G is for Greek Gods

Greek Gods (The Three Sons of Cronos)

By: Sarah

There are so many Greek gods, and all very fascinating stories behind every single one. This awesome blog post will (loosely) retell you all about three of the most important gods of Mount Olympus, in fact, those three gods are the sons of Cronos. Poseidon, Zeus, and Hades. After Cronos retired, those three sons equally divided up the earth. Zeus took the sky, Poseidon took the sea, and Hades took the home of the dead, underground.

First is Zeus, king of all the gods. He could shape shift, throw lightning bolts, and throw his voice so it sounded like anything Zeus wanted it to sound like. Zeus also had special powers that came from being king of the gods. He could give other gods titles and jobs, and take those titles and jobs away. Zeus could also direct other gods to do anything he wanted. Zeus’ position was actually an elected position. There were twelve gods on the council. The gods could have voted someone else king, but they never did, and Zeus never retired.   

Okay! Next god!

The next god is Poseidon, god of the sea. When the three sons of Cronos ruled, Poseidon was not at all jealous of his brothers. He did not want to be around dead people all day like Hades, and he did not want nearly as much responsibility as Zeus. Poseidon was very happy as Lord of the Sea.

And the job was perfect for him. Poseidon had deep blue eyes, and flowing green hair. He was moody and restless and very powerful. He could make an island magically appear, or make a huge tidal wave slam down on the shore, or even make a wave powerful enough to suck you right off the beach! All he had to do was wave his hand!

People who lived inland didn’t have to worry about Poseidon. But Greeks who lived on the coast were terrified of him. Those Greeks built temples to honor Poseidon, and brought him gifts every day. Sometimes the gifts made him happy, and the water would be a calm, beautiful, sparking blue. But if Poseidon did not like the gifts, a horrible storm would hit the land. The citizens who lived on the coast always tried to keep Poseidon happy.

Like most gods, Poseidon had many wives. He loved his main wife the most because she was not jealous of his other wives, and that was unusual. His main wife was the only wife who made her home under the sea in their stunning underwater palace.

Like many gods, Poseidon had a large mansion on Mount Olympus, but only visited for council meetings. He much preferred his underwater palace. And who could blame him? His palace had Greek columns, colorful seaweed, white sand, glowing jewels, shiny shells, magical amber, and fish of every color swimming in and out. There was nothing like it. Glow worms kept Poseidon's home bright at night. And as moody and fearful Poseidon was, he was always calm when he came home to his palace.

The final god is Hades. So, like I said, Hades was ruler of the Underworld. And, unlike his brothers, Hades was very gloomy. He had a home on Mount Olympus, but almost never stayed there. Hades was much more content in the Underworld.

Though many think this, Hades was not the lord of death. He didn’t decide who lived and who had to die. His job was just to run things down in the Underworld.

The Underworld was absolutely huge! There were some places, like the Elysian Fields, where heroes went after they died. It was very nice there. But some places were just plain creepy! People who did bad things on Earth might have ended up in one of those sections. Hades always decided where you went. And because of that, it was not wise to anger Hades, no matter if you were living or dead.

Hades’ brothers thought Hades rarely took time to play, but they were wrong. Hades loved to play. One of his favorite belongings was his invisible helmet. He had tons of fun with that. But more than anything, Hades loved his three-headed dog, Cerberus. Hades also liked his golden chariot. It was his pride and joy. His chariot used to belong to Helios, but Helios retired. Helios was delighted to give Hades his chariot. In exchange, Hades promised Helios a favor, which was all the payment Helios needed. Hades and his beloved dog would get on the chariot and speed through the Underworld, and that would make the souls of the dead scatter to get out of the way.

Hades was never lonely. For a long time, Hades did not have a wife, but his dog kept him company. Now and then his family visited, too. Zeus visited whenever he felt like it. Hades’ nephew, Hermes stopped in whenever there was a problem to fix.

Sometimes, to let his dog sniff a new place, Hades would come up to the surface. If it was really important, Hades would even attend meetings on Mount Olympus. But Hades never thought of himself as an Olympian. Even though Hades had a house high up in Mount Olympus, the Land of the Dead would always be where he belonged.

Thank you for taking the time and reading this really long post about the three sons of Cronos, and (some of) the gods of Olympus.

Sources

http://greece.mrdonn.org/greekgods/index.html