Other Gods- Mithras

Mithra/Mitra/Mithras- a Zoroastrian god, Zoroastrianism was a religion founded by Zoroaster/ Zarathustra, a Persian. Mithra was adopted by both the Greeks and Romans, he was a god of Asha/Truth, Aban/Apas/The Waters, law, the harvest and cattle. He may have also been a sun god.

Sometimes his mother was said to be Anahita, the goddess of water, fertility, healing and wisdom. Sometimes she was his consort instead.

He was a member of the ahuric triad with Ahura Mazda, the highest deity, a god of light and wisdom, and Burz/Ahura Berezant/Apam Napat, the deity of water, making him an important deity. He helped Ahura Mazda battle evil. Sometimes Burz was replaced with Anahita.

With Rashnu, the god of justice, and Sraosha the deity of obedience and observance, he was a judge who passed judgement on people after death, they did this on the Chinvat Bridge, the bridge between the living and the dead.

In Zoroastrian scripture he was described as, "Mithra of wide pastures, of the thousand ears, and of the myriad eyes."
The Khordeh Avesta, a book of prayer, said about him, 'Who has a thousand ears, the well-shaped one, Who has ten thousand eyes, the exalted one, Who has wide knowledge, the helpful one, Who sleeps not, the ever wakeful. We sacrifice to Mithra, The lord of all countries, Whom Ahura Mazda created the most glorious.'

The Greeks called him Mithras and the Romans created the Mithraic mysteries/Mithraism, a mystery religion practised to him.

The Romans showed him being born from a rock, killing a bull and banqueting with Sol. He was born from the rock fully grown, wearing only a Phrygian cap and carrying a dagger in one hand and a torch in the other. Sometimes he carried a globe and sometimes there were flames coming from the rock and/or his cap. Sometimes Saturn was present to give Mithras his dagger.
The bull killing was known as tauroctony, and may have been purely Roman in origin, sometimes the bull's tail was depicted as an ear of wheat as was his blood, occasionally the blood was also shown as grapes. Sometimes in imagery there would be a dog and serpent reaching for the bull's wound and a scorpion reaching for its genitals. Some also had a bird, a chalice and/or a lion. Beings called Cautes and Cautopates were also present, Cautes holding a raised torch and Cautopates a lowered one. They were dressed the same as Mithras but shown as smaller than him. Usually Sol or Sol and Luna would be looking down at his deed. Often Mithras would be depicted as looking up at Sol. It is thought that by slaying the bull he brought life to the world. He was thought to have ridden the bull before killing it.
After killing the bull Mithras ate it with Sol, with the torchbearers present, one holding a caduceus.
He was also depicted ascending behind Sol in his chariot and shaking hands with him.

The myth of the bull could be connected to the myth of Gavaevodata, the primordial bovine of dual gender, one of six primordial creations of Ahura Mazda. Killed by Angra Mainyu, from its body came animal life and plants. Its soul, Goshorun, became the soul of all livestock. Angra Mainyu was an evil spirit, the creator of demons, created by Ahura Mazda. Mithras may have substituted for him in the killing of the life giving bull tale.

Sometimes he was linked to Phanes, hatching from a cosmic egg in his place. He was also known as Sol Invictus (the unconquered sun)

He was depicted as young, in a tunic, with boots and breeches,a Phrygian cap and sometimes a cloak, usually with a dagger in hand. He was sometimes shown in a gold chariot pulled by white horses.

Other Gods- Anemi

Anemi/Anemoi- were the Greek gods of winds, Boreas was the north wind who brought cold air in winter, Notos/Notus was the south wind who brought storms in late summer and autumn, Zephyrus/Zephyros was the west wind linked to spring and early summer, and Eurus/Euros was the east wind.

They were the children of Astraeus/Astraios the titan of the stars and planets, and Eos the titaness of the dawn. Their sister was the virgin goddess of justice Astraea/Astraia. They were linked to the more violent sons of Typhon, the storm winds Anemi/Anemoi Thuelli and sometimes confused with them, they were said to be held captive by Aeolus/Aiolos/Hippotades. It's possible Aeolus had the Anemi captive as well, along with the Harpies/Harpyiai/Aellai. Aeolus was known as the king of the winds, his name Hippotades means 'reiner of horses', it comes from the winds being depicted as horses. Three Aeolus crop up in Greek myth and are usually confused as the same, one was a son of Hellene, one a son of Poseidon and the other a son of Hippotes with the nymph Melanippe/Ocyrrhoe/Okyrrhoe, a daughter of the centaur Chiron/Kheiron. He gave Odysseus the winds in a bag and Odysseus' crew unleashed them thinking he held treasure in the bag.

The winds were depicted as winged or horse like in form.

Boreas/Boreais/Boriais/Borras- god of the north wind and winter, was depicted as old, bearded and winged, wearing a cloak and holding a conch shell. Usually his feet are winged though Pausanias said he had snakes for feet.
He abducted and married Orithyia/Oreithyia an Athenian princess, the daughter of King Erechtheus, her sisters were Procris who was accidentally slain by her husband Cephalus, Creusa who had Ion with Apollo and Cephalus with Hermes, Chthonia who was sacrificed by Erechtheus as a prophecy told him he would win a battle if he did, and Protogeneia and Pandora who killed themselves after Chthonia's death as the three had made a pact to commit suicide if one of them died. Boreas abducted Orithyia when he failed to woo her, he took her when she was playing with her friends by a river and raped her. With her he had two daughters, Chione/Khione the goddess of snow, and Cleopatra/Kleopatra, wife to the Thracian king Phineus, and two sons, the Boreads Calais and Zetes/Zethes who joined the Argonauts and chased the Harpies from the seer Phineas/Phineus. Orithyia became a goddess of the cold mountain winds.
He fathered the Hippoi Troiades, twelve immortal horses owned by King Laomedon of Troy. He had them with King Erikhthonios/Erichthonius' mares, he was an Athenian king born from Hephaestus attempt to rape Athena. Laomedon promised them to Heracles in exchange for him saving his daughter Hesione from the sea monster Cetus, sent by Poseidon, but when Heracles did this Laomedon refused to part with the horses.
He fathered Ares' four horses Aithon/Aethon, Phlogios/Phlogeus, Konabos/Conabus and Phobos/Phobus, they could breathe fire and were immortal.
He fathered the immortal horses Xanthos/Xanthus and Podarkes/Podarces with the Harpy Aello and gave them to King Erechtheus as he had taken his daughter Orithyia from him.
The three nymphs Hecaerge/Hekaerge, Loxo and Oupis/Upis who lived in Hyperborea and attended Artemis were said to be his daughters. Alternate names for them were Arge, Achaeia/Akhaeia, Hyperoche/Hyperokhe and Laodice/Laodike.
With his daughter Chione he fathered the three Hyperborean Giants/Boreades, they were rulers in Hyperborea and priests of Apollo.
Sometimes the breeze nymphs the Aurae/Aurai/Aetai/Aetae/Pnoiai/Pnoeae are his daughters but in other accounts they are the daughters of Okeanos.
Sometimes he was said to have rescued Leto from Python, the monster Hera sent to pursue her while she was pregnant.
He had a contest with Helios to see who could make a man strip first, Boreas tried to blow his clothes off and failed but Helios made him sweat and strip as a result.
The land Hyperborea/Hyperboria was said to be beyond him as it was north of Thrace where he lived, as a result it was never cold.

His Roman counterpart was Aquilo/Aquilon/Septentrio. Another name for him was Aparctias.

Notos/Notus-god of the south wind and late summer/early autumn. He was feared as a destroyer of crops.

His Roman counterpart was Auster who brought heavy clouds and fog.

Eurus/Euros- god of the east wind and autumn, he lived near Helios. He brought warmth and rain.

His Roman counterpart was Vulturnus.

Zephyrus/Zephyros/Zephyr- god of the west wind and spring. He lived in a cave in Thrace.
He was married to Chloris, who he abducted, a goddess of flowers who lived on the Isles of the Blessed. Some sources say he competed with Boreas for her. Together they had a son, Karpos/Carpus. Karpos loved Kalamos, son of the river god Maiandros. They had a swimming contest and Karpos drowned, Kalamos then drowned in his grief and was transformed into a water reed.
Sometimes his wife was Iris, the goddess of the rainbow and his sister. With her he was father to Eros, the god of love, usually seen as a child of Aphrodite and Ares or Ouranos and Gaia, and Pothos/Pothus, the god of sexuality and desire and one of the Erotes, who was sometimes seen as a son of Aphrodite's.
With the Harpy Podarge he was father to Balius/Balios and Xanthos, two immortal horses Poseidon gave to Peleus when he married Thetis. They pulled Achilles' chariot during the Trojan War.

He loved Hyacinth who was also loved by Apollo, jealous of their love Zephyrus blew Apollo's discus into Hyacinth resulting in the youth's death. Apollo turned him into the hyacinth flower.

When Psyche was abandoned on a mountain by her parents when an oracle instructed them to after no one would marry her, Zephyrus carried her away to Eros/Cupid's palace. He took her back to her sisters at Eros' request and then brought them back to his palace during the day. After Psyche loses Eros' love because of her sisters she tricks them into thinking he wants them for a wife and has them go to a top of a mountain and jump of but instead of catching them, Zephyrus lets them fall to their deaths.

His Roman counterpart was Favonius, also a god of plants and flowers.



The Anemoi Thuelli were the wicked offspring of Typhon and the ones imprisoned by Aeolus. They were:
Kaikias, the northeast wind who was depicted as a bearded man with a shield of hailstones, the Romans called him Caecius.
Apeliotes/Apeliotus, the southeast wind, depicted as curly haired, friendly, wearing boots and carrying fruit and wearing a cloth to conceal flowers or grain, his Roman counterpart was Subsolanus or Phoenicias.
Skeiron/Skiron, the northwest wind, depicted as an bearded man tilting a cauldron, his Roman counterpart was Caurus/Corus or Argestes or Iapyx or Meses or Olympias.
Lips, the southwest wind, depicted at the stern of a ship, his Roman counterpart was Afer ventus/Africus.

Circius/Thrascius was the north northwest wind.
Euronotus was the south southeast wind between Euros and Notos.
Libonotus was the south southwest wind.

        

Other Gods- Asclepius

Asclepius/Asklepios- the god of medicine and healing.

A son of Apollo and Coronis/Koronis, a princess of the Lapiths who cheated on Apollo with Ischys/Alcyoneus/Lycus. A raven reported the news of the affair to Apollo who turned the bird's feathers from white to black in anger before sending Artemis to kill Coronis. Apollo commanded Hermes to rescue the unborn Asclepius from his mother's womb while she on her funeral pyre and to give him to Chiron to raise.
In another version of the tale Coronis birthed him and exposed him in the wilderness where he was suckled by a goat and guarded by a dog until the shepherd Aresthanas found him.
Sometimes Arsinoe, daughter of Leucippus/Leukippos is said to be his mother, her sisters Phoebe and
Hilaeira (the Leucippides) were abducted by Castor and Pollux to be their brides.

He married Epion, goddess of soothing pain and with her had daughters, Hygieia/Hygiea/Hygeia, goddess of health, cleanliness and sanitation, Panacea/Panakeia, a goddess of remedy and cures, Aceso/Akeso, goddess of healing, Iaso/Ieso, goddess of recuperation, Aegle/Aigle, goddess of good health and sons, Machaon/Makhaon, a surgeon and medic who led an army from Thessaly during the Trojan War with his brother Podalirius, he was wounded by Paris and killed by Eurpylus, Podalirius/Podaleirius, healed Philoctetes, hid in the Trojan Horse, survived the war and married a princess, Syrna, and Telesphorus/Telesphoros, a dwarf wearing a hood or a cap who was usually in the company of Hygieia, he was linked to recovery from illness.
He had a son, Aratus/Aratos, with Aristodama.

He may have recieved his healing from Athen who gifted him with blood from the Gorgon, the blood flowing from the right side of her body had the power to raise the dead.

He sometimes substitutes for Polyeidos/Polyidus, a seer in the myth of Glaucus. Glaucus was a son of Minos who disappeared chasing a mouse, the Curetes told Minos that whoever could find a marvelous creature born amongst them would find a child, Polyidus found a calf that changed from white to red to black during the day. He then found Glaucus, who had died after falling into a cask of honey, Minos imprisoned Polyidus ordering him to resurrect the boy. A snake came to Polyidus in the cellar and he killed with a sword, he then observed the snake's mate resurrecting it with a herb, he found this herb and brought back Glaucus with it.

He joined the hunt for the Calydonian Boar and was an Argonaut.

