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.

The Other Olympians- Boys- Dionysus

Dionysus, Apollo, Ares, Hephaestus and Hermes.

Dionysus/Bacchus/Liber- the god of wine, ecstasy, winemaking, festivity, theatre and madness. He was usually described the son of Zeus and the mortal Semele, a daughter of the hero Cadmus/Kadmus and Harmonia, the goddess of harmony and concord and the daughter of Ares and Aphrodite. Hera befriended Semele in disguise and suggested that Semele's lover was not actually Zeus but just someone claiming to be. Doubtful, Semele asked a boon of Zeus and he swore her anything, so she asked to see him in his glory, or for him to come to her as he came to Hera. Zeus was forced to consent and the sight of his godhood or his arrival with thunder and lightning caused Semele to die of fright. Zeus rescued the unborn Dionysus and sewed him in his thigh, from this he was later born.

He another version, Dionysus is the son of Zeus and Persephone. A jealous Hera persuaded the Titans to distract him with toys and then tear him to pieces. In one version he shifted into animal forms in his attempt to escape before being torn to pieces in the form of a bull. They devoured him, save his heart which Persephone/Athena/Rhea/Demeter/Hermes saved, and Zeus turned them to ash with his thunderbolts in revenge. Zeus either placed the heart in his thigh and recreated him from this or he tricked Semele into eating the heart and having him born from her, thus linking the two versions of his creation. It is thought he could be the god Zagreus, a hunter god a son of Zeus and Persephone, Zeus potentially in the form of a serpent, or Hades and Persephone.

After Semele's death Zeus gave the infant to Hermes who gave him either to Dionysus' aunt Ino and her husband Athamas, bidding them to raise him as a girl, or to the nymphs of Nysa. These were rain nymphs who may have been the daughters of Atlas and an Oceanid/Okeanid Pleoine or Aethra. They were the sisters of the ill-fated Hyas who wept over his death and became known as the Hyades. The Nysiads are also said to have been the nymphs who raised him. Some sources say it was Rhea or a priest of Apollo, Maro, who raised him. Silenus, a man usually depicted with the ears, legs and tail of a horse (two legs, he wasn't a centaur) was given as Dionysus foster father, tutor and loyal companion.

Ino was a queen of Thebes and the wicked stepmother of Phrixus and Helle who drove them to fleeing on the back of the infamous golden ram Chrysomallus. Either Hera or Dionysus drove her husband King Athamas to madness causing him to murder his son and chase his wife and another son. Ino jumped off a cliff with her son Melicertes, or she too was driven mad, boiled her son and them jumped into the sea. She and her son became the goddess Leucothea and god Palaemon respectively.

Dionysus discovered wine and shared this gift with Icarius/Ikarios. Icarius shared the wine with shepherds who, thinking they had been poisoned when they were drunk, killed Icarius in vengeance. His daughter Erigone hung herself in grief and her dog Maera/Maira leapt off a well or jumped off a cliff. Dionysus turned them into the constellations-  Boötes, Virgo and Procyon. (Boötes is also thought to have been a man who invented the plough and pleased Demeter with it. Virgo is given as Demeter or as Astraea.) Dionysus then inflicted Athens with a plague and demanded that they honoured Icarius, Erigone and Maera before he ended the plague.

 He was driven mad by Hera and wandered the earth in this fashion before being cured by Cybele/Rhea. He then wandered spreading his worship and teaching winemaking. He was opposed on several occasions. Lycurgus/Lykurgos/Lykourgos was a king in Thrace who opposed him. He imprisoned Dionysus' followers the Maenads and drove Dionysus from the city. Dionysus fled and took refuge with Thetis and punished Thrace with a drought and drove Lycurgus to madness leading him to kill his son thinking he was ivy that he was pruning. He refused to end the drought until Lycurgus was punished. He may have tried to rape his mother and killed his wife as well. The people then threw him to man-eating horses or panthers. Dionysus gave Thetis a golden urn or vase in thanks for sheltering him.

On his wanderings he was also opposed by Perseus. There was a battle during which either Ariadne or a Maenad called Khorea was killed. Perseus may have mistaken Dionysus and his band for invaders. Eventually the two ended the battle and had peace.

