The 12 Olympian Gods: Names, Powers, Family Tree and Where to Find Them in Greece

Ask who the 12 Olympian gods were and the ancient Greeks themselves give you two answers. The sculptors of the Parthenon carved Dionysus into the twelve on the temple's east frieze; Plato, writing in the same city a few decades later, still had Hestia keeping house on Olympus while the other eleven rode out behind Zeus. Hades, a full brother of Zeus and Poseidon, is on neither list.

That disagreement is why the count wobbles between 12, 13 and 14, and it is the thread that runs through this guide. Below you'll find each Olympian's domain, powers and symbols, the family tree and the order they were born in, the Titans they overthrew, their Roman names, and the real places built for them: Athena's Parthenon, Apollo's oracle at Delphi, Poseidon's temple on the cliffs of Sounion, and the sanctuary of Zeus at Olympia, where the Games began in 776 BC.

The gods make far more sense on the ground than on a chart, which is why every entry ends with where to find that god in Greece today. For the wider picture, see the Greek mythology guide; for the historical context, the Greek history timeline.

Who Are the 12 Olympian Gods (and Why Some Lists Have 13)?

The twelve Olympians were the major gods of the ancient Greek pantheon — the dominant deities of the classical period who were understood to dwell on Mount Olympus while also maintaining specific sacred sites (sanctuaries, temples, oracles) across the Greek world where mortals could approach them.

The specific twelve are: Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Demeter, Athena, Apollo, Artemis, Ares, Hephaestus, Aphrodite, Hermes, Dionysus.

The Twelve Olympians, or Dodekatheon (Δωδεκάθεον) as the Greeks called the group, wasn't a perfectly fixed list even in antiquity. The most common account holds that Hestia, first-born of Kronos and Rhea and goddess of the hearth, gave up her Olympian seat to Dionysus — the story goes that both Poseidon and Apollo wanted to court her, and to avoid the resulting conflict she stepped aside and let the newer god take her place. This wasn't just a later inconsistency: the disagreement shows up in the sources themselves. The Parthenon's east frieze depicts Dionysus among the twelve; Plato's Phaedrus, written in Athens a few decades later, still counts Hestia as one of them, staying home on Olympus while the other eleven ride out behind Zeus. Both versions were current in the same city. Hades, despite being a full sibling of Zeus, Poseidon, Hera, Demeter, and Hestia, is excluded from every version of the list — not because of any myth or dispute, but simply because his domain, the underworld, is far from Olympus itself.

They were understood as a family with complex, sometimes dysfunctional relationships — Zeus was the father of many, though not all; some were his siblings; all were bound by the power structures of Olympus, where Zeus was supreme but not unchallenged.

Zeus (Ζεύς): King of the Gods

Domain: Sky, thunder, lightning, law, order, justice, and the gods themselves

Powers: Hurls the thunderbolts the Cyclopes forged for him, gathers clouds and sends storms, changes shape at will (a bull for Europa, a swan for Leda, a shower of gold for Danaë), and has the final word in any dispute among the gods.

Symbol: Lightning bolt, eagle, oak tree

Character: Zeus is the most powerful of the Olympians and the closest thing Greek religion has to a supreme deity — but his power is power over other gods and over cosmic order, not omnipotence in the monotheistic sense. He is simultaneously the upholder of justice and hospitality (Xenios Zeus — Zeus the Protector of Strangers, patron of filoxenia) and an inveterate adulterer whose affairs with mortals and goddesses populate much of Greek mythology.

The mythology: Zeus overthrew his father Kronos (who had swallowed each of his children at birth to prevent being overthrown in turn, having himself overthrown his own father Ouranos). Born on Crete (hidden by his mother Rhea in a cave on Crete to escape Kronos), Zeus grew up on the island before returning to defeat the Titans and establish the Olympian order.

Where to find Zeus in Greece:

Olympia (Peloponnese): The great Sanctuary of Zeus at Olympia was the most important cult site of Zeus in Greece — the venue for the Olympic Games (held every four years in his honour) and the home of one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World: Phidias's colossal gold-and-ivory statue of Zeus. The temple and the Museum of Olympia's sculpture collection make this the essential Zeus site. See the Olympia travel guide.

Olympia is a long day from Athens without a car; the Ancient Olympia full-day guided tour from Athens covers the sanctuary and the museum with a licensed guide.

