Greek & Roman Mythology: Gods

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Taken from Quick Study Academic.

Titan wasn't a god or a demi-god. Instead, the Titans where a group of siblings.

According to this guide, the Greek and Roman gods that lived on Mount Olympus were second generation gods. They were the more "humanized" gods who had many more of the desires and foibles that we all possess. They were the sons and daughters of the Elder gods of the Golden Age: the Titans.

The original Titans were the 12 children of Uranus (Heaven) and Gaea (Earth), 6 males and 6 females. They were as follows: Coeus (m); Crius (m); Cronus (m), the most powerful of all the Titans, believed to control time - especially the seasons and the time for planting and harvensting - and the father of the gods who were to become the first Olympains (Zeus, Aphrodite, etc.); Hyperion (m), the most beautiful and radiant of the Titans; Iapetus (m); Mnemosyne (f), the goddess of memory; Oceanus (m), the forerunner to Poseidon/Neptune; Phoebe (f); Rhea (f), Cronus's wife and the mother of the Olympians; Tethys (f), the mother of all rivers and the Oceanides, the 3,000 nymphs who inhabit the rivers; Thea (f); and Themis (f), the goddess of justice and order.

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Also from Quick Study Academic.

Aurora (Roman)
The goddess of the dawn (sunrise).

Eros (Greek)
The god of love. One of the more interesting examples of the deflation of a god. Originally he was seen as the great creator (not only of personal relationships, but also of the love of country and civilizations, which led to the building of great cities, etc.). Later, for reasons unknown, the Greeks decided he was only concerned with sensual desire. In this incarnation he was quite unemotional. By the time the Romans adopted his persona as Cupid, he had been further reduced to the winged "baby with a bow" who shot his arrows of love (or lust) indiscriminately.

Vulcan (Roman)
Originally named Hephaestus, he was crippled by Zeus when thrown over the wall of heaven for interfering in a quarrel between Zeus and Hera. Vulcan survived to become the god of physical creation (i.e., Craftsmanship, Architecture, Weaponry, etc.). Among his creations were: the palaces of the gods; Zeus's' thunderbolts; Achilles armor; and, arguably his most important project, the first (earthly) woman Pandora. By the time the Romans transformed him into Vulcan, however, he lost all his positive, creative leanings and become merely the god of fire, usually in its most destructive sense.

In both Greek and Roman mythology, volcanoes are seen as the smokestacks of the forges of the gods.


Unfortunately there's nothing in here about Notos, Zephyros, Boreas Rex, or Klondike Kate.

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One final spinet from Quick Study Academic.

The Greek/Roman Connection

The Romans were a warrior race, if not necessarily a highly creative one. Unlike many other conquering races, especially those that would come in later centuries, they wanted mainly to extend their land holdings and physical power, not promote an ideological or religious system. Thus, when they conquered a people they would rarely impose Roman god and beliefs upon them. Moreover, they would often adopt the gos and myths of the people they conquered and, with minor variations, incorporate them into the Roman mythology. Nowhere was this more apparent than with the Greeks. A large portion of the Roman pantheon, perhaps the most important part, is directly attributable to the Greek. This has led to some confusion on the part of modern day students as to "whose god is it, anyway?"

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Here's the current legends for the Saint Paul Winter Carnival Legend and the Order of The Royal Guard.

Click here to read a brief history of the Vulcans and the meaning of the Krewe names.

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In Greek mythology, the Anemoi were wind gods who were each ascribed a cardinal direction, from which their respective winds came, and were each associated with various seasons and weather conditions. They were sometimes represented as mere gusts of wind, at other times were personified as winged men, and at still other times were depicted as horses kept in the stables of the storm god Aeolus, who provided Odysseus with the Anemoi in the Odyssey. Astraeus, the astrological deity sometimes associated with Aeolus, and Eos, the goddess of the dawn, were the parents of the Anemoi, according to the Greek poet Hesiod.

Of the four chief Anemoi, Boreas was the north wind and bringer of cold winter air, Notus was the south wind and bringer of the storms of late summer and autumn, and Zephyrus was the west wind and bringer of light spring and early summer breezes; Eurus, the east wind, was not associated with any of the three Greek seasons, and is the only one of these four Anemoi not mentioned in Hesiod's Theogony or in the Orphic Hymns.

Zephyrus is also sometimes listed as Favonius.

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Titan is the only member of the family that was a not a god. The titans were a race of giants. Titan is also the name of the largest of Saturn's moons and is the only known moon with an atmosphere.
The Titans were also the bad guys in the Disney version of "Hercules".

Vulcanus is the Son of Juno. He has no father. In some greek legends he married Aphrodite and is the father of Cupid or Eros. He was repeatedly cuckolded by his wife causing him to be bitter.

Eros is not who represents the East wind in the Winter Carnival legend, that would be Eurus. Two very different gods.

Fun note: Vulcanus had several children with Aglaia.

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Boreas was the Greek god of the cold north wind and the bringer of winter. His name meant "North Wind" or "Devouring One". Boreas was very strong, with a violent temper to match. He was frequently depicted as a winged old man with shaggy hair and beard, holding a conch shell and wearing a billowing cloak.

Boreas was closely associated with horses. He was said to have fathered twelve colts after taking the form of a stallion, to the mares of Erichthonius, the King of Troy.

The Roman equivalent of Boreas was Aquilo, or Aquilon. An alternate, rarer name used for the northern wind was Septentrio, a word derived from septem triones ("seven trios") referring to the constellation Ursa Major.

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Eurus, in the original Greek Euros, was the Greek deity representing the unlucky east wind. He was thought to bring warmth and rain, and his symbol was an inverted vase, spilling water.

His Roman counterpart was Vulturnus, not to be confused with Volturnus, a tribal river-god who later became a Roman deity of the River Tiber.


Zephyrus, or just Zephyr, in the original Greek Zephuros, was the Greek god of the west wind. The gentlest of the winds, Zephyrus is known as the fructifying wind, the messenger of spring. It was thought that Zephyrus lived in a cave on Thrace.
Zephyrus was said to be the father of Balius and Xanthus, Achilles' horses.
Zephyrus' Roman equivalent was Favonius, who held dominion over plants and flowers.

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Notus, in the original Greek Notos, was the Greek god of the south wind. He was associated with the dessicating hot wind of the rise of Sirius after midsummer, was thought to bring the storms of late summer and autumn, and was feared as a destroyer of crops.

Notus' equivalent in Roman mythology was Auster, the embodiment of the sirocco wind, who brought heavy cloud cover and fog or humidity.