Cast of Characters: Greek Gods

Plus our Primordials, Titans, Monsters, Mortals & more!

A Handful

Are you starting to lose track of who some of these characters are? Have you forgotten which one is the God of Travel and which one is the God of Trickery? (Same god.) Feeling overwhelmed by all these A-name characters? Oh, my Gods, and all those E-names, some of which are super similar to the A-names? I mean…Eos, Eros, Eris, Iris, Ares—AGHHH!

I built this guide to help you keep track of it all. Ahem—sorta. This list is by no means comprehensive, especially when so many of the most (in)famous figures haven’t even been born yet. Heck, Dionysos is only six moons old and is years away from being deified, the Trojan War is a lonnnng way off, Haides doesn’t even have judges in the Underworld yet, and Herakles isn’t so much as a spark zinging around in Zeus’ bolt.

This list also is restricted to the versions of the myths that I have chosen or interwoven from the many, mannnny conflicting sources, rather than including all their different origins and attributes possible.

I’d say we have plenty to remember just with the characters we need to be actively concerned about. So here they are!

(And yes, there are some major spoilers to our plot in here. You’ve been warned.)

P.S. EDIT: Unless you’re a super-nerd like me who wants to know AllTheThings, this list was not built for your firehosed reading glub-glub-glub. It was originally built for my beta readers who had trouble keeping track of all the A, E, and H names, and everybody’s gazillion epithets. (Which I have significantly paired down, BTW. Seriously. You have no idea. Greek mythology is, like…epithet city.)

This list is no reason for you to feel overwhelmed. It’s a tool if it helps you, and something to ignore if it doesn’t.

🤓🤪🙃

Choose your learning medium

AUDIO/VIDEO:

ALPHABETICAL

**For your searching ease: to skip down to any letter, do a FIND for “space LETTER space” - for example, if you’re looking up who the BLEEP is Thanatos, search for “space T space” and it’ll bring you straight to the Ts. Because the size of our cast list is pure ridiculata.

A

• Aides/Aidoneus - Haides - the more ancient version of his name

• Agesander - Haides - “the one who carries all away”

• Agesilaos - Haides - “the one who attracts all to him”

• AITHER - Primordial Light who manifests as the the brightly shining, blue air of the Upper Realms

• AKHERON - God of the Underworld’s River of Pain, also called the River of Woe

• ALEKTO - one of the Erinyes (Furies) - “implacable or unceasing anger” - wreaks curses, madness or death with her fiery touch and the blaze of her eyes

• Androgeny & Intersexuality, God of - Hermaphroditos

• ANTEROS - God of Love Returned, Avenger of Unrequited Lovers, one of the Erotes, golden, winged son of Aphrodite and Ares, conceived to keep an enraged Eros in check

• APHRODITE - Goddess of Love & Beauty, born of the foam that arose when Kronos castrated his father Ouranos and threw the genitals into the sea, one of the most ancient goddesses and an honorary Olympian, primary lover of Ares, divorced from Hephaistos

• APOLLO - God of Music, Poetry, Prophesy & Healing, son of Zeus by the Titaness Leto, twin brother of Artemis. Formally APOLLON, but he likes this spelling better because of that prophetic vision he had about a flaming vehicle bearing his name and shooting through the heavens like Helios’ sun-chariot. He thought that was pretty cool. Or rather…hawt.

• AREION - immortal horse borne by Demeter after Poseidon raped her

• ARES - God of War, the only son of Zeus & Hera, primary lover of Aphrodite

• Armored Maiden - Athene

• ARTEMIS - Goddess of the Hunt, Virgin of the Wilds, daughter of Zeus by the Titaness Leto, twin sister of Apollo

• ASKALAPHOS - daimon of the Underworld, Orchardist of Haides

• ASTRAIOS - Titanic God of Astrology & the Stars

• ATHENE - Goddess of Wisdom, Weaving & Warcraft, the Armored Maiden, she sprouted fully grown and armored from the head of Zeus after he devoured his first wife, Metis, Goddess of Wise Counsel