Athens (Temple of Olympian Zeus): The largest Corinthian temple from antiquity, finally completed by the Emperor Hadrian after seven centuries of construction. Fifteen columns survive at monumental scale (17 metres tall). Located near the Zappeion and the National Garden in central Athens.

Mount Olympus: The literal home of Zeus and the other Olympians — Greece's highest mountain (2,917 m), accessible to hikers from the town of Litochoro. The summit's Greek name, Mytikas (the Needle), is the specific peak where the gods were said to dwell.

Dodona (northwestern Greece): One of the oldest oracles in Greece — predating Delphi — where Zeus spoke through the rustling of a sacred oak tree, interpreted by priests called Selloi.

Hera (Ἥρα): Queen of the Gods

Domain: Marriage, women, family, and queenship

Powers: Blesses or blocks marriages and births (she delayed Heracles's birth and kept the birth goddess Eileithyia away from Leto's labour), can drive her enemies mad, and is the one Olympian who regularly outwits Zeus: in the Iliad she borrows Aphrodite's girdle to lull him to sleep.

Symbol: Pomegranate, peacock, lotus staff

Character: Hera is Zeus's wife and sister — and one of the most complex figures in the Greek pantheon. She is the patron of marriage and legitimate union, yet is best known in myth for her jealous persecution of Zeus's many illegitimate children and lovers. Heracles (Hercules) — Zeus's son by the mortal Alcmene — was the specific object of her most sustained hatred; she sent snakes to kill him in his cradle and drove him to the madness that caused the twelve labours.

Where to find Hera in Greece:

Samos: The Heraion of Samos — the great sanctuary of Hera on her sacred island — was one of the largest temples in the ancient world, destroyed and rebuilt several times. The forest of columns (dipteros — double colonnade) was unprecedented in scale. One surviving column remains at the site.

Argos and Nafplio area (Peloponnese): The Argive Heraion, between Argos and Nafplio, was an important sanctuary where Hera was worshipped in her aspect as queen of the gods and patron of Argos. The Peloponnese was her primary domain on the Greek mainland.

Olympia: A temple to Hera at Olympia predates the Temple of Zeus and is among the oldest standing temple remains in Greece.

Poseidon (Ποσειδῶν): God of the Sea

Domain: The sea, earthquakes, horses, and storms

Powers: Raises and calms storms, shakes the earth, makes springs burst from rock and created the first horse, and can wreck a ship or stretch a hero's voyage home to ten years.

Symbol: Trident, horses, dolphins, bulls

Character: Poseidon is Zeus's brother and ruler of the sea — the force responsible for both the ocean's bounty and its destructive storms. He is also the god of earthquakes (Enosichthon, the Earth-Shaker) and the creator of horses, whom he struck from the earth with his trident. He is temperamental, powerful, and — crucially for the plot of the Odyssey — capable of sustained grudge-holding: Odysseus's ten-year homeward journey is extended by Poseidon's anger at the blinding of his son Polyphemus.

Poseidon's grudge is why the Odyssey ends where it does; our guide to Ithaca and the Odyssey covers the island Odysseus was trying to reach.

Where to find Poseidon in Greece:

Cape Sounion (Attica): The most dramatically situated Poseidon temple in Greece — a Doric temple perched on the southernmost tip of Attica, visible to ships approaching Athens from the sea. Lord Byron carved his name into a column here. A sunset visit from Athens is one of the classic experiences of Attica.

The Sounion temple is also one of the clearest examples of the Doric order in Greece; our guide to ancient Greek architecture explains how to read its columns and how it compares with the Parthenon.

Without a car, the Cape Sounion and Temple of Poseidon sunset trip from Athens runs down the coast road in the late afternoon and gets you to the temple for sunset.

Isthmia (near Corinth): The Sanctuary of Poseidon at the Isthmus of Corinth was the venue for the Isthmian Games — one of the four great pan-Hellenic games. The site is archaeologically significant though less visually developed than Olympia.

The Acropolis (disputed): Poseidon struck his trident against the Acropolis rock and produced a saltwater spring in his contest with Athena for patronage of Athens. He lost, but the spring was preserved inside the Erechtheion as a permanent acknowledgment of his claim.

