Gods and Heroes

Zeus

Mighty Zeus was the king of all Greek gods and dispenser of divine justice. Ruler of the skies (his brothers Poseidon and Hades ruled the sea and the underworld respectively) he carried a thunderbolt to signify his power and association with weather. Zeus lived on cloud-topped Mount Olympus from where he watched – and often meddled in – the affairs of men below. Bearded, strong and vigorous, Zeus fathered many children, both through his wife, the goddess Hera, and through his affairs with mortal women.

 
Apollo

Zeus’ son Apollo, a handsome young man carrying an archer’s bow or a lyre, embodied the Classical ideal of male beauty. He was the ruler of poetry, music, dance and intellectual thought, as well as medicine, shepherding and colonization. He would also obligingly reveal the future and the will of Zeus through human oracles, making his temple and oracle in Delphi the most important religious centre in the Greek world.  Only Cassandra rejected his love. In revenge, he gave her the power to foresee disaster but ensured that no one would ever believe her.

 

 
Athena

Athena was the protector of Athens, where she was worshipped at the Parthenon. As goddess of wisdom, her advice helped Greek heroes Heracles, Odysseus and Perseus overcome their trials. She was also a goddess of war but, unlike the fearsome Ares, who represented the madness and destruction of war, Athena embodied its more intellectual aspects – strategy, discipline and defence. Rather than being born, she burst forth from her father Zeus’ aching head, fully grown and dressed for battle, after Zeus swallowed her pregnant mother, Metis. But she had a softer side too, as goddess of handicrafts and the inventor of spinning and weaving.

 

Achilles

The hero Achilles stars in Homer’s epic poem, The Iliad, which tells of his exploits in the Trojan War. A great warrior, he was also a flawed man. Anger and injured pride made him refuse to lead his men into battle; his friend Patroclus took his place and was killed. In grief and revenge, Achilles slew the Trojan warrior Hector, knowing this was pre-ordained to trigger Achilles’ own death. Achilles was killed when Paris’ poison arrow, guided by Apollo, hit him in his vulnerable heel – the only part of him not immersed when his mother dipped him in the River Styx as a baby to make him immortal. To the Greeks, Achilles embodied the heroic code, choosing glory over long life.