B

• BAUBO - Goddess of Mirth, disguised at Eleusis as the servant “Iambe”

• BRIARIOS - One of the Hundred-Handed Giants who helped the Olympians in the Titan War and freed Zeus when his siblings tried to overthrow him

• Bride of Rot - Persephone

• Bromios - Dionysos’ epithet and the original name Zeus called him after Semele gave birth to him, it means “roaring” for his ability to shape-shift into a bull, and for his role as the “Little Thunderer”

• Bounty, Mistress of - Demeter

• Bringer of Blossomtime - Persephone

• Bringer of Destruction - Persephone

C

• Cattle-Rustler - Hermes

• Chthonic Zeus - Haides - "Zeus of the Underworld" - his most detested mortal-bestowed epithet that he hates even more than Klymenos, which naturally inspires Zeus-Zeus to ensure that this moniker never dies out

• Commander of Multitudes - Haides

• Conductor of Souls - Hermes

• Crossings, Lady of - Hekate

• Crossings, Lord of - Hermes

D

• Dark King - Haides

• Dark Queen - Kampe, the Great Drakaina

• Dawn, Goddess of - Eos

• Dead, King of the - Haides

• Death, Master of - Haides

• Death, God of - Thanatos

• DEIMOS - God of Panic, son of Ares & Aphrodite, twin of Phobos

• DEMETER - Earth Mother, Queen of the Earth, Goddess of Bounty and the Harvest, Mistress of Grains, second daughter of Rhea & Kronos, mother of Persephone by Zeus, and of Despoina and Areion after being raped by Poseidon

• DEMOPHOON - The infant prince of Eleusis that Demeter attempted to immortalize to replace her lost Kore

• Desire, God of - Himeros

• DESPOINA - Daughter of Demeter, born after Poseidon raped her, nobody is allowed to know her true name so she goes by her epithet, “the Mistress.”

• DIONYSOS - God of Wine, Merriment & Madness, the Twice-Born son of Zeus and the demigoddess priestess Semele, born from Zeus’ own thigh after Hera got Semele killed. (He was secretly conceived from the recovered heart of Zagreus, called Thrice-Born by those who know the dirty family laundry.)

• Discord, Goddess of - Eris

• Drakaina, the Great - Kampe

• Dread King - Haides

• Dread Queen - Persephone, previously Kampe

• Dreams, God of - Morpheos

E

• Earth Mother/Queen of the Earth - Demeter

• Earth Herself - Gaia

• Earth-Shaker - Poseidon

• ENYALIOS - minor war-god, son of Ares

• ENYO - Goddess of War

• EOS - Goddess of the Dawn

• EREBOS - Primordial Darkness who occupies all the lightless place within the Earth and the Underworld, born of Khaos, consort of Nyx

• ERINYES - chthonic Goddesses of Vengeance, a.k.a. The Furies, birthed from the droplets of blood shed at the castration of Ouranos. Three winged, snake-haired sisters responsible for wreaking curses and madness upon mortal betrayers, they dwell in the primordial darkness of Erebos:

  • Alekto - “implacable anger”  - a.k.a. Fire

  • Megaira - “jealous rage” - a.k.a. Acid

  • Tisiphone - “vengeful destruction” - a.k.a. Ice

• ERIS - Goddess of Discord, Bringer of Strife, daughter of Nyx—one of the many children the Goddess of Night birthed without mating

• EROS - Love Primordial, one of the most ancient beings in creation, formed just after Khaos and Gaia, incarnated into winged immortal flesh by the union of Aphrodite & Ares to become the Olympian God of Love, also known as the Cherub, the Matchmaker, and the Lord of Lust, he comes armed with two types of arrows—those with gold tips and those with lead

• EROTES - The golden, winged love-god sons of Aphrodite by Ares:

  • Eros - Love Incarnate

  • Anteros - God of Love Returned

  • Himeros - God of Desire

  • Hedylogos - God of Sweet-Talk

  • Hymenaios - God of Marriage & Weddings

  • Pothos - God of Longing

  • And by Hermes: Hermaphroditos - God of Androgeny & Intersexuality

F

• Fates - The Moirai

• Ferryman - Kharon

• Flame, Mistress of - Hestia

• Forge & Fire, God of - Hephaistos

• Furies - The Erinyes

G

• GAIA - Primordial Earth Herself, the second being to emerge at creation after Khaos, she gave birth to a boatload of primordials, creatures, monsters and Titans. Many came from her mating with Ouranos, but not all.