He was persuaded to resurrect Hippolytus, son of Theseus, by Artemis or Poseidon or for coin. Hippolytus had been killed by a sea monster or bull sent by Poseidon or Dionysus that frightened his horses who pulled him to his death. This was because Theseus had asked Poseidon to curse him because his wife Phaedra had falsely claimed that Hippolytus had raped her when in truth he had simply resisted his advances. Asclepius resurrected him and was struck down by Zeus, either for bringing back the dead, for taking coin for bringing back the dead or because Hades asked it to be done as he considered the dead being taken from the the Underworld to be an insult.
In outrage, Apollo killed the Cyclopes that had created Zeus' lightning bolts and Zeus made him served King Admetus as punishment.
At Apollo's request Zeus placed Asclepius in the stars as the constellation Opiuchus. Alternatively he became a god, granted godhood by Zeus to prevent further quarreling with Apollo.

He is depicted as a young bearded man carrying a staff with a snake entwined about it.

The Aesculapian Snake is named for him, these are non-venomous snakes that were used in healing rituals and allowed to roam freely in temples to the god amongst the ill.

He was linked to the god Paena/Paeëon/Paeon, a physician to the gods initially he was his own individual before being another name for Apollo or Asclepius. He healed Ares when he was wounded by Diomedes during the Trojan War and healed Hades when Heracles shot him with an arrow.

He had no Roman counterpart

Other Gods- Aristaeus

Aristaeus/Aristaios- god of bee keeping, honey, shepherds, cattle, fruit trees, husbandry and pastures.

He was the son of Apollo and Cyrene/Kyrene, either a daughter of King Hypseus of the Lapiths, or of the river god Peneus. Apollo abducted her when he saw her wrestling a lion or tending sheep and took her to North Africa where he found a city in her name. She gave birth to Aristaeus and Idmon, an Argonaut who was a seer, and sometimes said to be son to Asteria, daughter of Coronus.

Rarely he was said to be a son of Carystus/Karystos/Karustos a rustic god who was son of the centaur Chiron and the nymph Chariclo/Khariclo.

He was either taken by Apollo and given to Chiron to raise or he was taken by Hermes, given to the Horai and Gaia, raised on nectar and ambrosia and made immortal by Gaia.

The nymphs taught him how to curdle milk into cheese, how to tame bees and how to cultivate olive trees. The Muses taught him healing and prophecy, had him tend their flocks and found him a bride. He passed on his talents to humanity.

He was married to Cadmus/Kadmus and Harmonia's daughter Autonoë and with her had a son, Actaeon/Aktaion and a daughter, Macris. Actaeon was a hunter who spied Artemis bathing when he was hunting, as punishment she turned him into a deer and his own hounds tore him apart. In grief, Autonoe left her home in Thebes for Ereneia, where she died, and Aristaeus went to Ceos. Macris gave the newborn Dionysus honey when Hermes delivered him to her and as a result Hera exiled her. She fled to a small island and was helped by Demeter, who taught the residents how to grow cereal grain.

He also had the sons Kharmos and Kallikarpos.

Pherecydes says he was father to Hecate, though she is more popularly said to be the daughter of the Titans Perses and Asteria.

It was the Delphic oracle that advised Aristaeus to go to the island of Ceos, there the people were suffering from a sickness caused by the early rising of the dog star Sirius. Aristaeus ended it by sacrificing to Zeus or by discovering that the murderers of Icarius/Ikarios were amongst them and bringing them to justice. This was probably the same Icarius who was given wine by Dionysus in thanks for his hospitality only to be killed by shepherds he shared the wine with who thought he had poisoned them when they became drunk.

When his bees died his mother advised him to capture Proteus to find out how to restore them. He did so and the god told him to kill a bullock and inter its carcass. Alternatively this advice came from Arethusa, a Nereid.

Sometimes he was said to be foster father to Dionysus. He competed with Dionysus over whether honey or wine was better, the Olympians judged that wine was better. He fought the Indians with Dionysus.

Sometimes Eurydice was said to have been fleeing him rather than a satyr when she was bitten by a poisonous snake.

He seems to have been depicted as young, a bearded shepherd wearing a laurel wreath. He has no Roman counterpart.

Other Gods- Silenus

Silenus/Seilenos- god of drunkenness, wine, folklore, rustic life. The teacher, foster father and companion of Dionysus.

The son of Gaia, Hermes, Pan or some unknown nymph.

He may have been father to the Sileni, drunken followers of Dionysus, depicted as bald and fat with thick lips and flat noses. They were named Maron/Maro, Leneus and Astraeus/Astraios. Maron was Dionysus' charioteer and a priest of Apollo, he was also sometimes said to be a son of Dionysus, Euanthes or Oenopion.
With the Naiad Melia he had sons Dolion and Pholus/Pholos a centaur who entertained Heracles by offering him wine and died when the smell of the wine brought other centaurs and he was accidentally shot by one of Heracles' poisoned arrows.
Another nymph, the Naiad/Okeanid Nais is said to be his wife.

When drunk he could be prophetic and in one tale King Midas had his servants seize him when he was unconscious after drinking so that he could hear a prophecy. Silenus told him it was better for man to not be born and if he was to die as soon as possible. In another version of the tale Silenus was drunk and lost in Phrygia and either found by peasants and taken to Midas or found by Midas himself. Midas treated him hospitably. Dionysus rewarded Midas by offering him whatever he wanted and he asked to be able to turn everything he touched to gold. When he found he could not eat he begged Dionysus to reverse the gift, Dionysus did this by instructing him to wash his hands in a river.

He was depicted as an old man with the tail, legs and ears of a horse, though later he was depicted with human legs, and rarely he was shown with horns. Usually he was being supported by satyrs or on a donkey.

His Roman counterpart is sometimes considered to be Silvanus though he was more popularly viewed as Pan's Roman counterpart.

Other Gods- Priapus

Priapus/Priapos- Usually described as the son of Dionysus and Aphrodite, sometimes the son of Dionysus and Chione/Khione, or a son of Zeus, Pan, Hermes or Adonis with Aphrodite. He was cursed in Aphrodite's womb by Hera in vegeance for Paris picking Aphrodite as the most beautiful goddess over Hera and Athena. As a result of the curse he was born ugly, foul minded and with a large erection (this is why he is thought to be the son of Hermes or Dionysus as both were phallic gods).

He is a rustic god of fertility who protects livestock, fruit plants, bees, gardens and sailors. He was said to be cast down from Olympus because of his ugly appearance and found and raised by shepherds.

He desired the nymph Lotis, daughter of Poseidon or Nereus, and tried to rape her in her sleep. A donkey brayed awakening the nymph and giving her a chance to escape. Everyone else nearby as well awoke and Priapus was humiliated. He continued to desire her so the gods turned her into a lotus tree out of pity. The nymph Dryope, raped by Apollo, plucked from this tree as she wanted the blossoms for her son and was turned into a black poplar for the offence. Priapus then killed the donkey.
Ovid tells another version of this tale, substituting Lotis for the goddess Hestia.

He was depicted a short with a huge penis and usually wearing a Phrygian cap and boots, holding a thyrsus like Dionysus or a caduceus like Hermes. The donkey, fish and bees were his sacred animals and fruit and flowers in general were also sacred to him.

His Roman counterpart was Mutunus Tutunus/ Mutinus Titinus, a phallic god of marriage. Usually depicted as just a phallus, on a coin he was shown as old, bearded and wearing a winged diadem.

Other Gods- Pan

Pan- god of shepherds, flocks, the wilderness, hunters and rustic music. He was a son of Hermes though his mother varies, candidates were Thymbris, a Naiad who may have alternatively had Pan with Zeus, Penelopeia/Penelope, a Dryad of Mt. Cyllene where Hermes was born, she is thought to be the daughter of Dryopos said to be a mother of Pan, and the reason some writers suggested it was Penelope, Odysseus' wife who was Pan's mother, Dryope/Driope, a Naiad and Hamadryad, though this was probably a confusion with Penelope, as they were both considered daughters of Dryopos seduced by gods in tortoise form (Dryope by Apollo), or Sose, a Naiad and prophetess.

With the nymph Eupheme who nursed the Muses he had a son, Krotos/Crotus, a satyr who was a companion of the Muses. With Symaethis/Symaethos, a Naiad, he fathered Akis/Acis the river god who loved Galatea/Galateia, a Nereid loved and slain by the jealous cyclops Polyphemos. With the Naiad Isemenis/Isemenos he had a son, Krenaios/Crenaeus. He was sometimes said to be father to Silenus/Seilenos, Dionysus tutor and drunk companion who had horse ears, tail and legs, his mother is not given and alternatively he was a son of Hermes or Gaia. With the nymph Echo/Ekho he was parent to Iynx, a nymph who charmed Zeus to love her or Io and was cursed to be a wryneck bird by Hera, alternatively she was a daughter of Peitho and Pan and Echo's daughter was Iambe, a Thracian woman who cheered Demeter with jokes when she despaired over Persephone's disappearance. In one version of Echo's myth, it was Pan who killed her, commanding his followers to rip her to shreds when she scorned his love, Gaia gathered her pieces and only her voice remained, more popularly she was cursed by Hera for distracting her from Zeus' affairs.

A satyr/faun from Fantasia

His other sons are the Panes/Paneides/Paniskoi, twelve in number they may simply be other aspects of Pan- Kelaineus/Celaeneus, Argennon, Aigikoros/Aegicorus, Eugeneios/Eugenius, Omester, Daphoineus/Eugenius, Phobos/Phobus, Philamnos/Philamnus, Xanthos/Xanthus, Glaukos/Glaucus, Argos/Argus, and Phorbas. Satyr like sometimes they were also given goat heads. They helped Dionysus fight the Indians.

Three more Panes were Pan's brothers- Agreus/Argeus, Nomios/Nomius and Phorbas, sons of Hermes with Sose and Penelope respectively, Phorbas' mother is unknown. Agreus was a hunter and Nomios a shepherd and the three joined with Dionysus in his fight with the Indians.

Another Panes was Sybarean Pan/Pan Sybarios, the offspring of a shepherd Krathis and a female goat. This was a Roman story.

Faun from Pan's Labyrinth

He pursued the nymph Syrinx, a virgin follower of Artemis, the river nymphs transformed her into reeds to escape Pan and from them he made the first panpipes. He pursued the nymph Pitys who transformed into a pine tree to escape him. He seduced the moon titaness by wrapping himself in a goatskin or sheepskin.

When Pan was born he had goat's legs and horns and was abandoned by his mother or nurse. Hermes however was delighted with him and took him up.

He can be linked to Aegipan, a son of Zeus and Aega/Boetis/Aix, confusingly given as a descendant of Hephaestus who was nursemaid to Zeus and wife to Pan, a daughter of King Olenus, son of Hephaestus, or Melissus king of Crete, or the Titans Perses and Helios who was confined in the cave where she suckled Zeus because her brightness frightened the other Titans. Zeus may have wore her skin as his aegis, which explains why in some versions she is a goat. Aegipan was half goat and half fish and also said to be father to Pan, he helped Hermes retrieve Zeus' sinews when Typhon stole them.

Pausanias says he found Demeter when she hid herself in grief and anger after Persephone's abduction and Poseidon's rape.

He is sometimes said to have given Artemis her hunting dogs and taught her twin Apollo the gift of prophecy.

He was a companion to Rhea, a mountain goddess, and to Dionysus.

The popular story of Apollo and the satyr Marsyas' music contest is sometimes retold with Pan being Apollo's challenger. The mountain god Tmolus is the judge and he rewards victory to Apollo, all but King Midas agree and as punishment, Apollo curses Midas with donkey ears. The only difference between this tale and that with Marsyas is that Marsyas is flailed by Apollo for his insolence but obviously Apollo could not do the same to a fellow god.

His most famous story is a curious one from Plutarch, that of his death. During the reign of the Emperor Tiberius a sailor, Thamus, claims a voice called to him across the ocean telling him to proclaim that the great god Pan was dead. Salomon Reinach suggests he misheard 'Thamus Panmegas tethneke', which actually means ''the all-great Tammuz is dead', Tammuz being a Summerian god of vegetation and food.

His animals were the goat and tortoise and his plants the pine, reed and beech.

His Roman counterparts are Faunus/Phaunos and Silvanus. Faunus was given as a Greek deity by Nonnus, a son of Poseidon and Circe/Kirke. The Roman deity was a horned god of the forest, fields and wilderness, usually given goat legs he was depicted as a faun, the Roman name for satyr. Virgil says he came from Arcadia. As a god of prophecy he was known as Fatuus and those who slept in precincts on the fleeces of sacrificed lambs were told the future in their dreams.
His wife, sister or daughter was Fauna/Fatua, and his son was Latinus/Lavinius, king of the Latins and father to Lavinia, who was meant to be wed to the king Turnus but was instead given to the Trojan hero Aeneas, resulting in a brief war. Pan had Latinus with Marica, a nymph. Sometimes he was said to have been a mortal king of Latium, son of Picus who was turned into a woodpecker after scorning Circe's love, and Canens, a nymph of song who killed herself after her husband's transformation. Picus was said to be a son of Saturnus/Saturn or Mars. After his mortal death Faunus became a god.
He may have initially been depicted without horns until he was linked to Pan.
He was also known as Inuus, another name for Fatuus/Fatulcus, a god of copulation.

