What gods and goddesses are characters in Homer’s “The Iliad”?

The Iliad is an epic poem that narrates the events that took place in the last year of the Trojan War. It is a work of narrative poetry written by Homer in the 8th century BC and it is one of the first written records of the Greek language, corresponding to the archaic period of ancient Greece. The Greek name for Troy is Ilium and from it derives the name of the Homeric poem, The Iliad . Let’s see below which are the main Greek gods that participate in the narrative.

Zeus. Son of Cronus and Rhea, Zeus was called the father of gods and men. He was the king of the gods and the one who ruled Mount Olympus. His wife was Hera, who was also his sister. In some accounts Dione is mentioned as his wife, with whom he fathered Aphrodite. His adventures and lovers are numerous and he had several children such as Athena, Apollo, Artemis, Hermes, Persephone, Dionysus, Perseus, Heracles , Helena, Minos, the muses and nymphs such as Eco. He was also the father of Illithia, Ares, Enio, Hebe and Hephaestus.

laughed. Rhea was a Titan, daughter of Urano and Gaia, sister and wife of Cronus, and mother of Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades, Poseidon, and Zeus. Cronos defeated her father, Urano, and imprisoned the Giants and the Cyclopes in Tartarus; then, together with Rhea, they were the kings of the Titans in the golden age.

Hades . In Greek mythology Hades was the god of the underworld, the land of the dead. In modern religions the souls of the dead have different destinations, but in Greek mythology they all went to the underworld, a dark place but one that was not associated with punishment and Hades did not represent evil either; he was the guardian of death. Hades was one of the sons of the Titans Cronus and Rhea; his brothers were Zeus and Poseidon and his sisters were Hestia, Demeter and Hera.

Hera. The queen of the gods of Olympus, Hera was the daughter of the Titans Rhea and Cronus, sister of Zeus at the same time as his wife. In mythology there are versions that Hephaestus, the blacksmith god, would be the son of Hera only, without Zeus being the father, in retaliation for the birth of Athena without her participation. In the Homeric hymn to Apollo it is also said that the revenge for the birth of Athena was to generate Typhon, a Greek divinity associated with hurricanes, hitting the ground so that Gaea would obey him. In Ovid’s Metamorphoses it is said that a nymph named Eco kept Hera distracted, talking to her so that she would not register Zeus’ infidelities; and when the queen of the gods realized the ruse, she condemned Echo to repeat the sounds that the others uttered.

Leto. Daughter of the titans Ceo and Phoebe, Leto fathered with Zeus the twins Apollo and Artemis. This provoked the anger of Hera, the wife of Zeus, who pursued Leto. She tried to prevent the birth of the twins by telling her daughter Ilitia, the goddess of births, not to attend to her. But the gods were moved by Leto’s suffering and allowed Artemis to be born, who in turn mothered her in the birth of Apollo.

hephaestus . Hephaestus, the blacksmith god, would be the son of Hera only, without Zeus being the father, in retaliation for the birth of Athena without her participation. Hera then expelled Hephaestus from Olympus due to his being lame; Hephaestus took revenge on his mother by creating a throne from which Hera could not get up again after sitting on it. Only after Dionysus got Hephaestus drunk to take him back to Olympus and Aphrodite was granted as his wife did he agree to allow Hera to rise from the throne.

Demeter.Demeter, the sister of Hera and Zeus, was the goddess of grain and agriculture. She was the mother of Persephone, called Proserpina in Roman mythology, who was kidnapped by Hades. Her pain was so great that Demeter abandoned the gods and hid among men taking the form of an old woman. Demeter remained in this way for a year, in which no vegetation grew on Earth, which was ravaged by famine. Zeus sent Hermes to speak with Hades; The god of the underworld agreed to let Persephone go but with a trick he ensured that she would remain tied to her kingdom forever. Demeter then had to agree to Persephone spending a third of the year as Hades’s consort and two-thirds of her with her mother and the gods of Olympus;

Themis . Themis, daughter of Gea and Urano, was a goddess who represented justice and equity. She was represented with a sword and scales and in many cases blindfolded. Themis represented order, laws and customs.