Pentheus, a king of Thebes and cousin to Dionysus, opposed him. He banned worship of him and imprisoned him, though the chains fell off him and the cell door opened for him. In vengeance Dionysus drove the women of Thebes, including Pentheus' mother Agave, and possibly his aunts Ino and Autonoë to madness and lured Pentheus to spy on them. Pentheus hid in a tree but he was spotted, thinking he was an animal the women tore him to pieces. His mother Agave carried his head back and only when she saw her father Kadmus/Cadmus did she realise she was carrying the head of her son. Some sources claim Dionysus was so cruel to his own family because his aunts had claimed their sister Semele had been impregnated unmarried and only claimed Zeus to be the father to conceal this and was later killed as punishment for her lies. The women were then exiled from Thebes.

The Minyades, three daughters of Minyas, possibly a son of Poseidon, spurned the worship of Dionysus. Called Alcathoe (or Alcithoe), Leucippe/Leuconoe and Arsippe/Arsinoë, they remained at home when other women celebrated over the mountains in worship to Dionysus. He came to them in the form of a maiden to entice them into joining the festivites but they declined. He then turned into a bull, lion and panther and drove them mad and they sacrificed Leucippe's son Hippasus to him by tearing him to pieces before Hermes turned them to bats,  or Dionysus simply turned them into bats. The sisters did not believe Dionysus was a god and continued working at the loom and spinning.

Orpheus, the famous poet, also suffered Dionysus wrath as he refused to worship him and thought of Helios/Apollo as the greatest god, for this they tore him to shreds. Alternatively Orpheus had sworn off women after the death of Eurydice and for this they killed him. His head continued to sing, and was buried in Antissa, a city in Lesbos, and became an oracle until Apollo silenced it. The Muses gathered up his body parts and buried them.

The Proitides, were three daughters of King Proitos/ Proetus, a king of Argos who was the twin of  Acrisius, the father of Danae, and grandfather of Perseus, and husband of Stheneboea/Stheneboia who lusted after Bellerophon. The daughters were called in the Bibliotheca- Lysippe, Iphinoe, and Iphianassa, whilst the Italian Maurus Servius Honoratus called them Lysippe, Hipponoe and Cyrianassa, and Claudius Aelianus named two Elege and Celaene. They were driven mad either by Hera for calling themselves more beautiful than she and/ or for stealing gold off her statue, or by Dionysus for refusing to worship him. The healer and soothsayer Melampus offered to heal them for a third of the kingdom but was declined. The women went madder and Melampus was called upon again, this time he demanded a third of the kingdom for himself and a third for his brother Bias, Proteus agreed and the women were cured. Some sources say Iphinoe died and her two sisters married Melampus and Bias.

Dionysus was extremely handsome and when some sailors/pirates saw him on a shore they thought him a prince and kidnapped him. He allowed him to take him onto their ship and when bonds would not hold him the helmsman realised he was a god and begged his fellow sailors to release him. They would not believe him. Vines then grew on the ship, Dionysus turned into a lion and a bear appeared on board. The pirates tried to jump off the ship and were turned into dolphins. The helmsman, Acoetes, was spared and later became a priest to the god.

Cyanippus/Kyanippos was a man who refused to worship Dionysus. Dionysus got him drunk and he raped his daughter Cyane. Cyane took his ring to identify him. Apollo inflicted the city with a plague saying it would not be removed until an unjust man was killed. Understanding this, Cyane killed her father and then herself.

Another to feel his wrath but not because of lack of worship, was Psalacantha/Psalakantha, a nymph from the island Ikaros/ Icaria who loved Dionysus and promised to help him win Ariadne on the condition that he loved her too. Dionysus refused so Psalacantha tried to dissuade Ariadne from being with the god. In anger, Dionysus turned her into the plant psalakanthos, which was later weaved into Ariadne's crown.

Coresus was a priest of Dionysus who was in love with Callirhoe who scorned him. Coresus prayed to Dionysus for aid and the god turned the city, or just the women, mad and an oracle told them Callirhoe or someone in her stead must be sacrificed. When no one would offer themselves up for her, Callirhoe went to be sacrificed but Coresus couldn't kill her and killed himself instead. In grief, Callirhoe killed herself.

Dionysus proved his godhood to the people and chiefly to the gods in two important ways. He went to the Underworld and rescued his mother Semele and made her immortal, renaming her Thyone. Secondly, when Hephaestus tricked Hera into sitting on a gold throne which she became stuck too, Dionysus went to bring him back to Olympus. He got the lame god drunk and brought him back on a donkey and persuaded him to free Hera. After this, Hera no longer challenged Dionysus' position as an Olympian.

He fought in the war against the Gigantes and killed Eurytos.