Demeter (Δημήτηρ): Goddess of the Harvest

Domain: Agriculture, grain, the harvest, fertility of the earth, and the cycle of seasons

Powers: Controls whether crops grow and the earth is fertile, can stop all growth entirely (as she did when Persephone was taken), and taught humans to farm grain through the Eleusinian prince Triptolemus.

Symbol: Sheaf of wheat, torch, poppy

Character: Demeter is the goddess whose grief produced winter. When her daughter Persephone was abducted by Hades to the underworld, Demeter refused to allow anything to grow on earth until her daughter was returned. Zeus eventually negotiated a compromise: Persephone spends part of each year in the underworld (during which Demeter mourns and the earth is barren — winter and autumn) and part on Olympus (during which Demeter rejoices and the earth flowers — spring and summer). This myth is the Greek explanation of the agricultural year.

Where to find Demeter in Greece:

Eleusis (near Athens): The site of the Eleusinian Mysteries — one of the most important religious institutions of the ancient world, a series of initiation rites held annually at Eleusis for over two thousand years. The Mysteries involved a secret ritual re-enactment of Persephone's abduction and return; initiates were sworn to secrecy and the content of the ritual was never revealed. The archaeological site is 23 km from Athens.

Athena (Ἀθηνᾶ): Goddess of Wisdom

Domain: Wisdom, crafts, strategy in war (not war itself — that is Ares), and the arts

Powers: Strategic genius in battle, mastery of every craft from weaving to shipbuilding (she helped build the Argo), the aegis bearing the Gorgon's head, and the ability to take any disguise, as when she guides Telemachus in the shape of old Mentor.

Symbol: Owl, olive tree, aegis (a divine breastplate), helmet and spear

Character: Athena is Zeus's daughter, born fully armed and armoured from his head after he swallowed her mother Metis. She is the goddess of strategic, intelligent warfare (as opposed to Ares's brute violence), of craftsmanship and weaving, and of wisdom and reason. She is also the patron of Athens, having won the city from Poseidon in the contest of gifts. Virgin goddess (Parthenos — hence the Parthenon).

Where to find Athena in Greece:

The Acropolis, Athens: Every structure on the Acropolis is Athena's. The Parthenon is her primary temple. The Erechtheion preserves the sacred olive tree she produced in her contest with Poseidon. The Temple of Athena Nike honours her as Victory. See the Parthenon and Acropolis guide.

A licensed guide makes the Parthenon's details readable; the Acropolis and Parthenon guided tour runs in small groups from the main entrance, with skip-the-line entry options.

The Acropolis Museum: The original Caryatids, the Parthenon frieze, and the sculptural programme of her temples. See the best museums in Greece guide.

Lindos, Rhodes: The Temple of Athena Lindia on the dramatic Lindos Acropolis. See the Lindos guide.

Apollo (Ἀπόλλων): God of Light and Prophecy

Domain: Light, the sun, music, poetry, prophecy, healing, plague, and archery

Powers: Prophecy, spoken through the Pythia at Delphi; arrows that both spread plague and cure it; leadership of the Muses in music and poetry; and archery that never misses.

Symbol: Lyre, bow and arrow, laurel wreath, raven

Character: Apollo is one of the most complex and widely venerated of the twelve Olympians. Born on Delos (with his twin sister Artemis), he established his primary oracle at Delphi after killing the Python. He is simultaneously the god of healing (and his son Asclepius is the god of medicine) and the god of plague — he can send pestilence with his silver bow and cure it equally. He represents the Apollonian principle of reason, order, and clarity.

Where to find Apollo in Greece:

Delphi: The primary Apolline sanctuary — the Oracle of Delphi operated for seven centuries in Apollo's name. The Sanctuary of Apollo, the Theatre, the Stadium, and the Museum with the Charioteer are all here. See the Delphi travel guide.

Delphi is about two and a half hours from Athens; the small-group day trip to Delphi from Athens covers the sanctuary of Apollo and the museum with the Charioteer in a single day.

Delos: The sacred island where Apollo was born — the most sacred island in the ancient Greek world. See the Delos guide.

Ancient Corinth: The Temple of Apollo in Ancient Corinth — seven archaic Doric columns, some of the oldest standing anywhere in Greece. See the Ancient Corinth guide.

