| Twelve Olympians | |
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Team Roster |
Zeus, Poseidon, Hera, Demeter, Aphrodite, Athena, Artemis, Apollo, Ares, Hephaestus, Hermes, and either Hestia or Dionysus. |
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First Appearance |
Ancient Greece |
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Created by |
Greek Folklore |
Origin[]
The Twelve Olympians are the the principal gods of the Greek pantheon. They are commonly considered to be Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Demeter, Ares, Hermes, Hephaestus, Aphrodite, Athena, Apollo, Artemis, Hestia or Dionysus.
The Olympians were a race of deities, primarily consisting of a third and fourth generation of immortal beings, worshipped as the principal gods of the Greek pantheon and so named because of their residency atop Mount Olympus. They gained their supremacy in a ten-year-long war of gods, in which Zeus led his siblings to victory over the previous generation of ruling immortal beings, the Titans, children of the primordial deities Gaia and Uranus. They were a family of gods, the most important consisting of the first generation of Olympians, offspring of the Titans Cronus and Rhea: Zeus, Poseidon, Hera, Demeter and Hestia, along with the principal offspring of Zeus: Aphrodite, Athena, Artemis, Apollo, Ares, Hephaestus, Hermes and Dionysus.
Although Hades was a major deity in the Greek pantheon and was the brother of Zeus and the other first generation of Olympians, his realm was far away from Olympus in the underworld, and thus he was not usually considered to be one of the Olympians. Olympic gods can be contrasted to chthonic gods including Hades and his wife Persephone, by mode of sacrifice, the latter receiving sacrifices in a bothros (βόθρος, "pit") or megaron (μέγαρον, "sunken chamber") rather than at an altar.
The canonical number of Olympian gods was twelve, but besides the (thirteen) principal Olympians listed above, there were many other residents of Olympus, who thus might be considered to be Olympians. For example, Heracles became a resident of Olympus after his apotheosis and married another Olympian resident Hebe. According to Diodorus Siculus, some said that Heracles was offered a place among the twelve, but refused as it would mean one of the original twelve being "cast out".
In the Iliad, the goddess Themis, who is listed among the twelve Titans, dwells on Olympus alongside the other gods, making her a Titan and an Olympian at the same time. According to Hesiod, the children of Styx—Zelus (Envy), Nike (Victory), Kratos (Strength), and Bia (Force)—"have no house apart from Zeus, nor any dwelling nor path except that wherein God leads them, but they dwell always with Zeus". Some others who might be considered Olympians include the Horae, the Graces, the Muses, Eileithyia, Iris, Dione, and Ganymede.
Public Domain Appearances[]
- America's Greatest Comics #5
- All Good Comics
- Boy Comics #10
- Captain Marvel Comics vol. 4 #11
- Feature Comics #70, 92
- Hit Comics #2, 31, 33, 55
- Hoppy the Marvel Bunny #9
- Humdinger vol. 1 #4
- Kid Eternity #3, 5, 9
- Master Comics #41
- Mysteries of Unexplored Worlds #46-50
- Mystery Men Comics #2, 24
- National Comics #32
- Nature Boy #3-5
- Pep Comics #20
- Weird Comics #2, 10
- Yellowjacket Comics #1-10