• Grains, Mistress of - Demeter

H

• HAIDES - Lord of the Underworld, King of the Dead, Divine Warden, He of Many, Many, Many Names, eldest son of Rhea & Kronos, originally an Olympian but he was transformed into a chthonic being when he ate the food of the Underworld and bound himself permanently to that realm

• HARMONIA - Goddess of Harmony, only daughter of Aphrodite & Ares, mother of Semele by the mortal Kadmos

• Harmony, Goddess of - Harmonia

• HARPIES - The half-bird/half-woman daimons of Zeus who snatch mortals from the Earth, a trio were sent down as a gift to Haides for use in the pits of Tartaros

• Harvest, Goddess of the - Demeter

• Hearth, Goddess of the - Hestia

• Heavens, King of the - Zeus

• Heavens, Queen of the - Hera

• HEDYLOGOS - God of Sweet-Talk and Flattery, one of the Erotes, golden, winged son of Aphrodite and Ares

• HEKATE - Mistress of Magic, Mystery & Moon, Divine Sorceress, Lady of Crossings, triple-formed Titaness who sees the past, present and future, the only goddess granted Olympian sanction to cross at will between the Upper & Lower Realms

• HEKATONKHERIES - a.k.a. Hundred-Handers, the hundred-armed, fifty-headed storm-giants, a trio of monstrous sons of Gaia & Ouranos that were so hated by their father that he buried them in the earth, allies of the Olympians in the Titan War

• HELIOS - Titan God of the Sun

• He of Many Names - Haides

• HEPHAISTOS - God of Forge & Fire, Master of Metalwork, Lord of Automatons, son of Hera from her attempt to spontaneously create a child without a father to get back at Zeus, but he was born lame so his mother pitched him off Mount Olympos, since he had never suckled at her breast or eaten divine ambrosia, the damaged to his face and body became permanent, divorced from Aphrodite

• HERA - Goddess of Marriage, Queen of the Heavens & Olympos, Mistress of the Stars, youngest daughter of Rhea & Kronos, wife of Zeus, mother of Ares, Hebe, Eileithyia and Hephaistos

• HERMAPHRODITOS - God of Androgyny & Intersexuality, one of the Erotes, golden, winged child of Hermes & Aphrodite, permanently fused with the naiad Salmakis

• HERMES - God of Travel, Trade & Trickery, Conductor of Souls, personal messenger of Zeus, the only god granted Olympian sanction to cross at will between the Upper & Lower Realms, son of Zeus and the star nymph Maia

• HESPERIDES - Goddess-Nymphs of the Sunset

• HESTIA - Goddess of Hearth & Home, Mistress of Flame, eldest daughter of Rhea & Kronos, sworn virgin, gave up her seat on the Olympian Council to Dionysos after his deification

• HIMEROS - God of Sexual Desire, one of the Erotes, golden, winged son of Aphrodite and Ares

• Host of Many (A Ghost) - Haides

• Hound of Haides - Kerberos

• Hundred-Handers - Hekatonkheires

• Hunt, Goddess of the - Artemis

• HYMENAIOS - God of Marriage & Weddings, one of the Erotes, golden, winged son of Aphrodite and Ares

• HYPNOS - God of Sleep

I

• Iambe - Covert name of Baubo, Goddess of Mirth, while disguised as a servant at Eleusis

• IRIS - Goddess of Rainbows, Divine Messenger, carries the pitcher of waters from the River Styx upon which immortals swear their most sacred oaths

K

• KADMOS - Mortal husband of Harmonia, King of Thebes, transformed into a snake after he slew one of Ares’ drakonian sons

• KAMPE - the Great Drakaina and first Queen of the Underworld, Her Un-nameable Majesty, Zeus lightning-blasted her and dumped her ashes into the River of Forgetting, her throne was first given to Poseidon but then the three brothers drew official lots and it was given to Haides. (Haides is pretty sure his brothers fixed those lots just to screw him, but more the fool them. He prefers the raucous, mischievous Underworld to petty, bickering Olympos.)

