URANIA - Greek

Greek Muse of astronomy and astrology. Daughter of Zeus and Mnemosyne. Her attributes were the globe (representing the heavenly sphere) and compass.

URANUS - Greek

See Ouranos.

VALKYRIES (Valkyrjr is Old Norse for "Choosers of the slain") - Scandinavian

Odin's Daughters. Female Warriors Who Carried the Souls of heroic Men Killed in Battle to Valhalla. The names of some of the Valkyries are: Hild (warrior), Goll (screaming), Hrist (Shaker), Mist (Mist), Skogul (Raging), Skeggjold (Ax Time), Hlokk (Shrieking), Herfjotur (Host Fetter), Geirahod (Spear Bearer), Randgrid (Shield Bearer), Gunn (Battle), and Rota. The Goddess Freya was Commander of the Valkyries. Freya was entitled to half of the dead heros, and she brought then to her own hall, Sessrumnir. Odin's Favorite of the Valkyries was Brynhild (AKA:Brunnehild, Brunhild, Brunhilda). She disobeyed Odin and he punished her, putting her to sleep in a ring of fire where only a brave hero could go and awaken her.

VENUS (Aphrodite:Greek) - Roman

Goddess of Love, Beauty and Romance.

VESTA - Roman

Goddess of Fire.

ZAGREUS - Greek

Chief god in Greek Orphism. Said in Orphism to be the son of Zeus and Persephone. Zagreus seems to have originated as a pre-Hellenic god of animals and hunting.

ZALMOXIS (Salmoxis) - Greek

Supreme god of the Thracian Getae and Dacians. Known only from the writings of Herodotus. Zalmoxis was said to have taken human form and lived among humans for a time. He then disappeared into the underworld for three years before returning in the fourth year.

ZELOS - Greek

"Zeal". Son of Hyperion and Styx. He was a companion of Zeus.

ZEPHYROS (Zephyrus, Zephyr) - Greek

Greek god of the west wind. Son of Astraios and Eos. Believed to live in a cave in Thrace. Known to the Romans as Favonius.

ZEUS - Greek

Supreme Greek god and head of the Greek pantheon. In addition, Zeus functioned as a sky god or weather god, and as a god of justice and freedom. Son of the Titans Kronos and Rhea. Consort of Hera. His cult probably dates back to the Mycenean and Minoan civilizations. According to Homer, he lived on Mt. Olympus in Thessaly, where he gathered the other gods under his dominion. After his birth, Rhea saved the infant Zeus from being swallowed by Kronos along with his siblings by substituting a stone dressed in swaddling cloths. She then hid the child in a cave on the island of Crete, where the Kouretes performed a dance in which they clashed their weapons about him in order to drown out his cries. His nurse while in Crete was Amalthea, either a nymph or a goat. Upon reaching maturity, Zeus overthrew the Titans and forced Kronos to disgorge his siblings. Zeus then cast Kronos into Tartaros and established himself as head of a new pantheon in which he and his siblings had the most prominent roles. He divided dominion over the world with his brothers Poseidon and Hades. Zeus's sexual prowess was legendary, and he either seduced or forced himself upon numerous goddesses, nymphs, and mortal women, fathering countless children in the process. He assumed many different forms in pursuit of his numerous affairs. He appeared to Leda in the form of a swan, to Danae as a shower of gold, and to Europa as a white bull. Ares, Eleithyia and Hephaistos were the most prominent of his children by his official consort Hera, whom he originally seduced in the form of a cuckoo (although some sources say that it was Hera who seduced Zeus). He fathered Apollo and Artemis by Leto, Persephone by Demeter, Hermes by Maia, Dionysos by Semele, the Horai and Moirai by Themis, the Muses by Mnemosyne, and Herakles by Alkmene. Athena was also said to have been born from his forehead after he had swallowed Metis. Zeus may also have had a homosexual relationship with Ganymede, whom he made the cupbearer of the gods. The cult of Zeus was of universal significance in the Greek world, although his cult was often secondary in individual locations to the local tutelary deity, such as Athena in Athens. Greek households typically had statues of Zeus in their forecourts, and he was often associated with mountaintop shrines. He had temples in every Greek city, two of the more notable being in Athens and at Olympia. His most important festival was at Olympia. The oracle at Dodona in Epirus was dedicated to Zeus. He was depicted as a bearded and physically imposing man of middle age. His most common attributes were the thunderbolt and the eagle.

ZIBELTHIURDOS - Greek

Thracian storm god.