Artemis (Ἄρτεμις): Goddess of the Hunt

Domain: The hunt, wilderness, wild animals, the moon, and childbirth

Powers: Unerring archery, command over wild animals, and protection of girls and of women in childbirth, along with the power to bring sudden death to women with her arrows.

Symbol: Silver bow and arrows, crescent moon, deer, cypress tree

Character: Artemis is Apollo's twin sister, born on Delos moments before him. She is the virgin huntress, patron of wild places, animals, and the transitions between life states — she oversees childbirth (despite being herself virginal) and the passage from girlhood to womanhood. She is swift, independent, and formidably dangerous when her dignity is violated — Actaeon, who accidentally saw her bathing, was transformed into a stag and torn apart by his own hounds.

Where to find Artemis in Greece:

Delos: Born here with Apollo — the same sacred island, shared between the twins. See the Delos guide.

Brauron (eastern Attica, near Athens): The Sanctuary of Artemis at Brauron was one of the most important Artemis sanctuaries in Attica, where young Athenian girls performed sacred rituals as "bears" in the goddess's honour before marriage.

Ares (Ἄρης): God of War

Domain: War — specifically its violence, bloodshed, and chaos

Powers: Battle frenzy and raw strength, with his sons Phobos (Fear) and Deimos (Terror) driving his chariot. For all that, he loses: in the Iliad the mortal Diomedes wounds him with Athena's help.

Symbol: Spear and helmet, dogs, vultures

Character: Ares is the least loved of the Olympians by both gods and mortals. He represents not the noble or strategic aspects of warfare but its brute violence and slaughter. Even Zeus — who is not known for sentimentality — tells Ares he is the most hateful of all his children. His love affair with Aphrodite (who is married to Hephaestus) is one of the most embarrassing stories in Olympian mythology, ending with Hephaestus trapping the lovers in an invisible net.

Where to find Ares in Greece:

The Areopagus, Athens: The rocky outcrop beside the Acropolis where Ares was tried by the other Olympians for the murder of Halirrhothios (Poseidon's son). It became Athens's court for homicide cases and gave its name to the Areopagus council. Still climbable today, directly adjacent to the Acropolis entrance.

Thrace: Ares was associated with Thrace (northern Greece/Bulgaria) as his primary region, considered appropriately warlike and barbarous by the more settled Greeks of the south.

Hephaestus (Ἥφαιστος): God of Fire and the Forge

Domain: Fire, metalworking, craftsmanship, and technology

Powers: Can make anything from metal or fire: the palaces of Olympus, Zeus's aegis, Achilles's shield, self-moving golden servants, and, in Hesiod, Pandora herself, shaped from clay.

Symbol: Hammer, anvil, tongs, fire

Character: Hephaestus is the divine craftsman — the maker of the gods' weapons and treasures, including Achilles's divinely crafted armour (described in extraordinary detail in Book XVIII of the Iliad), Hermes's winged sandals, the golden automata that served as his assistants in his workshop, and the invisible net that trapped Ares and Aphrodite. He is the only Olympian who is physically imperfect — lame, sometimes described as ugly — and he is the only one who actually works. Some myths say he was thrown from Olympus by Hera (or by Zeus) and his lameness resulted from the fall.

Where to find Hephaestus in Greece:

The Temple of Hephaestus, Athens: The best-preserved ancient Greek temple in existence — more intact than the Parthenon — stands on the hill above the Ancient Agora of Athens, in the district where metalworkers and potters had their workshops. See the Ancient Agora guide.

Lemnos: The volcanic island of Lemnos in the northern Aegean was Hephaestus's primary sanctuary, connected to the volcanic fire associated with his forge.

Aphrodite (Ἀφροδίτη): Goddess of Love

Domain: Love, beauty, desire, pleasure, and procreation

Powers: Makes gods and mortals fall in love, or out of it, and her embroidered girdle carries irresistible desire. Only three goddesses are immune to her, according to the Homeric Hymn: Athena, Artemis and Hestia.

Symbol: Dove, rose, myrtle, shell, sparrow

Character: Aphrodite was born from the sea-foam surrounding the severed genitals of Ouranos (the sky god, castrated by his son Kronos). She is the source of irresistible desire — not romantic love alone, but the full power of sexual attraction that can unseat reason and overturn kingdoms. The Trojan War began because Aphrodite promised Paris the most beautiful woman in the world (Helen, already married to Menelaus) in exchange for judging her the most beautiful goddess in the contest of the apple.

