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Who were the twelve Greek gods and who were their Roman counterparts?

Question #40897. Asked by Hamlet..
Last updated Jul 17 2021.

Related Trivia Topics: History  
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TabbyTom
Answer has 30 votes
Currently Best Answer
TabbyTom
23 year member
1233 replies avatar

Answer has 30 votes.

Currently voted the best answer.
Zeus (Jupiter)
Poseidon (Neptune)
Hermes (Mercury)
Hera (Juno)
Hades
Dionysus (Bacchus)
Demeter (Ceres)
Apollo a.k.a. Phoebus (Apollo)
Ares (Mars)
Artemis (Diana)
Athena (Minerva)
Aphrodite (Venus)

Hades (Pluto)
Pallas Athene (Minerva)
Hephaestus (Vulcan)
Hestia (Vesta)

link https://www.worldhistory.org/collection/58/the-12-olympian-gods/
link https://www.britannica.com/list/12-greek-gods-and-goddesses

Response last updated by gtho4 on Jul 17 2021.
Nov 08 2003, 1:47 PM
lothruin
Answer has 12 votes
lothruin
24 year member
392 replies

Answer has 12 votes.
Should be more specific as there were far more than the list above. Eros, for instance, who's counterpart was Cupid. Surely he was of some significance. He was, after all, the son of Aphrodite, and was the God of Love.

The "Olympus Twelve" include Demeter (Ceres) and Dionysis (Bacchus), who don't make it on the list above, but instead we see Hades and Hestia. Hades, of course, didn't live on Olympus, but IS of significance, and Hestia was one of the original Olympian gods, but voluntarily relinguished her place to Dionysis. In return she was made the goddess of the Sacrificial Flame.

So even asking for the twelve "main" gods is misleading. The "Olympus Twelve" were to be worshiped as the most important twelve gods and goddesses, so as far as believers were concerned, they WERE the "main" gods.

Nov 08 2003, 2:58 PM
Siskin
Answer has 15 votes
Siskin

Answer has 15 votes.

Demeter (Ceres) was a greek goddess, but the top twelve are those that lived on Mount Olympus.

The Greeks developed a Pantheon of twelve major Gods, who lived in Olympus (which I have translated as Heaven). These were Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Hades, Apollo, Artemis, Aphrodite, Ares, Athene, Hermes, Hephaestus and Hestia. Dionysus later took the place of Hestia. Uranus and Cronos were the previous generations of gods. The gods sometimes changed their functions. Originally there were different gods of the Sun and Moon, Helios and Selene, before Apollo and Artemis took them over.

The Romans had their own gods. Although they conquered Greece, they admired Greek culture, and they identified the Greek gods with their own gods. The Olympic Twelve became Jupiter, Juno, Neptune, Pluto, Apollo (the only one to stay unchanged), Diana, Venus, Mars, Minerva, Mercury, Vulcan and Vesta, with Bacchus as the late one.

link https://www.desy.de/gna/interpedia/greek_myth/olympian.html
gwydir.demon.co.uk/jo/roman/teachers.htm no longer exists

Response last updated by gtho4 on Jul 17 2021.
Nov 08 2003, 3:13 PM
lothruin
Answer has 8 votes
lothruin
24 year member
392 replies

Answer has 8 votes.
At this website, Demeter is listed as one of the twelve:

link https://www.britannica.com/list/12-greek-gods-and-goddesses

And at this one:

link http://ancienthistory.about.com/od/romangods/a/022709RomanGrk.htm

And Bulfinch's Mythology has this to say of Demeter:
"One of the great Olympian deities of Greece"

Hades did not live on Mount Olympus, which was a fundamental part of being considered an Olympian god. He lived in the underworld. The three brothers, sons of Saturn and Rhea were Zeus, Hades and Poseidon. They divided Saturn's realm into three and each took control of one part. Zeus gained the heavens, and Poseidon and Hades drew for who would control the seas and who the underworld. Hades got the underworld.

According to Bulfinch's, the Olympians were the brothers and sisters Zeus, Demeter, Hera (also Zeus' wife), Poseidon, and Hestia (later replaced by Dionysis), and Zeus' children, Athena, Ares, Hephaestos, Phoebus Apollo, Artemis, Aphrodite and Hermes.

Response last updated by zorba_scank on Aug 20 2016.
Nov 08 2003, 4:13 PM
griffinj
Answer has 6 votes
griffinj
21 year member
563 replies

Answer has 6 votes.
"The Larousse Encyclopedia of Mythology" (P. 97, Barnes & Noble edition) says: "First came the twelve great [Greek] gods and goddesses: Zeus, Poseidon, Hephaestus, Hermes, Ares and Apollo; Hera, Athene, Atemis, Hestia, Aphrodite and Demeter. Beside them were ranged other divinities, some of whom did not relinquish pride of place to the great twelve. Such were Helios, Selene, Dione, Dionysus, Themis and Eos...... It must be pointed out that Hades, although a brother of Zeus, did not frequent Olympus and, along with the goddesses Persephone and Hecate, remained in his subterranean empire."
I guess Poseidon left Amphitrite and Triton to look after things back at his place.

Nov 08 2003, 4:18 PM
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