Though mostly known for his wrath he could also show favour to people. When King Midas found Silenus passed out he treated him well for ten days before returning him to Dionysus. As thanks, Dionysus promised Midas whatever he wanted. Midas asked that everything he touched be turned to gold and Dionysus consented. When he turned his own daughter to gold and realised he could not eat or drink as all food and drink became gold, he begged Dionysus to reverse the gift. Dionysus told him to wash in the river  Pactolus, Dionysus obeyed and the curse/gift was reversed.

Althaea was the wife of the king of Calydon Oeneus/Oineus. Dionysus coveted her and realising this, Oeneus left this city of his own will, Dionysus gave him a vine in thanks and showed him how to plant it. With Althaea he became the father of Deianeira/Dejanira. Deianeira became Heracles' third wife and killed with a shirt poisoned in the centaur Nessus' blood, though she meant for it to make him desire her as she was jealous of Heracles' concubine Iole.

The Oenotropae/Oenotrophae/Oinotrophoi were the three daughters of Anius/Anios, a son and priest of Apollo.Called Spermo (seed), Onio/Oeno (wine) and Elais (seed) they became the goddesses of grain, wine and oil, their grandmother Rhoeo was a daughter of Staphylus and Chrysothemis, Staphylus in turn was a son of Dionysus and Ariadne who was associated with grapes and wine. Thus the Oinotrophoi were the great, great granddaughters of Dionysus. They could turn water to wine, grass to wheat and berries to olives. They stocked the Greeks' ships for Troy, resulting in Agamemnon abducting them, they escaped only to be betrayed by their brother before Dionysus turned them into doves.

Dionysus married Ariadne after persuading Theseus to abandon her on the island Naxos, or simply rescuing her from there after Theseus abandoned her. With her he had twelve children- Oenopion, a king of Chios who blinded Orion for assaulting his daughter Merope; Staphylus, a general of Rhadamanthys; Thoas, a king of Lemos who was sent from it when Aphrodite cursed the women to have a bad odour leading to the men to consort with slaves, which drove the women to kill them. Thoas was the only male survivor. His daughter Hypsipyle became queen. Thoas then became king of Tauris, Artemis made Iphigeneia a priestess here; Peparethus; Phanus; Eurymedon; Euanthes; Latramys; Tauropolis; Ceramus; Maron; and Enyeus, a king of Skyros. Oenopion and Thoas may have been Theseus' sons.

Dionysus had other lovers as well, including Aphrodite. With her he is sometimes said to have had the Charites, though usually they are the daughters of Zeus and Eurynome; Hymen a god of marriage ceremonies, sometimes given as a son of Apollo and a Muse; and Priapus/Priapos a fertility god associated with fruits and livestock who had a huge erection, alternatively he may have been the son of Dionysus and Chione or Aphrodite and Hermes, and was cursed with ugliness and foul-mindedness by Hera because Paris judged Aphrodite more beautiful than she.

Sometimes he is given as the father of Phthonus, the personification of envy and jealousy, his mother being Nyx, but as it is he who is said to have drawn Hera's attention to Semele and given her the idea to trick her, it is more likely he is someone else's child, and occasionally Aphrodite is given as his mother.

With Althaea he had Deianeira, and with Circe he had Comus/Komos, the god of festivity and revels, who represented chaos and was also Dionysus' cupbearer. With the breeze goddess Aura he had twins, one which she ate and one which was saved by Artemis, Iacchus. Dionysus raped Aura when she proclaimed herself to have a better body than Artemis and claimed Artemis too womanly to be a virgin. After the rape she became a slayer of men before Zeus turned her into a breeze or a stream.

He raped the nymph Nicaea/Nikaia when Eros inspired him with love for her in punishment for her killing the shepherd Hymnus who loved her by shooting him through the heart. She was a follower of Artemis and was raped in her sleep. Telete, a daughter, was born as a result and after her birth Nicaea tried to hang herself.

With either Araethyrea or Chthonophyle he was the father of Philas. Chthonophyle is sometimes given as his wife. Philas/Philus was an Argonaut, Hyginus called him Phliasus and said he was a son of Ariadne and Dionysus. With Chthonophyle he had a son, Androdamas. Chthonophyle was a princess of Sicyon, who with Hermes had Polybus.

With Physcoa, a member of the Sixteen Women- women from 16 cities who were negotiators between Elis and Pisa- he had a son, Narcaeus, who became a conqueror. She is said to have been the first to acknowledge Dionysus as a god.

