UDESC Manhã 2008/2

Ancient Greek Gods

(www.history for kids.org)

[1]  The Greeks believed in many gods: they were polytheistic. It is impossible to say how

many Greek gods there were, because different Greeks worshipped different gods.

Certainly there were hundreds. The most famous of them, and the ones which the most

people sacrificed to, were Zeus, Hera, Apollo, Artemis, Poseidon, Aphrodite, Athena,

[5]  Demeter, Hermes, Ares, and Hades. But there were many others: Asclepius, the god of

medicine, Persephone, Demeter's daughter, Gaia the earth goddess, Hecate, and so

forth.

In addition, every little village had its own gods. The local stream, an especial big tree, an

oddly shaped rock, all were thought to have their own god inside them, who had to be

[10]  worshipped or he or she would get mad. It was, as Keith Hopkins has said,

"a world full of gods."

Greek people also worshipped foreign gods, if for some reason they thought this might

help them somehow. The Egyptian goddess Isis was especially popular in Athens in the

Hellenistic period, for instance. And many Hellenistic Greeks worshipped Astarte, too.

[15]  To keep their gods happy, most Greek people sacrificed to their gods. Most people in

Greece also asked the gods to tell them about the future through oracles.