Gallery of the Gods - a quick look

EILEITHYIA was a goddess of childbirth, like her mother, Hera, and Artemis.

HEBE, “youthful bloom,” was a cupbearer of the gods. She became the wife of Heracles.

HEPHAESTUS was sometimes considered to be the son of Hera alone. He was lame from birth and Hera, ashamed of his deformity, cast him out of Olympus; we are also told that once, when he interfered in a quarrel between Zeus and Hera on behalf of his mother, Zeus hurled him down from Olympus and he landed on the island of Lemnos, which became his cult-place. In either case, he was restored to Olympus. Hephaestus was above all a divine artisan and smith, a god of the forge and its fire, whose workshop was said to be in various places, including Olympus. Assisted by the three Cyclopes, he could create marvelous masterpieces of every sort, among them the shield of Achilles.

The wife of Hephaestus was APHRODITE; theirs was an archetypal union between the lame intellectual and the sensuous beauty. Aphrodite turned to the handsome and whole ARES for sexual gratification (playing out yet another archetype); but military Ares and promiscuous Aphrodite were outwitted by the ingenious and moral Hephaestus, who fashioned unbreakable chains that were fine as a spider's web and hung them as a trap on the bedposts above his bed. Thus he ensnared the unwitting lovers in the midst of their illicit lovemaking and summoned the gods down from Olympus to witness the ludicrous scene. Ares and Aphrodite were released from their chains only when it was agreed that Ares should pay an adulterer’s fine.

HESTIA, “hearth,” was the august and revered goddess of the hearth and its fire, which was considered sacred and a symbol of both the home and community. She remained a virgin and was a goddess of chastity, just like Athena and Artemis. For the Romans she was the goddess VESTA, and Vestal Virgins attended to her worship.

Zeus mated with MNEMOSYNE (“memory”), to produce the nine MUSES (“reminders”), patron goddesses of the arts; thus allegorically, god and memory provide creative inspiration. The Muses live in Pieria in northern Thessaly. Their spheres are sometimes specifically assigned:

CALLIOPE, epic poetry
CLIO, history, lyre playing
ERATO, love poetry, hymns to the gods, lyre playing
EUTERPE, (lyric poetry, tragedy, flute playing
MELPOMENE, tragedy, lyre playing
POLYHYMNIA, (sacred music, dancing
TERPSICHORE, choral dancing, flute playing
THALIA, comedy
URANIA, astronomy