The Greek gods are the immortal beings that people used to worship in ancient times. The Greeks thought that there were twelve main gods and goddesses who lived on Mount Olympus.
The twelve main Olympians are Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, Hera, Demeter, Hephaestus, Ares, Hermes, Aphrodite, Athena and Apollo. These twelve gods ruled over all of Greece. They were supposed to be immortal and they had many human qualities such as anger, jealousy and love.
There were other gods too who lived on Mount Olympus but they did not rule over Greece like the twelve main Olympians did; instead they ruled over parts of nature or had special powers such as controlling the sea or the wind. The most important god in Greek mythology was Zeus who ruled over all of Greece because he was the king of the gods. He was also known as Jupiter by the Romans which is why you sometimes hear about him being called Jupiter when talking about ancient Greece.
Poseidon was known as the Earthshaker or Earth Father because he ruled over earthquakes and storms at sea.
Hades was the god of death and ruler of the Underworld (also called Hades). He is also known as Pluto in Roman mythology.
Some say that there are only nine major gods because Ares is missing from this list but I don’t think he counts because he was never considered a major god by ancient Greeks or Romans.
