
	Hera	protector of women and marriage; wife and sister of Zeus; queen of the gods	Juno^*
	Hermes	messenger of the gods	Mercury^*
	Hestia	goddess of hearth and home	Vesta^*
	Poseidon	god of the waters	Neptune^*
	Zeus	supreme ruler	Jupiter^*, Jove, Jupiter Fulgur, Fulminator, Jupiter Tonans, Jupiter Pluvius, Jupiter Optimus Maximus, Jupiter Fidius
Titans
	Atlas	carried the world on his shoulders	N/A
	Cronus	ruled the other Titans until his son Zeus dethroned him	Saturn^*
	Hyperion	father of sun, moon, and dawn	N/A
	Iapetus	father of Atlas and Prometheus	N/A
	Mnemosyne	goddess of memory; mother of the Muses	N/A
	Oceanus	river that encircled the earth	N/A
	Prometheus	savior of humankind, who brought them fire	N/A
	Tethys	wife of Oceanus	N/A
	Themis	personification of justice, goddess of wisdom and good counsel, and the interpreter of the gods’ will	N/A
lesser deities
	Aeolus	controller of the winds	N/A
	Aristaeus	keeper of bees; son of Apollo and water nymph Cyrene	N/A
	Asclepius	god of medicine	Aesculapius^*
	Castor and Pollux	twin deities of boxing, wrestling, and equestrian sports	Dioscuri
	Eos	personification of the dawn	Aurora^*, Hemera
	Eros	god of love and friendship	Cupid^*, Amor
	Ganymede	Hebe’s successor as cupbearer of the gods	N/A
	Hebe	goddess of youth; cupbearer of the gods	N/A
	Hecate	chief goddess presiding over magic and spells	N/A
	Helios	the sun god; sometimes called a Titan	N/A
	Hygieia	goddess of health	Hygea, Hygia
	Pan	a fertility deity concerned with flocks, pastures, fields, and forests	Faunus^*
	Persephone	goddess of death and spring; daughter of Zeusand Demeter; consort of Hades	Proserpine^*
	Phaëthon	son of Helios, the sun god	N/A
	Proteus	shepherd of the sea’s flocks	N/A
	Tyche	goddess of chance	Fortuna^*
heroes and other legendary figures
	Achilles	hero of the Trojan War; the greatest warrior of the Greek army	N/A
	Agamemnon	king of Mycenae and leader of the Greek forces in the Trojan War	N/A
	Ajax	Greek hero of the Trojan War	N/A
	Aeneas	Trojan hero of the Trojan War, second only to Hector in ability	N/A
	Daedalus	Greek inventor, architect, and sculptor who is said to have built the Labyrinth to imprison the Minotaur	N/A
	Hector	greatest of the Trojan heroes of the Trojan War	N/A
	Helen of Troy	the most beautiful woman of Greece, who was carried off by the Trojan prince Paris and thus indirectly caused the Trojan War	N/A
	Heracles	hero who was renowned for his great strength and who performed 12 seemingly impossible tasks called the Labours of Heracles	Hercules^*
	Jason	leader of the Argonauts who retrieved the Golden Fleece with the help of the enchantress Medea, whom he married	N/A
	Medusa	Gorgon who was killed by Perseus and whose severed head had the power of turning all who looked upon it into stone	N/A
	Midas	king of Phrygia who was granted his wish that everything he touched would turn to gold, with disastrous results	N/A
	Minos	king of Crete, whose wife, Pasiphae, fell in love with a bull and gave birth to the Minotaur; Minos imprisoned the creature in the Labyrinth	N/A
	Minotaur	a creature who had the body of a man and the head of a bull and who devoured the seven young men and seven young women from Athens who were sent every nine years into the Labyrinth	N/A
	Odysseus	king of Ithaca, who, after capturing Troy in the Trojan War, endured nine years of wandering and adventures before he was able to return home	N/A
	Oedipus	king of Thebes who unknowingly killed his father and married his mother	N/A
	Orpheus	hero and musician who sang and played the lyre beautifully and who traveled to the underworld to try to bring his dead wife, Eurydice, back to life	N/A
	Pandora	first woman on Earth, who unleashed misery and evil when she opened a mysterious jar	N/A
	Paris	Trojan prince who judged a beauty contest between goddesses Athena, Hera, and Aphrodite (the “judgment of Paris”) and who carried off Helen, thereby starting the Trojan War	N/A
	Perseus	hero who killed Medusa, a frightful Gorgon, and who also rescued the princess Andromeda from a sea monster	N/A
	Sisyphus	king of Corinth who was punished in the underworld by having to roll a huge stone up a hill over and over again	N/A
	Theseus	hero who killed the Minotaur	N/A
^*Denotes the Roman name.

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica This article was most recently revised and updated by Alicja Zelazko.