Greek Mythology

Greece is a Europeon country that is ancient.  Greece has a rich collection of mythology and legends.  Some of the famous ancient Greek poet historians include Homer and Hesiod.  These two men recorded many of the ancient myths of Greece.  Ancient Rome (Italy) adopted the mythology of ancient Greece and just changed the names of the gods and goddesses.

Today, the population of Greece is around 11 million people.  Ancient Greece is considered the cradle of Western Civilization.  It was the birthplace of democracy, major scientific and mathematical principles, the Olympics, and Western literature.

There were many gods and goddesses of Greece including multiple generations of gods/goddesses, but the main pantheon of  ancient gods and goddessess of Greece known as the Olympians were:

Zeus- Father of the Gods
Poseidon - God of the Sea and Earthquakes
Ares- God of War
Apollo - God of Music and Medicine
Hermes - Messenger of the gods
Hephaestus- God of Black Smiths
Hera - Goddess of Marriage and wife of Zeus
Artemis- Goddess of the Hunt and sister of Apollo
Athena - Goddess of War and the Crafts
Aphrodite - Goddess of Love
Demeter - Goddess of the Earth and Crops
Hestia -Goddess of the Hearth replaced by Dionysus the God of Wine

By Rita Jean Moran (www.thelibrarykids.com)


Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greece

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Flag_of_Greece.svg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Jupiter_Smyrna_Louvre_Ma13.jpg