ADONIS: Lover of VENUS Would not be careful when hunting, and was gored by a boar. He died, and his blood turned into the flower of the anemone. Venus was so upset at his death that ZEUS allowed Adonis to visit her for six months a year (summer). Being gored by a boar is sometimes seen as a metaphor for castration. AESCULAPIUS: Son of APOLLO. Was raised by a wise centaur called CHIRON. He was very good at medicine, and even raised a man from the dead. ZEUS was afraid that if he got any better, that people wouldn't die at all. So Zeus killed him with a thunderbolt, but then made him into a constellation. He is usually seen as having the staff with snakes that symbolizes modern medicine. ANGUS (Celtic): God of Love. Son of the DAGDA. He had 4 birds flying around his head, symbolizing kisses. When they sang, people fell in love. APOLLO (PHOEBUS): God of the sun, and healing. Son of ZEUS and LETO, Father of PHAETHON, AESCULAPIUS, and CIRCE. Symbols: Chariot, laurel, lyre. Rode his chariot of the sun across the sky every day. He was raised by, and led the MUSES, and invented the lyre. Father of the first doctor. The oracles at DELPHI were said to be his revelations. Protector of young men, especially men involved in sports. He was friends with Hyacinthus, but ZEPHYRUS was jealous of the friendship and killed the boy. Apollo turned Hyacinthus into a flower. Fell in love with MARPESSA, and DAPHNE. CLYTIE fell in love with him. ARES (Greek) - MARS (Roman): God of War Son of ZEUS and HERA, lover of VENUS. Father of Terror, Panic, Fear and Trembling. Symbols: Spear, torch, dogs, vultures, armour. God of bloodthirsty warfare, and sometimes seen as riding in his chariot. ATLAS: Father of the PLEIADES. Titan who was condemned by ZEUS to hold up the sky forever. BALDER (Norse): God of sunlight and spring. Son of ODIN and FRIGG. Was wise, pure, happy, and light shone from him. It was prophesied that he would die, so his mother made everything on Earth and in the Sky swear not to harm him. The other Gods knew about this, and had fun throwing axes and swords at him. LOKI took the mistletoe (Which had been overlooked by Frigg), and made HOTHR throw it at him, and so Balder died. BALOR (Celtic): Grandfather of LUGH. His eye could kill people just by looking at them. When he was old, it took 4 warriors to lift his eyelid to kill their enemies. He had a war with Lugh, and his grandson hit him with a stone. The eye flew into the sky where it became the sun. BAUCIS and PHILEMON: Married couple. ZEUS and HERMES visited them in the guise of travelers. The couple took them in when none of their neighbours would. For this, Zeus destroyed their neighbours by flood, and made the couple the keepers of a temple. When they died, Baucis became an oak, and Philemon became a linden. These trees are seen as symbols of hospitality. BURI (Norse): Father of BOR. The First man. BOR (Norse): Son of BURI. His sons were ODIN, Vili and Ve. BRAGI (Norse): God of poetry. Husband of ITHUNN. He was the best poet. BRAN, BRON (Celtic): God of Bards. A huge man; when he lay down over a river, an army could march across him. He was also king of the underworld, and watched over the treasures of DANA. CERNUNNOS (Celtic): Fertility God Also known as HERNE, or DISPATER. Related to PAN. Horned God, sometimes seen as spilling coins onto the ground. Sometimes seen with a club. Also seen as the guardian of the gates to the otherworld. Guardian of forests and forest creatures, and fertility. The Gauls believed they were descended from him. CHIRON: A Centaur. He was the teacher of AESCULAPIUS. A very wise person, he was taught by DIANA and APOLLO the skills of music, hunting, medicine, and prophesy. Leonardo da Vinci once said he sometimes dreamed of Chiron. CRONUS (Greek) - SATURN (Roman): Son of URANUS and GAEA, husband of RHEA. Father of JUPITER, JUNO, CERES, VESTA, NEPTUNE and PLUTO. Gaea gave Cronus a sickle with which he killed his father. A Titan. Cronus in turn