Where to find Aphrodite in Greece:

Ancient Corinth: The Temple of Aphrodite stood on the Acrocorinth (the fortified hill above the city) and was associated in antiquity with sacred prostitution. The acropolis is climbable and the view is extraordinary. See the Ancient Corinth guide.

Akrotiri, Santorini: Frescoes from the Bronze Age city show women in what appears to be ritual contexts possibly connected to Aphrodite or her predecessor deity. See the Akrotiri guide.

Hermes (Ἑρμῆς): Messenger of the Gods

Domain: Messengers, travel, commerce, thieves, athletes, diplomacy, and guiding souls to the underworld

Powers: Superhuman speed on winged sandals, free passage into the underworld and back, persuasion and trickery, and the job of guiding the dead. On his first day alive he invented the lyre.

Symbol: Caduceus (staff with two entwined snakes), winged sandals and helmet

Character: Hermes is the most versatile and playful of the Olympians. He is born already capable of extraordinary exploits — on the day of his birth he steals Apollo's cattle and invents the lyre (from a tortoise shell), eventually trading the lyre to Apollo in exchange for the caduceus staff. He is the only Olympian who can move freely between all three realms: Olympus, the earth, and the underworld (as the psychopomp, the guide of souls to Hades). He is the patron of boundaries and border crossings, which is why herms (square pillars with his face) marked crossroads throughout ancient Greece.

Where to find Hermes in Greece:

Ancient Agora, Athens: The Stoa of Hermes and the commercial heart of Athens were under his patronage. The herms that marked Athens's boundaries were found throughout the city.

Olympia Museum: The Hermes of Praxiteles — one of the very few surviving original Greek sculptures attributed to a named artist — stands in the Archaeological Museum of Olympia. See the Olympia travel guide.

Dionysus (Διόνυσος): God of Wine and Theatre

Domain: Wine, winemaking, fertility, theatre, religious ecstasy, and the dissolution of social boundaries

Powers: Brings ecstasy or madness, as he did to the women of Thebes in Euripides' Bacchae, makes vines burst from wood and stone, and once turned a crew of pirates into dolphins.

Symbol: Grapevine, ivy, thyrsus (a staff topped with a pine cone), leopard

Character: Dionysus is the youngest of the twelve Olympians and the most disruptive — his cult repeatedly enters societies from the outside and breaks down their social hierarchies and rational order. He is the son of Zeus and the mortal Semele; his mother was tricked into asking Zeus to reveal himself in his full divine glory, which killed her, and Zeus rescued the unborn Dionysus by sewing him into his own thigh. Dionysus's gift to humanity is wine — its pleasure, its community, and its capacity to temporarily dissolve the ego and the rational mind.

Western theatre is Dionysus's invention. The Athenian festivals of the Dionysia were the context in which Greek tragedy and comedy were first performed — the playwrights of Athens (Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Aristophanes) were competing for the prize in a religious festival honouring Dionysus.

What Greeks pour today, from house wine to ouzo and tsipouro, is in our guide to Greek drinks.

Where to find Dionysus in Greece:

Theatre of Dionysus, Athens: The oldest stone theatre in the world, on the south slope of the Acropolis, where the great Athenian dramas were first performed. Still visitable as part of the Acropolis complex.

Naxos: Dionysus is particularly associated with Naxos — the island where he found the abandoned Ariadne (left there by Theseus after she helped him escape the Labyrinth) and made her his wife. The giant marble doorway on the islet of Palatia, visible from Naxos harbour, is the entrance to a temple dedicated to Dionysus or Apollo. See the Naxos travel guide.

The Athens Epidaurus Festival: The modern Athens and Epidaurus Festival, performed in ancient theatres every summer, is the direct descendant of the Dionysian festivals of antiquity. See the festivals in Greece guide.

Mount Olympus: Home of the Olympian Gods

The literal home of the twelve Olympians is Mount Olympus (Ólympos) in northern Thessaly — at 2,917 metres, the highest peak in Greece. The mountain was understood in antiquity as genuinely divine real estate: Zeus held his court there, the gods feasted on nectar and ambrosia there, and the council of Olympus met there to decide the fates of gods and mortals.

