Twelve Olympians
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[[Image:Olympians.jpg|thumb|right|200px|The [[Twelve Olympians]] by [[Nicolas-André Monsiau|Monsiau]], circa late 18th century.]]
The '''Twelve Olympians''', also known as the ''Dodekatheon'' ([[Greek language|Greek]]: '''Δωδεκάθεον''' < δωδεκα, dodeka, "twelve" + θεον, theon, "of the gods"), in [[Greek mythology]], were the principal [[Greek Gods|god]]s of the Greek [[pantheon (gods)|pantheon]], residing atop [[Mount Olympus]]. The classical scheme of the Twelve Olympians (the Canonical Twelve of art and poetry) comprises the following gods: [[Zeus]], [[Hera]], [[Poseidon]], [[Demeter]], [[Ares]], [[Hermes]], [[Hephaestus]], [[Aphrodite]], [[Athena]], [[Apollo]], [[Artemis]], [[Hestia]]. The respective Roman scheme comprises the following gods: [[Jupiter (mythology)|Jupiter]], [[Juno (mythology)|Juno]], [[Neptune (mythology)|Neptune]], [[Ceres (mythology)|Ceres]], [[Mars (mythology)|Mars]], [[Mercury (mythology)|Mercury]], [[Vulcan (mythology)|Vulcan]], [[Venus (mythology)|Venus]], [[Minerva]], [[Apollo]], [[Diana (mythology)|Diana]] and [[Vesta (mythology)|Vesta]].<ref name="PapAm">{{cite encyclopedia|title=Greek mythology|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia Americana|date=1993|volume=13|page=431}}<br>* {{cite encyclopedia|title=Dodekatheon|encyclopedia=Papyros-Larousse-Britanicca|date=2007|language=Greek}}</ref>
There was, however, a great deal of fluidity when it came to who was counted among their number in antiquity;<ref name="Stoll">According to {{cite book | last=Stoll | first=Heinrich Wilhelm (translated by R. B. Paul) | title=Handbook of the religion and mythology of the Greeks| publisher=Francis and John Rivington | year=1852|pages=8|quote=The limitation of their number [of the Olympians] to twelve seems to have been a comparatively modern idea}}</ref> other important gods are sometimes included by certain sources in the group of Twelve replacing some of the above Canonical 12. The first ancient reference of religious ceremonies for the 12 Olympians is found in the [[Homeric Hymn]] to Hermes. Around 400 BC [[Herodorus]] included in his Dodekatheon the following deities: Zeus, Poseidon, Hera, Athena, Hermes, Apollo, [[Alpheus (mythology)|Alpheus]], [[Cronus]], [[Rhea (mythology)|Rhea]] and the [[Charites]].<ref name="Pap">{{cite encyclopedia|title=Dodekatheon|encyclopedia=Papyros-Larousse-Britanicca|date=2007|language=Greek}}</ref> Wilamowitz agrees with Herodorus' version of the 12.<ref name="Wil">{{cite book |title=Der Glaube der Hellenen (Volume 1) |last=Wilamowitz-Moellendorff |first=Ulrich von |authorlink=Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff |coauthors= |year=1931-1932 |publisher=Weidmansche Buchhandlung|location=Berlin |language=Deutch|pages=329}}</ref>
There were also numerous regional variations in ancient Greece. For instance, at Kos, Ares and Hephaestus are left behind, replaced by [[Heracles]] and [[Dionysus]].<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|last=Berger-Doer|first=Gratia|title=Dodekatheoi|encyclopedia=Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae|date=1986|pages=646-658|volume=3}}</ref> [[Herodotus]] agrees with this and counts Heracles as one of the Twelve,<ref name="Herod">[[Herodotus]], ''[[Histories (Herodotus)|The Histories]]'', 2.[http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0126;query=chapter%3D%23259;layout=;loc=2.42.1 43-44]</ref> while [[Lucian]] adds [[Asklepios]] to Heracles as a member of the Twelve, without explaining which two had to give way for them. [[Pindar]] and [[Apollodorus]], however, disagree with this.<ref name="PAp">Pindar, ''Olympian Odes'', 10.[http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0162&query=line%3D%23271 49]</ref> For them, and Herodorus as well, Heracles is not one of the Twelve Gods, but the one who established their cult.