The Minor Goddesses of Greek Mythology

Thứ sáu - 26/04/2024 23:11
Learn the stories of these lesser-known goddesses Whether you recently visited Greece or are an avid fan of the Percy Jackson novels, ancient Greek mythology continues to fascinate followers up to the modern day. You've likely heard of the...
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Whether you recently visited Greece or are an avid fan of the Percy Jackson novels, ancient Greek mythology continues to fascinate followers up to the modern day. You’ve likely heard of the famous twelve Olympians, but what about the minor goddesses that played equally important roles in the beliefs and customs of ancient Greeks? While an exhaustive list of every goddess mentioned by the Greeks would be a big undertaking, this list will give you information about many minor Greek goddesses, from the most obscure to the most infamous in the stories of Greek mythology.

1

Achelois

  1. Achelois is a minor moon goddess.
    She is one of many female deities associated with the monthly lunar cycle. Also known as the goddess of pain relief and a healer goddess, Achelois’ name means “she who casts away pain.”[1]
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2

Alectrona

  1. Alectrona is a minor sun goddess. She was an early Greek goddess who was thought to be the daughter of the Titan sun god Helios. Not much was recorded about her that has lasted into modern times, but she was worshiped in the Ancient Greek city of Rhodes.[2]
3

Amphitrite

  1. Amphitrite is the Greek goddess of the sea. Specifically ruling over the Mediterranean, She is presented as the wife of Poseidon and often seen as his female counterpart. Famously, Amphitrite turned Scylla into a six-headed monster after Poseidon expressed interest in her.[3]
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4

Apate

  1. Apate is the Greek goddess of deceit. She is the daughter of Nyx, who is the goddess of night. Apate is also associated with lies, fraud, and deception. She was one of the first deities to fly out of Pandora’s box, which was thought to contain all the world's evils.[4]
5

Aphaea

  1. Aphaea is a minor goddess of fertility and agriculture.
    Historians believe that Aphaea may be another name for Britomartis, a nymph who watched over hunters and fishermen. Aphaea was worshipped almost exclusively on the Greek island of Aegina, where a temple still exists in her honor.[5]
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6

Astraea

  1. Astraea is a minor goddess associated with justice and innocence. She is one of the Titans but sided with Zeus during the War of the Titans. Astraea’s name means “starry-one,” and she is said to live among the stars as part of the Virgo constellation.[6]
7

Até

  1. Até is the Greek goddess of mischief and delusion. Até’s story varies depending on whose ancient version of mythology you read. One version of her story tells that she led gods and mortals to thoughtless actions, which led to suffering, for which she was banished from Olympus by her father Zeus.[7]
    • In other tales, she is more of an avenging goddess, inflicting punishment on perpetrators of evil.
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8

Bia

  1. Bia is the Greek goddess of force. Bia's name means “strength,” and she is the personification of physical power and energy. Bia was considered the only deity strong enough to chain Prometheus to a rock, which was his punishment for stealing fire from the gods.[8]
9

Brizo

  1. Brizo is a prophet goddess thought to protect mariners and fishermen. She sent dreams to mortals and revealed their meanings to them. Women in Ancient Greece would offer sacrifices in the shape of boats, hoping that Brizo would protect ships and sailors.[9]
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10

Calypso

  1. Calypso is a sea nymph and minor nature goddess.
    Calypso most famously appears in Homer's The Odyssey, where Odysseus washes ashore on her island. She falls in love with him and promises him immortality to stay with her, which he refuses.[10]
    • In the epic story, Calypso holds Odysseus prisoner for seven years before the goddess Athena intervenes.
11

Ceto

  1. Ceto is the goddess of sea monsters and other marine life. She enjoys causing trouble at sea, usually in the form of shipwrecks. Her name may also be written as Keto, and she is the mother of infamous mythological sea creatures like Scylla and the Gorgons.[11]
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12

Circe

  1. Circe is a goddess of magic and sorcery. She was skilled with transformation, famously appearing in The Odyssey as the goddess who turned Odysseus’ companions into pigs.[12]
    • In the ancient tale, Odysseus and his shipmates come onto Circe’s isolated island and take advantage of her hospitality, hence their punishment.
13