Mount Olympus is today a national park and one of Greece's best hiking destinations. The summit, Mytikas, is within reach of fit, experienced hikers over two days, with refuges on the mountain for the overnight, and the town of Litochoro at the foot of the mountain is the standard base. The Mount Olympus guide covers the routes, and the Litochoro guide covers where to stay and the beaches five kilometres from the trailhead.

If you would rather see the mountain without the two-day climb, the Mount Olympus and Dion day trip from Thessaloniki pairs the lower trails with the sanctuary of Zeus at Dion, in a group of six at most.

One common mix-up: Mount Olympus is not Olympia. Olympia, where the Olympic Games were held in honour of Zeus, is a sanctuary in the western Peloponnese, more than 400 km by road from the mountain. The names share a root: Zeus was worshipped there as Zeus Olympios, the Olympian, and the sanctuary took its name from him.

Olympian Gods Family Tree: How the Twelve Are Related

Put together, the twelve form one very tangled family. Kronos and Rhea's children were the first generation: Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Demeter, and Hestia (who later gave up her seat, see above). Zeus fathered most of the rest — Athena (born from his head after he swallowed her mother Metis), Apollo and Artemis (twins, with the Titaness Leto), Ares and Hephaestus (with Hera, though some accounts have Hephaestus born to Hera alone), Dionysus (with the mortal Semele), and Hermes (with Maia, a daughter of the Titan Atlas). Aphrodite stands apart from the rest of the family tree entirely — born from sea-foam rather than from any union, making her older in some tellings than Zeus himself. Hera is both Zeus's wife and his sister. It's a family defined as much by rivalry and jealousy as by blood — worth keeping in mind as you read back through each god's individual myths above.

The Olympian family tree at a glance:

• Kronos and Rhea: Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades, Poseidon and Zeus, the first generation.
• Ouranos, with no mother: Aphrodite, risen from the sea-foam in Hesiod's version (Homer makes her a daughter of Zeus and Dione).
• Zeus and Metis: Athena, born fully armed from Zeus's head.
• Zeus and Leto: the twins Apollo and Artemis, born on Delos.
• Zeus and Hera: Ares, along with Hebe and Eileithyia, who never became Olympians.
• Hera alone: Hephaestus, in Hesiod's version, born in answer to Zeus producing Athena on his own.
• Zeus and Maia, a daughter of Atlas: Hermes, born in a cave on Mount Kyllene in Arcadia.
• Zeus and Semele, a mortal princess of Thebes: Dionysus, the only Olympian with a mortal mother.
• Zeus and Demeter: Persephone, queen of the underworld and not an Olympian.
• Marriages: Zeus and Hera, Hephaestus and Aphrodite, Hades and Persephone.

The 12 Olympian Gods in Order

No ancient source ranks the Olympians from first to last, so when people ask for the 12 Olympian gods in order, the useful answer is birth order, generation by generation.

The oldest generation are the children of Kronos and Rhea. Hesiod gives their birth order as Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades, Poseidon and Zeus. Kronos swallowed each one at birth and later vomited them back up in reverse, which is why Hestia is called both the first and the last of the siblings, and why Zeus, the youngest, was the only one never swallowed.

Aphrodite sits outside that line. In Hesiod she rises from the sea after Kronos castrates Ouranos, which technically makes her older than Zeus. The younger generation are Zeus's children, roughly in the order their myths place them: Athena, Apollo and Artemis, Ares, Hephaestus, Hermes, and finally Dionysus, the last god to arrive on Olympus.

Oldest to youngest, that gives: Aphrodite (in Hesiod's version), Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Poseidon, Zeus, Athena, Apollo, Artemis, Ares, Hephaestus, Hermes, Dionysus. That is thirteen names, because Hestia and Dionysus both belong in the timeline even though only one of them holds the twelfth seat in any given list.

Titans vs Olympians: The War Before Olympus

Before the Olympians there were the Titans, the twelve children of Ouranos and Gaia, led by Kronos. Kronos took power by castrating his father, then swallowed his own children to stop them doing the same to him. Rhea hid the infant Zeus in a cave on Crete and handed Kronos a stone wrapped in swaddling clothes instead.

