Achilles was the son of the nymph Thetis and Peleus, the king of the Myrmidons. Zeus and Poseidon had been rivals for the hand of Thetis until Prometheus, the fore-thinker, warned Zeus of a prophecy that Thetis would bear a son greater than his father. For this reason, the two gods withdrew their pursuit, and had her wed Peleus. When Achilles was born Thetis tried to make him immortal, by dipping him in the river Styx. However, he was left vulnerable at the part of the body by which she held him, his heel.

Achilles was the greatest of the warriors in the Trojan War. His fury at Agamemnon and his absence on the final weeks nearly cost them the war. Yet the death of his friend Patroclus at the hands of the Trojan Prince Hector, brought the fearsome warrior back to the battlefield. Achilles took revenge yet was killed by Hector’s brother, the archer Paris. Achilles was cremated and his ashes buried in the same urn as those of Patroclus. Paris was later killed by Philoctetes using the enormous bow of Hercules.

Creaontiades was one of the sons of Hercules, who were unjustly slain by their father when Hera placed a maddening curse upon him. The Queen of the Gods had always been jealous of her husband Zeus' unfaithfulness, and so she hated Hercules since his birth. Thus Creontiades, his brothers and his parents were victims of another’s crime. Heeding Pyhtia’s divination, Hercules performed his famous twelve labours to atone for the crime he commited during Hera’s unjust punishment.

Demeter is the goddess of the harvest, who presides over grains and the fertility of the earth. Mortals commonly refer to her as Sito (wheat) being the giver of food and Thesmophoros (deliverer of the Divine Order). Demeter is not only worshipped simply as the goddess of the harvest, but she presides also over the sanctity of marriage, the sacred law, and the cycle of life and death.

The oldest son of the titans Cronos and Rea, Hades is the lord of the Underworld, the realm of the departed. When he and his brothers overthrew the rule of the Titans, Zeus, Poseidon and Hades drew lots to divide the cosmos. Hades won the underworld and all the riches contained beneath the earth. Hence he is also known as Plutos, the Rich One, and he is the god of wealth. His consort is Persephone, the beautiful daughter of Zeus and Demeter.

One of the oldest Gods, Hecate is the daughter of Gaia and Uranus. A goddess of triple nature, chthonic, celestial and maritime, she is associated with crossroads, gates and other entrances, passages, light in darkness, childbirth, nurturing the young, lunar lore, the night sky, the sea, the wilderness, the restless dead, dogs, snakes, healing and poisonous plants, magic and witchcraft…

Hera is the wife of Zeus and one of his three sisters. She is the goddess of women and marriage and is known for her jealous and vengeful nature, most notably against Zeus' lovers and offspring, but also against mortals who crossed her, such as Pelias and Paris who offended her by choosing Aphrodite as the most beautiful goddess, earning Hera's hatred.

The son of Zeus and Alkmene, Hercules is the absolute symbol of heroism.

Zeus' wife Hera was enraged at her husband’s infidelity and even more so that he placed the infant Hercules at her breast to feed as she slept. Feeding from Hera caused Hercules to be partially immortal, allowing him to surpass all mortal men in strength, size and skill.

Hera held a grudge against Hercules and thus sent him into a blind frenzy. After recovering from the madness Hercules realized he had killed his five sons and his wife Megara. To atone he sought the advice of Delphi’s Oracle. The Oracle ordered Hercules to serve his cousin Eurystheus, king of Mycenae, who sent him on a series of tasks known as the Labors of Hercules.

The labors brought epic fame to the hero, and his countless good deeds elevated him to the top of the heroes’ pantheon. He gained the people’s love and atoned for his sins. Yet the guilt was never purged from his heart. Where brute strength was impossible to subdue him, sinister cunning finally subdued him.

Hercules final wife was Deianeira. One day long after their marriage, the centaur Nessus offered to ferry them across a wide river that they had to cross. Nessus set off with Deianeira first, but instead of aiding her hetried to abduct her. Hercules chased after him and shot him with an arrow which was poisoned with Hydra's blood. Before he died, Nessus told Deianeira to take some of his blood and treasure it as a powerful medicine. If she ever suspected her husband of being unfaithful, the centaur told her, the blood would restore his love. Hercules was famous for his masculine prowess and countless lovers, thus Deianeira kept the vial of blood.