• KERES - Winged daimons of Violent Death

• Klymenos - Haides, “the illustrious one”

• Kore - Persephone, “the maiden”, the epithet most used in place of her name

• KERBEROS - three-headed hound of Haides who guards the Gate of Shades against anyone who tries to leave the Underworld

• KEUTHONYMOS - Daimon of the Underworld, the only one brave enough to deliver urgent messages to Haides when the Chthonic King is not to be disturbed

• King of Cruelty - Haides

• King of Shades - Haides

• King of the Gods/Heavens/Olympos - Zeus

• King of the Sea - Poseidon

• King of the Titans - Kronos

• KHAOS - The first primordial being of creation who manifests as colorless misty air of the Mortal Realm

• KHARON - The daimon ferryman who carries the souls of the dead across the Akherousian Mere from the Gate of Shades to the House of Judgment, son of Nyx & Erebos, best friend of Haides

• KOKYTOS - God of the Underworld’s River of Wailing, also called the River of Tears

• KRONOS - Deposed King of the Titans, Master of Time, father of the First Generation Olympians, five of whom he swallowed for fear of being overthrown, currently resides in the Palace of Hours in the Underworld’s Isles of the Blessed (except when he torques off Haides, then he is chucked back into Tartaros with the rest of his Titan brothers, which is…like…every other year)

• KYKLOPSES - One-eyed monstrous sons of Gaia & Ouranos, were also buried inside the earth by their father and aided the Olympians in the Titan War, gave Zeus the lightning bolt, Poseidon the trident, and Haides the Helmet of Invisibility

• KYANE - a naiad daughter of Okeanos, transformed into a spring when she  fell into the earth as Haides snatched Persephone

L

• LEUKE - a nymph, daughter of Okeanos, lover of Haides who carried her off into the Underworld, after her death she was transformed into a white poplar in the Elysian Fields

• LETHE - Goddess of the Underworld’s River of Forgetting, a.k.a. the River of Oblivion

• Longing, God of - Pothos

• Lordling Light - Apollo

• Love, God of - Eros, after he incarnated as the son of Aphrodite and Ares

• Love, Goddess of - Aphrodite

• Love Gods - The Erotes

• Love Primordial - EROS

• Love Returned, God of - Anteros

M

• Magic, Mystery & Moon, Mistress of - Hekate

• MATANEIRA - Queen of Eleusis, mother of Demophoon

• Marriage, Goddess of - Hera

• Marriage & Weddings, God of - Hymenaios

• MEGAIRA - youngest of the Erinyes (Furies) - “jealous rage” - wreaks curses, madness, or death with her acidic breath or kiss

• Memory, Goddess of - Mnemosene

• Messenger of the Gods - Iris

• Messenger of Zeus - Hermes

• MINTHE - Nymph from the River Kokytos, Haides’ most frequent and longstanding lover prior to his marriage, transformed into a mint plant for insulting Persephone and trying to seduce her husband

• MELINOE - Daughter of Persephone, born after Zeus raped her while wearing Haides’ Helmet of Invisibility, born half-dark/half-light

• MOIRAI - the three Goddesses of Fate

  • Klotho - "the Spinner," who spun the thread of life

  • Lakhesis - "the Apportioner of Lots", who measured it

  • Atropos - "She Who Cannot Be Turned," who cut it short.

• Moon, Titanic Goddess of the - Selene

  • Goddess of the Dark Moon, as well as the Threefold Goddess - Hekate

  • Artemis is also related to the moon, in the way that Apollo is related to the sun.