Athena. Athena was one of the main Greek deities. She was part of the twelve main gods, the gods of Olympus. Athena represented wisdom and war, science and justice. She had no husband or lovers and she held her virginity indefinitely. Athena is the daughter of Zeus without the participation of his wife: Athena emerged from the forehead of Zeus, already carrying his shield and weapons.

Dionisio. Son of Zeus and Semele, Dionysus is one of the gods of Olympus. He was the god of fertility and wine; he inspired ecstasy and freed people from their normal state. He is the god of agriculture and theater.

Aphrodite. Aphrodite was the goddess of erotic love and also the goddess of beauty and sensuality. Her equivalent in Roman mythology was Venus. She was one of the twelve Olympian gods. Aphrodite was married to Hephaestus but she had several lovers, including Ares.

Ares. Ares was the son of Zeus and Hera; he was the Olympian god of war. The equivalent of him in Roman mythology was Mars. He represented violence, brutality and the horrors of battle. He also represented masculine virility and had some thirty mistresses with whom he fathered some sixty children. His favorite lover was Aphrodite. Among their children were Eros, Harmonia, Phobos and Deimos. In battle, Ares was not always victorious, particularly in confrontations with his sister Athena. In The Iliad it is recorded that in the Trojan War he fought on both sides, and in combat he used cruel means such as plagues and epidemics.

Demos. Deimos, son of Aphrodite and Ares, was the god of terror. He would go out to fight alongside his father Ares and his twin brother Phobos (panic), both twins acting under his command. He also fought alongside Enio, his father’s sister. Deimos always fought alongside Phobos, since apart they lacked power. It was difficult to distinguish the two twins; only his sister, Harmonia, could identify them.

Dione. Dione is a feminine form of Zeus and would be the mother of Aphrodite.

Apollo. Son of Zeus and Leto, twin brother of Artemis, Apollo was one of the Olympian gods and perhaps the most influential after Zeus. He was the god of the arts, identified with the light of truth. He was the god of beauty, harmony, balance and reason. He was the god of plagues and diseases, but also the god of healing. He symbolized prophetic and artistic inspiration; he was the patron of the oracle at Delphi, the most famous in antiquity.

illithia Illithia was the goddess of labor pains, births and midwives. She was the daughter of Zeus and Hera.

Sagebrush. She was the goddess of the hunt, of wild animals, and of births; she was the daughter of Zeus and Leto and the twin sister of Apollo. She was an Olympian goddess.

Axis. Axius was a river god, associated with the Paeonian river, son of Oceanus and Tethys. His domains were in the region of Macedonia.

Charis. Charis was the goddess of beauty, nature, creativity and fertility.

Helios. Helios is identified with the Sun. He is a Titan son of Hyperion and Thea, and brother of Selene, the Moon, Eos, the dawn, and Titan. Helios was described as having the shining halo of the Sun; he drove a chariot which, according to Homer, was drawn by solar bulls that crossed the sky during the day until it reached Oceanus, and then returned in the east at night. According to Pindar, the chariot was drawn by horses.  

hyperion . Hyperion was a Titan; His name means “he who walks on high.” In The Iliad , the Sun god is Helios, but in The Odyssey and other classical works the Sun is referred to as Hyperion. Hyperion is considered the god of observation and his sister Thea, the goddess of sight.

The Erinyes. The Erinyes or Furies were the female representations of revenge that persecuted those responsible for particularly terrible crimes, such as blood crimes (for example, killing parents, children or brothers).

glauce. Glauce was one of the Nereids. The Nereids were the fifty daughters of Doris and Nereus, sisters of Nerites, a marine deity. The Nereids were nymphs of the Mediterranean Sea and lived in the depths of the sea. They came to the surface to help the sailors through it. They are represented as beautiful young women and symbolized the beauty of the sea.

Halia. Halia was also a Nereid; she is mentioned in The Iliad along with her sisters mourning the death of Patroclus in solidarity with Achilles.

limnorrhea. Like Glauce and Halia, Limnoreia was a Nereid and she is mentioned with Halia mourning the death of Patroclus.

