in childbirth, Hera could be cruel and vengeful toward Zeus's mistresses and their children.

Poseidon (Roman Neptune), Zeus's brother, was god of the sea and of earthquakes. He was married to Amphitrite, a sea nymph, but like Zeus, he fathered many children outside his marriage. Among his descendants were nymphs, sea gods, and monsters such as the Hydra*.

Demeter (Roman Ceres), a sister of Zeus, was the goddess of grain, farming, and soil. She had a daughter, Persephone, by Zeus.

nymph minor goddess of nature, usually portrayed as young and beautiful

This frieze shows the Gigantomachy, a legendary battle in Greek mythology between the Giants and the Olympian gods. The gods won by killing the Giants with the help of Hercules.

Before merging into the Olympian pantheon, Demeter and Hera were aspects of a much older deity called the Great Goddess, an earth goddess worshiped by the agricultural Greeks.

Aphrodite (Roman Venus), the goddess of love, beauty, and desire, greatly resembled Near Eastern goddesses such as Ishtar and Astarte. Her husband was Hephaestus (Roman Vulcan), god of fire, volcanoes, and invention. The other gods mocked Hephaestus because he was lame and also because of Aphrodite's adulteries, such as her love affair with the god of war, Ares (Roman Mars).

Two Olympian goddesses were virgins who resisted sexual advances from gods and men. Athena (Roman Minerva), the daughter of Zeus and a female Titan, was the goddess of wisdom, military skill, cities, and crafts. Artemis (Roman Diana) was the goddess of hunting and the protector of wild animals. She and her twin brother, the handsome young god Apollo, were the children of Zeus and the Titan Leto. Apollo functioned as the patron of archery, music, the arts, and medicine and was associated with the sun, enlightenment, and prophecy. He also served as the ideal of male beauty

Hermes (Roman Mercury) was the son of Zeus and yet another Titan. He served as the gods' messenger and also as the patron of markets, merchants, thieves, and storytelling. Hestia (Roman Vesta), another sister of Zeus, was goddess of the hearth, and her identity included associations with stability domestic well-being, and the ritual of naming children.