Silvanus was a Roman guardian of forests, also associated with the boundaries between fields. He protected cattle, promoting their fertility and warding wolves off from them. The syrinx (pan flute) was sacred to him and he was usually depicted as an old man. Women may have been exempt from his worshipping him as he was a god of the labour men did in the fields.
He was said to love Pomona, the goddess or nymph of fruitful abundance and orchards, a Numia (guardian spirits). She rejected him and Picus and married Vertumnus/Vortumnus/Vertimnus the god of seasons who tricked her by disguising himself as an old woman. Sometimes he was said to have loved Cyparissus/Kyparissos, a boy who loved a stag which he accidentally killed, in his grief he turned into a cypress tree. Usually Apollo is said to love the boy. Servius says Silvanus accidentally killed the deer and transformed the boy in his grief, and carries the cypress tree with him as a reminder.
He may also have been a Roman counterpart for Silenus, Dionysus' tutor and drunk companion.

Minor Goddesses

Bia- the goddess of force, a daughter of Styx and the Titan Pallas who was killed by Athena. Sister to Nike, Cratos/Kratos and Zelus, with her siblings she sat by Zeus' throne.

Nike- the goddess of victory, she was winged and brought good luck. A daughter of Styx and Pallas and sister to Bia, Cratos/Kratos and Zelus. She was Zeus' charioteer during Titanomachy. She was depicted holding a wreath, bowl and cup, incense burner, lyre or palm branch. Her Roman counterpart was Victoria.

Enyo- a war goddess, linked to Ares and Eris. With Ares she may have had a son, his attendant Enyalios. Alternatively, Enyalios was a son of Kronos and Rhea. Like Ares she delighted in warfare, violence and bloodshed. She was given as a daughter of Zeus and Hera and thus was sister to Ares, Hebe and Eileithyia, who was said to be her twin.

She stayed neutral in the battle between Zeus and Typhon, and took part in the Trojan War, the Seven Against Thebes, and Dionysus' war with the indians.

Her Roman counterpart was Bellona, who was depicted with a helmet, spear and torch.

Eileithyia/Ilithyia- the goddess of childbirth and midwives. She was a daughter of Zeus and Hera who could be linked to Artemis who was associated with childbirth and midwives.

When Hera got Zeus to vow that a member of Perseus' family would become High King, Zeus agreed believing that Heracles, a descendant of Perseus, was about to be born. Hera forced Eileithyia to sit cross-legged with her clothes in knots, preventing the birth of Heracles and his mortal twin, and Eurystheus, another descendant of Perseus, was born first. Hera would've prevented Heracles birth entirely if his mother Alcmene's servant Galanthis had not lied to Eileithyia and claimed the child was already born. Eileithyia jumped up in surprise and thus Heracles was born, in rage Eileithyia or Hera turned Galanthis into a polecat/weasel.

Hera kept her from Leto as well to make her birth of Apollo and Artemis difficult but the other goddesses in attendance of the births sent Iris to bribe her with a golden necklace. Eileithyia then attended the birth.

She was depicted carrying a torch.

She was mother Sosipolis, protector of Elis who was said to be a child god wearing a starry robe and carrying a cornucopia. Rarely she was also said to be mother of Eros.

Her Roman counterpart was Lucina.

Hebe- the goddess of youth and a cupbearer to the gods. She was the daughter of Zeus and Hera and thus sister to Eileithyia, Enyo and Ares.

She served the gods ambrosia, attended Aphrodite, drew baths for Ares and helped Hera with her chariot. She was Heracles' fourth and final wife, given to him when he became a god. Their union ended his feud with Hera. With him she was mother to Anicetus/Aniketos and Alexiares, twins who remained as children and were the gods of the defence of towns and gatekeepers of Olympus.
Ganymedes, the Trojan prince her father Zeus abducted, was either her male counterpart or replacement as cupbearer to the gods.

Ovid says she restored Iolaus, Heracles' nephew, to his youth.

She was depicted as winged and in her role as a cupbearer or young bride.

Her Roman counterpart was Juventas. A goddess of young men, when they reached manhood they offered a coin to her.

Tyche/Tykhe- the goddess of fortune, chance and fate. A daughter of Hermes and Aphrodite or Zeus and Aphrodite, or she was an Oceanid.

She was depicted wearing a mural crown (crown like the towers or walls of a city), carrying a cornucopica or with the wheel of fortune.

When bad things happened it was sometimes said to be the judgement of Tyche. She was a companion of Nemesis, the goddess of retribution, and Ploutos/Plutus, the god of plenty, who was also sometimes said to be her son. Usually Ploutos was a son of Iasion and Demeter.

Her Roman counterpart was Fortuna. A daughter of Jupiter she was depicted as veiled and blind, holding a cornucopia and a ship's rudder, and she protected the grain supplies. A goddess of fortune and luck both good and bad, she was given the titles Fortuna Dubia (doubtful fortune), Fortuna Brevis (fickle fortune) and Fortuna Mala (bad fortune).

Her counterpart was Bonus Eventus, the personification of good outcome, a god of agriculture whose partner was Lympha, the deity of fresh water.

Chione/Khione- the goddess of snow, a daughter of the North wind Boreas and Athenian princess Orithyia. Boreas tried to woo Orithyia but when he was unsuccessful he abducted her and raped her, with her he had Chione, Cleopatra and the Boreads (Calais and Zetes), her sisters were the tragic Procris, who was wife to Cephalus who accidentally killed her, Creusa who was a lover of Apollo's, Chthonia who was sacrificed by their father so he could win a battle, and Protogeneia and Pandora who committed suicide after this as they had made a pact to kill themselves if one of them died. Her brothers were Pandorus, Metion and the future king Cecrops.

Chione's sister Cleopatra was the seer and Thracian king Phineus' first wife, with whom he had two sons who his second wife Idaea tricked him into blinding.

With Poseidon Chione had a son, Eumolpus/Eumolpos, but she threw him into the ocean to avoid her father's wrath. Poseidon rescued the infant and entrusted him to his daughter Benthesikyme, he was married to one of Benthesikyme's daughters (his own niece) but loved another and was banished for this. He then became a priest of Demeter.

Harmonia- the goddess of harmony, and a daughter of Ares and Aphrodite, her siblings were Anteros (unrequited love), Deimos (fear), possibly Eros (love), and Phobos (panic). Sometimes she was said to be a daughter of Zeus and Electra/Elektra, a Pleiad he raped, making her sister to Dardanus, founder of Dardania (later Troy), and Iasion, a lover of Demeter who was killed by the jealous Zeus.

She was viewed as Eris opposite. She was married to Cadmus/Kadmos, a prince and brother of Europa who founded Thebes whilst searching for her. When his men were killed by a dragon he killed it and from its teeth sowed men to help him build Thebes, on Athena's advice, but the dragon was sacred to Ares who made him do eight years of penance.

At their wedding Harmonia received a peplos (long garment women wore) from Athena, and the infamous necklace from Hephaestus. As Hephaestus was outraged with Aphrodite's affair with Ares of which Harmonia was a result, he cursed the necklace which doomed her family. The necklace, known as the Necklace of Harmonia, was described as golden in the shape of two serpents whose mouths formed the clasp. They rendered the wearer young and beautiful. In some sources it was given to Cadmus by Europa or Hephaestus to give to his bride, alternatively it came from Athena or Aphrodite. Sometimes Hephaestus gave a cloak with it, or it was a cloak rather than a necklace and came from Athena and Hephaestus.

Semele inherited the necklace from Harmonia. Jocasta, Queen of Thebes, who unwittingly married her son Oedipus was said to have worn it. Eriphyle was bribed with it by Polynices in exchange for her urging her husband Amphiaraus to take part in the Seven Against Thebes though she knew he would die. Amphiaraus demanded that his sons avenged him and Alcmaeon did by killing his mother for which the Erinyes tormented him. He married Phegeus' daughter Arsinoe/Alphesiboea and gave her the necklace. He was killed by Phegeus' sons when he tried to get the necklace back from him for the river god Achelous to give to his daughter Callirrhoe who he had either wed or was offered as a bride. Arsinoe was sold into slavery by her brothers for scolding them. Callirrhoe then asked Zeus that her sons by Alcmaeon grew old immediately so that they could avenge their father. Zeus granted her request and they killed Phegeus and his sons. The curse ended when Alcmaeon's sons, Amphoterus and Acarnan, dedicated the necklace to a temple of Athena at Delphi. A tyrant Phayllus is said to have stolen it and given it to his mistress. Their son went mad and set fire to the house killing his mother.

With Cadmus Harmonia had a son, Polydorus, who became king of Thebes when the ruler Pentheus was killed, but died young while his son Labdacus was a child. Labdacus too had a short reign and died young, either in battle or he was killed by Maenads. Harmonia and Cadmus also had daughters. Semele who was impregnated with Dionysus by Zeus but died in terror when she asked Zeus to come to her as he did to Hera, after Hera tricked her into asking for this. Ino who became Dionysus' foster mother and was also the wicked stepmother of Phrixus and Helle, her husband Athamas was stricken with madness and killed their son Learchus, thinking he was a ram/fawn/lion. Athamas then tried to kill Ino and their son Melicertes and she was forced to jump into the sea with him. Alternatively Ino too was mad and boiled Melicertes in a cauldron. Zeus turned the pair into the marine deities Leucothea (white goddess) and Palaemon. Autonoe and Agave were other daughters, they became Maenads and killed Agave's son, the current Theban king Pentheus. Agave carried his head back on a stick thinking him a lion and only realised the truth when she met Cadmus. Autonoe was mother to Actaeon who was turned into a stag by Artemis for spying her bathing naked and was killed by his own hounds. The sisters may have been driven mad because they were jealous of Semele and suggested that her lover Zeus was a man who merely claimed he was a god.

Cadmus abandoned his throne to his grandson Pentheus and he and Harmonia went to Illyria to escape their misfortune. Cadmus felt he was cursed for killing Ares' dragon and remarked that if the gods loved a serpent so he wished to be one and so they transformed him. Harmonia begged for the same fate so she could be with her husband. When they died they went to the Isles of the Blessed.

Her Roman counterpart was Concordia the goddess of agreement, understanding and marital harmony. She was usually depicted with a sacrificial bowl, a cornucopia or a caduceus. She was shown in the company of Pax (peace) and Salus (well-being) or Securitas (security) and Fortuna.

Pandia/Pandeia- goddess of the full moon, beauty and youth. A daughter of Zeus and Selene and sister to Herse/Ersa, Nemea and sometimes the Nemean Lion. She had the fifty Menae/Mene for half-sisters, daughters of Selene and Endymion.

Herse/Ersa- goddess of the dew. A daughter of Zeus and Selene and sister to Pandia, Nemea and sometimes the Nemean Lion. Half sister to the fifty Menae.

Menae/Mene/Menai- fifty goddesses of the lunar months. They were the daughters of the moon titan Selene and the mortal King Endymion of Elis. Their half sibilings were Pandia, Herse/Ersa, Nemea, and the Nemean Lion.

Brizo- a goddess worshipped by women in Delos, she protected sailors and fishermen and interpreted dreams. Food was offered to her but never fish.

Aidos/Aedos- a goddess of modesty, respect, shame and humility. A companion of Nemesis she was said to be the last goddess to leave earth when the Golden Age ended. Alternatively it was Astraea/Astrea the goddess of innocence and purity who was the last to leave, abandoning earth during the Iron Age.

Sometimes Aidos was said to be a daughter of Prometheus.

Asclepius and Epione, the goddes of soothing pain's daughters, Hygieia/Hygiea/Hygeia- a goddess of health, cleanliness and sanitation, Panacea/Panakeia- the goddess of medicines, Iaso- the goddess of recuperation, Aceso- the goddess of healing, and Aglaea/Aglaia- the goddess of splendor (probably confused with the Charite of the same name.

Aura- Titaness goddess of the breeze. Nonnus says she was a daughter of Cybele whilst other sources say she was a daughter of the Titan of air and stalking prey Lelantus/Lelantos and the Okeanid Periboea/Periboia. She could be linked to the naiad Nicaea/Nikaia, also said to be a daughter of Cybele seduced by Dionysus.

A virgin huntress who said that Artemis' body was too womanly to belong to that of a virgin. In anger with Nemesis' help Artemis brought about vengeance by having Dionysus rape Aura. She became pregnant and went mad killing men, and even swallowed one of her twin sons. Artemis rescued the other,  Iakkhos/Iacchus who became a demigod attendant of Demeter. Alternatively, Dionysus loved her and requested Aphrodite to inspire her to love him back but when she gave birth to their twins she went mad.

