Iapetus was the father of Prometheus, Epimetheus, Menoetius, and Atlas, by Clymene.
Coeus is the Titan of Intelligence.
Phoebe is the Titan of the Moon.
Prometheus was the son of Iapetus and the wisest of all Titans. His name means ‘forethought’ and he was able to foretell the future. When Zeus revolted against Cronus, Prometheus deserted the other Titans and fought on Zeus’ side. By some accounts he and his brother Epimetheus were instructed by Zeus to create man. In all accounts, Prometheus is known as the protector and benefactor of man. He gave mankind a number of gifts including fire. He also tricked Zeus into allowing man to keep the best part of the animals identified for sacrifice to the gods while giving the gods the worst parts. Zeus punished Prometheus by having him chained to a rock with an eagle tearing at his liver. He was to be left there for all eternity, or until he agreed to disclose to Zeus which of Zeus' children would try to replace him. He was rescued by Heracles without ever giving in to Zeus.
Epimetheus was a stupid Titan, whose name means ‘afterthought’. He was the son of Iapetus and brother of Prometheus. In some accounts he is delegated by Zeus to create mankind along with his brother. He also accepted the gift of Pandora from Zeus, which lead to the introduction of evil into the world.
Atlas was also the son of Iapetus. But unlike his brothers Prometheus and Epimetheus, Atlas fought on the side of the Titans supporting Cronus against Zeus. Due to Cronus' advanced age, Atlas lead the Titan's in battle. And so he was singled out by Zeus for special punishment and made to hold up the world on his back.
Phoebe is the goddess of the Moon and the daughter of Uranus and Gaia. She married her brother Coeus and with him she became the mother of Leto and Asteria. It is said that she owned the oracle of Delphi before Apollo took it over.
Metis was the goddess of the forth day and the planet Mercury. She presided over all wisdom and knowledge. She was seduced by Zeus and became pregnant with Athena. He killed or swallowed her in fear that his heir would be more powerful than him.
Dione means ‘divine queen’. According to Homer in the Iliad, she is the mother of Aphrodite by Zeus.
There were a host of other gods and semi-gods but for the purpose of keeping this to the point, which is very difficult at this stage, let's jump to the next generation of Greek gods who ruled the world.
The Olympians – Second group of Greek gods.
The Olympians are a pantheon of 12 gods who ruled the world after they defeated the Titans. All the Olympians are related in some way. They are named after their dwelling place, Mount Olympus.
Zeus is the supreme ruler of the gods who overthrew his Father Cronus. He had to draw lots with his brothers Poseidon and Hades to determine his leadership. Zeus won the draw and hence became the supreme ruler. This story is identical to that of Enlil and Enki of the Anunnaki gods, who also had to draw lots when they were dividing the Earth. Zeus is lord of the sky, and Earth. Just like Enlil, he has fearsome weapons but his favourite weapon is the thunderbolt which he uses against those who displease him. He is married to Hera, but is famous for his many affairs. He is also known to punish those who lie or break oaths.
Poseidon is the brother of Zeus. After the overthrow of their father Cronus, he drew lots with Zeus and Hades for a share of the world. He became lord of the sea and therefore he was widely worshipped by seamen. He married Amphitrite, a granddaughter of the Titan Oceanus, but he desired Demeter. She asked him to make the most beautiful animal that the world had ever seen to distract him. So to impress her Poseidon created the first horse. In some accounts his first attempts were unsuccessful and he created a variety of other animals in the process. Very similar to the story of Enki and Ningishzidda in the Sumerian tales. By the time he created the horse, his passion for Demeter had waned. His weapon is the trident, which can shake the Earth and shatter any object. He was second in command to Zeus amongst the gods. He had a difficult, quarrelsome personality. He was greedy. He had a series of disputes with other gods when he tried to take over their cities. This is like a blend of Enki and Marduk of Sumerian and Babylonian stories.