Many years after that incident she heard rumours that Hercules had fallen in love with another woman, something entirely possible for her notoriously lustful husband. She smeared Nessus’ blood on a robe and sent it to Hercules by a servant named Lichas. Hercules put on the robe and when he did so the centaur’s blood burnt into his flesh. When he jumped into a nearby river in hope of extinguishing the fire, it only made the burning worse. Worse when he tried to rip off the robe from his body, he ripped his skin and organs off with it.

In torment he asked his friend Philoctetes to build him a pyre on the mountain Oata where he was burnt to death on the pyre. Before dying, Hercules offered his bow and arrows as a token of gratitude to Philoctetes. His father Zeus though seeing his beloved son in such torment intervened in time and turned Hercules into a god. After hearing what she had caused, Hercules’ wife Deianeira committed suicide.

Hermes is the son of Zeus and the Pleiade, Maia, a daughter of the Titan, Atlas. The second youngest of the Olympian gods, he was born before Dionysus.

His symbols include his pouch, his winged sandals and cap, and held in his left hand, the herald's staff, the Ciricium.

Hermes is the herald, or messenger of the gods to humans, sharing this role with Iris. A patron of boundaries and the travelers who cross them, he is the protector of shepherds and cowherds, orators and wit, literature and poets, athletics and sports, weights and measures, invention, and of commerce in general.

Iris, Lady of the Rainbow, is the gods’ messenger. With divine speed she journeys the world’s ends, the depths of the sea and the underworld. She is the daughter of Thaumas and the air nymph Electra and is sister to the Harpies Aello, Celaeno and Ocypete. At the command of the King of the Gods, she carries a water amphoreus from Styx, with which she puts to sleep those who deliberately lie under oath. As the Goddess of Sea and Sky, she is the one who supplies  the clouds with the required water to cleanse the world.

King of Ithaca, husband of Penelope, father of Telemachus, and son of Laertes and Anticlea, Odysseus was a hero renowned for his guile and resourcefulness, and was hence known by the epithet Odysseus the Cunning. He was most famous for the ten eventful years he took to return home after the ten-year Trojan War and his infamous Trojan Horse trick, that ended the war.

Persephone is the daughter of Zeus and the harvest-goddess Demeter, and queen of the underworld. She is the formidable, venerable majestic queen of the shades, who carries into effect the curses of men upon the souls of the dead. She was abducted by Hades, the god-king of the underworld. Nature itself still mourns for this injustice, thus vegetation shoots forth in the spring when Persephone is allowed to roam the surface of the earth along her mother Demeter, but withdraws into the earth after harvest when Persephone returns back to her husband’s subterranean kingdom. Persephone is widely worshipped along with Demeter, and with the same mysteries.

Poseidon is the lord of the seas, and also known as the “Earth-Shaker”, the god of earthquakes. He was devoured by his father Cronos at infancy and later saved along with his brothers and sisters by their youngest sibling, Zeus. The freed gods then waged war upon the titans, overthrew their rule and the three most powerful, Zeus, Hades and Poseidon drew lots to divide the cosmos amidst themselves.  Thus Poseidon won the Sea and has been one of the most powerful and feared Olympians since.

The Pythia, commonly known as the Oracle of Delphi, is the priestess at the Temple of Apollo at Delphi, located on the slopes of Mount Parnassus. As the chosen of God Apollo she is blessed by prophecies inspired by her god. Of all oracles it is the Delphic who is the most prestigious and authoritative in the world. Her name is derived from Delphi’s original name, Pytho. The site was named after the monstrous Python, a dragon slain by Apollo.

Zeus, king of gods and men, is the child of Cronus and Rhea, and the youngest of his siblings. He is married to Hera but is also known for his erotic escapades which resulted in many godly and heroic offspring, including Apollo and Artemis, Hermes, Persephone (by Demeter), Dionysus, Perseus, Heracles, Helen of Troy, Minos, and the Muses (by Mnemosyne); by Hera, he has fathered Ares, Hebe and Hephaestus.

Even the gods who are not his natural children address him as Father, and all the gods rise in his presence.