Pallene, a daughter of king Sithon, was wooed by many for her beauty and because his father promised her and his kingdom to the suitor who could defeat him in combat. In older age he had the suitors fight each other. Two came, Dryas and Cleitus, Pallene loved Cleitus and so her tutor bribed Dryas' charioteer to ensure his wheels came off, they did and he was killed. Sithon discovered the plot and was going to kill his daughter by Aphrodite intervened or a heavy shower caused him to change his mind and she married Cleitus. In another version of the story, Sithon coveted his daughter himself and killed the suitors for this reason. Dionysus offered to fight the maiden herself for her hand and seduced her in the process, he then killed Sithon and stayed with Pallene for a night.

Carya was a daughter of king Dion and Amphithea, for receiving Apollo hospitality, he gave Carya and her sisters the gift of prophecy, on the understanding that they should not betray gods or search after forbidden lore. Dionysus visited and fell in love with Carya, but her sisters, Lyco and Orphe, became aware of the affair and tried to prevent it, thus betraying Dionysus. He drove them mad and they were turned into rocks and Carya was turned into a walnut tree.

With Alexirrhoe he had a son, Carmanor who was killed by a boar. He loved the Indian nymph Alphesiboea but she spurned him until he turned into a tiger. With her he had a son, Medes.

Ovid says he seduced Erigone, the ill-fated daughter of Icarius, with grapes.

He loved the satyr Ampelos who died either riding a bull that threw him and gorged him, driven by Selene who he had insulted, or he died picking grapes on a tree. Dionysus turned him into the first vine or the constellation Vindemitor/Vindiatrix.

He was shown as a young, handsome god or a bearded man carrying the thyrsos/thyrsus, a pinecone headed staff. Sometimes he is naked or half-naked, other times cloaked. He is accompanied by a procession of Maenads, sileni and satyrs, sometimes they too are armed with thrysos. He has a chariot pulled by lions and/or tigers. His symbols are the thyrsos, fig, grapevine, ivy, leopard skin and winecup, and his animals are the bull, lion, tiger, leopard, and panther.

His Roman counterpart was Bacchus, a name the Greeks also used, and Liber. Liber was also known as Liber Pater (Free Father) a god of wine, fertility and freedom. His festival was associated with the freedom of speech and coming of age. He was originally a companion of Ceres and Libera (she became associated with Prosperina/Persephone/Kore), as part of the Aventine Triad. He was also associated with male procreation. His mother was called Stimula and the groves in which people were initiated to Bacchus' cult were considered sacred to her, and his followers were known as Bassarids/Bacchae/Bacchantes.

Dionysus was a strange god in that he was born of a mortal and should have been a demigod but thanks to his dual birth and birth from death he was able to cross over into godhood, even joining the Olympian pantheon as Hestia was said to have stepped down so that he could number in their twelve. The only other demigod who achieved godhood was Heracles who also had to die to achieve it.

Despite being seen nowadays as a fat, rowdy partygoer he was in large a cruel god, and not even his mortal relations were safe from his wrath. He cast madness almost everywhere he met, driving women to tear their own relations limb from limb and think their companions animals.

The Twelve Olympians

The chief hierarchy of the gods, they sometimes varied but were usually given to be- Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Demeter, Athena, Dionysus, Apollo, Artemis, Ares, Aphrodite, Hephaestus and Hermes. Rarely Dionysus was swapped with Hades but generally Hades was not considered a member due to dwelling in the Underworld rather than Olympus. Quintus Ennius, a Roman writer swapped Bacchus (Dionysus) with Vesta (Hestia) so as to have six males and six females. To explain this, Hestia/Vesta later gave up her position so that Dionysus/Bacchus could be a member without there being thirteen.

Zeus/Jupiter- the king of the gods, youngest of the six (Hades, Poseidon, Hera, Demeter, Hestia, and Zeus), he drew lots with his brothers when they overthrew the Titans and won the heavens. He is the god of the skies, thunderstorms and rain. His symbols are the lightning/thunderbolt, the eagle, the bull, the oak and the sceptre.
His first wife was Metis, the Titaness of Wisdom and mother of Athena, his second is Themis the Titaness of divine order who he has the Horae with, and his third is Eurynome the Titaness of pasture lands, whom he has the Charites with. Hesiod, in the Theogony then gives Zeus' sister Demeter the goddess of agriculture to be his fourth wife and with him parent to Persephone, Mnemosyne the Titaness of memories is given as his fifth wife and the mother of the Muses with him, Leto the Titaness of motherhood is his sixth wife and with him parent to the twins Artemis and Apollo, and Hera his sister and the goddess of marriage is his seventh and final wife, and with him mother to Ares, Eileithyia and Hebe.
He is the father of the heroes Heracles, Perseus, the kings and later three judges of the dead- Minos, Rhadamanthus and Aeacus, and Helen of Troy, amongst many others.