Hades is the other brother of Zeus who partook in the drawing of lots after the overthrow of their father Cronus. He had the worst draw and was given the underworld, to rule over the dead. He is a greedy god who is constantly concerned with increasing the subjects of his domain. He is also the god of wealth, overseeing the precious metals mined from the Earth. He is exceedingly disinclined to allow any of his subjects to leave. He has a helmet that makes him invisible. He rarely leaves the underworld. He is unpitying and terrible, but not capricious. His wife is Persephone whom Hades abducted. He is the god of the dead but death itself is another god, Thanatos. The Erinyes are always welcomed guests in the underworld.
Erinyes – But who were the mysterious Erinyes? The one account says that the Erinyes (Roman – Furies) were birthed out of anger from the blood of Cronus, as it landed on Earth. They were three sisters Tisiphone, Megaera and Alecto. They were the punishers of sinners, also called ‘those who walk in darkness’, persecutors of humans who broke natural laws. They would hiss like vipers and they would descend like a storm, sometimes overcoming their victims with deadly smoke. They were often depicted with dog-like faces and were fierce. When not stalking victims on Earth the Furies were thought to dwell in the Tartarus mountains where they applied their tortures to the damned souls. They were also referred to as the Eumenides – the Kindly Ones, the Potniae – the Awful Ones, the Maniae – the Madnesses, and the Praxidikae – the Vengeful Ones. Their activities very closely resemble the ‘bloodless and lifeless’ robot-like clones created by Enki to avenge the death of his niece Inanna. “From clay of the Abzu, Enki two emissaries fashioned, being without blood by death rays unharmed.” They were created to track down and destroy the guilty ones. They were fierce, indestructible and relentless, closely resembling what we would call ‘terminators’ today. Were these ‘Anunnaki emissaries’ the original Erinyes and Furies? “Not even the sun will transgress his orbit but the Erinyes, the ministers of justice, overtake him.” Or were they biblical angels, interfering and vengeful, delivering god’s message and retribution?
Hestia is Zeus' sister, the virgin goddess. She does not have a distinct personality and plays no part in myths. She is the ‘Goddess of the Hearth’, the symbol of the house around which a new-born child is carried before it is received into the family. Each city had a public hearth dedicated and sacred to Hestia, where the fire was never allowed to go out.
Hera is Zeus' wife and sister. She was raised by the Titan gods Oceanus and Tethys. She is the protector of marriage and married women. Hera's marriage began under difficult circumstances and continued in strife with Zeus. At first Zeus made advances towards her unsuccessfully. To trick her, he changed himself into a dishevelled cuckoo. Hera felt sorry for the bird and held it to her breast to warm it. Zeus resumed his normal form and took advantage of her and raped her. The young Hera married him to cover her shame. At one point when he was overbearing to the other gods, Hera convinced them to stage a revolt. Hera drugged him while the gods bound the sleeping Zeus to a couch with many knots. This done, they began to quarrel over the next step. Briareus slipped in and was able to quickly untie the many knots. Zeus sprang from the couch and grabbed his thunderbolt and hung Hera from the sky with gold chains. She wept in pain all night but no one dared to interfere. Her weeping kept Zeus up, so the next morning he agreed to release her if she swore never to rebel again. While she never again rebelled, she often questioned Zeus' plans and she was often able to outwit him. Most stories concerning Hera have to do with her jealous revenge for Zeus' infidelities. Her sacred animals are the cow and the peacock.
Ares is the god of war and son of Zeus and Hera. He was disliked by both parents. While he was considered murderous and bloodthirsty, he was also a coward. Although he was immortal, he was very sensitive to pain and went running to his father Zeus, whenever he got wounded. He is identified wi
th Mars in Roman mythology. When Halirrhotius raped Alcippe, Ares' daughter by Aglaulus, Ares murdered him, for which he was tried in a court. Some say that this was the first murder trial in history, but he was acquitted. His companions included his sister Eris, as well as his sons Phobos and Deimos, and Enyo. Otus and Ephialtes were two giants who put Ares in an urn. To rescue Ares, Hermes changed himself into a deer and caused the giants to throw their spears at each other.