Cybele

  1. Cybele is the Greek goddess of caverns, mountains, and wild animals. She is also associated with nature, fertility, and agriculture. Cybele is considered a mother goddess, meaning she has given life to gods, humans, and animals.[13]
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14

Doris

  1. Doris is a Greek sea goddess. She is the mother of the Nereids, the fifty nymphs of the sea and ocean. In Latin records of Greek mythology, her name is sometimes used to refer to the sea itself.[14]
15

Eileithyia

  1. Eileithyia is the Greek goddess of childbirth.
    She is also known as the goddess of birth pain and carries a torch to symbolize bringing babies into the light of the world. Eileithyia is the daughter of Zeus and Hera, who rule over Mount Olympus and the twelve Olympians.[15]
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16

Elpis

  1. Elpis is the Greek goddess of hope. She was said to be the only deity that remained in Pandora’s box after it was opened and the evils of the world were released to run amuck. She is often portrayed as holding a fresh flower.[16]
17

Enyo

  1. Enyo is the Greek goddess of destruction. She delights in warfare, bloodshed, and the destruction of towns. In battle, she often accompanies Ares, the major war god of the twelve Olympians.[17]
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18

Eos

  1. Eos is the Titaness goddess of the dawn. She is often portrayed as a young woman with wings, moving in a horse-drawn chariot to bring the rising sun across the sky. Along with being the personification of dawn, she dispenses dew on the world below.[18]
    • While she is sometimes depicted as simply pouring dew out of a pitcher as she sails across the sky, other stories claim dew comes from Eos’ tears falling after her son’s death.
19

Eris

  1. Eris is the Greek goddess of chaos and discord. While she is also associated with war and bloodshed, she takes more pleasure in wreaking havoc however possible.[19]
    • Most famously, Eris is the goddess who threw the golden apple among the top Greek goddesses, claiming it belonged to the “fairest of them all.”
    • This action by Eris effectively kickstarted the events that led up to the Trojan War, as detailed in Homer’s The Iliad.
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20

Gaia

  1. Gaia is the Greek goddess of the Earth.
    She is the mother of all, often called “Mother Earth.” Among other important mythological figures, she gave birth to the Titans.[20]
    • Her arguably most famous offspring, Cronus, would go on to father the younger generation of important gods, including Zeus, Hades, and Poseidon.
    • In both ancient and modern times, Gaia (or Gaea) symbolizes femininity, nature, fertility, and spirit.
    • She remains a popular deity in modern Paganism, Wicca, and other nature-based religions.
21

Harmonia

  1. Harmonia is the Greek goddess of harmony and concord. She was the daughter of Ares, god of war, and Aphrodite, goddess of beauty and love. As her name suggests, Harmonia was thought to bring symmetry and order to the universe.
    • Harmonia and her husband, Cadmus, were eventually transformed into snakes as an act of protection by Zeus.[21]
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22

Hebe

  1. Hebe is the Greek goddess of youth. Hebe has many roles as a daughter of Zeus: she fills the gods' cups with nectar, helps Hera attach horses to her chariot, and bathes and dresses her brother Areas.[22]
    • In some accounts, she was married to Heracles, a celebrated Greek hero and demigod later known as Hercules.
23

Hecate

  1. Hecate is the Greek goddess of magic, witchcraft, and necromancy. She’s also associated with crossroads, ghosts, and the moon. She has many attributes, including being able to point you in the right direction when you don’t know where to turn, whether physically or symbolically.[23]
    • When spells are cast, Hecate is the one being invoked. Her connection to the phases of the moon explains modern witchcraft’s focus on performing lunar rituals.
    • She is often depicted as a triple goddess with three heads: dog, horse, and lion or snake.
    • Hecate is thought to originate from Heket, the Egyptian goddess of childbirth.
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24

