The 12 Olympian Gods: Greek Names, Attributes and Myths

The Twelve Olympians (οι Δώδεκα Θεοί του Ολύμπου) form the divine council that governs the Greek world from the summit of Mount Olympus. Learning their names in Greek is a double investment: it is living vocabulary — Greeks today still call Zeus «Δίας», Αθηνά gave the capital its name, and Άρης, Αφροδίτη and Ερμής name the planets as well as the gods — and it is the key that unlocks the whole of mythology. Here is a common modern selection, with the names in Modern Greek as you will meet them in our readings.

The table of the Twelve

Ancient groups of twelve gods varied by place and period; there is no single ancient roster. Some lists include Hestia (Εστία), while others include Dionysus (Διόνυσος). Hades (Άδης) is Zeus and Poseidon’s brother, but he is usually left out of modern lists of the Twelve because his realm is the underworld.

The three great brothers

Zeus (Δίας) is the youngest son of Cronus who became king of the gods: saved by his mother Rhea from a father who devoured his children, he freed his brothers and sisters and led the victorious war against the Titans. His thunderbolt is the supreme weapon, the sky his domain, and his authority — frequently contested by Hera — structures the entire pantheon. Read his story in Cronus and Zeus.

Poseidon (Ποσειδώνας) received the sea as his share. A god of stormy temper, "earth-shaker", he unleashes tempests and earthquakes; it is his anger, after the blinding of his son Polyphemus, that pursues Odysseus for ten years — see Odysseus and the Cyclops.

Hades (Άδης) received the underworld. Husband of Persephone, whom he carried off from her mother Demeter — an abduction that explains the cycle of the seasons in the Homeric Hymn to Demeter — he is an implacable but just sovereign who rarely leaves his kingdom. His founding myth is in Persephone.

The gods in the myths you can read in Greek

• Athena punishes a weaver's pride in Arachne.
• Apollo pursues a nymph who becomes a laurel in Apollo and Daphne.
• Artemis punishes an indiscreet hunter in Actaeon.
• Hermes shows his cunning from the cradle in Hermes the thief.
• Hera reduces a nymph to silence in Hera and Echo.
• Aphrodite brings a statue to life in Pygmalion.
• Dionysus turns pirates into dolphins in Dionysus and the pirates.

10 words to keep: the gods' names in Modern Greek

These names are used as they stand in the Greek of today — in museums, newspapers, street names and on the sterns of boats:

• ο Δίας (o Días) — Zeus; also the Greek name of the planet Jupiter.
• η Ήρα (i Íra) — Hera.
• ο Ποσειδώνας (o Posidónas) — Poseidon.
• η Αθηνά (i Athiná) — Athena; do not confuse it with η Αθήνα, the city of Athens: only the stress moves!
• ο Απόλλωνας (o Apóllonas) — Apollo.
• η Άρτεμη (i Ártemi) — Artemis.
• η Αφροδίτη (i Afrodíti) — Aphrodite; also the planet Venus.
• ο Ερμής (o Ermís) — Hermes; also the planet Mercury.
• ο Άρης (o Áris) — Ares; also the planet Mars, and a common first name.
• ο Διόνυσος (o Diónysos) — Dionysus; the first name Διονύσης (Dionysis) derives from it.

Notice the article: ο for the gods, η for the goddesses — a first grammar lesson offered by Olympus itself. To meet all these names in context, browse our myths in easy Greek sorted by level: every god appears in the stories that made him immortal.