History

The following list of Greek Gods and Goddesses is a complete list of the major and minor deities of Greek mythology. The list is presented in alphabetical order by Greek name, with commonly alternate names following, including both Roman and Etruscan versions. Some of the more famous heroes and demigods are also included for good measure.

In Greek mythology, there is no single original text like the Christian Bible or the Hindu Vedas that introduces all of the myths’ characters and stories. Instead, the earliest Greek myths were part of an oral tradition that began in the Bronze Age, and their plots and themes unfolded gradually in the written literature of the archaic and classical periods. The poet Homer’s 8th-century BC epics the Iliad and the Odyssey, for example, tell the story of the (mythical) Trojan War as a divine conflict as well as a human one. They do not, however, bother to introduce the gods and goddesses who are their main characters, since readers and listeners would already have been familiar with them.