Furies

Furies

     The Furies where three sisters named Tisiphone(The avenger of murder), Megaera(The Grudging), and Alecto(The constant anger). The Furies were female spirits of justice and vengeance. They were also called the Erinyes which means the "Angry Ones". The Furies knew no bounds to their punishments, for they would keep pursuing their victims, often to suicide and even after death until they showed remorse. Even though they were portrayed as evil they weren't always so. They represented justice and were seen as defenders of  moral and legal order. They only punished people who had done wrong so people who were innocent and good had nothing to fear from them.  Their parents were Gaia, the goddess of the Earth, known as the great mother of all and Uranus, the God known as the Father of the Sky. The Furies were created by drops of blood that fells from Uranus's wound, when his son Chronus castrated him to take vengance for the loss of his siblings which fell to the Earth which was Gaia. The first drop of blood created Aphrodite which is why she is sometimes referred to as the oldest of the sisters. They were servants for the God Hades and Persephone in the underworld which they supervised the toture of criminals in the Dungeon of the Damned. Their description was between Medusa (who had snake hair) and a woman, sometimes they were known to look like ghosts. Another description was they had burning breath and poisonous blood that dripped form their eyes.

Bacchus

Bacchus

       Bacchus was the God of grape harvest and ecstasy. He invented wine and spread the art of growing grapes. His personality portrayed the two different sides that wine could cause, he'd quickly change from bringing joy and laughter to others, to brutal rage. His appearance changed over the years from a mature, bearded,  robbed man into beardless, half naked or naked androgynous youth. a Zeus had many lovers, including Bacchus's mother the Thebian princess Semele. Zeus came to the princess at night and Semele, pleased to be a lover to a god accepted without knowing which god he really was. Hera, Zeus's wife heard of the news and was outraged so she tricked the princess and told her lover who he really was. When Zeus came to her the next night she made him promise to grant her one wish. Zeus madly in love with her agreed, but when she asked him her demand he was unhappy because he knew the results of what she had asked of him, but because he'd promised he had no choice. When he appeared his true form to Semele she burned to crisps for a mortal couldn't look at a god without dying. Zeus managed to save Bacchus by stitching him into his thigh until he was ready to be born, bestowing immortality upon him from being born from Zeus. Hera still jealous arranged for the Titans; known as the elder gods, to kill him. They succeeded and tore him apart but Rhea Zeus's mother brought him back to life which afterwards Zeus arranged for Bacchus's protection and gave him to the mountains nymphs to be raised. When he grew older, even though he never knew Semele, he was concerned for her so he went to the underworld and successfully brought her to Mount Olympus.

Boreas

Boreas

    Boreas was the Greek god of the north wind, him and his four brothers were the only gods who had wings. His brothers were the east, south and west winds. He is shown as having a violent temper and being very strong, which is why he was considered the King of all winds. He was also the god of the winter, and bringer of cold winter airs. He would go down the mountains of Thrake, and chill the air with his breath. Boreas was well known for kidnapping Oreithyia, the daughter of the King and Queen of Athens. He had loved the princess for a long time and had repeatedly asked her parents for her hand in marriage. He began to loose his patience with their words, "telling him to wait" and putting him off, so he decided to go with a new tactic of taking her. While she was playing near a riverside he swooped down and kidnapped her unseen by anyone, then wrapped her in a cloud and ravished her. Oreithyia became his wife and she bore him two twin sons, who were born normal but grew golden wings once they were adults. These two boys were famous for their Quest for the Golden Fleece where they accompanied Jason as part of the Argonauts but during their Quest they were killed by Hercules. Boreas and Oreithyia later had two more children, daughters, Cleopatra and Chione.

