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Greek Gods: Deities
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When people think about Greek religion or mythology, they naturally think about the myriad of Greek gods and goddess - but it is important to remember that none of these divinities can be entirely understood alone. Each is defined in relation to the others and separating one from the rest is like trying to separate a single strand of thread from a blanket. The Greek gods, unlike the gods and goddesses of many other cultures, are very similar to human beings. They fight, they lie, they make war, had favorite people or cities, and they experienced the entire gamut of human emotions. To be quite frank, the Greek deities were not especially moral beings - a far cry from the moral perfection ascribed to the Christian god. The Greeks... did not think in such terms.
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As contact with the Greeks increased, the old Roman gods became associated with Greek gods. Therefore Jupiter was perceived to be the same deity as Zeus. Mars was associated with Ares and Neptune with Poseidon. The Roman gods ... assumed the attributes and myth of these Greek gods.
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Most of the Greek deities were adopted by the Romans, although in many cases there was a change of name. In the list below, information is given under the Greek name; the name in parentheses is the Roman equivalent. However, all Latin names are listed with cross-references to the Greek ones. In addition, there are several deities that are exclusively Roman. Bold words within entries indicate cross references.
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The sea - at once barren and prosperity-bringing, loomed large and ambivalently in the Greek mind. Aside from the ebb and flow of piracy, sea-travel was fraught with superhuman hazard and uncertainty until the Industrial Revolution. It is impossible to assess the spiritual crisis in Aegean culture's relations with the sea's dangers and the capacity of its divinities that must have been engendered by the tsunamis that accompanied the volcanic explosion and collapse of Thera, ca. 1650 รข€“ 1600 BCE. Can the sense of the sea and its deities have survived the cataclysm unchanged? It seems unlikely. The sea could therefore stand as a powerful symbol of the unknown and otherworldly.
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Below are several family trees showing the pantheon of the Greek gods. The first, very large genealogy displayed the Greek deities based on Hesiod, Homer and many other writers, while the other trees were based on the more obscure Orphic myth.
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This motif is apparent in the paradoxical festivals of the shadowy sea-deity Leucothea ("white goddess"), celebrated in many cities throughout the Greek world. Identifying her with the drowned heroine Ino, worshippers would offer sacrifice while engaged in frenzied mourning. The philosopher Xenophanes once remarked that if Leucothea were a goddess, one should not lament her; if she were mortal, one should not sacrifice to her.
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