was afraid his children would kill him, so he swallowed all except Zeus. He was later destroyed by Zeus. The word Cronus in Greek means "time". Cronus is not always the same as Saturn, however. As Saturn, he is mostly a fertility god: the harvest God. The name Saturn may mean "sowing". The statues of Saturn were filled with olive oil, and was sometimes shown as holding a pruning knife. His temples were the treasuries of Rome. His chief festival was Saturnalia, or Winter Solstice. During this festival, people gave gifts to each other, no wars were started, no criminals were executed, the government was out of session, and masters waited on their slaves. CUCHULAIN (Celtic): Husband of Emer, lover of Fand and Aifa. Originally named Setanta, he was called Cuchulain when he killed the Hound of Cullan. He studied with SCATHACH and founded the Red Branch warriors. He unknowingly kills his son Conlai. DAEDALUS: Father of all inventors Father of: ICARUS Built a labyrinth to keep the minotaur in. Later lost favour with King MINOS and was sent into the labyrinth. Built wings of wax to escape with. DAG (Norse): Day. A Giant, he rules over the day on his horse Skinfaxi. DAGDA, THE; DAGDA MOR (Celtic): Father of the people of DANA. Father of ANGUS, MIDIR. Chief of the Dana. A Giant who ate with a spoon big enough for a bed. Fed everybody with his cauldron called Undry. Played the seasons around with his harp. DEUCALION: Son of: PROMETHEUS, husband of: Pyrrha Was warned by his father that ZEUS was going to wipe out humans by a flood. He and his wife fled to Mt. Parnassus, and Zeus spared them. They repeopled the earth by sowing stones. Deucalion's stones became men, and Pyrrha's stones became women. They became rulers. DIARMUID (Celtic): Lover of GRAINNE. Had a spot on his forehead that made women fall in love with him. When attending a wedding dinner for a friend, the bride, Grainne, fell in love with him and convinced him to take her away. He didn't want to, but was under geise to always help a woman in need. He left a piece of unbroken bread every day so that their pursuers would know he hadn't touched Grainne. Eventually, however, the inevitable happened, and he left a piece of unbroken bread. When FIONN found them, he killed Diarmuid, but ANGUS brought him back to life. DIONYSYS (Greek) - BACCHUS, LIBER (Roman): God of Wine. Son of ZEUS and Semele. Symbols: Vine, Ivy, Wine, Panther. Raised by Silenus, a drunk with goat's feet. Celebrated in March when wine is ready for drinking. Has a chariot pulled by leopards. Usually seen as having a crown of vine, or ivy, and holding a thryrsus (staff with ivy and topped with a pine cone). Female followers were called Bacchantes, or Maenads, and were usually seen as being drunk, wild, and crazy. Sometimes they carried a thyrsi. Was said to be a very attractive young man. He wandered around the world, teaching people about wine. He also taught about peace and justice. HERA was very attracted to him. At one point, some sailors wanted to sell him into slavery, so he drove them crazy until they jumped into the ocean and turned into dolphins. ENDYMION: Lover of DIANA. Diana fell in love with him as he slept, and eventually the other Gods noticed. ZEUS was afraid she would stop riding the moon over the sky at night because of him, so he offered Endymion a choice: death, or eternal youth and sleep. Endymion chose sleep, and he is on mount Latmos where Diana can see him at night. EPIMETHEUS: Brother of: PROMETHEUS, Husband of: PANDORA Titan; name means "hindsight". Accepted Pandora and her box, after his brother had rejected her. He helped to open the box. EROS (Greek) - CUPID (Roman): God of Love. Son of VENUS, husband of PSYCHE. Symbols: Arrows. Carried two types of arrows. Gold tipped to create love; lead tipped to create hate. He was doomed to remain a child until his mother had another son. When she gave birth to Anteros, he grew up.

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