Ariadne- the goddess of passion and mazes. Formerly a princess of Crete and daughter of Minos, she persuaded the inventor Daedalus to give her a ball of thread that would find the way of the labyrinth, this she gave to the hero Theseus as she loved him. She fled with Theseus only to be left on the island Naxos, either because Theseus did not want to wed her or because Dionysus demanded it. Dionysus married her, gifting her with the Corona Borealis, a diadem he later placed in the heavens.

With Dionysus she had the sons Oenopion, Staphylus, Thoas, Peparethus, Phanus, Eurymedon, Enyeus, Ceramus, Maron, Euanthes, Latramys and Tauropolis. Oenopion was a king of Chios associated with wine making who may have been a son of Theseus. He blinded Orion when Orion tried to rape his daughter Merope, when Helios restored his sight he returned to kill Oenopion but he hid in an underground fortress built by his followers, or an iron fortress built by Hephaestus. Staphylus was linked to grapes, said to be a general for his uncle Rhadamanthys, he founded Peparethos and was an Argonaut. Sometime he too was a son of Theseus'. He cast out his daughter Rhoeo in a casket in the sea when she became pregnant by Apollo, believing her pregnant to a mortal. She became mother to Anius. Thoas was king of Lemnos and possibly another son of Theseus. His daughter Hypsipyle sneaked him from the island in a boat or hid him when the women of Lemnos killed the men after Aphrodite cursed them with a bad odour causing their husbands to sleep with slaves. He became king of Tauris where Agamemnon's daughter Iphigenia became a priestess when Artemis took her there. When Iphigenia tricked him into giving her a chance to free her brother Orestes who he wanted to kill, he pursued them but Athena persuaded him to let them go. He was killed by Chryses, a priest of Apollo.

She was killed by Artemis or hung herself after Theseus abandoned her, or Perseus when Dionysus fought him and the Argives. Alternatively, Perseus turned her into stone with the head of Medusa. Dionysus then likely retrieved her from the Underworld and made her immortal as he had done with his mother Semele. Plutarch says when Theseus' ship was in a storm he sailed to an island and put the pregnant Ariadne ashore but when he went to secure the ship it was swept out to sea and Ariadne died before her child was born.

Thyone- goddess of inspired frenzy. Formerly the mortal princess Semele she was killed inadvertently by her lover Zeus when a jealous Hera in disguise suggested that her lover was not a god compelling Semele to ask Zeus to come to her as he did to Hera when he granted her a boon. The sight frightened her to death and to save the infant Dionysus, Zeus took the foetus from Semele and sewed it in his thigh until it was ready to be born. Alternatively, Dionysus was Zagreus, a son of Zeus and Persephone murdered by the Titans, Zeus took his heart and got Semele to swallow it causing it to be reformed as Dionysus.

Dionysus rescued Semele from the Underworld and brought her back as the goddess Thyone.

Other Goddesses- Muses

Muses/Mousai/Musae- the goddesses of literature, science, knowledge, music, song, dance and art. They were usually nine in number and thought to be daughters of Zeus and the Titaness of memory, Mnemosyne. In other traditions they were the daughters of Ouranos and Gaia, or Apollo, or Harmonia, daughter of Aphrodite and Ares. They were named Kleio/Cleio/Clio, Euterpe, Thaleia/Thalia, Terpsikhore/Terpsichore, Erato, Polyhymnia/Polymnia, Ourania,/Urania, Melpomene and Kalliope/Calliope.

Apollo was said to be their leader and they usually accompanied him. He was said to be father to three of the Muses, either Kephiso/Cephisso, Apollonis and Borysthenis, or Nete, Mese, Hypate (the chords on a lyre).
There were additionally three or four others, usually said to be the daughters of Ouranos and Gaia, they were Melete (Practice/Occasion/Thought/Meditation), Aoide/Aoede (Song/Tune), and Mneme (Memory), or Melete, Aiode, Arkhe, and Thelxinoe. The Roman Varro described them as ' one who is born from the movement of water, another who makes sound by striking the air, and a third who is embodied only in the human voice.'

Muses from Disney's Hercules




Clio was the Muse of history, she was depicted with scrolls, and was sometimes said to be mother to Hymenaios/Hymenaeus, the god of weddings and an Erote. Sometimes he was a son of Calliope or Terpsichore with Apollo. Apollodorus says that Aphrodite made her fall in love with the mortal Pieros/Pierus, king of Macedon, or king Oebalus of Sparta, or king Amyclas because she had chided Aphrodite over her affair with Adonis, the result was a son, Hyacinthus/Hyakinthos/Hyacinth. This son was a lover of Apollo's, killed by a discus thrown by Apollo, it was either an accident or it said that Zephyrus, the west wind who was jealous of their love, blew the discus at him.

Euterpe was the Muse of lyric poetry/music. She was depicted with the aulos/double-flute. She may have had a son, Rhesos/Rhesus, with the river god Strymon, though his mother is also given to be Calliope or Terpsichore. Homer said his father was Eioneus/Deioneus, the father-in-law of Ixion whom Ixion murdered. He was a Thracian king who fought on the side of the Trojans during the Trojan War. He was murdered in his tent and Diomedes and Odysseus stole his horses.

Thalia was the Muse of comedy and bucolic/idyllic poetry, and she was depicted with a comic mask, a shepherd's crook and a wreath of ivy. Sometimes she had boots and a bugle/trumpet. With Apollo she was sometimes said to be mother to the Corybantes/Korybantes, seven/nine men who danced with shield and spear. Alternatively, Apollo had them with the nymph Rhetia, or Zeus fathered them with Calliope.

Terpsichore was the Muse of choral song and dance and depicted with a lyre. She was sometimes given as the mother of the Sirens with the river god Achelous/Akheloios, alternatively their mother was Melpomene, the princess Sterope, or Gaia. Some authors say Hera persuaded them to challenge the Muses to a singing contest, they did so and lost and the Muses plucked their feathers and they fell into the sea. Alternatively, they died when Odysseus heard their singing but escaped their lure. She was also given a son with Apollo, Linus/Linos, though he was more likely a son of Calliope.

Erato was the Muse of erotic poetry/lyrical poetry/love poetry and depicted with a lyre or kithara/cithara (a professional version of the lyre) and a wreath of myrtle and roses. Sometimes she held the golden arrow of Eros or was accompanied by Eros. In one story Zeus gave her to Malos and with him she had a daughter, Kleophema/Cleophema. She may have married Phlegyas, a son of Ares, and with him had Coronis/Koronis, Apollo's lover who became mother to Asclepius, and was killed by Artemis for betraying Apollo.

Polyhymnia was the Muse of religious hymns, sacred poetry, eloquence, agriculture, and pantomine. She was depicted as looking serious and meditative, cloaked with a veil, usually with one finger to her mouth. Nonnus says that at Harmonia's wedding she spoke with her hands and eyes rather than her voice.


Urania was the Muse of astronomy and was depicted holding a globe and being cloaked with the stars. Sometimes Linus/Linos and Hymenaeus were said to be her sons, with Apollo.

Melpomene was the Muse of tragedy and was depicted with the tragic mask, a sword/knife/club, cothurnus boots and a wreath of ivy or cypress. Sometimes she was said to be mother to the Sirens.

Calliope was the Muse of epic poetry and was depicted with a tablet and stylus or scroll, a book, or a lyre and she was crowned. The oldest and wisest of the Muses she was mother to the infamous, tragic poet Orpheus, with Apollo, and possibly Linus/Linos too. Orpheus was torn apart by Maenads, though his head remained singing and it floated with his lyre to Lesbos where it was enshrined. The Muses gathered up his body and buried it beneath Mt.Olympus and put his lyre in the heavens. His head prophesised until his father silenced it. Linus/Linos taught Orpheus and Heracles music, he was killed by Heracles with his own lyre for scolding him too often. Alternatively, their father is sometimes given to be King Oeagrus of Thrace who may have been a son of Ares or Pierus, or a descendant of Atlas and a son of Charops/Charopus, a loyal follower of Dionysus. Calliope married him. With Ares she may have been mother to Mygdon, Edonus, Biston, and Odomantus/Odomas.

The Muses accompanied Apollo, Dionysus and the Charites.

When Thamyris boasted that he could sing better than them they punished him by blinding him and turning him mute.
When King Pierus boasted that his nine daughter, the Pierides, could sing better than the Muses, the Muses entered a contest with them and when the girls lost they turned them into birds.

The Thracian king Pyreneus lured them into his palace promising them shelter but once they were within he tried to trap them. They escaped by turning into birds, insane he tried to leap after them and fell to his death.

They judged the contest between Apollo and the satyr Marsyas. Apollo played the lyre and Marsyas the flute Athena had invented and discarded, when Apollo played his lyre upside down and Marsyas could not do the same, the Muses awarded victory to Apollo and he flayed Marsyas alive. Alternatively, Apollo sung alongside his lyre and Marsyas could not do the same.

They awarded the hunter Crotus/Krotus who a satyr and companion of theirs and a hunter and musician, a place in the heavens as Saggitarius.
Apollodorus says that they taught the sphinx her infamous riddle.

Other Goddesses- Horae

Horae/Horai/Hours- the goddesses of seasons and portions of time. Later they became linked to justice and order. They watched over the heavenly constellations and guarded the gates of Olympus.
Daughters of Zeus and Themis, or Helios and Selene or just Helios, they were named-Thallo/Thalatte (Spring), Auxo and Carpo/Karpo/Carpho/Xarpo (Autumn), who were linked to nature, and Eunomia (Good Order, Good Pasture), Eirene/Irene (Peace, Spring), and Dike (Justice), who were linked to order. Other names included Auxesia, Damia, Euporia/Euporie (abundance), Orthosie (prosperity), Pherousa (substance, farm estates), Hegemone, Eiar (spring), Theros (summer), Kheimon/Cheimon (winter), and Phthinoporon (autumn). They were confused and linked to the Charites.

Thallo was the Horae of spring, buds and shoots, another name for her may have been Hegemone who was mentioned as leader of the Horae. Auxo was either the Horae of summer or probably linked to Auxesia, was also linked to spring growth and said to accompany Persephone, for whom Auxesia was another name. She was linked to Damia, Horae of the fertile earth. They were originally maidens of Crete who were wrongly stoned to death.  Carpo was the Horae of autumn and fruit of the earth, she could be linked to Demeter.

Eunomia was the Horae of good order and conduct and linked to the stability of a state and civil order. Eirene was the Horae of peace and spring was linked to Ploutos the god of wealth and plenty. Dike was the Horae of justice, judgement and rights of custom and law. Sometimes she was said to be a daughter of Nomos/Nomus the daimon of law, with Eusebia the daimon of peity. She was also mother to Hesychia, daimon of quiet and rest, who guarded Hypnos' domain. In one story Dike was born a mortal and placed on earth to keep mankind just, as this was impossible Zeus brought her to Olympus.

Later twelve were created, representing the individual twelve hours of the day between sunrise and sunset. Auge (first light), Anatole/Anatolia (sunrise), Mousika/Musica (hour of music/study), Gymnastica/Gymnastika/Gymnasia (hour of exercise), Nymph (hour of bathing), Mesembria (noon), Sponde (rituals poured after lunch), Elete (prayer, first hour of afternoon), Acte/Akte/Cypris (eating/pleasure), Hesperis (evening), Dysis (sunset), and Arktos (night).

They were linked to the weather and promoted fertility.

With the Charites and Muses they accompanied Apollo.

When Aphrodite came forth from the sea they dressed her.

With the Charites and Peitho they crowned the first woman Pandora with garlands.

Pausanias says they were Hera's handmaidens and with the Charites made her crown.

They also made Ariadne's wedding crown with Aphrodite.

They also accompanied Persephone and Helios.

They were also said to have nursed Hermes, Dionysus, and Apollo's son Aristaeus.

They served ambrosia at Thetis' wedding to Peleus.

Eunomia was described as young and beautiful,  carrying a cornucopia, sceptre and torch. Irene had a Roman counterpart in Pax, the goddess of peace and spring who carried a sceptre, olive branches and torch.

Other Goddesses- Charites

Charites/Kharites/Graces/Gratiae- There were three in number usually, Aglaea/Algaea/Aglaia (Splendor), Euphrosyne (Mirth), and Thalia (Good Cheer), Cleta/Kleta to the Spartans. The goddesses of grace, charm, beauty, nature, pleasure, fertility, play, relaxation and floral decoration. They acted as attendants for Aphrodite and/or Hera.

They were usually thought to be daughters of Zeus and Eurynome (Titaness of water meadows, an Okeanid and Zeus' third wife), or Zeus and Eunomia (goddess of good order, a Horaie and daughter of Zeus and Themis), or Eurymedousa. They were also thought to be daughters of Helios and Aegele/Aigle (Okeanid), or Dionysus and Kronois, or Dionysus and Aphrodite.