Hemera

  1. Hemera is the Greek goddess of the daytime. Although she’s the daughter of the god of darkness and goddess of night, she was the first goddess of daylight. Her main role is to bring daylight every morning by pulling away the darkness of her father, Erebus.[24]
25

Hygeia

  1. Hygea is the Greek goddess of good health and cleanliness.
    Her association with sanitation brings us the modern English word “hygiene.” She is known to grant good health, both physically and mentally. She carries a sacred snake that combines with the Rod of Asclepius to make the modern symbol for medicine.[25]
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26

Iris

  1. Iris is the Greek goddess of the rainbow. She also serves as a messenger of the gods, carrying information between gods themselves and between gods and mortals. The rainbow, as it appears in nature, is thought to be a visible flicker of Iris delivering a message to or from the gods.[26]
    • Iris is most often seen in the service of Hera, but she also delivered frequent messages for Zeus and heroes like Achilles.
27

Cotys

  1. Cotys is a Greek goddess of debauchery. Sharing similarities with Dionysus, the Greek god of wine-making and festivity, Cotys loved immodesty, mischief, and frivolity. She was often celebrated and worshipped with riotous parties on hillsides.[27]
    • Cotys was worshipped by the Thracians, an ancient group of tribes inhabiting parts of modern-day Turkey, Bulgaria, and Greece.
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28

Metis

  1. Metis is the Titan goddess of wisdom. She is also the goddess of advice, good counsel, cunning, and craftiness. Metis was Zeus’ first wife before Hera, but she gave Zeus a prophecy that she would bear a daughter and son who would later take over rulership of the world from their father.[28]
    • Displeased with the prophecy, Zeus swallowed Metis whole.
    • However, she was already pregnant with Athena, who later was born from Zeus’ head and became the major Greek goddess of wisdom.
    • Metis also plays an important role in the overthrow of Cronus, to whom she gave a vomit-inducing potion so he would eject the children he devoured.
    • Those children were the siblings who originated the twelve Olympians.
29

Nemesis

  1. Nemesis is the Greek goddess of retribution and vengeance. She encourages a moral respect for the law, creating both guilt and conscience in mortals and gods. She would humble humans who had received too much good fortune by bringing them loss and suffering.[29]
    • Nemesis is often depicted holding a whip or a pair of scales, symbolizing her commitment to justice and admonishing those who offend the natural fairness of the world.[30]
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30

Nike

  1. Nike is the Greek goddess of victory.
    She was among the first to offer Zeus help against the Titans, for which he gave her an eternal home on Mount Olympus. To this day, Nike has a celebrated temple on the Acropolis of Athens and has also been memorialized as the namesake of the famed sportswear brand.[31]
31

Nyx

  1. Nyx is the Greek goddess of the night. As night personified, she strikes awe in all gods and men, including Zeus himself. She gave birth to many important minor gods and goddesses, including Thanatos and Hypnos, the personifications of death and sleep, respectively.[32]
    • Nyx is usually described as a winged goddess covered with a dark garment, riding in a chariot accompanied by the stars.
    • She resided in the Underworld under Hades’ rule.
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32

Peitho

  1. Peitho is the Greek goddess of persuasion and seduction. She is closely linked to Aphrodite, the top goddess of love and beauty. Peitho’s main role was bringing couples together, even in difficult circumstances.[33]
    • She would adorn women with jewelry to make them more beautiful to men, or help a man persuade a young woman’s family to let him marry her.
    • In other stories, Peitho would bring couples physically close together so they could be struck by Eros’s arrow and fall in love.
33

Persephone

  1. Persephone is the Greek goddess of springtime and vegetation. Also known as Kore, she is the beloved daughter of Demeter, who was abducted by Hades while picking flowers in a meadow. When asked to return Persephone to her mother by Zeus, Hades makes Persephone eat six pomegranate seeds.[34]
    • Due to the pomegranate seeds, Persephone must spend six months of the year as Hades’ wife and Queen of the Underworld.
    • According to Greek myth, this is why we experience seasons.
    • Autumn and winter happen while Persephone is in the Underworld, but her return to Earth brings spring and summer.
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34

