simplebooklet thumbnail

Greek Religion

Temple of Zeus

Hailee Bister


English 9


Temple of Athena

     In ancient Greek religion there were many goddess and gods, but it all started with Rhea and Cronus. Cronus, the leaders of the Titans , had gained power from overtaking his father. As Cronus’s children were growing up he started to worry about the same thing happening to him. To keep this from happening Cronus had decided to eat his children. Rhea,Cronus wife managed to save their youngest child by replacing him with a stone, and giving it to Cronus to eat instead. When Rhea had tricked Cronus, she had the baby taken up to Mt.Dikte where Gaia raised him.When Zeus got old enough to leave Mt.Dikte , Zeus went to his father and made him cough back up his siblings.


   Cronus again started to worry about losing power now that his children were back. This time he created a 10 year war known as Titanomachy. It was the Titans vs the Olympian gods. Titans were the brothers and sisters of Cronus. With the help of Cyclopes and Giants, Zeus was able to defeat them. When Zeus had won the war he put Titans  in the deepest part of the underworld known as Tartarus, where they would stay for the rest of their lives.After defeating the Titans , Zeus had made himself God of the skies. Since his brothers Hades and Poseidon had helped him in the war Zeus had made them god of the seas(Poseidon) and the underworld(Hades). With the Titans underground Zeus never had to fight for power again (Cartwright).


      The peacock, one of Hera’s many symbols represents an Award. Hera, the queen of the skies, was known for having many symbols. Hera's most recognized was the peacock. Zeus, Hera's brother/husband had fallen for a girl by the name of Lo. Overwhelmed with jealousy of her husband's affair, Hera then turned Lo into a cow. Hera then gave Lo up to Argos, a monster with eyes all over his body. His job was to make sure Zeus could not get to the girl. Zeus had found out and sent Hermes to go kill the monster(which he did) so Lo could be set free.When HEra heard of the news of What Zeus was plaiing (The day before Zeus sent Hermes) she had taken all of the eyes of the moster protecting Lo. After the news that Argos was killed, Hera then turned his eyes into a tail of a peacock. So because Hera turned the monster into a beautiful peacock , that became her main symbol (Hatzitsinidou).


    Athena was one of the main Olympian goddesses.Athena , the daughter of Metis and Zeus, was the goddess of war and arts.Both of Athena’s parents were children of titans.When Zeus impregnated Metis, Zeus soon became fearful that if she had a son he would overtake him.  Zeus did what his father had done. Zeus then he swallowed the pregnant Metis. Soon after Zeus had swallowed Metis, he started getting head pains.The head pains had gotten so bad that Zeus was forced to go to Prometheus. When Zeus arrived to see Prometheus , he had simply split open Zeus's head. The pain had gone away and Athena was born. Athena then became one of the main olympian goddesses (Bell).


     Hades was a lot more than just Zeus’s brother. Hades was the son of Cronus and Rhea and the brother to Zeus, After the Olympian gods had won the war, Zeus gave his bothers a kingdom of their own(Littleton). In Greek mythology, many Greeks believed that Hades could be found underground.Hades was in charge of the dead.Hades kingdom was known as the kingdom of the dead.Hades kingdom was for souls who had not done good things but not necessarily bad things was not a punishment nor a reward.The Greeks who had done great things were rewarded with Elysium where they could continue to be happy.The Greeks who had done bad things and caused trouble amongst others were punished with Tartarus, where the continue to suffer.The undergrounds were Hades kingdom give to him as a reward for helping Zeus win the war. Hades was not just known for being Zeus’s brother but also the ruler of the underground world(Littleton).


Bell, Robert E. Women of Classical Mythology: A Biographical     Dictionary. Santa Barbara, CA:ABC-CLIO, 1991. Print.


Cartwright, Mark. "Zeus." Ancient History Encyclopedia. Ancient     History Encyclopedia, 25 May 2013. Web. 27 Jan. 2016.


Hatzitsinidou, Evangelia. "Hera and the Peacock." Hera and the       Peacock., 12 Oct. 2015. Web. 2 Feb. 2016


Littleton, C. Scott. "Hades." Hades. World Book Inc., 2016. Web.      17 Feb. 2016.


Work Cited