The war that followed, the Titanomachy, lasted ten years. In Hesiod's telling the Titans fought from Mount Othrys and the young gods from Mount Olympus, two real mountains on opposite sides of the plain of Thessaly. Zeus won only after freeing the Cyclopes, who forged his thunderbolt, and the Hundred-Handers, who buried the Titans under volleys of boulders. The defeated Titans were locked in Tartarus, and Atlas was sentenced to hold up the sky.

Not every Titan was an enemy. Themis became one of Zeus's wives, Prometheus fights on his side in Aeschylus' version, and several Olympians are grandchildren of Titans: Apollo and Artemis through their mother Leto, and Hermes through Maia, daughter of Atlas.

Hestia, Hades and Persephone: Why They Aren't Always on the List

Hestia, goddess of the hearth, was the first-born of the Olympians, and in the older lists she holds a seat. She has almost no myths of her own; her power was the fire burning in every home and in every city's town hall, and she received the first offering at every sacrifice. When Dionysus arrived, the later tradition has her give up her place rather than start a quarrel, which is how the list stays at twelve.

Hades is the real thirteenth god. He, Zeus and Poseidon, the big three, drew lots for the world after the Titans fell: Zeus took the sky, Poseidon the sea and Hades the underworld, with the earth and Olympus shared between them. Because he lived below ground rather than on the mountain, he is never counted among the Olympians, though he outranks most of them.

Where to find Hades in Greece: the Necromanteion of Acheron, an oracle of the dead on the river the Greeks believed flowed into the underworld, a short drive from Parga; and Cape Tainaron at the tip of the Mani peninsula, where a sea cave was said to be one of the entrances to Hades.

Persephone, Demeter's daughter and Hades's wife, is queen of the underworld and never an Olympian, though she spends part of every year above ground; her story was re-enacted at Eleusis (see Demeter above). Heracles is the other name that sometimes comes up: he was made a god after his death and married Hera's daughter Hebe on Olympus, but no ancient list of the twelve includes him.

The 12 Olympian Gods and Their Roman Names

The Romans took over the Greek gods almost wholesale and gave them Latin names, which is why the planets carry the Roman versions. Apollo is the only Olympian they didn't rename.

• Zeus: Jupiter
• Hera: Juno
• Poseidon: Neptune
• Demeter: Ceres
• Athena: Minerva
• Apollo: Apollo
• Artemis: Diana
• Ares: Mars
• Hephaestus: Vulcan
• Aphrodite: Venus
• Hermes: Mercury
• Dionysus: Bacchus (also Liber)
• Hestia: Vesta; Hades: Pluto; Persephone: Proserpina

See Seven Olympians in One Day in Athens

You don't need to cross Greece to meet most of the twelve. In central Athens, seven of them have a temple, rock or theatre within about two kilometres of each other, and one long day on foot covers them all.

Start on the Acropolis at opening time for Athena: the Parthenon, the Temple of Athena Nike and the Erechtheion, where the marks of Poseidon's trident and Athena's olive tree were shown to ancient visitors. Walk down the south slope to the Theatre of Dionysus, where Sophocles and Euripides premiered their plays. From the Acropolis entrance it is a few steps to the Areopagus, the rock where Ares stood trial for murder.

Then drop into the Ancient Agora for Hephaestus, whose temple is the best preserved in Greece, and for Hermes, god of the marketplace, whose herms stood at the Agora's entrance. Finish at the Temple of Olympian Zeus, about fifteen minutes' walk east of the Acropolis. The combined ticket covers the Acropolis, the Agora and the Temple of Olympian Zeus, and if you want a guide for the Acropolis itself, our Acropolis tours guide compares the options.

If you have a car or a tour booked, end the day the way Athenian sailors did, at Cape Sounion, about 70 km south, for sunset at the Temple of Poseidon. The Cape Sounion guide has the timing.

For more sanctuaries beyond Athens, the best historical places to visit in Greece covers Delphi, Olympia and Delos.

FAQs

Who are the 12 Olympian gods?

The twelve Olympian gods are the major deities of ancient Greek religion: Zeus (king of the gods), Hera (marriage), Poseidon (sea), Demeter (harvest), Athena (wisdom), Apollo (light and prophecy), Artemis (hunt), Ares (war), Hephaestus (fire and forge), Aphrodite (love), Hermes (travel and commerce), and Dionysus (wine and theatre). They were understood to dwell on Mount Olympus, the highest peak in Greece.

