page_title: Twelve Olympians
hierarchical_section_title: Twelve Olympians
caption_attribution_description: English: The figures from left to right are: Hestia (goddess of the hearth), with scepter; Hermes (messenger of the gods), with cap and staff; Aphrodite (goddess of love and beauty), with veil; Ares (god of war), with helmet and spear; Demeter (goddess of agriculture), with scepter and wheat sheaf; Hephaestus (god of fire and metal-working), with staff; Hera (queen of the gods), with scepter; Poseidon (god of the sea), with trident; Athena (goddess of wisdom and the arts), with owl and helmet; Zeus (king of the gods), with thunderbolt and staff; Artemis (goddess of the hunt and moon), with bow and quiver; and Apollo (god of the sun), with "kithara."
context_page_description: In ancient Greek religion and mythology, the twelve Olympians are the major deities of the Greek pantheon, commonly considered to be Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Demeter, Athena, Apollo, Artemis, Ares, Hephaestus, Aphrodite, Hermes, and either Hestia or Dionysus. They were called Olympians because, according to tradition, they resided on Mount Olympus.
  Although Hades was a major ancient Greek god, and was the brother of the first generation of Olympians, his realm was the underworld, far from Olympus, and thus was not usually considered to be one of the Olympians.
  Besides the twelve Olympians, there were many other cultic groupings of twelve gods.
context_section_description: In ancient Greek religion and mythology, the twelve Olympians are the major deities of the Greek pantheon, commonly considered to be Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Demeter, Athena, Apollo, Artemis, Ares, Hephaestus, Aphrodite, Hermes, and either Hestia or Dionysus. They were called Olympians because, according to tradition, they resided on Mount Olympus.
  Although Hades was a major ancient Greek god, and was the brother of the first generation of Olympians (Zeus, Poseidon, Hera, Demeter, and Hestia), his realm was the underworld, far from Olympus, and thus was not usually considered to be one of the Olympians.
  Besides the twelve Olympians, there were many other cultic groupings of twelve gods.
caption: Fragment of a Hellenistic relief (1st century BC–1st century AD) depicting the twelve Olympians carrying their attributes in procession; from left to right, Hestia (scepter), Hermes (winged cap and staff), Aphrodite (veiled), Ares (helmet and spear), Demeter (scepter and wheat sheaf), Hephaestus (staff), Hera (scepter), Poseidon (trident), Athena (owl and helmet), Zeus (thunderbolt and staff), Artemis (bow and quiver), Apollo (lyre), from the Walters Art Museum.[1]
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