Gods and Goddesses Featured

Click on a Deity Name below to learn more about Their mythology. More coming soon!!

Greek/Roman Mythology

Aphrodite

Ah, yes! The beautiful and vain Goddess of Love, Beauty and Lust, Aphrodite. Aphrodite is the one responsible for inspiring desire in hearts of men and gods. Her husband was the lame smith god, Hephaestus, but She had many lovers, the most notable of which was Ares, God of War.

Aphrodite could be a generous goddess, or a jealous and vengeful goddess. In the story of Atalanta, Aphrodite gives Hippomenes 3 golden apples to distract Atalanta during a foot-race. The apples do indeed delay Atalanta, and the 2 are wed. However, after the wedding, Hippomenes forgot to give Aphrodite proper respect, and as punishment, Aphrodite turned the lovers into lions.

The famous Gorgon, Medusa, was once a priestess of Aphrodite. Medusa was a very beautiful woman, whose pride was in the gloriousness of her hair. Medusa defiled the temple of Aphrodite one night however, while making love to the sea god, Poseidon. Aphrodite swiftly punished the girl, turning her hair into a writhing mass of serpents. Medusa maintained her beauty however, so as further punishment, the goddess made it so that Medusa's gaze would turn a man to stone.

Pygmalion was a gifted sculptor who was disgusted by the women who surrounded him. He secluded himself away and avoided all women. Then he created the most beautiful sculpture of a woman and named her "Galatea". Pygmalion fell deeply in love with his statue, and was broken-hearted that the cold marble lips could not return his kisses.

When the festival of Aphrodite came around, Pygmalion made his offering in the temple of Aphrodite and prayed: "If the gods are able to grant anything, I desire for my wife..." Aphrodite Herself was present at this festival, and took pity on Pygmalion. As a token of Her good will, a flame burned brightly before him and flared up into the air.

After Pygmalion returned home, he gasped when his beautiful Galatea greeted him with loving kisses and whispered words of love. Aphrodite had granted his wish! Ever after, Pygmalion and Galatea lived together happily, never forgetting to give Aphrodite her proper dues.

Cupid/Eros

Eros is the constant companion of Aphrodite, Goddess of Love, Lust and Beauty, and represents all aspects of love and desire. He is generally depicted being an extremely handsome young man with wings. He constantly had his bow and arrows which could strike the hearts of men and gods alike, inspiring fierce desire or extreme repulsion, whichever the young god chose.

Rhea

The name of the Cretan Mother Goddess. In Classical Greek Mythology, Rhea is the Sister Wife of Cronus, and the Mother of Hades, Poseidon, Zeus, Hestia, Demeter and Hera. Her husband had taken 5 of Her children and swallowed them shortly after Their births, so in desperation, Rhea bore her sixth child, the Mighty Zeus in a cave on the Island of Crete. She then swaddled a stone in the baby's blankets, and gave it to Cronus to swallow instead of the newborn God.

Maia

Zeus discovered a beautiful young woman living a quiet life in a cave, and fell in love with her. He came to her cave at night, to make love to her away from the jealous eyes of his wife, Hera. As a result, Maia bore Zeus a son, Hermes.

When still an infant, Hermes stole some cattle from the god Apollo, and hid them in his mother's cave. When Apollo stormed into Maia's cave, she showed him the tiny baby to prove he could not have been the cattle thief. Apollo was not fooled, however, and angrily appealed to Zeus to punish Hermes. Zeus arbitrated by requiring Hermes to give back the cattle. During the feud, baby Hermes played the lyre, and Apollo was so enchanted by the music that he dropped the charges, and even gave some of the cattle to Hermes, as well as other gifts.

Venus

Venus is the daughter of Jupiter, and some of her lovers include Mars and Vulcan, modeled on the affairs of Aphrodite. Venus' importance rose, and that of her cult, through the influence of several Roman political leaders. The dictator Sulla made her his patroness, and both Julius Caesar and the emperor Augustus named her the ancestor of their (Julian) family: the 'gens Julia' was Aeneas, son of Venus and the mortal Anchises. Caesar introduced the cult of Venus Genetrix, the goddess of motherhood and marriage, and built a temple for her in 46 BCE. She was also honored in the temple of Mars Ultor. The last great temple of Venus was built by the emperor Hadrianus near the Colusseum in 135 CE.

Pan

The goat footed God of the Wild, Pan was the son of Hermes and a nymph. He was half man and half goat, and when he was born, his mother ran away in fright. But Hermes was delighted with His son's strange appearance and brought him to Olympus.

He is the epitome of rash lust and is constantly falling in love with nymphs, who mostly run away. Syrinx was one such nymph, who rejected the advances of Pan. Pan loved her and pursued her where ever she ran, and finally, in desperation, Syrinx changed herself into a bed of reeds. Pan could not locate her, and hearing the lovely sounds the winds made when blowing through the reeds, created the first pan-pipes from the reeds.

When Pan was in a good mood, he would play on his pipes and all the woodland spirits would dance and frolic under the moonlight. However, when Pan was in a bad mood, he would hide himself away in a deep cave, making horrible shrieks and cries to all who dared trespass. Our word for "panic" is derived from Pan's name, and is given because trespassers would panic when they heard the unearthly cries of Pan.

Flora

In Roman mythology, Flora is the goddess of flowers and the personification of the season of spring, a symbol for nature and flowers. While she was otherwise a relatively minor figure in Roman mythology, being one among several fertility goddesses, her association with the spring gave her particular importance at the coming of springtime.

She was originally the Goddess specifically of the flowering crops, such as the grain or fruit-trees, and Her function was to make the grain, vegetables and trees bloom so that autumn's harvest would be good. She was invoked to avert rust, a nasty fungal disease of plants that causes orange growths the exact color of rusting iron, and which was (is) an especial problem affecting wheat. Hers is the beginning of the process that finds its completion with Pomona, the Goddess of Fruit and the Harvest.  In later times Flora became the Goddess of all flowering plants, including the ornamental varieties.

In one story, Flora was said to have provided Juno with a magic flower that would allow Her to conceive with no help from a man; from this virgin-birth Mars was born. Juno was upset that Jupiter had "given birth" to Minerva from his head without the aid of a spouse, and had wandered the world looking for any drug land or sea that would help her conceive a child without a man.  Noticing that Flora looked torn between helping Juno, and facing the wrath of Jupiter, Juno swore on the River Styx that her source would never be revealed.

Flora then told her of a magic flower that was unique to her gardens and that one touch would cause Juno to become pregnant.  Juno found the flower and became pregnant without the aid of a man, and thus gave birth to Mars.  It is said that later, Mars, remembering Flora's hand in his birth told her "that she would always have a place in Romulus' city".

Faunus

The god of wild nature and fertility, also regarded as the giver of oracles. He was later identified with the Greek Pan and also assumed some of Pan's characteristics such as the horns and hooves. He is also known as the protector of cattle, and referred to as Lupercus ("he who wards off the wolf").

One particular tradition tells that Faunus was the king of Latium, and the son of Picus. After his death he was deified as Fatuus, and a small cult formed around his person in the sacred forest of Tibur (Tivoli). On February 15 (the founding date of his temple) his feast, the Lupercalia, was celebrated. Priests (called the Luperci) wearing goat skins walked through the streets of Rome and hit the spectators with belts made from goat skin. Another festival was the Faunalia, observed on December 5.

He is accompanied by the fauns, analogous to the Greek satyrs. His feminine counterpart is Fauna. The wolfskin, wreath, and a goblet are his attributes.

Celtic Mythology

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