Other names include Auxo (probably a name taken from the Hourai), Charis/Kharis/Grace, Hegemone, Phaenna, Pasithea/Pasithee, Eudaimonia, Paidia, Pandaisia, Pannykhis, and Antheia.

Aglaea was the goddess of beauty, splendor, glory, magnificence and adornment, also named Charis (grace) and Kale (beauty). She was wife to Hephaestus after he divorced Aphrodite and with him became mother to the younger Charites- Eucleia/Eukleia (Good Repute), Eupheme (Acclaim), Euthenia (Prosperity), and Philophrosyne (Welcome).
Sostratus says that Aphrodite bickered with the Charites over who was most beautiful, the seer Teiresias chose Kale/Aglaea and Aphrodite turned him into an old woman as punishment but Kale gave him beautiful hair. Charis/Kharis/Grace were probably just other names for her.

Euphrosyne was the goddess of joy, mirth and merriment. Sometimes she was companion to Acratus/Akratos, the spirit of unmixed wine who was an attendant of Dionysus.

Thalia was the goddess of good cheer, festivity and rich banquets. Pandaisia was probably another name for her.

Hegemone was the goddess of plants.

Pasithea was the goddess of rest and wife to Hypnos, the god of sleep, given to him by Hera in exchange for putting Zeus to sleep for a second time and risking his wrath.

Antheia was the goddess of flowers.

They were often in the company of Apollo, the Muses and the Horai.

Nonnus mentioned how when Aphrodite competed with Athena over weaving helped her, Pasithea made the spindle turn, Peitho dressed the wool, and Aglaea gave Aphrodite the yarn and thread.

Their Roman counterparts were the Gratiae/Graces.

Hesiod describes them as 'fair cheeked' with 'beaming' or 'sparkling' eyes, whilst Sappho calls them 'rosy-armed', and Ibycus says they are 'blue-eyed'.

Other Goddesses- Cybele

Cybele/Kybele/Matar/Magna Mater/Meter Theon- mother goddess, also a goddess of protection, nature, mountains, and wild animals. Originally an Anatolian goddess, she was linked to Gaia, Rhea and Demeter.

She could also be linked to Artemis as a wilderness and animal goddess and Dionysus as a goddess associated with wild cats (Dionysus was linked to tigers) whose procession was usually accompanied by wine and music.

Pausanias describes Cybele as being born as both male and female, and called Agdistis, born from Zeus' semen falling onto Gaia while he slept. The gods fearing this being cut the male organ away and from it grew an almond tree, the female remaining was sibling. A nymph, Nana, ate an almond from the tree and became impregnated with Attis.

Attis was exposed as a child and suckled by a he-goat. He grew up and was to marry a princess but the goddess appeared before him and he, and the king, went mad and cut off his genitals, Cybele then asked Zeus to give him a form that would not rot or age. He became a god of vegetation, depicted a shepherd with a crook or panpipes. Sometimes he was killed by a boar sent by Zeus in punishment for introducing the cult of Cybele. With Cybele he was her priest attendant as well as lover.

The Corybantes/Korybantes and Dactyl were her followers. The Corybantes were male armed, crested dancers who drummed, they drummed to drown out infant Zeus' crying so that Cronus would not hear, alternatively the Kuretes, Rhea's attendants, did this. The dactyl were linked to her and/or Rhea, they were small phallic beings who practised metalwork and magic and were usually ten in number.

She turned Atalanta and Hippomenes/Melanion into lions for making love in Zeus' temple. Alternatively, Zeus himself, Rhea or Aphrodite did this, Aphrodite because they did not honour her properly.

Sabazios may have been a son of hers, he was a horseman and Phrygian/Thracian sky god, he was later linked to Dionysus.
Aura the Titaness goddess of the breeze is sometimes said to be a daughter of hers, alternatively she was the daughter of the Titan Lelantos/Lelantus and the Okeanid Periboea/Periboia. She was raped by Dionysus after saying Artemis was too womanly to be a virgin and went mad. Alternatively, Dionysus loved her and compelled Aphrodite to make her love him but she went mad giving birth to their twins. She ate one son and the other, Iakkhos/Iacchus was rescued by Artemis and became a demigod attendant of Artemis.
Another daughter was Nicaea/Nikaia, a Naiad, and a daughter with the river god Sangarius/Saggarios, she was a follower of Artemis seduced by Dionysus with Hypnos' help. One story says she was loved by the shepherd Hymnus but killed him causing Eros to take vengeance. Dionysus got her drunk and impregnated her while she was asleep, after giving birth she hung herself. Their daughter was Telete daimon of Bacchic orgies.

King Gordius/Gordias of Phrygia was a lover of hers or consort and they are said to have adopted Midas, the infamous king with the golden touch. Alternatively, Midas was simply Gordias' son.

She is depicted with a polos (high, cylindrical hat) and a chiton usually in a lion drawn chariot.

The Romans called her Magna Mater (Great Mother).

Other Goddesses- Amphitrite

Amphitrite- a sea goddess, wife to Poseidon and either a Nereid (daughter of Nereus and Doris), or an Okeanid (daughter of Okeanos and Tethys).

Eustathius says he saw at Naxos with her sister the Nereids and abducted her. Another tale says she fled to Atlas, Poseidon sent minions to find her and one, Delphinus found her and wooed her on Poseidon's behalf. For his success, Poseidon created a dolphin constellation.

When Minos demanded that Theseus prove he was a son of Poseidon by fetching a signet ring he threw into the sea, Theseus went after it and found himself in Poseidon's home. Down there Amphitrite, according to the Bacchylides gave him a purple cloak and garland, according to Pausanias and Hyginus she gave him a gold crown and the ring.

She attended the birth of Apollo with Rhea, Dione, Themis and Ichnaea.

Sometimes she is said to have turned Scylla into a monster out of jealously. Scylla was a nymph or naiad, possibly a daughter of Phorcys or Crataeis, she was loved by either Poseidon or Glaucus and out of jealousy Amphitrite or Circe poisoned the waters she bathed in causing her to be turned into a monster with tentacle legs, four/six dog heads at her waist, long necks, a cat's tail and four eyes.

She turned the Alkyonides/Alcyonides into halycons when they threw themselves into the sea. They were the seven daughters of Alyconeus/Alykoneus the eldest of the Gigantes who was killed by Heracles, after he attacked him when he was driving away the cattle of Geryon, he killed him with a club after dragging him from his homeland. His daughters were called- Alkippe/Alkippa/Alcippe, Anthe, Asteria/Asterie, Drimo, Methone, Pallene, and Phthonia/Chthonia/Phosthonia. 

With Poseidon she was mother to Triton, the half-man, half-fish sea god who could still the waves with a conch shell; Rhode the nymph who was Helios wife (though she may have been a daughter of Poseidon and Halia, a sea nymph, or Polyphe, an Okeanid); Cymopoleia/Kymopoleia, a sea nymph of violent storms at sea who was married to the Hekantonkherie Briareus/Briareos, also a god of sea storms; and Benthesicyme/Benthesikyme, a sea nymph and wave goddess who was married to Enalos. Homer described her as mother to dolphins, seals, fish and other creatures of the sea.

Pindar described her as 'goddess of the golden spindle'. She had nets in her hair, and crab claws at her forehead, and was usually shone in a throne or in a chariot with her husband. Bacchylides described the Nereids as having fire at their limbs and golden ribbons in their hair and described Amphitrite as 'august ox-eyed' whilst Pausanias called her blue eyed. Venilia, goddess of the calm waters and the wind was also considered a wife of Neptune.

Her Roman counterpart was Salacia/Salachia the goddess of salt water and sometimes springs. She wore a crown of seaweed.

Other Goddesses- Iris

Iris from Fantasia

Iris- goddess of the rainbow and a messenger goddess. The daughter of Thaumas, god of wonders in the sea and son to Pontus and Gaia, and the Okeanid Electra/Elektra or Ozomene. Her siblings were the Harpies- Aellopos/Aello, Podarge/Celaeno/Calaeno/Kelaino, and Okypete/Ocypete, Isis' twin Arce/Arke, messenger to the Titans until after Titanomachy when Zeus took her winged shoes and cast her into Tartarus, and the river god Hydaspes who was sometimes seen as a child of Okeanos and Tethys.

She was thought to supply the clouds with rain and Ovid also describes her as replenshing Hera with rain. She was thought to be a cupbearer to the gods and thus could be linked to Hebe and Ganymede.

Zeus sent her to call Demeter back from her exile once she was reunited with Persephone. She was sent either to tell Hera of the birth of Apollo or to fetch Eileithyia to help Leto birth him. Homer had her in the role of messenger goddess in his Iliad, she went to the Trojans and Helen in the likeness of people they knew. Zeus ordered her to turn Hera and Athena back from Troy as they were defying him. He also ordered her to order Poseidon back as well. Hera sent her to Hypnos on several occasions, once bidding him to send a dream of the drowned Ceyx to Alycone so that she would know his fate, then to put the Thebans to sleep, and then in the disguise of Nyx to persuade him to put Zeus to sleep in exchange for Pasithea as a bride. Zeus sent her to Heracles in one version of the myth to permit him to free Prometheus.

Iris saved Aphrodite in the Trojan War when she was injured by Diomedes. Iris took her from the battlefield in her chariot and took her to Olympus.

Hera had her preserve the bodies of those slain in The Seven Against Thebes, when King Creon/Kreon forbid their burial.

Her main story was stopping the Boreads (Calais and Zetes/Zethes) from killing the Harpies. The two sons of Boreas were Argonauts who drove the Harpies from Phineus who they were tormenting on behalf of the gods. Iris promised the Harpies would leave Phineus alone if spared. After this Phineus told the Argonauts how to get through the Clashing Rocks.

Euripides had her driving Heracles to madness with Lyssa (spirit of mad rage, frenzies, rabies) driving him to kill his wife Megara and their children. This was probably in connection with Iris being a servant of Hera's.

She was usually viewed as Hera's loyal servant and messenger, whilst Hermes would have been Zeus' messenger, although Iris could work for other gods and goddesses. She also rarely went to the Underworld, that role was left to Hermes. In her association with the rainbow she could be linked to the sky and sea.

Sometimes she was a virgin goddess, other times she was viewed as the wife of Zephyrus/Zephyros, god of the west wind. They had a son together, Pothos/Pothus, god of sexual longing and desire, one of the Erotes with Himeros and Eros. Often though Pothus is thought to be sibling to Himeros and Eros and a child of Aphrodite. Probably to explain Pothus being a Erote, Eros was said by Alcaeus to be a son of Iris and Zephyrus.
Some people also suggest that Iris was wife to Morpheus, an idea probably brought about from the painting by Baron Pierre-Narcisse Guérin of Iris visting Morpheus.

Iris was depicted as young, beautiful with golden wings, a winged staff or herald's rod, and a jug. She was described as 'fleet-footed' or 'wind-swift footed'.

She had no Roman counterpart.

Other Goddesses- Persephone

Persephone/Kore/Proserpina- goddess of the Underworld, spring, growth and vegetation. She was the daughter of Demeter and Zeus, and with her mother was linked to the Eleusinian Mysteries, a cult based around the afterlife. In one account Apollodorus called her a daughter of Zeus and Styx, but this is the only accound where she is not a child of Demeter and Zeus.

In her role as a vegetation goddess she was known as Kore, the maiden, it was after Hades abducted her that she seemed to become Persephone. In Arcadia she was called Despoina, the mistress. Originally Despoina/Despoena/Despoine was a seperate entity, a daughter of Demeter and Poseidon, a goddess of mysteries whose real name was known only to those intiated into the Eleusinian Mysteries. She later became linked to Persephone.

Persephone was a beautiful young maiden and Hermes, Ares, Apollo and Hephaestus all offered her gifts in an attempt to woo her- Hermes a rod, Ares a spear and cuirass, Apollo a lyre and Hephaestus a necklace. Demeter rejected the gifts and kept her daughter from the suitors.