Hera/Juno- the goddess of marriage, wife to Zeus and queen of the gods and goddesses. She was said to have been fostered by Okeanos and his wife Tethys. Zeus seduced her in the form of a bird before marrying her. She is given to be the most beautiful of the goddesses, more beautiful than even Aphrodite. Gaia gave her the Garden of the Hesperides as a wedding gift, in it golden apples grow and are tended by the Hesperides and the many headed dragon Ladon.
She is said to have given birth to Hephaestus/Vulcan without a father in response to Zeus birthing Athena/Minerva without a mother. When Hephaestus was born either Hera cast him down from Olympus because he was ugly or Zeus threw him down because he helped Hera when she was in chains, as a result Hephaestus was lamed.
With Poseidon and Athena she sought to overthrow Zeus, they chained him down but Thetis rescued him. As a result Hera was chained between the sky and the abyss.
As a goddess of marriage she did not have affairs despite her husband having many.
Her symbols are the peacock, the cow, the milkway, the pomegranate, the lily, the sceptre and the crown.

Poseidon/Neptune- the god of the seas, rivers, earthquakes and horses. He is depicted as bearded and carrying a trident. He is a tempermental god and once conspired with Athena and Hera to overthrow Zeus but they were thwarted thanks to Thetis. He is given as the father of many giants and cyclopes.
He competed with Athena over the rights to the city Attica, she offered the people an olive tree whilst he offered a salty spring, they picked Athena's gift and the city was renamed Athens. Some say Poseidon actually created the horse as a gift.
In another version of the creation myth he created the horse to impress Demeter, it was through trial and error and many other creatures such as the zebra were created as a result before he finally created the horse.
With Demeter, in horse form, they sired Arion/Areion, a talking horse. He is also the father of the hero Theseus with the princess Aethra, and Pegasus the winged horse and Chrysaor a man or winged boar, with Medusa. Medusa was cursed by Athena for defiling her temple by being raped by Poseidon in it.
His wife was the Nereid (sea nymph) Amphitrite, daughter of the sea Titan Nereus, known as the Old Man of the Sea, and his wife Doris, a sea nymph.
His symbols are the trident, the horse and the dolphin.

Demeter/Ceres- the goddess of agriculture, the harvest and to an extent marriage. Demeter and her daughter Persephone are infamous for being key figures in the Eleusinian Mysteries. She and her daughter were, amongst other goddesses, also associated with the Maiden, Mother and Crone mythos.
With Zeus she had Persephone and with Poseidon she had the talking steed Areion after she took the form of a mare to escape her brother and he raped her in the form of a stallion, with him she also had Despoine, a minor goddess. With the mortal lord Karmanor she had a son, Eubouleos and a daughter, Khrysothemis who were associated with the ploughed earth and harvest respectively. With the mortal prince Iasion, who was killed by a jealous Zeus, she had the twin boys, Ploutos and Philomelos.
Persephone was her most beloved child and when she was taken by Hades, Demeter wandered the earth in despair looking for her. As a result of her depression the crops failed and famine spread across the world and the weather turned bad. Seeing mankind's suffering, Zeus commanded Hades to return Persephone but she had eaten in the Underworld and was forever tied to it, so Demeter sees her for half of the year, and Hades sees her for the other half, alternatively, Demeter has her for nine months whilst Hades gets three. This resulted in the belief that in Spring and Summer the weather was good because Persephone and Demeter were united, in Autumn it turned bad as their approach drew near or had already happened and in Winter Demeter was in mourning for her daughter.
She is, like Poseidon, associated with the horse. The cornucopia, a horn overflowing with wheat, flowers etc, is usually her symbol as well as an ear of wheat.

