The polytheistic world of the Greeks reveals the gods’ strength in a less than subtle manner. These characters have abilities that terrify humans.
Despite these, they are not the only factors influencing humans’ fear of the gods. They show undeniable evil characteristics and doings, illustrating how the wickedness of their deeds has turned out far worse than expected.
In this article, you will discover why dark Greek gods have earned their title and what activities they partake in.
Cronus (Kronos)
Long story short, this Titan God killed his father to take over the throne, and he was the father of Zeus and the other prime gods in Mount Olympus.
His story begins in his birth. He was one of the sons of Uranus and Gaia. These heavenly gods perceived Cronus, and they ruled the early era of Olympians with stricter rule and power.
Cronus and his brothers were imprisoned, which irritated their mother, Gaia. She despises that her children have suffered in the underworld, so they decide to topple the reigning King.
They devised an elaborate ruse to capture his father and find a good time to attack. He then slashed his father’s throat with a sickle and threw his blood and body into the sea.
He was hailed as the King at the time as a result of his mighty encounter. Despite his and his mother’s agreement, he never fulfilled his promise to bring his siblings out of Tartarus.
Later, he married Rhea, and they perceived the other Olympian Gods. He heard that one of his children is going to dethrone him, so he ate them all. That is except for one child who is named Zeus.
The prophecy came true, and Zeus imprisoned him.
This list includes him because he is a deceitful Titan who never keeps his word. He is also a greedy god who eats his own children out of fear.
Zeus
Since we already know his genealogy mentioned above, we can start with the tales of his reign.
In some mythology, Zeus is a wise and kind leader. Many Gods fear him, and he has a supportive wife. But he did many annoying things, so he wasn’t the ideal King.
First, he has an uncontrollable lust that might enrage Hera. Neglecting the fact that he sees humans as weaker than gods, this god transforms into a shapeshifter to seduce every human he sees. He appeared as a golden light, a bull, or a swan.
Because of his promiscuity, he fathered 92 children, including the Olympian gods.
Aside from that, he rewards those who please him and punishes those who do not. He is a savage god who will do anything to get his way.
Hera
The jealous wife of Zeus. She is best known as the queen of the gods, who also represents the goddess of family and childbirth. Yet, there are numerous things Hera did to get even with Zeus’s infidelity. She even dislikes her own child, Hephaestus, because of his ugly appearance, so she paired him with Aphrodite to control her devious acts.
She also took part in the judgment of Paris. She competes with Athena and Aphrodite for a golden apple. This golden apple decides who is the fairest goddess of all.
She is a vain and manipulative goddess. Very much like Zeus, only she is not promiscuous but a vindictive one.
Athena
She is the goddess of wisdom and warcraft. While most women want to be like her — a strong and cunning goddess — she has a fair share of ruthless things only to impose her power on humans.
First, the tale of Medusa. It was her doing. She punished Medusa because of being raped by Poseidon in her temple. It seems like it’s unreasonable enough, right? However, she envied Medusa’s beauty which only fueled her anger towards the lowly human.
Not to forget, she also cursed Arachne, the human who weaves a beautiful tapestry. Out of her jealousy and pride, she turned Arachne into a spider so that she can still create whatever she wants to knit.
In short, Athena is a jealous goddess.
Aphrodite
The goddess of love is not easily pictured as simple as that.
Between meddling with the lives of mortals, Helen and Paris specifically, she is also messing with Ares even though she has a husband, Hephaestus.
Aphrodite is a vain and bad-tempered goddess. Not only that, but she is also unfaithful and very jealous. So much for love, right?
Poseidon
He is the father of the demigod, Percy Jackson. That is in Rick Riordan’s novel.
However, Poseidon is one of the gods so powerful he can cause a civil war with the other Olympian gods. He gets easily irritated, and because of a feud with his brother Zeus, he talked to his brother Hades to go against them.
He is also the god of quakes and other natural phenomena that revolves around water.
Even though these are just some of his irredeemable qualities, he is viewed as one of the great gods.
Hephaestus
The bullied god is also included in this list. Why? The answer is simple.
Like other gods, he shared his jealousy because of his lack of love despite being united with Aphrodite.
A vengeful blacksmith god, he embarrassed his own mother by trapping her in an unbreakable chain and blackmailed them to make him an Olympian.
He also dropped an invisible net on Ares and Aphrodite as they get caught in the act and embarrassed them to all the gods.
Dionysus
Another one of the dark greek gods is Dionysus. He is known to be the god of wine and madness, but he is pretty lowkey.
“No way, Dionysus seems like a chill god. He even lets people have fun.”
That is true, only if he indulges you. But if you cross him, he will drive you to insanity. Quite literally. He can make someone mad and dismembered. He also raped someone named Aura.
Eris
The final minor goddess is the twin sister of Ares.
She is the goddess of conflict and discord and contention, which doesn’t really make sense since all of these attributes may clash with one another.
Remember the word judgment of Paris? Well, she is the cause of this whole war. She made the apple that had judged the fairest among the three powerful goddesses, and then the war started between the Spartans and the Trojans.
Final Thoughts
While you may see the attributes of dark greek gods and goddesses listed above, this doesn’t say the fantastic things they have done in the literature. It is best that you also get your own interpretation of the characters as they give exciting attributes for each god.