• MORPHEUS - Leader of the Onieroi, the dark-winged daimons of dreams

• MNEMOSENE - Titanic Goddess of Memory

N

• NEMESIS - Goddess of indignation against, and retribution for, evil deeds and undeserved good fortune

• Nekrodegmon - Haides, “Entertainer of the Dead”

• NIKE - Goddess of Victory

• Notorious One - Haides

• NYX - Night Primordial, born of Khaos, mother of many daimons and immortals, many of whom she birthed on her own, and many others who came from her mating with Erebos

O

• Oath-Maker - Iris

• Oath-Keeper - Styx

• OKEANOS - Titanic God of the River Okeanos, the great earth-encircling river and source of all fresh water

• OKEANIDS - daughters of Okeanos, nymphs and playmates of Kore (there are more but these are the ones we know:

  • Admete

  • Akaste

  • Galaxaura

  • Kalypso

  • Kyane

  • Leukippe

  • Okyrrhoe

  • Phaino

  • Rhodeia

  • Styx - see below

• OLYMPIAN COUNCIL - The twelve ruling Olympians:

  • Zeus

  • Hera

  • Poseidon

  • Demeter

  • Athene

  • Ares

  • Aphrodite

  • Hephaistos

  • Apollo

  • Artemis

  • Hermes

  • Hestia—who later gave up her seat to Dionysos after his deification

• OLYMPIANS, First Generation - Born of Kronos and Rhea

  • Hestia

  • Demeter

  • Hera

  • Haides

  • Poseidon

  • Zeus

• OLYMPIANS, Second Generation - offspring of First Generation Olympians allowed have temples on Olympos or dwell in the temple of a parent:

  • Athene

  • Persephone

  • Ares

  • Hebe

  • Eileithyia

  • Zagreus (and therefore Dionysos once he is deified)

  • Apollo

  • Artemis

  • Hephaistos

  • Hermes

  • (Honorary: Aphrodite)

• OLYMPIANS, Third Generation - offspring of Second Generation Olympians allowed to reside in Olympos or reside in the temple of a parent:

  • Eros & the Erotes

  • Harmonia

• OURANOS - Primordial Sky, birthed of Gaia and fathered upon her the Titans, Kyklopses, and Hundred-Handers, his castration by Kronos birthed Aphrodite, the Giants, and the Erinyes (Furies)

P

• Panic, God of - Deimos

• PELOPS - son of Tantalos, killed by his father and served for supper at a banquet of the Gods

• PERSEPHONE - a.k.a. Kore (“the maiden”), Bringer of Blossomtime, Sprite of Light, daughter of Demeter by Zeus, wife of Haides, Queen of the Underworld, Goddess of Springtime, mother of Zagreus and Melinoe

• PHOBOS - God of Terror, son of Ares & Aphrodite, twin of Deimos

• Poetry & Music, God of - Apollo

• POSEIDON - God of the Sea, Earth-Shaker, Lord of Flood & Drought, Master of Horses, second son of Rhea & Kronos

• POTHOS - God of Longing, one of the Erotes, golden, winged son of Aphrodite and Ares

• Praxidike - Persephone, “bringer of justice”

• Prince of the Mount - Dionysos (refers to both Mounts Olympos and Nysa)

• Prophesy, Lord of - Astraios.

  • For the prophetic Olympian God, see Apollo

• PYRIPHLEGETHON - God of the Underworld’s River of Fire

R

• Rainbows, Goddess of - Iris

• RHEA - Queen of the Titans, Mother of the Gods, Mistress of Flowing Fertility, wife of Kronos, mother of the six First Generation Olympians, deceived her husband to free their five children he had swallowed by feeding him a stone instead of their sixth—Zeus, who was raised to overthrow the Titan King

• RIVERS OF THE UNDERWORLD—

  • River of Fire - Pyriphlegethon

  • River of Forgetting/Oblivion - Lethe

  • River of Hate - Styx

  • River of Pain/Woe - Akheron

  • River of Wailing/Tears - Kokytos

S

• Sea King - Poseidon

• SELENE - Titanic Goddess of the Moon

• Shades, King of - Haides

• SEMELE - Demigoddess daughter of Harmonia and Kadmos, inherited her mother’s cursed necklace, mother of Dionysos by Zeus, while she was pregnant she was tricked by Hera into maneuvering Zeus to show her his immortal form which blasted her to ash