<ref name="Pap" /> [[Plato]] connected the Twelve Olympians with the twelve months, and proposed that the final month be devoted to rites in honor of [[Pluto (mythology)|Pluto]] and the spirits of the dead, implying that he considered [[Hades]], one of the basic [[chthonic]] deities, to be one of the Twelve.<ref name="Pl">[[Plato]], ''[[Laws (Plato)|The Laws]]'', 828[http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0166;query=section%3D%23935;layout=;loc=8.828c d-e]</ref> Hades is phased out in later groupings due to his chthonic associations.<ref name="Am">{{cite encyclopedia|title=Greek mythology|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia Americana|date=1993|volume=13|page=431}}</ref> In ''[[Phaedrus (dialogue)|Phaedrus]]'' Plato aligns the Twelve with the Zodiac and would exclude Hestia from their rank.<ref name="Ph246e-f">[[Image:Wikisource-logo.svg|15 px]], Plato: ''[http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Phaedrus Phaedrus]'', 246[http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0174&query=section%3D%23839 e-f]</ref> Hestia is sometimes displaced by Dionysus.<ref name="Am" /> [[Hebe (mythology)|Hebe]], [[Helios]] and [[Persephone]] are other important gods, goddesses, which are sometimes included in a group of twelve. Persephone, daughter of Demeter, was forced to spend 3 months a year in the underworld. During this time, Demeter withheld her graces and caused the barren landscape of winter, until her daughter returned to Mount Olympus.
The Twelve Olympians gained their supremacy in the world of gods after Zeus led his siblings to victory in [[Titanomachy|war]] with the [[Titan (mythology)|Titans]]; Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, Hera, Demeter, and Hestia were siblings; all the other of the Dodekatheon are usually considered the children of Zeus by various mothers, except for Athena, who in some versions of the myth was born of Zeus alone, and Aphrodite who was formed from the castrated phallus of the primordial sky which Cronos threw into the sea when he freed the Titans. Additionally, some versions of the myth state that Hephaestus was born of Hera alone as Hera's revenge for Zeus' solo birth of Athena.
==List of Olympians==
{{Greek myth (Olympian)}}
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Greek Name!!Roman Name!!God(dess) Of...!!Generation
|-
|[[Zeus]]||[[Jupiter (mythology)|Jupiter]]||King of the Gods and ruler of Mount Olympus; god of the sky, thunder, and justice.||First
|-
|[[Hera]]||[[Juno (mythology)|Juno]]||Queen of the Gods and of the heavens; goddess of women, marriage, and motherhood.||First
|-
|[[Poseidon]]||[[Neptune (mythology)|Neptune]]||Lord of the Sea; god of the seas, earthquakes, created horses.||First
|-
|[[Demeter]]||[[Ceres (mythology)|Ceres]]||Goddess of fertility, agriculture, nature, and the seasons.||First
|-
|[[Hestia]]||[[Vesta (mythology)|Vesta]]||Goddess of the hearth and home (left so Dionysus could be in the twelve).||First
|-
|[[Aphrodite]]||[[Venus (mythology)|Venus]]||Goddess of love, beauty, desire, and fertility.||Second
|-
|[[Apollo]]||[[Apollo]]||The Sun God; god of light, healing, music, poetry, prophecy, archery and truth.||Second
|-
|[[Ares]]||[[Mars (mythology)|Mars]]||God of war, frenzy, hatred, and bloodshed.||Second
|-
|[[Artemis]]||[[Diana (mythology)|Diana]]||Goddess of the hunt, of maidens, and the moon.||Second
|-
|[[Athena]]||[[Minerva]]||Goddess of wisdom, crafts, and strategic battle.||Second
|-
|[[Hephaestus]]||[[Vulcan (mythology)|Vulcan]]||Blacksmith to the Gods; god of fire and the forges.||Second
|-
|[[Hermes]]||[[Mercury (mythology)|Mercury]]||Messenger of the Gods; god of commerce, speed, thieves, and trade.||Second
|}
===Close to the Olympians===
* [[Bia (mythology)| Bia]] - Personification of violence.
