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Gods & heroes

The gods, heroes and monsters of Greek, Norse and Egyptian mythology, with their stories, titles and relationships.

Zeus

King of the gods and keeper of the Olympian order

Hera

Queen of Olympus and guardian of divine marriage

Poseidon

Lord of the sea, storms, and the shaking earth

Athena

Goddess of wisdom, strategy, and civic order

Apollo

God of prophecy, music, plague, and radiant beauty

Artemis

Goddess of the hunt, the wild, and sacred boundaries

Hades

Ruler of the dead and sovereign of the Underworld

Persephone

Queen of the Underworld and figure of seasonal return

Demeter

Goddess of grain, fertility, and grieving motherhood

Aphrodite

Goddess of desire, beauty, and disruptive attraction

Hermes

Messenger god of cunning, travel, and thresholds

Dionysus

God of ecstasy, theater, wine, and altered identity

Heracles

The greatest of the Greek heroes

Achilles

The supreme warrior of the Trojan War

Odysseus

Hero of return, endurance, and strategic deceit

Agamemnon

High king of Mycenae who led the Greeks to Troy

Ariadne

Cretan princess whose thread led Theseus out of the Labyrinth

Atalanta

Swift huntress who outran every suitor

Helen

The face that launched a thousand ships

Menelaus

King of Sparta who waged ten years' war to reclaim Helen

Cassandra

Trojan princess cursed to prophesy true and never be believed

Clytemnestra

Queen of Mycenae who killed her husband in vengeance

Gaia

The primordial Earth, first mother of gods and Titans

Hephaestus

The lame smith-god who forges the wonders of Olympus

Medea

Sorceress-princess whose love turns to vengeance

Medusa

The serpent-haired Gorgon whose gaze turns flesh to stone

Meleager

Prince of Calydon doomed by a half-burnt brand

Minos

King of Crete who caged the Minotaur and judges the dead

Minotaur

The bull-headed beast prowling the heart of the Labyrinth

Orpheus

The poet whose song could move stones and the dead

Perseus

The hero who slew Medusa and saved Andromeda

Priam

Aged king of Troy who begged Achilles for his son's body

Theseus

The Athenian hero who slew the Minotaur

Acrisius

King of Argos slain by the grandson he tried to prevent

Actaeon

Hunter torn apart by his own hounds for seeing a goddess bathe

Aeetes

Sorcerer-king of Colchis who guarded the Golden Fleece

Aegeus

King of Athens who leapt to his death over a black sail

Aegisthus

Usurper who seduced Clytemnestra and helped slay Agamemnon

Aeneas

Trojan prince who carried his father from the burning city

Aerope

Cretan-born queen whose adultery deepened a family curse

Agenor

Phoenician king who sent his sons to find stolen Europa

Alcmene

Mortal mother of Heracles, deceived by Zeus in her husband's shape

Althaea

Queen of Calydon who burned the brand that held her son's life

Amalthea

The nurse who suckled the infant Zeus in hiding

Amphitryon

Theban general and the mortal husband of Alcmene

Andromache

Hector's devoted wife, made a slave when Troy fell

Andromeda

Princess chained to a rock as a sea-monster's prey

Antigone

Daughter of Oedipus who died for burying her brother

Arachne

The weaver who challenged Athena and was turned to a spider

Ares

The bloodthirsty god of war, hated even on Olympus

Atreus

King of Mycenae who fed his brother his own children

Bellerophon

Tamer of Pegasus who slew the fire-breathing Chimera

Cadmus

Founder of Thebes who sowed the dragon's teeth

Callisto

Nymph turned into a bear and set among the stars

Calypso

Island nymph who held Odysseus captive for seven years

Cassiopeia

Vain queen whose boast doomed her daughter to the sea

Castor

Mortal twin of the Dioscuri, horseman and Argonaut

Cepheus

King of Aethiopia who chained his daughter to the rock

Chaos

The yawning void from which all things came

Circe

The enchantress who turns Odysseus' men into swine

Creon

The Theban king whose decree dooms Antigone

Cronus

The Titan king who devoured his children

Daedalus

The master craftsman who built the Labyrinth and wings of wax

Danae

The princess who bore Perseus from a shower of gold

Daphne