Athena/Minerva- the goddess of war, wisdom, strategy, and weaving. She was also given the title of Pallas Athena/Athene after slaying the giant Pallas or, in alternate stories, accidentally killing her friend Pallas. She is a virgin goddess and the daughter of Zeus and Metis.
When Zeus was told that Metis would birth a child more powerful than the father he swallowed her to prevent such a fate but she was already pregnant. After time he suffered from a severe headache and one of the gods was forced to open it with an axe. Out of the wound Athena sprang fully grown and armoured.
Though she had no children she fostered Erichthonius who was created when Hephaestus tried to rape her and his seamen hit Gaia and impregnated her. Erichthonius was given in a box to three sisters to guard but they got curious and opened the box and saw a snake or an infant with a snake or a half-man, half-snake, and two of them went mad and killed themselves. Erichthonius grew up to be a king of Athens.
In one story she turned a crow from white to black when it reported that the sisters had opened the box.
She is said to have turned Medusa into a gorgon after her temple was soiled by Poseidon raping Medusa there.
She and Poseidon competed over Athens for the right to have the city named after them, Poseidon offered the people a salty spring and Athena offered an olive tree, the people picked her gift and Athens was named.
She was a friend to heroes giving advice to Odysseus, Heracles and Perseus, giving Perseus the world's first bridle to tame Pegasus with.
At the wedding of Thetis and Peleus an uninvited Eris threw a gold apple labelled 'to the fairest one', this started a competition between the goddesses for it. Prince Paris was asked to pick between Athena, Aphrodite and Hera. Athena offered him wisdom and glory in and for all battles, Aphrodite offered him the most beautiful woman in the world, Helen, and Hera offered him Europe and Asia. Paris picked Aphrodite and as a result Athena and Hera aided the Greeks against the Trojans in the Trojan War.
Athena's association with weaving and the loom is prominent in the tale of Arachne, a weaver who boasted that she was better at it than Athena. Athena came to her disguised as an old woman to warn her but Arachne would not heed and requested a competition. Arachne weaved the gods committing infedelity whilst Athena depicted her success in winning Athens from Poseidon. Arachne's work was perfect but Athena was angered by her choice of topic and jealous so she destroyed it, Arachne then hung herself in despair but Athena turned her into a spider out of pity.
She is shown with her aegis, her shield that has Medusa's head on it, an owl, and a maned helmet. The snake is also associated with her.

Dionysus/Bacchus- the god of wine, drinking, partying, festivals. There are two versions of his birth both of which involve Zeus sewing him in his thigh. The first gives his mother as the mortal Semele who was killed when she asked Zeus to appear in his true form after prompting from a disguised Hera. Zeus rescued the fetus and sewed it into his thigh. The second version gives his mother as Persephone, the baby Dionysus is killed by Titans sent by a jealous Hera, they left his heart though, which Zeus sewed into his thigh, or gave to Semele to eat (probably an attempt to unite the two stories) and recreated him from.
As a baby he was fostered by his aunt Ino and her husband Athamas after being given to them by Hermes, Rhea or Persephone. Ino was the stepmother of Phrixus and Helle, who were infamous for riding the golden ram Chrysomallus, whose fleece was the Golden Fleece. Ino was said to have been a cruel stepmother who blamed them for a famine and bribed an oracle to support her and ask for their sacrifice.
Hera struck either Ino or Athamas with madness leading to the murder of their son Melicertes and their own deaths. Zeus however intervened to turn Ino into the white goddess Leucothea, a sea deity, and her son Melicertes into the god Palaemon. Athamas also killed their son Learchus in his madness thinking he was a ram/lion/deer hunting him down.
Ino's sisters Autonoe and Agave were also cursed with madness and killed their own relations. It is believed that all this madness came from Dionysus who was famous for inflicting people with insanity, particularly women. In fact these mad women even had a title- Maenads or Bacchae. They included the women who had nursed and raised him, which included the nymphs of Nysa who either took him after Ino's death or raised him instead of Ino depending on the source.
His companion and tutor was Silenus, a man originally depicted with a horse's ears and tail and sometimes legs, a little like an equesterian satyr/faun. He was always drunk and said to be wise, when he wandered and got lost once he was found by servants of King Midas. Midas treated him well and as a result Dionysus rewarded him with what he wanted and he picked the golden touch. After he found he could not eat nor drink and his daughter became a golden statue he asked for the gift to be revoked and Dionysus granted the request.
Dionysus also became the husband of Ariadne after finding her on the island Theseus abandoned her on, some stories say Dionysus demanded Theseus do this whilst others say he simply found her after the deed had been done. He is listed to have had several lovers and children.
Dionysus' symbols were the thyrsus, his staff which had a pinecone on the top, the vine and the wine goblet.

