Aphrodite : Olympian Goddess of Love and Beauty

Wazzup Pilipinas!

Aphrodite is the great Olympian goddess of beauty, love, pleasure and procreation. She was depicted as a beautiful woman usually accompanied by the winged godling Eros (Love). Her attributes included a dove, apple, scallop shell and mirror. In classical sculpture and fresco she was often depicted nude. Aphrodite may have been the most attractive goddess, but according to the Iliad (the famous poem by Homer), she was a rather weak, frightful goddess.

I chose her because Aphrodite symbolizes beauty, love and eternal youth. During the early times, Greeks used to seek Aphrodite when they have problems and concerns regarding love. Aphrodite's symbols were the girdle (which she was using to compel love), the seashell and the mirror. Her sacred animal was the dove.

Hera : The Jealous Wife

(c) Alyssa Lola

Wazzup Pilipinas!

The goddess I chose was Hera. She is considered as the Queen of the Gods since she is the beloved other half of Zeus, the King of the Gods. She is one of the Olympian Gods who reside in Mount Olympus. She was an offspring of Cronus and Rhea. The pomegranate, peacock, feather, diadem, cow and lily are her symbols. Her siblings include Poseidon, Hades, Demeter, Hestia, Zeus and Chiron. Yes, she was his brother's spouse. Zeus and Hera's children include Ares, Enyo, Hebe, Eileithyia, Hephaestus and Eris. Her Roman counterpart is Juno.]

Hera was most known as the matron goddess, Hera Teleia; but she presided over weddings as well. In myth and cult, fragmentary references and archaic practices remain of the sacred marriage of Hera and Zeus, and at Plataea, there was a sculpture of Hera seated as a bride by Callimachus, as well as the matronly standing Hera.

Hades : The Lord Beneath the Soles, The Keeper of Our Souls.

Wazzup Pilipinas!

Lord of the dead and ruler of the whole nether world, Hades is one of the most powerful gods of “Ancient Greek Mythology”. Hades is a very interesting god for he possesses the life and death of each and every human being on earth, as believed by the ancient Greeks. Hades, in Greek terms, means “unseen” because he is trapped to rule the underworld, invisible from the surface world.

Hades is the son of Cronus and Rhea. When the three sons of Cronus divided the world among each other, Hades was given the underworld, while his brothers Zeus and Poseidon took the upperworld and the sea respectively. For a while Hades ruled the underworld together with Persephone, whom he had abducted from the upperworld, but Zeus ordered him to release Persephone back into the care of her mother Demeter. However, before she left he gave her a pomegranate and when she ate of it, it bound her to the underworld forever.