One night, while seducing Aphrodite, Ares put a youth named Alectryon by his door to guard them. The youth fell asleep and Helios the sun, walked in on the couple. Ares turned Alectryon into a rooster, a bird that never forgets to announce the arrival of the sun in the morning. During the Trojan War, Ares was seen fighting on the Trojans' side. Hera, Ares' mother, asked Zeus for permission to drive Ares away from the battlefield. Hera encouraged Diomedes to attack Ares, after which he threw his spear at the god. But it was Athena who drove the spear into Ares' body. He bellowed in pain and fled to Mt. Olympus, forcing the Trojans to fall back. Ares was only rarely the recipient of cult worship. He was venerated most often in conjunction with other gods. For example, he shared a temple with Aphrodite at Thebes.
Athena is the daughter of Zeus. She came forth from his forehead, full-grown and dressed in armour. And so she has no mother. She is a virgin goddess, but she is fierce and brave in battle. She only fights to protect the state and home from outside enemies. Athena is the goddess of the city, handicrafts and agriculture. She invented the bridle, which permitted man to tame horses; the trumpet, the flute; the pot; the rake; the plough; the yoke; the ship; and even the chariot. She is the embodiment of wisdom, reason, and purity. She was Zeus' favourite child and was allowed to use his fearsome weapons including his thunderbolt.
Apollo is the son of Zeus and Leto and a twin brother to his sister Artemis. He is the god of music, often depicted playing a golden lyre. He is also the archer, shooting far with a silver bow; the god of healing who taught man medicine; the god of light, and even the god of truth, who can speak no lie. One of Apollo's more important daily tasks is to harness his chariot with four horses and drive the Sun across the sky. He is famous for his oracle at Delphi. People travelled to it from all over the Greek world to consult the oracle on their future.
Aphrodite is the goddess of love, desire and beauty, the wife of Hephaestus. In addition to her natural gifts she has a magical girdle that compels anyone she wishes to desire her. In truth, she is a seductress. There are two accounts of her birth. One says she is the daughter of Zeus and Dione. The other story is derived from when Cronus castrated Uranus and tossed his severed genitals into the sea, Aphrodite arose from the sea foam on a giant scallop and walked to shore in Cyprus.
Hermes is the son of Zeus and Maia, and the messenger of the gods. He is the fastest of the gods and known to wear winged sandals, a winged hat, and he carries a magic wand. He is the god of thieves and god of commerce, and also the guide for the dead who journey to the underworld. He invented the lyre, the pipes, the musical scale, astronomy, weights and measures, boxing, gymnastics, and even how to care for olive trees.
Artemis is the daughter of Zeus and Leto, and the twin sister of her bother Apollo. She is a virgin goddess, and the goddess of chastity. And yet she is the lady of the wild things and the ‘huntsman’ of the gods. She is the protector of the young and just like Apollo she hunts with silver arrows. She became associated with the moon and also presides over childbirth, which may seem odd for a virgin. It is said that it was she who caused Leto to have no pain at her own birth. All wild animals are sacred to her, especially the deer.
Hephaestus is the son of Zeus and Hera. It is also said that Hera alone produced him and that he has no father. He is the only god to be physically ugly and also lame. The stories of how he became lame vary. Some say that Hera, upset by having an ugly child, flung him from Mount Olympus into the sea, breaking his legs. Others say that he took Hera's side in an argument with Zeus and Zeus flung him off Mount Olympus. He is the patron god of both smiths and weavers. He is kind and peace-loving and yet Hephaestus is the god of fire and the forge, using a volcano as his forge. He is the smith and armourer of the gods. His wife is Aphrodite but sometimes his wife is identified as Aglaia.
Roman gods.