Persephone's most infamous story is her abduction by Hades. Hades fell in love with her and asked his brother Zeus for permission to have her as his bride. Without Demeter or Persephone's consent, Zeus agreed that Hades could take Persephone for wife. So when Persephone was playing in the fields, usually with Okeanids, nymphs and/or Athena and Artemis, gathering flowers, Hades came up from the ground in a black or gold chariot, either visible or invisible, and abducted Persephone. In one account the nymph or naiad Cyane/Kyane tried to stop Hades, she cited her consentual relationship with the river god Anapos/Anapis to persuade Hades to woo Persephone but he ignored her and either he turned her into a spring or she cried in grief and became one.
When Demeter realised her daughter was missing she wandered the daughter with torches trying to find her, taking resident with several mortals as she did. Some sources say that the goddess Hecate accompanied her. Eventually she was informed by Helios, in some sources because Hecate suggested seeking him out, that Hades had abducted her daughter.
It was only after the earth began to waste away as Demeter neglected her duties as a harvest goddess that Zeus was finally forced to demand the return of Persephone. Either Hecate or Hermes went to retrieve the goddess. Persephone had eaten of the Underworld, six or four pomegranate seeds, and it was a rule of the Moirae that whoever ate of the Underworld had to stay there. Hermes or Zeus made a deal with Hades and Demeter, Persephone would stay in the Underworld with Hades for a third of the year and would spend the other two thirds of the year with Demeter. The result was the four seasons- Spring and Summer were when Demeter rejoiced to be with her daughter, Autumn came as the harvest goddess grew sad over her daughter's looming departure and Winter was when Demeter was without Persephone. In some stories Persephone actually spent half the year with her mother and half with her husband.
One story mentions Ascalaphus/Askalaphos a son of the river of pain Acheron and the Underworld nymph Orphne/Styx/Gorgyra who was Hades' orchadist. He was the one who told the gods that Persephone had eaten in the Underworld and was punished by being turned into a screech owl. Hades then made the screech owl his bird.

With Hades she is usually said to have had no children as the god of the dead cannot have children. However, there are sources that give them children, or mention Persephone having children with Zeus Khthonios, thought to mean the Underworld Zeus and therefore Hades rather than his brother. Melinoe was a goddess of ghosts, she wandered the earth followed by ghosts and brought madness and nightmares to men. Described as being half dark and half light because she was a daughter of Zeus (light) and Persephone (dark) or Hades (dark) and Persephone (light). One hymn tells how Zeus came to Persephone in the form of Hades and seduced her, and for that Hades mangled her flesh in some fashion. She was described as a nymph and was linked to Hecate and the Erinyes.
Macaria/Makaria may have been another daughter, she was the goddess of blessed death, a merciful counterpart to Thanatos she was said to be a daughter of Hades but no mother is given.
The Erinyes are sometimes said to be daughters of Hades and Persephone, though their parents are also given to be Gaia by Ouranos' blood, Nyx, just Hades, or Poine/Poene the spirit of retribution and vengeance. Depicted as having bat or bird wings, blood dripping eyes, dog bodies or/and waists with serpents around them, three are named- Alecto, Megaera and Tisiphone. They punished people who broke oaths, killed their parents, murdered or harboured criminals, and also punished criminals in the Underworld. They were also known as the Eumenides, the Kindly Ones, suggesting a gentler aspect.

With Zeus, Persephone had a son known as Zagreus. Zeus seduced Persephone in the form of a serpent, their son was killed by Titans instigated by a jealous Demeter. They distracted the child with toys and then ripped him to shreds, leaving only his heart. He turned into his several animal forms to escape them but died in the form of a bull. Zeus , Rhea, Athena, Persephone or Hermes recovered the heart and Zeus had Semele swallow the heart and within her the child was reformed as Dionysus. Nonnus mentions that Zeus seduced Persephone before she was wed and that the child played with Zeus' thunderbolts upon his throne and was intended to be his successor. In this story Zagreus is linked with Dionysus saying to be his first form but in other stories the two are two seperate Dionysus, the second being a child of Zeus and Semele and reborn from Zeus' thigh. Zagreus is also linked to Iacchus/Iacchos/Iakchos, a child originally born of Demeter and Poseidon said to carry torches, he was said to be like a star. He was linked to Dionysus and Zagreus, said to be born in the Underworld. Nonnus referred to him as the third Dionysus.

Adonis was another lover though no children came from this union. Adonis was a beautiful child born as the result of incest between Myrrha/Smyrna a princess of Crete and her father King Cinyras. She either simply loved her father or was driven to it by the Erinyes or Aphrodite, possibly because she failed to honour the goddess. After discovering what had happened, Cinyras tried to kill her but she fled and he possibly killed himself, alternatively Apollo killed him after beating him in a music contest Cinyras challenged him to. After wandering in grief the gods turned Myrrha into a myrrh tree. Aphrodite then found her baby, Adonis, in the tree. Aphrodite entrusted the baby to Persephone who then refused to give him back. Zeus or Calliope was forced to intervene and it was decided that Adonis would spend one third of the year with Persephone, one third with Aphrodite and the final third with whoever he chose, naturally he picked Aphrodite.
Adonis was killed by a boar, either sent by Apollo, Artemis or Ares, or Apollo or Ares in disguise, and returned to the Underworld.

Pseudo-Hyginus credited her with creating man from clay, a talent usually given to Prometheus, or in the case of Pandora, Hephaestus. In this obscure story Persephone (here she was called Cura/Koure) created man, Zeus gave man life and the pair disputed over a name for man. Gaia wanted it named for her since it had been made from her and the dispute was taken to Cronus who deemed that he be called homo since he was named from humus.

As Queen of the Underworld she showed kindness to several souls. When Sisyphus was dragged to the Underworld by Thanatos he persuaded either Persephone or Hades to allow him to return to the upper world because his wife had not buried him properly. The god or goddess complied and he ahd to be dragged back by Hermes.
When Orpheus came to the Underworld for his wife Eurydice/Eurydike, Persephone was moved by his music and granted him permission to take his wife back, or persuaded her husband to allow Eurydice to return. There was a clause though, Orpheus must not look back for his wife on their journey out but he did because she limped and he feared she was not there and she was forced to remain in the Underworld.
When the princess Alcestis offered her own life in exchange for her husband Admetus Persephone sent her back and had them both spared. Admetus was a king who had treated Apollo kindly when he had to serve him as a shepherd, his penance for killing the Cyclopes. Apollo got the Moirae drunk and arranged for them to agree that Admetus would be spared death if another volunteered in his place. It is suggested that he faced death for forgetting to sacrifice to Artemis. When not even his elderly parents would sacrifice themselves, his wife Alcestis agreed to. In other versions of the story it is Heracles who rescues Alcestis, either by wrestling Thanatos or Hades for her.
When Boeotia was struck by a plague and Erinyes and the oracle said two maidens must be sacrificed, the daughters of Orion- Menippe and Metioche, known as the Coronides/Koronides, volunteered themselves and killed themselves with their shuttles. Persephone and Hades, or just Persephone, took pity on them and turned them into comets. Ironically, it was Persephone and Hades who caused the pestilence.
She also permitted Heracles to take Cerebus away for his task and to free Theseus, and in some accounts Peirithoos as well, and compelled him to stop wrestling Menoites the keeper of Hades' cattle, who fought Heracles when he killed one. Alternatively, it was just Hades or Hades and Persephone who permitted the hero to take Cerberus.
She also helped Eros' lover Psyche when she came to the Underworld on a task for Aphrodite. Aphrodite sent her to fetch Persephone's box of beauty. Persephone received her hospitably and gave her the box. However, she did also offer her food, perhaps a trick, and in the box was sleep, as Psyche discovered when she opened it. Of course, it is thought that Persephone meant the sleep for Aphrodite rather than Psyche.

As well as kind Persephone could be wrathful. She is said to have turned her husband's lover, the naiad Minthe/Mintha into a mint plant when the nymph boasted of being more beautiful than the goddess. Alternatively, she crushed her with her foot then transformed her, or crushed her to dust and Hades transformed her, or it was Demeter who crushed her when she boasted that she was more beautiful than Persephone and that Hades would return to her.
Ironically though, another nymph lover of Hades' Leuce who was turned into a white poplar tree after she died, became Persephone's sacred plant. It was also suggested that she was a companion of the goddess.
When King Kreon refused to allow the burial of those who died in the Seven Against Thebes, Persephone and Hades inflicted Thebes with a plague, stopped only when two maidens were sacrificed.

Other stories that involve Persephone are Peirithoos' attempt to abduct her and the sacrifice of Macaria. Peirithoos was king of the Lapiths and a friend of Theseus, they decided they deserved daughters of Zeus as wives and so abducted Helen of Troy for Theseus and then went to the Underworld to abduct Persephone for Peirithoos. Hades received them politely and bid them to sit, they sat down on chairs of forgetfulness and found themselves bound their by serpents. When Heracles came for Cerberus he was able to rescue Theseus but in most accounts he could not save Peirithoos because his crime was too great.
Macaria was a daughter of Heracles who with her siblings fled her father's rival King Eurystheus after her father's death. They found sanctuary with King Demophon of Athens but Eurystheus threatened war unless he was given the siblings. An oracle promised victory for Athens only if a maiden was sacrificed to Persephone. Not willing to have a lottery and see someone else die for her, Macaria volunteered and was sacrificed and a spring was named after her.

Persephone's companions were said to be Hecate, who regularly accompanied her from the Underworld to her mother and was her minister, and Leuce/Leuka/Leukippe, an Okeanid who Hades loved and was changed into a white poplar after her death. Before her abduction she was with nymphs, Artemis and Athena.

She is usually shown as young, beautiful, robed and carrying a sheaf of grain or a sceptre. Oppian called her dark eyed and in her role as the Underworld Queen she was known as 'awful' or 'dread' Persephone. She was also called Queen of the Shades.
The poplar tree, white rose, Asphodel plant, pomegranate and narcissus plant were all sacred to her as were bats, talking birds, rams and monkeys.

Her Roman counterpart was Proserpina/Proserpine a fertility goddess who was the partner of Liber, the god of viticulture and wine, before she became the wife of Pluto. In one tale a man named Valerius found his children sick and prayed to the gods for help, they told him to go to Tarentum and pray to the Underworld gods there. He obeyed, dug the foundations for a temple but found the remains of one there so rebuilt it for Proserpina and Pluto. After this his children recovered. In her abduction myth it was Venus who started the whole thing, ordering Cupid to hit Pluto with an arrow because she wanted him to know love.

Other Goddesses- Hecate

Hecate/Hekate/Hecat/Trivia- the goddess of witchcraft, the crossroads, night, storms ghosts, the moon, herbs and poisons, and necromancy. The daughter of the Titans Perses (destruction) and his cousin Asteria (stars), a Titaness who was the sister of Leto and turned herself into a quail to escape Zeus. This made Hecate, an only child, cousin to Artemis and Apollo, and granddaughter to Coeus, who was Titan of the axis around the heavens, and Phoebe, a Titaness of the moon. With these connections it is easy to see how Hecate was linked to the moon, usually the dark side of the moon when Artemis became a moon goddess.

Occasionally she is a daughter of Zeus, Nyx, the rustic god Aristaeus/Aristaios who was a son of Apollo and Cyrene who discovered bee keeping, a mortal King named Perses who was brother to Aeetes, and a son of Helios, or Demeter.
She was a powerful goddess with dominion over heaven, earth and sea, though she later became an Underworld goddess.

She aided Zeus against the Titans and so was allowed to retain her power over earth, sky and sea after the Titan war. She also fought against the Gigantes, defeating Klytios/Clytius with fire brands.

She helped Demeter find Persephone, accompanying her on her search with torches and suggesting she go to Helios. She also heard Persephone scream when she was abducted by Hades but did not see the deed occur. After she became Persephone's minister and loyal companion. Rarely she is seen to have been one of Persephone's companions when abducted, along with Artemis and Athena.

She showed favour to Galanthis/Galinthias Alcmene's servant who helped Alcmene with the birth of Heracles. Realising that the goddess of chilbirth Eileithyia had her legs closed and was preventing the birth of Heracles, Galanthis told the goddess that the baby was born. The goddess relaxed at the news so that the baby actually was born. In outrage Eileithyia or Hera turned her into a weasel or polecat. In another version the Moirai were also involved, and it was they who transformed Galanthis. Hecate took pity on her and made the weasel her sacred animal.

She showed favour to Queen Hecuba/Hekabe/Hecabe in a similar manner after the gods turned her into a black dog when she snarled at her captor Odysseus or alternatively, after she blinded or murdered King Polymestor and killed his sons because he had killed her own, Polydorus, when he was met to be keeping him safe. In a third version she became a dog after going mad at the sight of her dead children, Polydorus and Polyxena. Hecate made the dog her familiar and a sacred animal to her.

She helped Medea who was a priestess of hers by teaching her how to create poisons and potions and appeared to aid with making Jason immune to the flames of Aeetes' bronze bulls.

She was said to be able to create and stop storms, making her popular with sailors and shepherds. She also helped Hermes to increase livestock.

She transformed the witch Gale into a black polecat or marten for having abnormal sexual desires.

Sometimes she was viewed as a virgin goddess but in other tales she was a consort of Hermes and/or her husband was Aeetes. She was linked to Hermes because they were both associated with ghosts, roads, travelling between the realms of the living and the dead, and guiding Persephone back to the upper world. It is thought that she was the Brimo who lost her virginity to the god and that Brimo was simply another name for her.