Pheme

  1. Pheme is the Greek goddess of fame and gossip. She bestows notability and renown on people she favors but spreads scandalous information about those who wrong her. Pheme is described as a winged creature full of feathers, which she uses to slyly peer at others and then fly from place to place spreading her rumors.[35]
35

Rhea

  1. Rhea is the Titaness goddess of nature.
    She is known as “the mother of the gods.” Rhea gave birth to some of the most important of the twelve Olympians, including Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, Demeter, Hera, and Hestia.[36]
    • When her husband Cronus decided to swallow their children, Rhea decided to hide Zeus and trick Cronus by giving him a stone instead of the baby.
    • This act by Rhea allowed Zeus to later rescue his siblings after he was fully grown.
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36

Selene

  1. Selene is the Greek goddess of the moon. Like her brother Helios does to bring the sun across the sky, Selene pulls the moon across the sky in a chariot drawn by two white horses.[37] She is also the patron saint of wizards and magicians.[38]
    • Selene is depicted as pale, beautiful, and alluring—but she is coy and secretive like the moon.
    • She is selective with who sees her and when, preferring to peek out behind the clouds so others can get a glimpse of her.
    • Selene wasn’t particularly worshipped by the Greeks, likely because their attention was focused on their major moon goddess, Artemis.
    • Her Roman equivalent, Luna, was hugely important to the ancient Romans.
37

Styx

  1. Styx is the Greek goddess of the river Styx. With a name meaning “hate” or “abhor,” the river she rules over connects the mortal world to the Underworld. Styx is also the goddess upon which all solemn oaths are sworn, which must be completed by drinking a glass of icy water from the river Styx.[39]
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38

Themis

  1. Themis is the Titan goddess of divine order and law. She reigns over justice and equity, often depicted with a blindfold and scales. She also is said to have prophetic powers, having resided as the oracle of Delphi for some time.[40]
    • As one of Zeus’ wives, she gave birth to the Horae and the Fates, two important groups of goddesses.
39

Thetis

  1. Thetis is a Greek river goddess and water nymph. Thetis’ most influential role in Greek mythology is as the mother of Achilles. Since his father was mortal, she tried to give Achilles more power by grabbing him by the heel and dipping him in the river Styx.[41]
    • Achilles became an extremely powerful and (mostly) immortal hero who notably fought in the Trojan War.
    • However, his heel ended up being his fatal point of weakness, giving us the modern phrase “Achilles heel.”
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40

Tyche

  1. Tyche is the Greek goddess of chance and fortune.
    She bestows good luck, prosperity, and success on those she believes deserve it. Tyche is depicted differently depending on the historical source, impacting her potential attributes and powers.
    • When shown with a rudder, she guides and conducts the general affairs of the world.
    • When shown with a ball, she represents the fickleness of fortune and good luck.
    • When shown with a cornucopia, she symbolizes the plentiful gifts of prosperity.
41

The Erinnyes

  1. The Erinnyes are goddesses that bring curses on guilty criminals. This group of angry goddesses are charged with hunting or searching after wrongdoers. They punish crimes like disobedience toward parents, perjury, murder, violation of the law of hospitality, and the violation of respect toward the elderly.[42]
    • The Erinnyes were called Eumenides (“the well-meaning”) as a euphemism by people who were afraid to call the frightening goddesses by their real names.
    • The goddesses are depicted as Gorgon-like winged creatures with black serpents in their hair and blood dripping from their eyes.
    • They reside beneath the Underworld in Tartarus, where they rest until called into action by a curse on a criminal.
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42

The Fates

  1. The Fates were three goddesses who ruled over each human's life. According to Greek mythology, each human’s life path and actions were predestined and could not be changed, even with free will. The Fates, or the Moirai, knew what choices each person would ultimately make, and each had an important role in weaving each person’s fate.[43]
    • Clotho is the “Spinner.” She would weave the thread of each human’s life while they’re in the womb. Each thread represented one human life and followed the path of their future choices, actions, and consequences.
    • Lachesis is the “Allotter.” She would measure the thread of a human’s life and decide how long they would live and how many challenges they would face.
    • Atropos is the most stubborn and unavoidable of the Fates, as the one tasked with cutting a human’s thread of fate. Her role is to decide how to end each human’s life before sending them to the Underworld for judgment.
43

