~~~~ 𝑼𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝑮𝒓𝒆𝒆𝒌 𝑯𝒆𝒓𝒐𝒆𝒔 ~~~~

With Jeff.

There are so many extremely powerful and well loved Greek Gods, but we’re not going to talk about them in this list. I wanted to focus on some of the Greek Gods you’re going to see in the Percy Jackson series who you may not know much about.

You may know about another famous Greek heroes such as Jason, Achilles, Hercules, Perseus, Odysseus, Theseus, and many more. But we're not going to talk about them right now because there are so much Greek heroes who are no less powerful than them. Let's get into them now.

Let's start from Pan.

If you’re starting to read the Percy Jackson series, you’re going to become fond of Pan. He’s the god of (some) music, nature, the wild and so much more. It would make sense that, because of his connection with nature, +

he has a strong association with fertility. If you begin to think about all the plants, flowers, trees, and so many other living, agricultural species you’ll begin to understand what Pan is God of. He's also a companion of the Nymphs.

Second is Theseus.

Theseus was born to his mother and two fathers. Of course, that’s not how fertilization actually works, but mythology, right? Theseus’ mother, Aethra, had met Aegeus, and while he was sleeping, left him, following instructions from Athena.

She made her way to the shore of the city and met with Poseidon, to put it cleanly.

When Theseus had grown to be nearly a man by Greek standards, his mother took him to a boulder to test him. He was to lift the rock and take what was below it, proving his masculinity.

When he was able to lift the boulder with ease, he was to go meet his father and claim the throne of Athens.

Upon his arrival, his father did not immediately recognize him, nor did Theseus announce his identity.

Aegeus had taken a new wife, Medea, who had immediately recognized Theseus as Aegeus’ son, even if the king couldn’t see it himself. Medea however, had two sons of her own that she intended to be king before Theseus, so she plotted to rid the world of him.

She asked him to slay the Marathonian Bull, intending to have him die during the occasion, but instead he came back and sacrificed the bull to the Gods in front of her. After her first failure, she tried to poison him, however, +

+ Aegeus recognized his own sandals and sword that Theseus carried, and knocked the poison from his hands.

Then there's Dionysus.

Dionysus was actually the God of many important aspects of traditional Greek life. He was very well loved by the Greeks, and even had a three-day festival in his honor. The drink of choice was, of course, wine.

Mr. D (that's what he called at Camp Half-Blood) was born to a mortal and Zeus, and even though he was, by blood, divine, he was not initially accepted onto Mount Olympus.

The Great Mother Rhea.

Rhea is the mother of Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, Hera, Hestia, and Demeter. She was wife to Kronos, and daughter to Gaia and Uranus.

Kronos was, to put it nicely, not a super good dad. He liked to eat his kids. And that’s a little weird.

There was some sort of prophecy declaring that a son would usurp his power, so let us just say that he had an understandably reason.

Rhea, obviously upset, decided to do something about it. Rhea hid her youngest son, which just so happened to be Zeus, and instead fed Kronos a rock. Rhea kept Zeus hidden from Kronos, who, in time, did what it took to free his siblings from the contents of his father’s stomach.

It was then that the titan war, Titanomachy, began and the Titans were locked up forever (or so we think).

It is for these reasons that Rhea is at the top of this list. If it weren’t for her, we would have no gods, no Percy and no story to read.

Chiron, our favorite.

While some may debate Chiron’s status as a Greek God, he was much more than just a centaur in Greek Mythology. In most legends, Centaurs were crude, violent, barbaric people who drank way too much liquor and were considered uncultured.

However, Chiron was wise, civilized and, according to legends, didn’t even have any relation to the other centaurs in the world. Some legends claim he is the son of the God Cronus, who had sex with a woman while in the shape of a horse.

Further, Chiron was said to be immortal, but willingly rescinded his own immortality in order to die. Some believe that he then became one of the constellations; however, there is some debate as to whether that constellation is Centaurus or Sagittarius.

The Horae.

The Greeks had a God for pretty much everything, and the seasons and even the hours were no exception. These Greek Goddesses presided over the seasons, and also helped keep the stars and constellations properly in line.

The three well-known ones were: Eunomia who helped keep things in good order; Dike, who represented Justice; and Eirene, who presided over Spring. Interestingly though, the Greeks only had three seasons: spring, summer and winter.

These Goddesses not only controlled the seasons, but also kept society stable in general. The Greeks also had another set of deities who represented all twelve hours of the day.

The Judges of the Dead.

The Greeks had three Gods — Aeacus, Minos and Rhadamanthus– whose sole job was to judge those who had died, usually deciding upon their punishment as well. According to legend, they were originally men but were related to Zeus.

Zeus is said to have credited them with law and order on Earth while human, so when they died they were made demigods and allowed to preside over much of the underworld. Aeacus was supposed to be the one who judged souls who came from Europe, +

+ and Rhadamanthus judged those who came from the continent of Asia. Their fellow judge Minos had the final vote in all cases. While we know that after death they guarded Hades, there is little known about what happened during their lives on Earth.