The nymph who became a laurel to escape Apollo

Deianira

The wife whose love-charm destroys Heracles

Echidna

The serpent-woman who mothered a brood of monsters

Electra

The daughter who drives her brother to avenge their father

Epimetheus

The Titan of afterthought, who took Pandora as his bride

Erebus

Primordial darkness of the deep underworld

Eris

The goddess of strife who threw the golden apple

Eros

Primordial god of love and desire

Eteocles

The Theban brother who broke his oath over the throne

Europa

The maiden carried to Crete on the back of Zeus

Eurydice

The bride Orpheus almost led back from death

Eurystheus

The cowardly king who imposed the Twelve Labors

Harmonia

The bride whose cursed necklace doomed her line

Hecate

Goddess of witchcraft, crossroads and the moon

Hector

Troy's greatest prince, slain by Achilles outside the walls

Hecuba

Troy's queen who outlived her city and her children

Helios

The Titan who drives the sun across the sky

Hestia

Goddess of the hearth, home and sacred flame

Hippolytus

The chaste hunter destroyed by Phaedra's false accusation

Hippomenes

The suitor who won Atalanta with three golden apples

Hyacinthus

The beautiful youth Apollo loved and killed by accident

Icarus

The boy who flew too near the sun on waxen wings

Ino

The queen who leapt into the sea and became a goddess

Iobates

The Lycian king who sent Bellerophon to slay the Chimera

Iolaus

Heracles' nephew and charioteer who helped slay the Hydra

Ismene

Oedipus' cautious daughter who outlived her siblings

Jason

The leader of the Argonauts who won the Golden Fleece

Jocasta

The queen who unknowingly married her own son

Laius

The Theban king slain by the son he abandoned

Leto

Titaness mother of Apollo and Artemis

Marsyas

The satyr who challenged Apollo and was flayed alive

Metis

Titaness of wisdom and cunning, first wife of Zeus

Nausicaa

The princess who found Odysseus shipwrecked on her shore

Neoptolemus

Achilles' son, brought to Troy to end the war

Nessus

The centaur whose poisoned blood killed Heracles

Niobe

The mother whose pride cost her fourteen children

Nyx

Primordial goddess of the night, older than the gods

Oedipus

The king who unknowingly fulfilled a terrible prophecy

Oeneus

The Calydonian king whose neglect loosed a monstrous boar

Orestes

The son who avenged his father by killing his mother

Orion

The giant hunter set among the stars

Pandora

The first woman, who opened the jar of all evils

Paris

The prince whose theft of Helen sparked the war

Pasiphae

The Cretan queen who gave birth to the Minotaur

Patroclus

Achilles' beloved companion whose death turned the war

Pegasus

The immortal winged stallion sprung from Medusa's blood

Pelias

The usurper king who sent Jason after the Golden Fleece

Pelops

The prince who won his bride by a rigged chariot race

Penelope

The faithful queen who outwaited a hundred suitors

Pentheus

The king torn apart for defying Dionysus

Phaedra

The queen consumed by forbidden love for her stepson

Phineus

The blind seer tormented by the snatching Harpies

Pirithous

The Lapith king who tried to abduct Persephone

Pollux

The immortal boxer twin of the Dioscuri

Polynices

The exiled son of Oedipus who warred on his own city

Polyphemus

The man-eating Cyclops blinded by Odysseus

Pontus

Primordial god of the open sea

Prometheus

The Titan who stole fire for humankind

Python

The great serpent of Delphi slain by Apollo

Rhea

Titaness mother of the Olympian gods

Semele

The mortal mother of Dionysus burned by Zeus' glory

Sinon

The liar whose false tears opened the gates of Troy

Sphinx

The riddling monster who strangled all who failed her

Stheneboea

The spurned queen whose false charge doomed Bellerophon

Tantalus

The king who feeds the gods his son and starves forever

Tartarus

The abyss beneath the underworld, prison of the Titans

Telemachus

The son who sets out to find his lost father Odysseus

the Curetes

The armored dancers who hid the infant Zeus' cries

Thetis

The sea-nymph mother who could not make her son immortal

Thyestes

The brother who ate his own children at a feast