Where is Mount Olympus in Greece?

Mount Olympus is in northern Thessaly (northern mainland Greece), rising to 2,917 metres as the highest peak in the country. It is accessible by car from the town of Litochoro (about 400 km from Athens) and popular with hikers. The mountain is now a national park.

Which Greek god is associated with Delphi?

Apollo is the god of Delphi — his Oracle operated at the Sanctuary of Apollo on the slopes of Mount Parnassus for approximately seven centuries. The Pythia (his priestess) delivered his prophecies to consultants from across the ancient world. See the Delphi travel guide.

Which Greek god is associated with the Acropolis?

Athena — the goddess of wisdom and crafts — won Athens in her contest with Poseidon and every structure on the Acropolis is dedicated to her. The Parthenon (Parthenos = virgin) is her temple; the Erechtheion preserves the sacred olive tree she produced; the Temple of Athena Nike honours her as Victory.

Where did the Olympic Games come from?

The ancient Olympic Games were held at Olympia in the Peloponnese in honour of Zeus, every four years from 776 BC until 393 AD. The sanctuary of Zeus at Olympia — including the great Temple of Zeus that housed one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World — was the physical and religious context for the games. See the Olympia travel guide.

How many Olympian gods are there?

Twelve seats, but fourteen gods compete for them over time. The standard list is Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Demeter, Athena, Apollo, Artemis, Ares, Hephaestus, Aphrodite, Hermes and Dionysus. Older lists put Hestia in Dionysus's place, and Hades, though a brother of Zeus, is never counted because he lives in the underworld.

Is Dionysus one of the 12 Olympians?

Yes, in the most common list. He is the youngest Olympian and the only one with a mortal mother, Semele, and in the later tradition he took the seat Hestia gave up. The Parthenon's east frieze shows him among the twelve.

Is Hades one of the 12 Olympians?

No. Hades is a full brother of Zeus and Poseidon and one of the big three who divided the world between them, but he rules the underworld rather than living on Mount Olympus, so no ancient list counts him among the Olympians.

Who is the 13th Olympian god?

Usually Hestia or Hades. Hestia held a seat in the older lists before giving it up to Dionysus, and Hades is the most powerful god left off the list. Either can be called the thirteenth, depending on the source.

Is Persephone an Olympian?

No. Persephone, daughter of Zeus and Demeter, is queen of the underworld as Hades's wife and spends part of each year above ground, but she is never one of the twelve.

Who is the strongest Olympian god?

Zeus. In the Iliad he boasts that if all the other gods took hold of a golden chain, he could haul them up together with the earth and the sea, and none of them takes up the challenge.

Who is above Zeus?

No god rules Zeus, but he isn't all-powerful. In the Iliad he considers overriding fate to save his son Sarpedon and is talked out of it, and he holds back from angering Nyx, the goddess of night. The Fates, the Moirai, are the one force even he defers to.

Are the Percy Jackson gods the same as the 12 Olympians?

Yes. Rick Riordan uses the standard twelve: Dionysus sits on the council (and runs Camp Half-Blood), Hestia has given up her throne to tend the hearth, and Hades lives outside Olympus.

Is Mount Olympus the same as Olympia?

No. Mount Olympus, home of the gods, rises on the border of Thessaly and Macedonia in northern Greece. Olympia, birthplace of the Olympic Games, is a sanctuary of Zeus in the western Peloponnese, more than 400 km away by road.

Plan Your Greece Trip

• Ancient Greece Guide — full mythology and history context
• Delphi Travel Guide — Apollo's oracle
• Olympia Travel Guide — Zeus's sanctuary and the Olympic Games
• Mount Olympus Guide — hiking to the home of the gods
• Cape Sounion Guide — Poseidon's temple at sunset
• Delos Guide — Apollo and Artemis's birthplace
• Acropolis Guide — Athena's city
• Ancient Agora — Hephaestus and Hermes
• Festivals in Greece — the modern descendants of the divine festivals
• How to Plan a Trip to Greece — full planning framework

🏛️ Planning a trip to Greece? Use our AI Trip Planner to build a mythology-focused itinerary — or take our quiz to find the right Greek destination.