The Olympians

(Most??) Prominent Account of Who They Olympians Are:


The Olympians are usually considered as 12 deities, or 'The
Twelve' deities who interacted directly with mankind. Their
parents were not typically known to interact directly in human
affairs, however, the Olympians certainly did, to a startling
degree. Zeus had several sexual liasons with human females,
creating demi-gods/goddesses (half-deity and half-human) who
had mortal lives accompanied by some special, supernatural
'powers.'

The Olympians are 6 main siblings, headed by Zeus in the
dominant 'leader' role. What Zeus says, GOES...whenever Zeus
can clearly make up his mind - and if he doesn't change his mind
too often!

Zeus' SISTERS: Hera, Demeter, Hestia.
Zeus' BROTHERS: Poseidon and Hades.

Altogether, the largely accepted siblings are Zeus, Hera,
Demeter, Hestia, Poseidon, and Hades.

To round out the twelve, six of Hera and Zeus' children are
counted: Apollo and Artemis, Athena (reputed to be Zeus' favorite), Hephaestus (least liked by Zeus), Ares, and Hermes.

What about Aphrodite, you ask? Yeah........ she's in there - but
we already have 12 Olympians. There's no room for more. Mount
Olympus is FULL ALREADY!

Okay - so let's regroup these Olympia-based deities then:

How 'bout......Zeus and Hera, with their kids - or Zeus' kids along
with Hera's kids:

Aphrodite, Dionysus, Athena, Apollo and Artemis, Hephaestus,
Ares, Hermes..........wait a minute.....that's EIGHT kids...

Yeah I know, I know - it's confusing isn't it?

Okay - THE TWELVE OLYMPIANS - final answer:

Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Demeter, Hestia, Aphrodite, Hades, Apollo and Artemis, Athena, Hephaestus, Ares, Hermes, Dionysus (He is Zeus' son) - there you have it - the most common list of 14 of the TWELVE OLYMPIANS!

Yeah - I know, I know, again...it appears that I cannot count.
All I can say is.....

GET USED TO IT.

Make a choice...pick two deities and toss them OUT for now -
add them back in later when the 'myth' accounts require them!
That's all I can say. I cannot decide WHO of the 14 deities is
TRUE OLYMPIAN....they all are, according to dozens of
mythological renderings. I cannot say which 12 of the 14 are
MOST IMPORTANT.....because they all are.

As a really long strettttttttch of a notion, one may say that
because one of Zeus' daughters was born from his body (from his thigh) without a mother, that 'birth' is considered OUT...and take 1 other of the 12 'births' away because Apollo and Artemis are TWINS so there was only 1 birth experience.....that will get you to 12 instances of Olympians created.

No - this last part (about taking 2 away due to only 12 'birthing'
experiences) is NOT in a text-book - it was an explanation offered
by a peer during READING WEEK at the University when we
were collectively CRAMMING for mid-terms in
Mythology/Classics! As far as explanations go - you'll find that
it makes MORE SENSE than some of the ancient Greek
explanations or compared to instances where no explanations at
all can be found for deities who suddenly pop up where least
expected. Actually - the far-fetched explanation is almost 'Greek/myth' itself because it is INCONSISTENT with the fact that one account of another of Zeus' children, 'birthed' from his body alone tells of a daughter being born from a split in his head.....as if he 'thought her up??' LOL So.......then we can take away another 'birth' that wasn't 'regular' and have only 11 Olympians!

Yeah - I don't like that last bit, either - it's EASIER to just accept
that there are more than Twelve original Olympians, call them
"THE TWELVE" and move along to the GOOD STUFF!

By the way, along with these 12-14 deities, there are also Hebe
("Youth"), Eileithyia, Phobos, Deimos, Harmonia, and Eros
included under this Olympian family tree!

Don't check these latter folk out yet 'cos they're likely to damage
your sensibilities as they come from brother-sister unions,
mother-brother unions...........yeah, it all gets very complicated
FAST!

Actually - if you've read up to this point, you're probably
confused as all heck. This is about enough information for one
sitting!

More on the Olympians next time. I'll post about what the
Olympians were 'in charge of' - example, Zeus plays a leader and
father role, Hera's concerns were for 'the family,' Poseidon ruled
the seas, etc...