The Roman gods are as popular today as they were 2,000 years ago. Their names have been used in countless movies, fictional stories, science fiction tales, and a multitude of global brands have borrowed their names from Roman gods. But because they were mostly derivatives of the earlier Greek gods, we will introduce them briefly, to show their obvious Greek heritage. There were many dozens of gods worshipped by the Romans, but they specifically honoured a pantheon of 12 gods called Dii Consentes. They were Iuppiter, Iuno, Minerva, Vesta, Ceres, Diana, Venus, Mars, Mercurius, Neptunus, Volcanus, and Apollo. These are the gods listed by the Poet Ennius around the 3rd Century BC. These six male and six female gods were probably worshipped at the Lectisternium of 217 BC. This was a banquet of the gods, where the statues of the gods were raised on cushions and offered meals. This is a clear hangover from the ancient Greek and even the earlier Sumerian tradition. Exceptthe food offered to the ancient Sumerian and possibly Greek gods was done in the gods' own temples with a very strict set of rules. Those old temples were actually the resting places of the Anunnaki gods, while travelling from place to place. The number 12 clearly runs throughout all these ancient mythologies, with only a few cultures that may differ from that – like the African mythologies. But we have already established that the African myths are much older in their style and approach, pointing to a very early relationship between the gods and Humankind. Atime before worshipping was enforced on the human slaves, even long before the Great Flood. What is also evident is that the Roman gods arose from a void with no mythological tradition associated with them. It is as if the Romans simply inherited the Greek pantheon of 12 Olympians and changed their names. It is said that Julius Caesar had the ‘Alexander’ disease, trying everything in his power to match the conqueror’s accomplishments. It is clear that the gods infected the rest of the Romans with their own brand of mania. But the pantheon was introduced in stages to the Romans. They were led by the first three, which formed the Capitoline Triad. These became the three cornerstones of Roman religion, whose rites were conducted in the Capitoleum Vetus on the Capitoline Hill. This tradition was probably the driving force behind the introduction of the ‘Holy Trinity’, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, which was introduced into the Roman Catholic faith by the first ever ‘global’ council of Church leaders, during the ‘Council of Nicaea’ in 325 AD. A wonderful example of how even in the Catholic faith, the line between history and myth is extremely fragile. It is evident that Roman mythology greatly influenced the thinking of the leaders of the early Catholic Church. But there were many other gods who played a major role in Roman culture and tradition. Just like they did in all the earlier civilisations. It was not only the gods, but the cults that surrounded them, that best characterise the origin of the Roman Religion. The family cult of the Dii Familiaris!
We find the following gods, spirits and deities in this cult:
The Lar Familiaris – the guardian spirit or Genius of the family;
The Lares Loci – the guardian spirits of the place where the house is built and the Genius of the paterfamilias or House-Father;
The Dii Penates – patron gods of the storeroom;
The Dii Manes – the spirits of the deceased.
There was a multitude of other domestic deities who were worshipped daily by the members of the family. The household cult was so important that it even served as the model for several practices of the state cult. Not surprising, since we have learnt from the Sumerians how the lesser gods looked after the smaller towns and villages in the outlying areas, while the more senior gods would have the privilege of looting the more attractive spoils of the larger, wealthier cities. So the well-entrenched customs of the smaller towns became attractive to the gods of
the larger cities, where their control over the humans may not always have been as smooth as expected. This resulted in the state cult using the models of the peasant family cults as an example for expansion. For example, even during the Empire, the Imperial cult came to be based on the household cult, which was then interpreted as the cult of the ‘Genius of the Emperor’ or the ‘paterfamilias’– ‘House-Father’ of the family of all the Romans.
Other important Roman gods were Ianus, Saturnus, Quirinus, Volturnus, Pales, Furrina, Flora, Carmenta, Pomona, Portunus, Fontanus. But there was also a group of mysterious deities consisting of native guardian deities; river gods or deified heroes from the Latium region, which are collectively called Dii Indigites. A multitude of other deities were also traditionally worshipped, which included other guardian deities of native Latin origin, like Roma, Tiberinus, Bellus, Bellona, Liber, Libera, abstract deities such as Fortuna (Fate), Concordia (Concord), Pax (Peace), Iustitia (Justice), and more. It must also be added that the very mysterious group of people called the Sabines, who lived north east of Rome, played a major part in the development of Roman culture. Contributing many gods, like Pluto, to the heavenly family, they influenced Roman mythology and religious practice in many ways. They seem to resemble the mysterious Igigi, as mentioned in Sumerian tablets, who also lived in isolated communities, yet contributed greatly to the Sumerian culture, mainly by marrying mortal women, creating a whole new breed of semi-gods. Like the Igigi, and their descendants the Aryans, these gods from the Sabines symbolised the innovative and creative power on Earth, which provided humans with technology and the means for subsistence.
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