As a wife to Aeetes she was viewed also as his niece, and with him was mother to Circe, Medea and Aegialeus, and possibly Absyrtus and Chalciope. Circe and Medea were great sorceresses, Aegialeus, or more popularily Absyrtus, was killed and dismembered by Medea to delay Aeetes pursuit of Medea and Jason, and Chalciope married Phrixus who gave Aeetes the Golden Fleece. Perses overthrew Aeetes but was killed by Medea who then restored her father. Most commonly, the Oceanid Ediyia was their mother, though her sister Asterodia is also given as Absyrtus' mother, as is the Nereid Neaera, or a woman named Eurylyte may have been there parents. Usually, Circe is seen as Aeetes' sister not his daughter.
Diodorus said that as a daughter of Perses she was a huntress who made poisons that she tested on strangers by lacing their food with it.

Sometimes she also viewed as the mother of the cursed Scylla/Skylla siring her with Phorcys/Phorkys in the disguise of a being called Kratais. Phorcys was a god of the dangerous in the deep sea, and a father of monsters with his consort Ceto, a sea goddess who was the daughter of sea god Pontus/Pontos and Gaia, and may have been Crataeis/Kratais/Krataiis/Trienus. It is hard to tell as these epithets were used for both goddesses. Alternatively, Phorcys had Scylla with the cursed queen Lamia, or Triton had her with Lamia. Scylla herself was cursed either by a jealous Circe or Amphitrite because Glaucus, a sea god, or Poseidon loved her. They poisoned the waters she bathed in and she became a monster with twelve tentacle legs, four/six dog heads at her waist, a cat's tail, or twelve feet and wolves' heads.

She was also given another daughter, Empusa/Empousa, daughter to her and Mormo, a spirit that accompanied Hecate and bit bad children. Initially Empusa was beautiful with flaming hair and brazen shoes and she drank the blood of sleeping men. She was later depicted with a donkey's leg and a bronze leg. In later myth the same Empusae (Empuse- singular) were spectres of Hecate's who guarded roads and devoured travellers. They ran, hid and uttered screams at insults.

In a strange story, Hecate was a mortal priestess to Artemis, linked to her priestess Iphigenia, the daughter Agamemnon was to sacrifice to Artemis to atone for killing a deer in a grove sacred to her and/or boasting that he was a better hunter than her. Artemis took the girl from the altar, substituing her with a deer, she then took her to Tauris where she became a priestess. Agamemnon was to sacrifice her so that the Greek fleets would have the winds to sail to Troy, he tricked her and her mother Clytemnestra by saying he was summoning Iphigenia to wed Achilles. Clytemnestra realised it was a lie when she spoke to Achilles who then vowed to see the girl spared, learning the truth Iphigenia willingly agreed to be sacrificed. In some versions she did die. Hesiod called her Iphimede and said Artemis transformed her into the goddess Hecate.

As a goddess of necromancy she was called upon by several people. Aeson/Aison and his wife the witch Alcimede/Alkimede brought back Aeson's deceased father Cretheus/Kretheus in a blood ritual to learn about their son Jason, they sent him back by appeasing Hecate with a black bull. Teiresias sacrificed black oxen and sheep to her in a grove sacred to her and offered wine, milk and honey as well to summon shades.

Depicted as a triple goddess and sometimes named as a crone goddess it is easy to see how she became linked to the maiden, mother, crone concept as she was a virgin goddess, a mother, and a crone. Having divinity over earth, heaven and sky may have also explained this triple aspect and as a trinity goddess she was linked to Selene, Artemis and Persephone, or Kore, Persephone and Hecate, or Persephone, Demete and Hecate. Through her connection to Persephone, Kore and Demeter she was a fertility goddess, associated with crops. She was also popular in the households of women.

She was also linked to Keres, the goddess of violent death who were daughters of Nyx and Erebus, and looked for the dead and dying on the battlefield.

She was depicted at crossroads with three heads facing in different directions, usually the heads of maidens but occassionally of animals (dog, snake, horse, cow, boar). She is usually shown holding two torches and sometimes is in a maiden's knee-length skirt and hunting boots, and with keys on her person and accompanied by dogs. A Greek lyric described her as golden shining attendant of Aphrodite, Apollonius said she was garlanded with twigs of oak and snakes,

Her sacred animals were dogs, polecats, weasels, black horses, red mullets, and frogs. Her sacred plants were oak, yew, garlic, cypress, the poisonous aconite, belladonna (deadly nightshade), the healing dittany, which was considered an aphrodisiac and the hallucinogenic mandrake.

Her Roman counterpart was the goddess Trivia. Trivia was a goddess of graveyards, crossroads and witchcraft who travelled invisible at night, heralded by the barking of dogs. She kidnapped maidens to assist her.

Children of Nyx

Nyx/Nox- as mentioned in Creation was sometimes seen as the first goddess, sometimes a child of Panes, sometimes of Chaos, her consort was Erebus with whom she had many children, she also had some through parthenogenesis. She was the goddess of night and rarely appeared in myth. The most prominent tale she featured in was told by Homer, when Hypnos, her son, fled to her to escape Zeus' rage after he put him to sleep at the behest of Hera so she could send a storm to plague Heracles' ship. Zeus would have thrown Hypnos into the sea if he had not hid behind his mother Nyx but fearing Nyx's wrath, Zeus left Hypnos alone.

Erebus/Erebos- was the personification of darkness, sibling and consort to Nyx. A region in the Underworld was also named for him. He was said to envelope the edges of the world and the Underworld with dark mists.

The children linked to these deites are: Aether, Hemera, Eros, Momus, Moros, Thanatos, Hypnos, Oneiroi, Charon, Eris, Ponos, Hesperides, Keres, Moirai, Nemesis, Apate, Dolus, Lyssa, Maniae, Eleos, Sophrosyne, Philotes, Geras, Epiphron, Hybris, and Oizys.

Aether/Aither/Acmon- The first born, he was the personification of upper air, that is the air that the gods' breathed, not ordinary air. His name meant light and as such the air he personified was considered bright and glowing. This was also the boundary that seperated Tartarus from the rest of the world. Ouranos the Titan of the sky, depicited as a brass dome, was above him and the ordinary air was below him, this was known as Aer/Khaos and was seen as another aspect of the first Chaos/Khaos, the invisible air between heaven and earth. Erebus/Erebos was the third personification of air, the dark mists in the land of the dead.
Normally seen as a child of Nyx and Erebus, he was also sometimes just a child of Erebus, a child of Anake and Khronos, just Khronos, or Chaos.
He a female counterpart in Aithre/Thea the Titaness of sight and shining light who was associated with gold, silver and jewels. He was paired with his sister Hemera and with her he was parent to Thalassa, sometimes Gaea/Gaia, and sometimes Ouranos. Gaia was also given to either have just appeared or to be a child of Hydrus, whilst Ouranos was sometimes just a child of Aether, or of Aether and Gaia, or of just Gaia, or of Nyx.
With Gaia he may have also been parent to the Algea, Dolus, Lyssa, Penthos, the Pseudologoi, Horkos/Horcus, Poena/Poine, Lethe, Aergia, and the Hysminae/Hysminai. The Algea, Horucs, Lethe, the Hysminae and the Pseudologoi may have been children of just Eris, Dolus of Erebus and Nyx, Lyssa of just Nyx.
By himself Aether was also possibly parent to the Nephelae/Nephelai, cloud nymphs, alternatively they were daughters of Tethys, or Okeanos.

Hemera- a daughter of Nyx and Erebus, or sometimes a daughter of Nyx and Chronos, or Chaos, and the personification of day. She was consort to her brother Aether and with him parent to Gaia, Ouranos and Thalassa, or just Thalassa.
She lived in Tartarus with her mother and left it as her mother was returning. She was displaced by the dawn goddess Eos in myth with Eos taking greater importance.

Eros/Cupid- the personification of procreation, also a god of love and desire, sometimes he had no parents, other times he was a child of Chaos or Nyx or Erebus and Nyx, or he was a later god and a child of Aphrodite and Ares, though it is possible there were too Eros, one the primordial deity and the other the playful child of Aphrodite.
According to Hesiod, he emerged without parents after Chaos, Gaia and Tartarus. Aristophanes says he hatched from an egg laid in Erebus and that he had golden wings. Thus he could be linked to Phanes/Protogonos, a primordial deity of procreation and new life who emerged from an egg with gold wings and was entwined with a serpent. He was a child of Ananke and Chronos.

Momos/Momus- the god of daimon (spirit) of satire, mockery, blame, censure, ridicule, complaint, scorn and criticism. A child of Nyx and Erebus or just Nyx.
He criticised the gods and was exiled from Olympus for it. He criticised Hephaestus for making man without a door in breast through which his thoughts could be seen, and when he was asked to judge a contest between Zeus, Poseidon and Athena over their creations- man, a bull and a house, he criticised all of them.  He criticised man for lacking a window in his heart so his neighbour could see his plans, the bull for not having eyes under its horns so it could see what it was attacking, and the house for being made without wheels. He mocked Zeus for his violent nature and his lust and for having two sons equally villainous. He also either viewed only Aphrodite as blameless or insulted her sandals. His twin was Oizys.
Interestingly he is now linked with Mardi Gras.
His counterpart is Eupheme the daimon of praise and good omens.

Moros- a son of Nyx and Erebus or just Nyx he was the god of doom.

Hypnos and Thanatos

Thanatos/Thanatus/Mors/Letus/Letum- the god of death, usually said to be specifically non-violent death as the Keres dealt with violent death, and twin of Hypnos/Somnus and son to Nyx and Erebus. Homer says Zeus charged him and his brother with taking the body of the hero Sarpedon from Troy and returning it to his homeland, Lycia. When Zeus ordered Thanatos to chain up King Sisyphus in Tartarus, as Sisyphus had told the river god Asopus that it was Zeus who took his daughter Aegina, Sisyphus asked Thanatos to demonstrate how his chains worked. Thanatos complied and was trapped until Ares freed him, tired of there being no death in warfare.
When King Admetus was to die Apollo persuaded the Moirai to take another in his place, when his parents refused his wife Alcestis offered herself. When Thanatos came for Alcestis Heracles wrestled him for her life and won.
He was often depicted as a winged youth or a youth carrying a butterfly, poppies or an upside down torch and with a sword, and was usually with his twin. He was displaced by Hermes who as a psychopomp guided the dead to the Underworld. Sometimes he was depicted as bearded.
His Roman counterpart Mors/Letus/Letum was in Roman art a male but in poetry a female, usually pale and clothed in black.

Hypnos and Nyx

Hypnos/Somnus- the god of sleep and twin to Thanatos, a son of Erebus and Nyx. He dwelt in a cave without a door and with poppies growing outside it. The sun did not shine in this cave and it was usually said to be in Erebus, said to have river of forgetfulness, Lethe, flowing through it.
With his brother Thanatos he was charged by Zeus to carry Sarpedon's body from Troy to Lycia.
He put Zeus to sleep at Hera's behest so that she could send a storm to attack Heracles' boat. When Zeus awoke he was in a rage and would have thrown Hypnos into the sea if he had not hid with his mother Nyx, who even Zeus feared. When Hera asked Hypnos to again put Zeus to sleep, during the Trojan War, promising him a throne of gold he refused until she offered him the Charite Pasithea as a wife. He then went to Poseidon letting him know that Zeus was asleep and that Poseidon could thus take action in the Trojan War.
He put Endymion to sleep with his eyes open at his own request, either so Endymion could watch his lover Selene or so that Hypnos could see his eyes.
He was depicted as a youth either bearded or beardless with wings on his shoulders or head, carrying an inverted torch or poppies or a jar with water from the river Lethe in it.
The Oneiroi were his brothers or children and helpers.

Morpheus

Oneiroi- The daimons of dreams they were said to be a thousand in number and dark winged. Either the children of Hypnos or of Nyx or Erebus and Nyx. They lived in a cave in Erebus and passed through a gate of horn to deliver prophetic dreams or a gate of ivory to deliver meaningless dreams. Ovid named three- Morpheus, Icelus/Icelos/Ikelos/Phobetor and Phantasos/Phantasus.
Morpheus was the leader of the Oneiroi and he appeared in the dreams of rulers in the form of a human, and he shaped dreams. He may have been the dream spirit sent by Zeus to Agamemnon in the Illiad. There was a wilted elm tree in his domain on which he hung fashioned dreams, which appeared as winged phantom shapes.
Phobetor was associated with nightmares and animals and monsters in dreams and he appeared in the mortal realm in the form of any animal he wished. His true name was Icelus/Icelos/Ikelos, which means semblance. The word phobia comes from his name.
Phantasos was associated with inanimate objects in dreams and it is from his name that the words fantasy and phantom likely come from.
There was also another daimon of nightmares- Epiales/Epialos/Epioles/Epialtes who may have been another of the Oneiroi.

