Olympus

Ancient Greek god Zeus, the supreme ruler of Olympus

As his father had predicted, Zeus overthrew him and the other Titans, rescued his swallowed brothers and sisters, and became the ruler of the Olympians, the new Greek Gods to rule the earth. Zeus became ruler of the Olympians and their home was Mount Olympus in northern Greece, the throne of Zeus and the ancient Greek gods and goddesses home.

Our formal knowledge of the ancient Greek gods and goddesses can be traced back to the writings of the famous poet Homer in the Iliad and the Odyssey who lived in Greece around 800 BC. Although they seem to be things of the past, reminders of ancient Greek gods and goddesses are all around us. Some planets were named after the them. They also represent a unique view of religion held by ancient Greeks.

There are many ancient Greek gods and goddesses in Greek mythology and each had their own task and own immortal lives to tell about. The ancient Greek gods are composed of many deities, minor and major. There are literally hundreds of minor ancient Greek gods.

The most powerful Greek gods were known as the Olympians. There were twelve major ancient Greek gods, called by the Greeks the Olympian gods, which came to be recognized as the most important deities, and were thence worshiped by the Romans prior to Christian conversion. Six of the ancient Greek gods were the offspring of the titan siblings, Chronos and Rhea, but only four of them ruled in Olympus. Zeus, the supreme ruler of Olympus and the leader of the ancient Greek gods, controls the weather, especially fierce weather, when he hurls lightning bolts from the sky. As his father had predicted, Zeus overthrew him and the other Titans, rescued his swallowed brothers and sisters, and became the ruler of the Olympians, the new Greek Gods to rule the earth. Zeus became ruler of the Olympians and their home was Mount Olympus in northern Greece, the throne of Zeus and the ancient Greek gods and goddesses home.

To unite conflicting theologies, the ancient Greek gods representing weather would be married to the town's mother goddess, which promoted harmony in worship and caused less resistance among the conquered townspeople. Hephaestus is blacksmith for the ancient Greek gods and sibling to Ares. Greeks honored all the ancient Greek gods, but could worship one more than the others mostly by personal choice. The greatest of the Greek gods and goddesses lived and ruled from a beautiful palace high on Mount Olympus. Aphrodite, the ancient Greek goddess of Love. Amor vincit omnia (Love Conquers All), a depiction of the god of love, Eros. Regardless of their underlying forms, the ancient Greek gods have many fantastic abilities, most significantly, the gods are not affected by disease, and can be wounded only under highly unusual circumstances. The Greek gods resembled human beings in their form and in their emotions, and they lived in a society that resembled human society in its levels of authority and power. The island of Rhodes or Rhodos as it is pronounced in Greek, was initially inhabited during the Neolithic age, apart from legends involving the Greek gods. Helios then scattered his sun rays all over the island and its beauty caused the envy of the other Greek gods.

The ancient Greek gods normally took on human form and lived in a society similar to human society. The most significant difference between the Greek gods and humans was that the gods were immortal and human beings were not.

The Greek Pantheon was a polytheistic system of thought and religion that assumed its Greek Gods and Goddesses existed independently and individually. Compared to one-deity gods in many modern religions, Greek gods and goddesses had a surprising number of human limitations and weaknesses.