Circe

Circe

       Circe was the daughter of the sun god Helios and the ocean nymph Perse. She was both a goddess and a sorceress, and was referred to as "The Dread Goddess." She is portrayed as a woman with bright red hair brewing potions, and offering them to visitors with a wand in her hand. She was skilled at using magic, her specialties were metamorphosis, the power of illusion, and the dark art of necromancy. Often, for fun she would transform both men and woman into beasts, changing only their physical appearance and keeping them in charge of their mental sense. She lived on an enchanted island off the coast of Italy called Aeaea where she lured sailors to her shore with her songs. The island was supposedly magical and once a sailor landed on shore he was lost forever. In translation Circe means falcon and in many myths associated with her she is like a bird of prey circling her victim as she enchanted them with her potions of hallucinations. When she didn't want to be bothered she would use her magic to make tree's dance and the earth shake which would distort and confuse the sailors into leaving. There's a story of Circe marrying a prince to gain ruler-ship over his kingdom then poisoning him so she could rule alone. But once her subjects found out she fled to the island and lived in exile. That's where she lured many lovers into desiring her and turned some into animals.

Morpheus

Morpheus

Morpheus was the God of dreams. He was responsible for the dreams people had. He had the ability to appear in dreams in any form. Which is where his name "morph" in Greek meaning "form" came from since he was the one responsible for how the dream was shaped and formed. He is also responsible for the name of the drug morphine which is his legacy. A more common name for him that is used more frequently in present day is Sandman. When Morpheus put his arms around someone sleeping they would have a good nights rest but also dream about their future or upcoming events. Morpheus's true form was a mans body with wings on his back. It was believed that Thanatos; the god of non-violent deaths, his uncle, gave him and his brothers the wings. He has three brothers who's powers were all related to styles of dreams. The legend says he used his wings to carry his wingless father Hypnos; god of sleep, to the dream world where he often hid him from Zeus's harm in the caves. This might of been because Hypnos was a lazy god and would spend most his time sleeping. Morpheus was supposed to be one of the busiest gods and to never have had a wife. But some tales tell him falling for one the three graces and being wed to her which lead to the birth of many black winged children who are the dream keepers for common people.

Eros

Eros

He was the God of passion and love. It's from his name that the English word "erotic" was created. He is usually presented as a man with wings carrying bow and arrows. Once the arrows were shot at someone's heart it would potentially make the victim fall in love. Seen more currently the Romans believed his name was Cupid, an innocent and sometimes mischievousness winged cherub. Cherubs are young boys with cherry cheeks and toddler bodies. They believed his mother was Aphrodite and father Zeus. However, in Greek mythology Eros was portrayed as an older figure and not so innocent. There are different theories of who his parents could have been, but the most common is that he came into existence along side Chaos and Gaia making him one of the oldest Gods. He was a powerful god who the gods found as a threat for he could even force gods to fall in love. His Golden tipped arrows caused madness as well as romance and was even capable of causing men and woman to betray their families, to rape, to murder or to commit suicide. Aphrodite sent Eros on a task to curse a girl see deemed too beautiful and was jealous of. She told him to shoot her with one of his arrows forcing her to fall in love with a horrible monster that lived on the top of a hill. Eros instead disobeyed Aphrodite and fell in love with her, for safety he then hid her at his palace. He begged the God Zeus to make her immortal so they could be together. Once she was made immortal Aphrodite gave up her anger and they lived peacefully.

Triton

Triton

Triton's parents were Poseidon the King of the sea and Amphitrite a sea nympth. He was said to live at the depths of the sea with them in a golden palace where he would ride the waves on sea horses and sea monsters. His appearance was that of a man down to the waist, with a tail of a fish. Like his father he carried a Trident. However, his most famous characteristic was a twisted conch-shell which he could blow on violently or softly to change the movements of the waves. His conch-shell was also used in fights between the Giants and Gods called the battle Giantomachy. He fought on the side of the Gods where if he blew into it loudly a sound similar to a dark wild beast would explode scaring the them away. Triton was the father of Pallas and foster parent to Zeus's daughter Athena. During one of their fighting games Athena killed Pallas. He served as his fathers herald and messenger.