Apollo- Also known as Phoebus (radiant) Apollo was the twin of Artemis and a son of Leto and Zeus. He was a god of light, prophecy, archery, music, poetry and healing and later a god of the sun, displacing Helios as his Artemis displaced Selene as goddess of the moon.
He was associated with the Phythia/Oracle of Delphi and said to have given her, her prophecies. The Phythia was named after Python, a dragon of Delphi that chased the pregnant Leto and was slain by Apollo in revenge.
His son Asclepius was a healer god who angered Zeus by taking his gifts too far by resurrecting the dead, chiefly Hippolytus. Zeus then struck him down with lightning, in revenge Apollo killed the Cyclopes who had made the lightning bolt. Zeus then punished Apollo by having him labour as a shepherd for King Admetus, who treated him well.
He had many lovers and children but was equally rebuked by several including the nymph Daphne whose father rescued her from rape by turning her into a laurel tree, and the infamous princess of Troy Cassandra who he cursed to speak prophecies that no one would believe.
It is said that he turned crows from white to black after one told him that his lover Coronis, Asclepius' mother, had taken another lover. Apollo dismissed it as lies and punished the crow, when he found out it was true he made the bird sacred.
Hermes as an infant stole Apollo's cattle and with one's intestines and a tortoise shell he invented the lyre. Apollo tracked down the cattle and hearing the music of the lyre he exchanged the cattle for it.
He cursed Midas with the ears of an ass when he said Pan's music was better than Apollo's. The satyr Marsyas challenged Apollo to a music contest after finding Athena's discarded aulos (like a flute). They were equal until Apollo challenged Marsyas to play his instrument upside down or to sing at the same time, he could not do it and a result Apollo flayed him alive.
His symbols were the bow and arrows, the lyre, the laurel wreath and the crow.

Artemis/Diana- Daughter of Leto and Zeus, twin to Apollo and a goddess of the hunt, wildlife and childbirth and later the moon. She was a virgin hunter who expected her companions to keep their virgnity. She was known for cursing those companions that lost their virginity whether it was willingly or not and for cursing people who spied her bathing.
When Actaeon saw her bathing she turned him into a stag and his own dogs killed him. In some myths she had Adonis killed by a wild boar in an act of revenge against Aphrodite for causing Hippolytus' death.
The giant Orion hunted with her and was either killed by a giant scorpion sent by Gaia after he boasted that he could kill every living thing or by Artemis either in defence after he touched her or tried to seduce a follower or because Apollo, wary of his sister's chastity, tricked her into doing it.
She tricked the giants Otos and Ephialtes into killing each other when they threatened to kidnap her by jumping between them in the form of a doe.
She punished her nymph Callisto after she was impregnated by Zeus by turning her into a bear and with her brother she killed the children of Queen Niobe after Niobe boasted she was superior to Leto. She also punished King Agamemnon after he killed a sacred stag by calming the winds so his fleet could not sail to Troy. He sacrificed his daughter Iphigenia to her but Artemis took her at the last moment and left a deer in her place.
All animals were sacred to her but deer and dogs were usually associated with her like her brother the bow and arrows were also her symbols.

Ares/Mars- the god of the violent and cruel aspect of war, a son of Hera and Zeus. Few of the gods liked him, he was a rival to Athena and his lover was Aphrodite. Deimos (terror/dread), Phobos (fear), and Adrestia (war goddess) were his children by Aphrodite and his companions. His sisters Enyo, a war goddess, and Eris, strife/discord, were also his companions. Ironically he is also sometimes given as the father of Eros, love, and Harmonia, harmony, and Anteros, requited love.
He was tried and acquitted for the murder of Halirrhothius, a son of Poseidon who raped Ares' daughter Alcippe.
Hephaestus caught Ares and Aphrodite in a net making love after Helios told him of their affair. He then invited the other gods to come and mock them.
The giants Otus and Ephialtes put him in a bronze urn so he could not stop their takeover of Olympus. He was a prisoner for thirteen months, saved when the giants' stepmother Eriboea told Hermes and he rescued him.
Some say he and not Artemis killed Adonis because he was jealous of Aphrodite loving him.
His symbols were the helmet, spear, shield, armour, vultures and dogs.