Tiresias

The blind prophet who lived as both man and woman

Typhon

The hundred-headed storm-giant who nearly toppled Zeus

Uranus

The first sky, father of the Titans

Admetus

The king for whom his wife agreed to die

Adonis

The beautiful youth two goddesses fought to keep

Adrastus

The only one of the Seven against Thebes to survive

Aeson

The rightful king of Iolcus and father of Jason

Ajax the Great

The towering bulwark of the Greeks at Troy

Ajax the Lesser

The swift spearman whose sacrilege drowned him

Alcestis

The wife who died so her husband could live

Alecto

The unceasing Fury who avenges blood-guilt

Amphiaraus

The seer who knew the war would kill him

Amphitrite

The sea-queen and wife of Poseidon

Asclepius

God of medicine and healing

Astraeus

The Titan of dusk who fathered the stars and winds

Atlas

The Titan condemned to hold up the sky

Atropos

The Fate who cuts the thread of every life

Boreas

God of the cold north wind

Briseis

The captive whose seizure sparked Achilles' wrath

Cerberus

The three-headed hound that guards the gates of the dead

Ceryneian Hind

The golden-horned deer sacred to Artemis

Charon

Ferryman of the dead across the Styx

Charybdis

The whirlpool that swallows the sea three times a day

Chimera

Fire-breathing beast of lion, goat, and serpent

Chrysaor

Golden warrior sprung from Medusa's severed neck

Chryseis

Captive priest's daughter whose ransom ignited Achilles' wrath

Clotho

The Fate who spins the thread of every life

Coeus

Titan of the inquiring mind and the heavenly axis

Colchian Dragon

The sleepless serpent coiled around the Golden Fleece

Cretan Bull

The sea-bull Poseidon sent to madden Crete

Crius

Titan of the constellations and the south

Deiphobus

Trojan prince who wed Helen after Paris fell

Diomedes

The Greek hero who wounded gods at Troy

Dione

Ancient consort of Zeus and mother of Aphrodite

Echo

The nymph cursed to only repeat others' last words

Eileithyia

Goddess of childbirth who opens or shuts the womb

Endymion

The shepherd granted eternal sleep and the Moon's love

Eos

The rosy-fingered goddess of the dawn

Erymanthian Boar

The giant boar Heracles carried back alive

Eurus

The unlucky east wind that brings storm and rain

Euryale

The immortal Gorgon whose scream mourned Medusa

Geryon

Three-bodied giant slain for his crimson cattle

Glaucus

The fisherman who became a prophetic sea-god

Harpies

Winged storm-spirits who snatch and foul their prey

Hebe

Goddess of youth and cupbearer to the gods

Helenus

Trojan prince and seer who foretold Troy's doom

Hippolyta

Amazon queen whose war-girdle Heracles came to take

Hydra

The many-headed swamp serpent whose heads regrow

Hyperion

The Titan of heavenly light

Hypnos

God of sleep, twin brother of Death

Iapetus

Titan father of Prometheus and Atlas

Io

The maiden Zeus turned into a wandering white heifer

Iphigenia

The princess sacrificed to set the Greek fleet sailing

Iris

Goddess of the rainbow and messenger of the gods

Ixion

Bound forever to a spinning wheel of fire

Lachesis

The Fate who measures out each life's allotted span

Ladon

The hundred-headed dragon guarding the golden apples

Laocoon

The priest strangled by serpents for warning Troy

Mares of Diomedes

Man-eating horses tamed only by their master's flesh

Megaera

The Fury who punishes the jealous and the oathbreaker

Memnon

Ethiopian king and son of the Dawn at Troy

Midas

The king whose every touch turned to gold

Mnemosyne

Titaness of memory, mother of the Muses

Morpheus

The dream-god who wears the faces of the sleeping

Narcissus

The youth who died loving his own reflection

Nemean Lion

The lion whose golden hide no weapon could pierce

Nemesis

Goddess of retribution and the balancing of fortune

Nereus

The truthful old man of the sea who shifts his shape

Nestor

The aged king of Pylos, wisest counselor at Troy

Nike

Winged goddess of victory

Notus

South wind that drowns harvests in late-summer storms

Oceanus

The Titan of the world-encircling river

Orthrus

Two-headed hound guarding Geryon's blood-red cattle

Pallas

Titan of warcraft slain at the gods' great battle