The ferryman Charon

Charon/Kharon- a son of Erebus and Nyx he was a servant of Hades and ferryman to the dead. He received the dead from Hermes and ferried them across the river of pain Acheron/Akheron in exchange for an obol/danake coin that was placed in their mouth when they were buried. Those unburied or buried without the coin were left to wander the other side of Acheron for a hundred years and appeared as ghosts on earth.
He was shown as an ugly seaman in reddish-brown clothes with a ferryman's pole, bearded and with flashing, angry eyes possibly of a bluish-grey colour.
He could be linked with the Etruscan god Charun/Charu/Karun, he had pointed ears, snakes around his arms, blue skin, snakes in his hair, a vulture's hooked nose, tusks, fiery eyes, wings, and a beard, and he guarded the Underworld with a hammer. He guided the dead and may have punished or protected them with his hammer as well, and he was helped by Vanth a female demon who was a winged, benevolent guide to the dead.

Discord from Xena/ Hercules the Legendary Journeys

Eris/Discordia- the goddess of strife and discord. A daughter of Nyx or of Zeus and Hera. Hesiod said there were in fact two Strife's, one who was cruel and linked to war and battle, and one a daughter of Zeus who was kinder. She was linked with the war goddess Enyo, and Homer viewed them as one and the same.
She was given many children- Ponos (hard labour and toil, who may have been a son of Erebus and Nyx), Lethe (forgetfulness and oblivion, who may have been a daughter of Aether and Gaia), Limos/Limus (hunger), and Ate (delusion, folly, reckless impulse) whose father was Zeus, the Algea/Algos (pain, suffering, grief, distress), the Hysminae (non-martial fighting and combat), the Neikea/Neicea (quarrels, feuds, grievances), the Pseudologi (lies), and Horkos/Horcus (oath) (who all may have been children of Aether and Gaia as well), the Amphilogiai (disputes, debate), Dysnomia (lawlessness), the Phonoi (murder, killing, slaughter), the Androctasiae/Androktasiai (battlefield slaughter), and the Machae/Makhai (battle and combat).
Her most famous story is about the golden apple that started the Trojan War. Angry at not being invited to Peleus and Thetis' wedding, Eris threw a golden apple into the party, The Apple of Discord, which was enscribed kalliste/kallisti meaning for/to the most beautiful/the fairest. Athena, Hera and Aphrodite all laid claim to it and Zeus charged the prince of Troy Paris/Alexander with judging the winner as he had promised to award a golden crown to whoever had a bull better than this and when Ares disguised himself as a bull, Paris fairly awarded him the prize, thus it was the fairness that prompted Zeus to pick him to decide the fairest goddess. Paris picked Aphrodite when she promised him Helen of Troy, the most beautiful woman in the world, for a wife.
When the couple Aedon and Polytechnos boasted to love each other more than Zeus and Hera, Hera sent Eris to cause trouble. She caused them to have a competition when Polytechnos was making a chair and Aedon was doing embroidery, whoever finished first should present the other with a female slave. Aedon finished first, furious Polytechnos went to Aedon's father and tricked him into giving over her sister Chelidonis on the pretence that Aedon wanted to see her. He raped Chelidonis and then dressed her as a slave, swore her to silence and gave to Aedon. Chelidonis then lamented her fate and was overheard by Aedon, they plotted revenge and killed Polytechnos' son Itys and fed him to Polytechnos. Polytechnos was then bound, smeared in honey and exposed to insects. Zeus then turned him into a pelican, Aedon into a nightingale and Chelidonis into a swallow. This story was very like that of the princesses Procne and Philomela.

Ponos- a son of Eris or of Eerebus and Nyx, he was the personification of hard labour and toil.


Hesperides- goddess or nymphs of the evening, they tended a garden at the far west at the edge of Okeanos. Daughters of Nyx, Nyx and Erebus, Atlas and Hesperis, Hesperos, Zeus and Themis, or Phorcys/Phorkys and Ceto. They guarded Hera's garden of golden apples, which a gift to her from Gaia on her wedding day to Zeus, they guarded this with a hundred-headed dragon called Ladon, who was placed there by Hera because she did not fully trust the Hesperides.
They were three or seven in number and their given names were- Aigle/Aegle, Arethusa/Arethousa, Erytheia/Erytheis/Erythea, Hesperia/Hespereia/Hespere/Hespera/ Hesperusa/Hesperethoosa/Hesperthousa/Hesperthusa, Chrysothemis/Khrysothemis, Lipara, and Asterope. They were said to be good singers.
They also guarded the winged sandals, the kibisis (knapsack), and the helmet of invisibility that Perseus needed. Athena told him to find them for these items and he went to the Graeae who gave him directions after he took their tooth and eye from them. Alternatively Perseus just received a knapsack from the Hesperides and the sandals, a sword and the helmet from Hermes, or the sandals from Hermes and the sword and helmet from Zeus. The Gorgons lived near them.
For his Eleventh Labour, Heracles had to retrieve some apples from the Hesperides' Garden. He got directions from the Old Man of the Sea (Pontus, Glaucus, Phorcys or Nereus) and then finding it asked Atlas to fetch them. He held the sky up whilst Atlas did this and then when Atlas refused to take his burden back, after obtaining the apples, Heracles tricked him into it by asking him to hold it while he adjusted his cloak. In another version Heracles slew Ladon. Athena then returned the apples once Heracles' labour was completed.
Ovid mentioned how Atlas guarded the garden and was warned that a son of Zeus would take the apples from them. When Perseus arrived and asked for sanctuary Atlas tried to throw him out and Perseus used Medusa's head to turn him to stone.
The golden apple that Eris threw into the party at Peleus and Thetis' wedding 'for the fairest' may have come from this garden, as may have the golden apples that caused Atalanta to lose the race against Melanion. Melanion received these apples from Aphrodite and threw them down to distract Atalanta so that he might win the race against her and gain her as a bride.

Keres- female daimons of violent death. They were children of just Nyx or of Nyx and Erebus. They were bloodthirsty with gnashing teeth, claws and wings. They ripped out souls on the battlefields with their claws. Their names were: Anaplekte (quick death), Akhlys (mist of death), Nosos (disease), Ker (destruction), and Stygere (hateful).
Their Roman equivalents were Letum (death) and Tenebrae (shadows).

The Fates from Xena

Moirai/Moiraie/Moerae/Fates/Parcae/Fata- daughters of Nyx, Nyx and Erebus, Chronos and Nyx, Zeus and Themis, Ananke, Chaos, or Okeanos and Gaia. They were three in number- Clotho/Klotho/Nona, the spinner, Lachesis/Lakhesis/Decima, the allotter, and Atropos/Aisa/Morta, the inevitable.
They controlled the thread of mortals' lives from birth to death, deciding how long they should live, and even Zeus was subject to their will. They appeared three nights after a child's birth to determine their fate. As such they appeared to Althaea after the birth of her son Meleager with a burning brand and determined he would live until it burned out. Althaea doused the brand and hid it until Meleager killed his uncles when they stole the pelt of the Calydonian Boar from Atalanta after Meleager had gifted it to her. Furious at her brothers' deaths, Althaea threw the brand into a fire.
Apollo got them drunk in order to get them to prolong the life of his friend Admetus, they agreed that another could take his place. His wife Alcestis agreed to take his place and was saved from Thanatos by Heracles.
They were white robed, ugly, old women who were sometimes lame. They assisted Hermes' with inventing the alphabet, killed the Gigantes Agrius/Agrios and Thoas/Thoon with bronze clubs, and in some versions poisoned the monster Typhon with fruit.

Clotho sang of things that are and carried a spindle and the book of fate. She was the youngest and chose who was born and when. She brought Pelops back from the dead after his father Tantalus killed him and tried to trick the gods into eating him.
Lachesis sang of things that were and carried a measuring rod. She was the middle of the three and decided how much time each person was allowed in life. Hesiod says she also allowed people to choose their next life.
Atropos sang of things that would be and carried a scroll, a wax tablet, a sundial, a pair of scales and shears. She was the oldest and chose how people would die.
They were linked to the Erinyes, who punished people for wrongful murders as murder went against fate, the childbirth goddess Eileythia, the Keres, and sat at the throne of Zeus or Hades. According to Plato they had their own thrones and sang with the Sirens.
Their Roman equivalents were the Parcae- Nona, Decima and Morta. Nona was also a goddess of pregnancy, Decima of childbirth and Morta of pain and death.

Nemesis from Hercules the Legendary Journeys

Nemesis/Rhamnousia/Rhamnusia- was the goddess of retribution and vengeful fate. She was a daughter of Nyx, Nyx and Erebus, Okeanos or Zeus. She was neither good nor bad, granting that which was deserved. She was associated with resentment for those who had obtained good fortune unfairly.
Her names Rhamnousia and Rhamnusia came from being worshipped at Rhamnous in Attica.
Sometimes she is said to be the mother of Helen of Troy, and also her siblings Clytemnestra, and the Dioscuri Castor and Pollux, having conceived them in the form of a goose to Zeus in the form of a swan. In other versions she lays the egg from which Helen is hatched and it is found by Leda. Alternatively, Leda is simply her mother.
The Telchines/Telkhines, four sea demons who invented metalworking are sometimes given as her children with Tartarus, at other times they are children of Pontus and Gaia, Ouranos and Gaia, Thalassa, or Poseidon.

Apate/Fraus- a child of Nyx, or Nyx and Erebus, she was the personification of deceit, guile, fraud and deception. Her counterpart was her sibling Dolus/Dolos, and her companions were her siblings the Pseudologoi. She may have been one of the evils in Pandora's jar.
Fraus was her Roman counterpart, the personification of treachery and fraud she had a woman's head, a snake's body and a scorpion's tail and helped Mercury.

Dolus/Dolos- the personification of trickery, craftiness, treachery, and guile he was a child of Nyx and Erebus, or Aether and Gaia. An apprentice of Prometheus, he accompanied his siblings the Pseudologoi, and his counterpart was his sister Apate.

Lyssa/Lytta/Ira/Furor/Rabies- a daughter of Nyx and Ouranos or of Aether and Gaia. The goddess/daimon of rage, fury, frenzy, rabies and raging madness. She was linked to the Maniae. Hera asked her to make Heracles insane and though she obeyed it was with reluctance. She was also sent by Dionysus to drive the Minyades mad, daughters of Minyas who neglected the worship of Dionysus and were driven mad as a consequence. She was also linked to the hunter Actaeon/Aktaion, specifically his maddened dogs who tore him apart after he was turned into a stag by Artemis.
Her Roman name was Ira, Furor or Rabies, sometimes she was seen as multiple deities- Irae/Furores.

Maniae/Maniai- daughters of Nyx though no source states this. The personification of madness, insanity and crazed frenzy. They worked with Lyssa and the Erinyes. They are also called nursemaids of Eros but whether in jest, irony or simply truth as Eros can be cruel, is unknown.

Eleos- a child of Nyx and Erebus, either the god or goddess of mercy, pity and compassion. The goddess Anaideia (ruthlessness, shamelessness) was their opposite. Heracles' children sought refuge at his altar in Athens from Eurystheus who was Heracles' rival and set his Twelve Labours, he sought to kill them after their father Heracles died. They survived and Eurystheus and his sons were killed.
Adrastos/Adrastus/Adrestus, a king of Argos during The Seven Against Thebes, went to the same altar after he lost and fled to Athens to beseech Theseus for aid.

Sophrosyne- daughter of Erebus and Nyx, and the goddess of moderation, temperance, self-control and restraint. She may have been one of the good things that escaped Pandora's jar. Her Roman equivalents were Continentia and Sobrietas.

Philotes- a daughter of just Nyx or Nyx and Erebus, she was the goddess of friendship, sexual intercourse and affection. The Neikea (quarrels, feuds) opposed her.

Geras/Senectus- a son of just Nyx or Nyx and Erebus and the personification of old age. He was viewed as a shrivelled, old man. His opposite was the goddess of youth, Heracles' last wife- Hebe, daughter of Zeus and Hera. He was shown on vases with Heracles though the story behind it is unknown. His Roman equivalent was Senectus.

Epiphron- a son of Erebus and Nyx and the personification of prudence, thoughtfulness, carefulness, shrewdness and sagacity.

Hybris/Petulantia- a daughter of Nyx and Erebus, or of Dyssebia (impiety) she was the goddess of impiety, wantonness, recklessness, pride, arrogance and outrageous behaviour. She was the mother of Corus/Koros the personification of insolence and distain, and of Dyssebia sometimes. Her Roman equivalent was Petulantia.

Oizys/ Miseria- a daughter of Nyx or Nyx and Erebus, she was the goddess of misery, woe, suffering and distress. Her twin was Momos. Her Roman name was Miseria.