The Muses

The Muses

The Muses were the daughters of Zeus and Mnemsyne the Titaness of memory. Zeus secretly laid with Mnemsyne for nine nights which created the nine Muses. They were known for being beautiful and bringing joy to anyone who heard their music. The nine Muses all had their own specialties: Clio the muse of history, seen as both male and female was killed accidentally by his gay lover Apollo. Urania the muse of astronomy is often seen with a globe in her hand.  Melpomene the muse of tragedy can often be seen holding a tragic mask in her hand. Thalia is the muse of comedy. Terpsichore the muse of dance. Calliope the muse of Epic Poetry was usually seen with a writing tablet. Erato the muse of love poetry. Polyhymnia was the muse of songs to the gods and Euterpe the muse of lyric poetry.  They were brought to life to make people forget their sorrows and the evils of the world. The home of the Muses was Mount Helicon which was scared to the Greek God Apollo. Apollo was one of their main teachers. You could usually see them accompanying Apollo on his strolls for when he played on his lyre they could sing and dance along.

Hebe

Hebe

    Hebe was the daughter of Zeus and Hera. She was the goddess of youth and forgivness. Her duty was to be the cup-bearer for the gods. She would fill their cups with Nectar and Ambrosia. Nectar is a sugar-rich liquid from plants. Ambrosia is a greek god food that could give immortality to the consumer. Another one of her duties was to feed Zeus' pet eagle which she is shown offering a drink to in most photo's. Young  Trojan prince Ganymede became her successor and presumed the role as cup-bearer when she married her half-brother Hercules. Also she would draw bathes for her brother Ares, the god of war and help Hera into her chariet.  Hebe and Hercules had two children Alexiares and Anicetus. When Hercules' life as mortal ended and he became a god, Hebe showed him all the wonders of Olympus.

Pan

Pan

    Pan was the God of panic. At night in the woods it was supposedly him who put terror into the hearts of wandering men when he was feeling mischievous. He was known for being flirtatious and playful. Often, you would see him dancing with the wood nymphs or trying to pursue one of them but he was always rejected because they thought he was ugly. There are various versions of who Pan was born by. Some say his parents were Zeus, Apollo or Penelope but the most common one is that his father was Hermes and mother a nymph. Pan's appearance was described as a man with horns, goat legs and a thick beard.  He was an excellent musician and was known for playing the pipes. Syrinx who ran from him would turn into reeds which is what he used to make his famous pan-pipes.

Asclepius

Asclepius

Asclepius was the God of medicine and healing. His parents were Apollo and a mortal Coronis. But because Coronis insulted Apollo by sleeping with another man while Asclepius was still in her belly. Apollo slayed her with his arrows and rescued Asclepius from her funeral Pyre. When the Olympian Gods have children with mortals they aren't aloud to keep in touch with their children. Since Apollo had killed his mother he had no one to raise him. After some thought, Apollo left Asclepius to be cared by a centaur named Chiron. After he grew Athena gave him two vials filled of Gorgon's blood from the right side of his body which could bring back the life of a mortal and blood from the left side of his body which could kill one. He used the blood to raise dead mortals but Zeus thought that was overstepping the boundaries. Zeus then ended Asclepius's life with one of his lightning bolts. Before he died he had 10 children.

Demeter

 
Demeter
In Greek mythology Demeter was the daughter of the Titan Chronus and Rhea. She is the goddess of vegetation,  fertility, and the harvest. Each year it is Demeter that decides to make the crops grow or not.  She also is the one who taught mankind about agriculture. She is mainly associated with the Seasons and is why we have Winter, Spring, Fall and Summer. In some myths she had 8 children but in others she only had a one daughter with Zeus named Persephone who was later abducted by Hades and made the Queen of the underworld. Although she is mainly known for being the Goddess of Harvest she also is involved with Marriage. Which is supposed to have a motherly feeling behind it because her name split up stands for "Mother-Earth." She may also be called Deo which is a surname of Demeter. In pictures and statues she is shown as a mature motherly figure around nature.