Morpheus.

When most people hear the name Morpheus, they think of the character from The Matrix. However, Morpheus is actually one of the coolest Greek Gods ever. Morpheus was originally a child created by the original night Goddess, Nyx.

However, along with several others, he worked for the head God of sleep, Hypnos, which is the root word behind hypnosis. It is said that Morpheus looked up to Hypos as if he were his father. Morpheus was the head God of dreams, +

+ and was sent as a messenger in the dreams of mortal men when the Gods needed to give them important information. Some people believe that when Agamemnon had a dream with a message from Zeus himself, it was Morpheus who was sent to deliver it.

Prometheus. Familiar enough with his name?

Though he was born of the Titan Iapetus by Clymene or Themis, Prometheus foresaw the defeat of the Titans by the Olympian Gods so he allied himself with Zeus.

Yet Prometheus eventually angered Zeus by stealing fire and bringing it to mankind. As punishment, Zeus gave Pandora (and, with her, all the evils of the world) to man, and condemned Prometheus to be chained to a rock in the Caucasus Mountains, +

+ where his liver was eaten daily by an eagle. According to some versions of the story, Prometheus was eventually freed by Hercules.

Aeneas.

The founder of the city of Rome and the hero of Virgil's Aeneid, Aeneas is a major player in both Greek and Roman mythology. He fought in the Trojan War on the side of the Trojans, and, largely due to the fact that he was favored by Aphrodite, Apollo and Poseidon, +

+ was one of the few men on that side not to die at the hands of the Greeks. When the war ended, he fled and ended up in Italy, where his descendants built Rome.

Orpheus.

The son of Calliope and Apollo, Orpheus was a brilliant musician. When he played the lyre, he could charm wild animals and even make rivers stand still. When Orpheus' wife, Eurydice, died, he went down to the underworld to find her.

There, his music softened the heart of Hades, who let Orpheus take Eurydice back to the living world on one condition: Orpheus had to walk in front of Eurydice and he couldn't look back at her until they had both left the underworld.

But the temptation to see his beloved was too great, and Orpheus looked back. Eurydice vanished forever.

Morals: don't look back (in anger /kno) no matter how tempted you are.

Lastly, Medusa.

I bet you guys are so familiar with her name because she's famous. And i am not sure whether she's counted as hero or not, but i add her to this thread because her story was super interesting.

Medusa, in Greek mythology, the most famous of the monster figures known as Gorgons. She was usually represented as a winged female creature having a head of hair consisting of snakes; unlike the Gorgons, she was sometimes represented as very beautiful.

Medusa was the only Gorgon who was mortal; hence her slayer, Perseus, was able to kill her by cutting off her head. From the blood that spurted from her neck sprang Chrysaor and Pegasus, her two sons by Poseidon.

Her beauty caught the eye of Poseidon, who desired her and proceeded to ravage her in Athena’s shrine. When Athena discovered the sea god had ravaged Medusa in her shrine she sought vengeance by transforming Medusa’s hair into snakes, +

+ so that anyone who gazed at her directly would be turned into stone.

Her killer Perseus sought out Medusa and decapitated her with the bronze shield while she was asleep.

Immediately after the Gorgon was beheaded, the winged horse Pegasus sprung out from her neck.

Medusa’s sisters also arrived on the scene around the same time and chased Perseus. But the hero escaped by using the Cap of Invisibility. Some versions of the myth say he took Pegasus with him as well.

When the blood dripped from Medusa’s head onto the plains of Libya, each drop of blood transformed into venomous serpents. The power of Medusa’s head is seen again when Perseus encountered the Titan Atlas.

When Perseus asked Atlas for a place to rest for a short while, his request was refused. Knowing that he would not be able to defeat the Titan with brute force alone, he took out Medusa’s head and Atlas was turned into a mountain.

Summary; Medusa was cursed by Athena because of Poseidon's doing.

I suggest you to read the famous author Rick Riordan's book (attached below) to know more about half of the mentioned names above. He gave us a very detailed stories which is fun to read and most importantly; gain our acknowledge about Ancient Greek.

That's all for tonight! I hope you guys like the stories and it could be an useful knowledge, especially for those who are Myths sucker (like Jeff himself). See you guys!

Sources:

- pictures: google images
- https://popwrapped.com/percypack-feature-10-of-the-most-underrated-figures-in-greek-mythology/
- https://www.toptenz.net/10-awesome-greek-gods-youve-never-heard.php
- https://www.teachervision.com/heroes-role-models/top-10-heroes-greek-mythology
- https://www.britannica.com/topic/Medusa-Greek-mythology
- https://www.ancient-origins.net/myths-legends-europe/legend-medusa-and-gorgons-002773

[ Accessed on June, 18th 2020 ]