Olympian

## Olympians

The **Dodekatheon**, more commonly known as the **Twelve Olympians** or simply the **Olympians**, are the major deities of the Greek pantheon, and as such were the principal deities of the Greek pantheon, said to reside atop Mount Olympus.

## Overview

The Olympians gained their supremacy in a war of gods in which Zeus led his siblings to victory over the Titans. The children of Cronus and Rhea were the original Olympian gods who usurped the rule of their Titan family and have destroyed their seat of power, which was Mount Othrys, and made a new seat of power which was Mount Olympus. Ever since then their ranks were joined by their children but ones that possessed great impact and influence over mortals and natural order.

The Dodekatheon were also said to have ties with other groups of deities both across the West, the North, and the East. And, as with most of the gods, because of their arrogance they do not bother to form companionship or allegiance with lesser known pantheons. They have the closest allegiance to the Norse gods, known as the Aesir, often on rare occasions address one another in order to discuss important or critical matters.

Their Roman counterpart are the Dii Consentes, who share the god Apollo and also exclude Pluto, the lord of the Underworld.

## Description

While the number was fixed at twelve, there was considerable variation as to which deities were included. They were a family of gods, the most important consisting of the first generation of Olympians, offspring of the Titans Cronus and Rhea: Zeus, Poseidon, Hera, Demeter and Hestia, along with the principal offspring of Zeus: Athena, Apollo, Artemis, Ares, Aphrodite, Hephaestus, Hermes, and Dionysus. It is believed that Hestia willingly gave her seat as the twelfth Olympian to Dionysus to keep the peace, although this has never been confirmed as official.

When it comes to Hades, even though he was a major deity in the Greek pantheon, and was the brother of Zeus and the other first generation of Olympians, his realm was far away from Olympus in the underworld, and thus he was not usually considered to be one of the Olympians. Olympic gods can be contrasted to chthonic gods including Hades, by mode of sacrifice, the latter receiving sacrifices in a bothros ("pit") or megaron ("sunken chamber") rather than at an altar.

There are numerous other minor gods and goddesses that had close ties with the Dodekatheon and might be considered to be Olympians. Heracles became a resident of Olympus after his apotheosis and married another Olympian resident Hebe. According to Hesiod, the children of Styx: Zelus (Envy), Nike (Victory), Kratos (Strength), and Bia (Force), "have no house apart from Zeus, nor any dwelling nor path except that wherein God leads them, but they dwell always with Zeus." Some others who might be considered Olympians, include the Muses, the Graces, Iris, Dione, Eileithyia, the Horae, and Ganymede.

## Common Powers and Abilities

**Transcendent Physiology:** The Olympians possess the traits, attributes, characteristics and/or abilities of transcendent beings like deities, other beings that are divine in nature, and other transcendent level beings like cosmic entities. Most have surpassed the restraints of the material existence and transcended their physical limitations to achieve a higher level of status, power, and/or state of being. They achieve this either through literal transcendence, summoning or transforming into a godly entity, or already being a divine being in the first place.