The Graces

  1. The Graces were a goddess trio personifying charm, and beauty. They are considered to be youthful and pleasant givers of beauty in all forms, from dancing and poetry to physical and intellectual grace. The Graces, also known as the Kharites or Charites, are often depicted in art and literature.[44]
    • The most common grouping of the three Graces are Aglaea, Euphrosyne, and Thalia. The Graces personify radiance, joy, and blooming, respectively.
    • Alternate members of the Graces include Antheia, the Greek goddess of flowers, marshes, and gardens.
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44

The Horae

  1. The Horae were a group of goddesses ruling over seasons and time. Later, they were viewed as goddesses of order and justice—transferring their power over seasons in nature into humankind and society. They stood at the gates of Olympus and admitted those who had the right to enter.[45]
    • As goddesses of the seasons, they were named Thallo (Spring), Carpo (Autumn), and Auxo (Summer). Thallo would carry flowers, Carpo grapes, and Auxo corn.
    • In their depiction as goddesses of justice, they were named Eunomia, Dike, and Eirene.
    • Eunomia looked after state life, Dike protected humankind's moral order, and Eirene ensured peace on Earth.
45

The Keres

  1. The Keres are female demons that represent violent death. Each of the Keres goddesses represents a different kind of death. They are described as wearing clothing stained with human blood and are often seen dragging the dead and wounded around during battle.[46]
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46

The Muses

  1. The Muses are a group of sister goddesses who ruled over the arts. They are the patron gods of poets, musicians, and all learners of liberal arts and sciences. In commonly accepted mythology, there are nine muses, led by Calliope. They were a common decoration choice for ancient sculptors.[47]
    • Calliope: Muse of heroic or epic poetry, often holding a writing tablet.
    • Clio: Muse of history, often holding a scroll.
    • Erato: Muse of lyric and love poetry, often playing a lyre.
    • Euterpe: Muse of music, often playing a flute.
    • Melpomene: Muse of tragedy, often holding a tragic drama mask.
    • Polymnia: Muse of sacred poetry or the mimic art, often shown with a pensive expression.
    • Terpsichore: Muse of dancing and choral music, often dancing or playing a lyre.
    • Thalia: Muse of comedy, often holding a comic drama mask.
    • Urania: Muse of astronomy, often holding a globe.
47

The Pleiades

  1. The Pleiades are the seven daughter goddesses of the Titan Atlas.
    These mountain nymphs were highly sought after by the gods, but they served as companions of Artemis, the goddess of the hunt. Eventually, Zeus transformed the goddesses into seven stars (now known as the Taurus constellation) to escape Orion’s romantic attention.[48]
    • Maia: The eldest sister and reportedly the most beautiful. She gave birth to Hermes after Zeus forced himself on her while she slept. The month of May is named after her.
    • Electra: Also pursued by Zeus, Electra gave birth to two sons, one of whom was an early ancestor of the Trojans.
    • Taygete: After pleading with Artemis to escape Zeus’ advances, Taygete was turned into a deer. However, she was already pregnant with Zeus’ child, who would become the first king of Sparta.
    • Alcyone: Closely associated with peace and tranquility, Alcyone shines as the brightest star in her sisters’ constellation.
    • Celaeno: Celaeno was also courted by Poseidon, bearing two sons who became the kings of the Fortunate Islands, which made up the Kingdom of the Blessed in the Greek afterlife.
    • Sterope: Sought after by the war god Ares, Sterope gave birth to a son, the ancestor of the famed Greek King Agamemnon.
    • Merope: The last and youngest of the Pleiades is the dimmest star in their constellation. She escaped the attention of the gods and married the mortal Sisyphus, whom Zeus famously punished to roll a rock up a hill for eternity.
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