Pan

Goat-legged god of wild places and sudden terror

Peleus

Mortal king who wed the sea-nymph Thetis

Perses

Titan of destruction, father of the witch-goddess Hecate

Phaethon

Sun-god's son who could not steer his father's chariot

Philoctetes

Archer of Heracles' bow, abandoned for a festering wound

Philomela

Princess whose woven cloth told of a brutal crime

Phoebe

Titaness of bright prophecy

Procne

Wronged wife who took terrible revenge on Tereus

Proteus

Shape-shifting Old Man of the Sea who prophesies if held

Rhadamanthus

Just king of Crete, now a judge of the dead

Sarpedon

Lycian king and son of Zeus, fallen at Troy

Scylla

Six-headed horror baying from the strait's high cliff

Selene

The Titan goddess who drives the moon

Sirens

Bird-women whose song lures sailors onto the rocks

Sisyphus

Cunning king condemned to roll a stone forever

Stheno

Eldest and deadliest of the immortal Gorgon sisters

Stymphalian Birds

Man-eating birds with bronze beaks and metal feathers

Styx

River-goddess by whose name even gods must swear

Talos

Bronze giant who circled Crete hurling boulders at ships

Telamon

Argonaut king of Salamis, father of mighty Ajax

Tereus

Thracian king who defiled his wife's sister

Tethys

Titaness mother of every river, spring, and ocean-nymph

Thanatos

The gentle, inexorable god of death

Theia

Titaness of sight and shining light

Themis

Titaness of divine law and sacred order

Tisiphone

Fury who avenges murder with serpent whip and torch

Triton

Merman herald whose conch stills or rouses the waves

Tyche

Goddess of fortune, chance and prosperity

Zephyrus

God of the gentle west wind

Amphinomus

Most decent of Penelope's suitors, doomed all the same

Arges

Cyclops who forged the lightning, named for the flash

Eurymachus

Smooth-tongued suitor who courted Penelope with lies

Antinous

Cruelest suitor, first to fall to Odysseus' arrow

Udaeus

Earth-born Spartoi warrior, ancestor of Theban seers

Pelorus

One of the five surviving dragon-tooth warriors of Thebes

Hyperenor

Earth-sprung Spartos who helped found the line of Thebes

Echion

Dragon-born Spartos who wed Cadmus' daughter Agave

Chthonius

Earth-born Spartos, one of Thebes' five founders

Autonoe

Maenad daughter of Cadmus, swept into Bacchic frenzy

Agave

Maenad mother who tore apart her own son Pentheus

Porphyrion

King of the Giants who assailed Olympus itself

Enceladus

Giant buried beneath Etna, breathing fire from below

Alcyoneus

Giant immortal only while he stood on native earth

Thalia

Muse of comedy, ivy-crowned with the laughing mask

Urania

Muse of astronomy, holding the globe of heaven

Terpsichore

Muse of dance, lyre in hand to set feet moving

Polyhymnia

Muse of sacred hymn and solemn, veiled devotion

Melpomene

Muse of tragedy, grave behind the weeping mask

Euterpe

Muse of music, breathing song through the double flute

Erato

Muse of love poetry, crowned with myrtle and roses

Clio

Muse of history, recording glory on her scroll

Calliope

Eldest Muse of epic song, mother of Orpheus

Eunomia

Hora of good order and lawful, well-governed cities

Eirene

Hora of peace, bearing plenty in her arms

Dike

Hora of justice, who reports mortal wrongs to Zeus

Thalia

Grace of festivity and abundant, blooming cheer

Euphrosyne

Grace of mirth and the gladness of the heart

Aglaea

Grace of splendor and radiant beauty, wife of Hephaestus

Gyges

Hundred-handed giant who chained the Titans in Tartarus

Cottus

Hundred-handed son of Earth, jailer of the Titans

Briareus

Strongest hundred-handed giant, ally and guard of Zeus

Steropes

Cyclops who forged the thunder, named for the flash

Brontes

Cyclops of the thunder, smith of Zeus' bolts

Psyche

The mortal soul who earned immortality through love

Deucalion

Survivor of the Great Flood, father of a new humankind

Pyrrha

The righteous wife who reseeded the world after the flood

Ganymede

The most beautiful of mortals, cupbearer of the gods

Peneus

River God of Thessaly

Leda

Queen of Sparta, Mother of Heroes

Polydeuces

The Divine Twin, Immortal Son of Zeus

Amphion

The Lyre-Builder of Thebes