* [[Cratos]] - Personification of power.
* [[Dione (mythology)|Dione]] - Mother of Aphrodite by Zeus.
* [[Dionysus]] - God of wine, parties, and merriment (Became an Olympian when Hestia left).
* [[Eileithyia]] - Goddess of childbirth; daughter of Hera and Zeus.
* [[Eos]] - Personification of Dawn.
* [[Eris (mythology)|Eris]] - Goddess of Discord.
* [[Eros (mythology)|Eros]] - God of lust and desire.
* [[Ganymede (mythology)|Ganymede]] - Cupbearer of the gods palace at Olympus.
* [[Hades]] - Lord of the Dead; god of the Underworld and earthly (gems and precious metals) wealth.
* [[Hebe (mythology)|Hebe]] - Goddess of youth, and cupbearer.
* [[Helios]] - Titan; Personification of the Sun.
* [[Heracles]] - Greatest hero of the [[Greek myths]].
* [[Horae]] - Wardens of Olympus.
* [[Iris (mythology)|Iris]] - Personification of the Rainbow, also the messenger of Olympus along with Hermes.
* [[Leto]] - Titaness; the mother of Apollo and Artemis.
* [[Morpheus (mythology)|Morpheus]] - God of Dreams.
* [[Muse]]s - Nine ladies of science and arts.
* [[Nemesis (mythology)|Nemesis]] - Greek goddess of retribution and revenge.
* [[Nike (mythology)|Nike]] - Goddess of victory.
* [[Pan (mythology)|Pan]] - God of the wild, shepherds, nature, and animals.
* [[Paean]] - Universal healer.
* [[Perseus]] - Zeus' son, one of the greatest heroes in all of Greek mythology.
* [[Persephone]] - Goddess of the spring and death, daughter of Demeter.
* [[Selene]] - Titaness; Personification of the Moon.
* [[Zelus]] - Emulation.
==Photo gallery==
<gallery>
Image:Jupiter Versailles Louvre Ma78.jpg|[[Zeus]]
Image:Hera Campana Louvre Ma2283.jpg|[[Hera]]
Image:Neptune fountain02.jpg|[[Poseidon]]
Image:Demeter Pio-Clementino Inv254.jpg|[[Demeter]]
Image:Ares villa Hadriana.jpg|[[Ares]]
Image:Hermes-louvre3.jpg|[[Hermes]]
Image:Vulcan Coustou Louvre MR1814.jpg|[[Hephaestus]]
Image:NAMA 262 Aphrodite Epidaure 2.JPG|[[Aphrodite]]
Image:Athena Giustiniani Musei Capitolini MC278.jpg|[[Athena]]
Image:Roman Statue of Apollo.jpg|[[Apollo]]
Image:Diane_de_Versailles_Leochares_2.jpg|[[Artemis]]
Image:Hestia-meyers.png|[[Hestia]]
</gallery>
==See also==
* [[Ancient Greek religion]]
* [[Family tree of the Greek gods]]
* [[Greek mythology]]
* [[List of Greek mythological characters]]
* [[Supreme Council of Ethnikoi Hellenes]]
* [[Dii Consentes]] (its equivalent on the pantheon of Ancient Rome)
==References==
{{reflist|2}}
==External links==
* [http://www.desy.de/gna/interpedia/greek_myth/olympian.html List of 12 Olympians]
* [http://www.theoi.com/Pantheon.html Summary of main gods of Pantheon]
* [http://www.dodekatheon.info Dodekatheon Information Page]
[[Category:Twelve Olympians| Twelve Olympians]]
[[Category:Cultural lists|…0012 Twelve Olympians]]
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