Skip to content
Mythographia

    The Olympian Gods

    The Olympians are the gods who ruled from Mount Olympus after Zeus overthrew Kronos. They were worshipped as a set of twelve, but no single ancient list is canonical: thirteen figures have a serious claim, Hestia and Dionysus are the two usually competing for the last seat, and Hades is normally excluded because he rules elsewhere.

    By

    Overview

    Thirteen figures on this page compete for twelve seats, and that is not an editorial oversight. The Greeks worshipped the Olympians as a group of twelve long before anyone wrote down which twelve, and the surviving lists were produced by different cities at different dates for different altars. Athens and Olympia did not have to agree, and did not.

    What all of them share is a starting point. Six of these gods are the children Rhea bore to Kronos, named together in one line of the Theogony: Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades, Poseidon and Zeus . The rest are Zeus's own children, born after the Titans fell. That succession is what the word Olympian marks. It is not a job description or a tier of power; it is the generation that came out on top.

    The two arguments below are the ones a reader almost always arrives with. Whether Hades belongs here turns on a passage where Homer's Poseidon says something inconvenient for the standard answer. Whether the twelfth is Hestia or Dionysus turns on a story that a great many modern retellings tell and no ancient source does.

    In This Topic (13)

    1. Circular bronze engraving of Zeus, bearded, gripping a lightning bolt across his chest.

      Zeus Character

      Zeus is the king of the Olympian gods and the ruler of the sky, thunder, and justice in Greek mythology.

    2. Hera in bronze medallion style, crowned and regal, with a peacock feather as the solid-bronze accent symbol.

      Hera Character

      Hera is the Greek goddess of marriage, women, and family, and the queen of the Olympian gods.

    3. Poseidon in bronze medallion style, bearded with wave-like hair, holding a trident as the solid-bronze accent symbol.

      Poseidon Character

      Poseidon is the Greek god of the sea, earthquakes, and horses.

    4. Demeter in bronze medallion style, wearing a grain wreath, holding a bundle of wheat as the solid-bronze accent symbol.

      Demeter Character

      Demeter is the Greek goddess of the harvest, agriculture, and the fertility of the earth.

    5. Circular bronze engraving of Athena in a crested helmet, an owl beside her, holding a spear.

      Athena Character

      Athena is the Greek goddess of wisdom, strategic warfare, and civic arts.

    6. Apollo in bronze medallion style, laurel-crowned, holding a lyre as the solid-bronze accent symbol.

      Apollo Character

      Apollo is the Greek god of light, music, prophecy, healing, and archery.

    7. Artemis in bronze medallion style, crescent moon in her hair, holding a bow and arrow as the solid-bronze accent symbol.

      Artemis Character

      Artemis is the Greek goddess of the hunt, wilderness, wild animals, and the moon.

    8. Ares in bronze medallion style, wearing a crested helmet, holding a spear as the solid-bronze accent symbol.

      Ares Character

      Ares is the Greek god of war, violence, and bloodshed.

    9. Aphrodite in bronze medallion style, graceful and flowing-haired, holding a rose as the solid-bronze accent symbol.

      Aphrodite Character

      Aphrodite is the Greek goddess of love, beauty, pleasure, and procreation.

    10. Hephaestus in bronze medallion style, a bearded craftsman in a leather apron, holding a hammer as the solid-bronze accent symbol.

      Hephaestus Character

      Hephaestus is the Greek god of fire, metalworking, and craftsmanship.

    11. Hermes in bronze medallion style, wearing a winged travel cap, holding a caduceus as the solid-bronze accent symbol.

      Hermes Character

      Hermes is the Greek god of trade, travel, thieves, and the messenger of the gods.

    12. Hestia in bronze medallion style, a modest veiled figure, a hearth flame as the solid-bronze accent symbol.

      Hestia Character

      Hestia is the Greek goddess of the hearth, home, and domestic life.

      One of the two candidates for the twelfth seat. Hesiod names her first among Rhea's children, and the Homeric Hymns give her the first and last share at every feast.

    13. Dionysus in bronze medallion style, ivy-crowned, with a grapevine cluster as the solid-bronze accent symbol.

      Dionysus Character

      Dionysus is the Greek god of wine, festivity, ecstasy, and theater.

      The other candidate, and the latecomer: a son of Zeus by a mortal woman, admitted to the group in some reckonings and absent from others.

    Is Hades one of the twelve Olympians?

    By the usual reckoning, no. Hades is Zeus's brother and one of the six children Rhea bore to Kronos, but the twelve are counted by where a god resides and he resides in the underworld he was allotted. Homer complicates this rather than settling it: when Poseidon describes the three-way division of the world, he says the brothers drew lots for sea, sky and darkness, and then adds that the earth and high Olympus remain common to all three of them. On that line Olympus is not something Hades was excluded from.

    Homer, Iliad 15.187-193

    Is the twelfth Olympian Hestia or Dionysus?

    The lists disagree and neither answer is the ancient consensus, because there was no ancient consensus to be had. Hestia has the older claim: Hesiod names her first among Rhea's children and the Homeric Hymns give her the first and the last offering at every feast. Dionysus appears in the group in other reckonings, including on the east frieze of the Parthenon. The familiar story that Hestia stepped down and gave her seat to Dionysus is not told by any surviving ancient source. It is a modern harmonisation of two lists that never needed reconciling.

    Hesiod, Theogony 453-458

    Why are there twelve Olympians rather than some other number?

    The number came before the list. Twelve was a cult grouping in the eastern Mediterranean that Greek worship adopted, and the Greeks themselves knew it was borrowed: Herodotus reports that the Egyptians were the first to use the names of twelve gods and that the Greeks took the practice from them. A fixed count with an unfixed membership is exactly what that history predicts, which is why arguing about the twelfth seat misreads what the twelve were for.

    Herodotus, Histories 2.4.2

    Were all the Olympians children of Zeus?

    No, and the group splits neatly in two on this. Hera, Poseidon, Demeter and Hestia are Zeus's siblings, born to Kronos and Rhea and swallowed by their father before Zeus forced their release. Athena, Apollo, Artemis, Ares, Hephaestus, Hermes and Dionysus are his children, though Hesiod has Hera bear Hephaestus alone, without Zeus. Aphrodite belongs to neither group in Hesiod, who has her born from the sea and the severed flesh of Ouranos, older than any of them.

    Hesiod, Theogony 453-458

    Where Accounts Differ

    • twelfth-olympian-hestia-vs-dionysus
    • hades-olympian-status-homer-vs-standard-list
    • There is no canonical list of twelve Olympians. This page presents thirteen figures with a serious claim and names the two competing for the last seat rather than choosing one.
    • The widely repeated story that Hestia yielded her seat to Dionysus has no ancient source. It is recorded here as a modern harmonisation, not as a variant tradition.
    • Homer's Poseidon calls Olympus common to Zeus, Poseidon and Hades alike, which sits awkwardly with the standard exclusion of Hades. Both are reported; neither is resolved.

    Related Terms

    Sources

    Primary sources
    • Hesiod, Theogony 453-458
    • Homer, Iliad 15.187-193
    • Herodotus, Histories 2.4.2
    Further reading
    • Walter Burkert, Greek Religion (1985)