Nemertes. Nemertes was also a Nereid, considered the wisest among all her sisters.

Nesaea . Nesaea was another of the Nereid sisters who, as recorded in The Iliad , mourned the death of Patroclus in solidarity with Achilles.

Oritia. Oritia was another of the Nereids that is mentioned mourning the death of Patroclus.

Proto . Proto was also a Nereid who, along with her sisters, accompanied Achilles after the death of Patroclus.

Nereus. Nereo was the eldest son of Ponto and Gaia; the god of the waves of the sea. Together with Doris he had fifty daughters, the Nereids, the sea nymphs, and a man of extraordinary beauty, Nerites. He lived in the Aegean Sea with his daughters. He could shapeshift and had the gift of prophecy.

Hebe. Daughter of Zeus and Hera, Hebe represented youth. The goddess Hebe assisted the gods by filling cups with nectar, helping Hera harness horses to her chariot, or bathing and dressing her brother Ares. She married Heracles and was replaced in her responsibilities as cupbearer to the gods by the Trojan prince Ganymede. Hebe could rejuvenate the old or age children.

Hermes. Hermes was a god of Olympus and stood out mainly as the messenger and herald of the gods and the one who guided souls to the underworld. Son of Zeus and the Pleiade Maya, he represented travelers who crossed borders, symbolized ingenuity and cunning, and was the patron of commerce. He also represented thieves and liars. In Roman mythology it was called Mercury.

Iris. Iris was the daughter of the oceanid Electra and Taumante, sister of the Harpies and Arce. In The Iliad she is also recorded as a messenger of the gods. Iris warned Menelaus of Helen’s kidnapping in Sparta, she prevented Hera and Athena from engaging in combat, and took Aphrodite to Olympus after Diomedes wounded her. She also warned Achilles of the death of Patroclus. Iris is the goddess of the rainbow, which reflects the union between Olympus and the earth at the end of the storm.

the muses The muses were goddesses who inspired artists; there were nine of them and each of them inspired a different form of art. The muses were daughters of Mnemosyne and Zeus, and accompanied Apollo, god of music and the arts. The muses descended to Earth and inspired the mortals who invoked them.

Ocean. Ocean was a Titan, son of Uranus and Gaea, who represented the immense river that surrounded the Earth. The iconography of Achilles’ shield, made by Hephaestus, was surrounded by Ocean, just as the Earth was believed to be.

Thetis. Thetis was a titan, daughter of Uranus and Gaea. She was identified with the water and was the wife of Océano.

Thetis. Thetis was also the name of the sea nymph who fathered Achilles. Poseidon and Zeus had vied for her hand, but Themis prophesied that Thetis would bear a son more powerful than her father, so Thetis was forced to marry Peleus, the mortal king of the Myrmidons in Phtia, southeast of Thessaly.

Pawn. Pawn was the doctor of the gods. Pawn healed Ares when Diomedes wounded him.

Poseidon. Poseidon was the god of the seas and also of earthquakes; he was also the brother of Zeus and Hades. In Roman mythology, his name was Neptune. Poseidon created islands and calmed the seas when his mood was kind; but when he was ignored or angry he hit the ground with his trident, generating cataclysms. It was his grudge that kept Odysseus from returning to Ithaca when the Trojan War ended, and the reason it took the ingenious hero an extra ten years to get home.

Sources

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The Trojan War, what was it? Background, causes and consequences . History Encyclopedia. Accessed October 2021.

Javier Negrete. The great adventure of the Greeks . Editorial El Ateneo, Madrid, 2016.

Myth and reality about the Trojan War . National Geographic , 2012.

Pierre Grimal. Dictionary of Greek and Roman mythology . Paidós Editions, Barcelona, ​​2010.

Fifth of Smyrna. Posthomeric XII,9; Archaic Greek Epic Fragments . Madrid, Gredos, 1979. Robin Hard. The great book of Greek mythology. Based on HJ Rose’s Handbook of Greek Mythology. The Sphere of Books, Madrid, Spain, 2016.