The first Gods of ancient Greece were created through the exploration of the vast universe.
The search for cosmogony was based on two fundamental and completely logical ideas:
a) The material world: Earth, Heaven, the sky, the universe could not pre-exist. It was not created from scratch, not without a parent.
b) The Creator of Life and the Universe: He must be a Being with a superior and inexhaustible mysterious power, who enforces the harmony of the world and rules with wisdom.
From this higher Βeing all other Gods were created, whο also had specific characteristics:
Zeus: Power, harmony, original cause of creation.
Poseidon: Balance of the liquid elements, so that there is life.
Apollo: Warmth for the survival of man and nature ( God of the Sun, God of Light ).
Hephaestus: art, creation and refinement of the elements of the world.
Ares: male and patriarchal guardianship. (God of War).
Ermes: Knowledge and wisdom to complete the human mind. Messenger of the spiritual divine counsels, but also of the wealth of commerce and the God of commerce.
Hera: Subconsciousness, wife of Zeus to maintain harmony and abundance. Goddess of women and family.
Queen of the gods and the goddess of marriage, women, childbirth and family.
The youngest daughter of Cronus and Rhea. Sister and wife of Zeus. Being the goddess of marriage, she frequently tried to get revenge on Zeus' lovers and their children.
Her symbols include the peacock, cuckoo, and cow.
Dimitra: Goddess of agriculture, the eldest mother who embraces her child and cannot leave it.
Goddess of the harvest, fertility, agriculture, nature and the seasons. She presided over grains and the fertility of the earth.
The middle daughter of Cronus and Rhea. Also the lover of Zeus and Poseidon, and the mother of Persephone.
Her symbols include the poppy, wheat, torch, cornucopia, and pig.
Hestia: Goddess of the house, the warm flame that creates the bonds of the family.
Goddess of the hearth, fire and of the right ordering of domesticity and the family; she was born into the first Olympian generation and was one of the original twelve Olympians.
She is the first child of Cronus and Rhea, the elder sister of Hades, Demeter, Poseidon, Hera, and Zeus.
Some lists of the Twelve Olympians omit her in favor of Dionysus, but the speculation that she gave her throne to him in order to keep the peace seems to be modern invention.
Athena: Superconsciousness, Goddess of knowledge and wisdom. Peaceful, very moral, virgin.
Goddess of wisdom, handicraft, and warfare.The daughter of Zeus and the Oceanid Metis, she rose from her father's head fully grown and in full battle armor. Her symbols include the owl and the olive tree.
Artemis: Goddess of dignity. Protector of animals from the intrigues of vengeful people, but also of the hunt.
Goddess of the hunt, the wilderness, virginity, the Moon, archery, childbirth, protection and plague. The daughter of Zeus and Leto, and the twin sister of Apollo. Her symbols include the Moon, horse, deer, hound, she-bear, snake, cypress tree, and bow and arrow.
Aphrodite: Goddess of fertility and beauty. She harmoniously unites the feminine with the masculine and perpetuates the species and nature.
Goddess of beauty, love, desire, and pleasure. In Hesiod's Theogony (188–206), she was born from sea-foam and the severed genitals of Uranus; in Homer's Iliad (5.370–417), she is daughter of Zeus and Dione. She was married to Hephaestus, but bore him no children. She had many lovers, most notably Ares, to whom she bore Harmonia, Phobos, and Deimos. She was also a lover to Adonis and Anchises, to whom she bore Aeneas. She is usually depicted as a naked or semi-nude beautiful woman. Her symbols include myrtle, roses, and the scallop shell. Her sacred animals include doves and sparrows. Her Roman counterpart is Venus.