Aphrodite/Venus- A daughter of either Ouranos, forming when his genitals hit the ocean, which would make her sister to the Erinyes who formed from his blood, or of Zeus and Dione. She is the goddess of love and beauty and was married to Hephaestus by Zeus so that the gods would not fight over her. One version of the tale is that she was Hephaestus' reward for freeing Hera from the throne he had stuck her to. She was infamously unfaithful to Hephaestus, taking several lovers including Ares.
Eros fell in love with Psyche when Aphrodite asked him to make Psyche fall in love with the ugliest man because she was jealous of her beauty. Eros made love to her in the dark never revealing his form to her, her jealous sisters suggested he must be a monster so Psyche shone a lamp in his face while he was sleeping and recognised him for a god, he fled in anger. She went to Aphrodite for advice to win him back and Aphrodite set her several tasks- to seperate grains in a time limit, ants helped her, to get wool from violent golden sheep, a river god advised her to pluck it from the bushes when they went to rest and to get a box of beauty from Persephone. She opened the box after getting it and fell asleep, Eros forgave her and awoke her and then married her.
She cursed Myrrha with lust for her own father Cinyras whom she seduces as a disguised prostitute. When he discovered the truth he chased her and the gods turned her into a Myrrh treem Cinyras then committed suicide. From this Adonis was born. Aphrodite gave him to Persephone to raise, when he grew up handsome Aphrodite wanted him back but Persephone refused. They fought over it and Zeus intervened, Adonis was to spend a third of the year with Aphrodite, a third with Persephone and a third with whoever he wanted, he chose Aphrodite. He was killed by either a boar sent by Artemis or Ares, or Ares disguised as a boar.
Eris threw a golden apple addressed 'to the fairest' at Thetis and Peleus' wedding. Aphrodite, Athena and Hera all fought over it until Zeus asked Prince Paris to choose who deserved it. Aphrodite offered him the most beautiful woman in the world Helen so he picked her.
She brought the statue Galatea to life for her creator Pygmalion who had fallen in love with her image.
When Hippolytus chose to worship Artemis over Aphrodite she made his stepmother Phaedra fall in love with him. He rejected her and she claimed to his father Theseus that he had raped her, after making Hippolytus promise not to speak of her love. Theseus cursed him and Poseidon caused a bull from the sea to panic his horses causing his death. Artemis told Theseus the truth and vowed revenge on Aphrodite.
Despite being a goddess of love she was vain, petty, jealous and vengeful.
Her symbols were the dolphin, dove, sparrow, swan, girdle, mirror and the seashell.

Hephaestus/Vulcan- the lame son of Hera, god of the forge, fires, technology, metal, and blacksmiths. He was born by Hera who was angry at Zeus birthing Athena, but when he was born she threw him away in disgust resulting in his lameness. In another version it was Zeus who threw him down for trying to rescue Hera.
He crafted the gods' armour and weapons and weapons and armour for some heroes. He created automatons to help him and was helped by cyclopes.
He avenged himself against Hera by creating for her a throne from which she could not get up, he freed her only after Dionysus got him drunk. Aphrodite was given to him as a wife by Zeus either as a reward for freeing Hera or to stop the other gods from fighting over her beauty.
He tried to rape Athena but she escaped him and his semen hit Gaia impregnating her with Erichthonius. Despite his ugly looks he did have several lovers and children.
He made the Necklace of Harmonia, a cursed necklace given to Harmonia, a daughter of Ares and Aphrodite and wife to Cadmus. He probably cursed her as revenge against Ares and Aphrodite.
He created the first woman Pandora on Zeus' orders as punishment for mankind, crafting her from the earth.

Hermes/Mercury- the messenger god a son of Zeus and the Pleiade Maia. He is the god of thieves, travellers, trade, athletic contests and wit, a trickster and a guide to the dead.
As a baby he stole the cattle of Apollo and with their entrails and a tortoise shell he invented the lyre, which Apollo took in exchange for the cattle. A man, Battos, saw the theft and was bribed by Hermes to keep silent. Hermes returned to him in disguise and he revealed the theft however and was turned to stone as punishment.
He killed the hundred eyed Argus at Zeus' behest who was guarding Io in her heifer form and he assisted the heroes Perseus and Odysseus, giving Perseus his winged sandals and Odysseus a herb to counter Circe's poisons.
He punished Agraulos by turning her to stone when she refused to let him have access to her sister Herse whom he had fallen for.
Hermes and Zeus disguised themselves as peasants to test the generosity of man, they were denied shelter by all except for Baucis and Philemon, a poor but kind couple. They flooded the town and turned Baucis and Philemon's home into a temple, which they guarded.
His symbols were his winged sandals (Talaria), his winged herald's staff (caduceus), the tortoise, hawk and ram.