• SIRENS: Three half-bird sea nymph sisters who lure sailors to their doom, originally they were handmaidens of Persephone until Haides abducted her and Demeter cursed them

  • Aglaophonos

  • Molpe

  • Thelxiope

• Sky King - Zeus

  • Primordial Sky - see Ouranos

• Sleep, God of - Hypnos

• Sorcery, Mistress of/Divine Sorceress - Hekate

• Springtide, Soul of - Persephone/Kore

• Spring, Goddess of - Persephone/Kore

• Sprite of Light/Night - Persephone/Kore

• Stars, God of the - Astraos

• STYX - Goddess of the Underworld’s River of Hate

• Sweet-Talk, God of - Hedylogos

• Sun, God of the - Helios

T

• TANTALOS - Demigod son of Zeus, killed his son Pelops and served him for supper at a banquet for the Gods, punished with eternal damnation in Tartaros

• TARTAROS - Primordial Pit of Storms, lying beneath the foundation of the earth, in these pits the most wicked of souls are purified through torture prior to reincarnation, the unredeemable are tormented for eternity, including the Titans who lost the Titanomachy against the Olympians

• Terror, God of - Phobos

• THANATOS - God of Non-Violent Death

• Thresher - Persephone

• Time, Master of - Kronos

• TISIPHONE - one of the Erinyes (Furies) - “vengeful destruction” - wreaks curses, madness and death with her icy breath and touch

• TITANS/TITANESSES - Six male and six female offspring of Gaia & Ouranos, who then gave birth to younger Titans, other immortals, and the First Generation Olympians

• Tormentor of Tartaros - Haides

• Twice-Born - Dionysos

  • (Also called the Thrice-Born for those who know the dirty family secret that he was once the murdered Zagreus)

• Thunderer - Zeus

U

• Underworld, Lord/King of the - Haides

• Underworld, Queen of the - Persephone

• Underworld, First Queen of the - Kampe

• Un-nameable Majesty - Kampe

• Unseen One - Haides

W

• War, God of - Ares

• War, Goddess of - Enyo

• Warcraft, Goddess of - Athene

• War-god, minor - Enyalios - son of Ares

• Weaving & Wisdom, Goddess of - Athene

Y

Young/Little Thunderer - Dionysos

Z

• ZAGREUS - Son of Persephone when Zeus took her maidenhood in sneaky drakonian form. After being named Prince of Olympos, the powerful, horned child was destroyed by Titans on command of Hera, his heart was saved and implanted into the womb of Semele, only to be blasted to ash at the underhanded death of his second mother. Zeus sewed the remains inside his thigh and gave birth to Dionysos, which is why he is called the Thrice-Born for those who are privy to the family’s dirty laundry and know his full history as Zagreus.

• ZEUS - King of Olympos, God of the Sky, Master of the Heavens, Lord of Order, Law & Lightning, youngest child of Rhea & Kronos, the only First Generation Olympian who was not swallowed by Kronos

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FAMILY TREES

The Family Tree of Primordials, Titans & Olympian Gods - or should I say, a really nice attempt to put the whole intertwined, ouroborosian mess into a 2D format. Well, as best we can, given how complicated it is even without the gazillion different conflicting versions, ancient origins, and shifts throughout history. Hahahah! Extra tidbits of those examples can be found in the Reddit comments by people who are even nerdier about this stuff than I am.

Not nearly as comprehensive but far more entertaining: I had to include this one for “Sea Foam” alone. 🤣😈🤣😈🤣😈🤣

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Not accustomed to reading serial fiction via email? I’ve made Table of Contents pages for easier navigation:

• The 1st Seed: KORE & KLYMENOS

• The 2nd Seed: LOVE & WAR

Plus, there’s a slick app that makes this so much nicer. Like an e-reader, it keeps track of which posts you’ve read, as well as bookmarking where you left off in the post. Check it out!

© 2021 Hartebeast