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Eros

Eros was the God of Love, son of Aphrodite. Homer does not mention him but to Hesiod he was

Fairest of the deathless Gods.

In earlier poetry he was a beautiful youth who gives good gifts to men. He was often represented as blindfolded, because often love is blind. In his attendance were Anteros, avenger of slighted love, Himeros, longing, and Hymen, God of the wedding feast.

Hebe

Hebe was the Goddess of Youth and cupbearer to the Gods. She is married to Hercules.

Iris

Iris was the Goddess of the Rainbow and a messenger to the Gods. In the Iliad she is the only messenger.Both Iris and Hermes occupy this job, both called on frequently by the Gods.

The Muses

There were nine muses, the daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne, Memory. Each occupies her special field. Clio-History, Urania-Astronomy, Melpomene-Tragedy, Thalia-Comedy, Terpsichore-Dance, Calliope-Epic Poetry, Erato-Love Poetry, Polyhymnia-Songs to the Gods, and Euterpe-Lyric Poetry. They were the companions of Apollo, and also the Graces.

The Graces

The Graces were three in number:Aglaia-Good Cheer, Euphrosyne-Mirth, and Thalia-Good Cheer. They are not treated as seperate personalities, except when Homer and Hesiod wrote that Aglaia married Hephaestus.

Minor Gods of the Waters

Ocean

The Titan Ocean was the Lord of the river Ocean, a great river that circled the Earth. His wife, Tethys, was also a Titan. The Oceanids, the nymphs of the Great Ocean, were their daughters.

Nereus

Nereus was the Old Man in the Sea(the Mediterranean). His wife Doris was a daughter of Ocean. They had fifty beautiful daughters, the Nereids, Nymphs of the Mediterranean. His daughter, Thetis, was the mother of Achilles, and another daugher, Amphritrite, was the wife of Poseidon.

Triton

Triton was the trumpeter of the Sea. His trumpet was a great shell. He was the son of Poseidon and Amphritrite.

Proteus

Proteus was also the son of Poseidon and Amphritrite. He was also his attendent. He had the powers of telling the future and changing his shape at will.

The Naiads

The Naiads were also water nymphs. They dwelt in brooks, springs, and fountains.

Minor Gods of the Underworld

Cerberus

The three-headed, dragon-tailed dog who sat watch over the gate to the Underworld.

The Erinyes

The Erinyes were placed in different places by different poets, but all told that they punished evildoers. There were three-Tisiphone, Megaera, and Alecto.

Sleep, Death and Dreams

Sleep, Death, and Dreams all descended to men from the Underworld. They passed through two gates: One of horn for true dreams, and one of ivory for false ones.

The Minor Gods of Earth

Pan

Pan was Hermes's son; a loud and merry God. He wad pert goat, with goat horns and goat feet. He was the goatherder's and the shepherd's God.

Silenus

Silenus was sometimes Pan's son, sometimes his brother, son of Hermes. He was a happy fat old man who rode a donkey because he was always too drunk to walk.

Castor and Pollux

Castor and Pollux were twins born of different fathers, Castor and his sister Clymnestra to King Tyndareus of Sparta, and Pollux and Helen, heroine of Troy, to Zeus. Therefore, Castor was mortal, Pollux was immortal. They were inseperable, and one day Castor was stabbed and killed. Pollux was inconsolable. He prayed to Zeus to die also, and Zeus took pity and allowed Pollux to share his immortality with Castor, to live

Half thy time beneath the Earth, and half within the golden homes of Heaven.

After this they were employed by Poseidon to save any ship that was in distress.

Saviors of swift-going ships when the storm winds rage over the ruthless sea.

Satyrs

The satyrs were goat-men, like Pan.

Oreads and Dryads

Oreads were nymphs of mountains and Dryads were Nymphs of trees. Dryads' lives were bound up with those trees.

The Winds

The Winds were: Boreas, the North Wind, Zephyr, the West Wind, Notus, the South Wind, and Eurus, the East Wind.

Others

Sometimes there were beings, neither human nor divine who lived on the Earth. Among them were:-

The Centaurs

Half men, half horses. Mostly they were savage, but one, Chiron, was known for his goodness.

The Gorgons

There wer three Gorgon sisters, and two were immortal. They were dragon-like creatures whose look turned men to stone.

The Graiae

The Graiae were the Gorgon's sisters. There were three of them also. They had one eye between them. They lived far down the bank of Ocean.

The Sirens

The Sirens lived on a small island in the sea. They had beautiful voices, and they lured sailors to their deaths on the rocky shore. No one who saw them ever lived, so no one knows what they looked like.

The Fates

There were three Fates, each assigned a duty in weaving a man's life; Clotho, the spinner, who spun the thread of life, Lachesis, the disposer of lots, who assigned a man his destiny, and Atropos, who cut the thread of life and could not be turned.

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