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Mythology

Which Greek God are you?

Aphrodite crouching at her bath
Aphrodite crouching at her bath		 Marble statue of Hermes
Marble statue of Hermes

The ancient Greeks had 12 gods. There is no need to visit an Oracle in order to find out which of the 12 Gods you are. Just choose one of the options in each of the 5 questions below and you will find out.

Answer the questions. The letter after the word you choose refers to the notes below.

  1. Which of these words best describes you:
  1. Which job would you prefer:
  1. As a pet you would have:
  1. If you could live anywhere, your choice would be:
  1. You would achieve world domination by

If you were a god you'd be...

a) APHRODITE

You are Aphrodite (Αφροδίτη), the goddess of beauty and love. You are emerged from the sea foam in a sea shell in Cyprus. Everyone who sees you falls in love instantly. But although you can have any man that you want you are already married to Hephaestus who is lame, jealous and certainly not the best-looking guy in the world. You are not a very faithful wife and your love affair with Ares became a ‘hot’ story for the Hello magazine.

b) APOLLO

You are Apollo (Απόλλων), the god of music and light. You are a patron of poetry, prophesy and medicine. You are in charge of the Oracle of Delphi where Pythia, the high priestess, sitting on a tripod and chewing laurel leaves gives ambiguous oracles to the mortals.

c) ARES

You are Ares (Άρης), the god of war. You are tall and handsome but very cruel and you care only for blood and battles. Although immortal, you can still get wounded. After some deep thinking you have decided that you don’t like nuclear weapons and you prefer to stay well away from them.

d) ARTEMIS

You are Artemis (Άρτεμις), a virgin and a huntress. You are the daughter of Zeus and of the nymph Leto. You are able to kill lions and panthers with your bow. The last man who tried anything with you was Orion whom you transformed into the Orion constellation.

e) ATHENA

You are Athena (Αθηνά), the goddess of wisdom. You sprung from Zeus’ head fully clothed and in armor. The Parthenon in Athens was dedicated to your honor and inside it there was a statue of you made up of ivory and gold by the famous sculptor Pheidias.

f) HEPHAESTUS

You are Hephaestus (Ήφαιστος), the god of fire. You had a difficult childhood as when your mother Hera saw that you were crippled she threw you from the mount Olympus. You are the god of craftsmen and the best ever blacksmith.

g) HERMES

You are Hermes (Ερμής), the god of thieves and commerce. Really, a very strange job.  But just think of the stock exchange/market. You might not wear Nike shoes but your winged scandals make you the fastest of the Olympians and can make you even fly. Thus you became the messenger of the Gods. One of your children is Hermaphroditus, half a man and half a woman.

h) HERA

You are Hera (Ήρα), the goddess of marriage. But your own marriage to Zeus has hit some rough patches for as long as you can remember. You are fed up with your adultery husband. You decided not to be very ‘sweet’ with his mistresses and so you transformed one of them into a cow.

i) HESTIA

You are Hestia (Εστία), the goddess of the home. You are the patron of the hearth fire in every home. Although you are the most docile of the gods you are outranged with the invention of indoor heating and cooking appliances. You have vowed never to get married.

j) POSEIDON

You are Poseidon (Ποσειδών), god of the sea, of earthquakes, and of horses. You have a trident as your weapon. You live under the sea. You have many children from your endless love affairs.

k) ZEUS

You are Zeus (Ζευς), the immortal king of the gods, dominating the sky and ruling over both his fellow gods on Olympus and over humanity, settling disputes and dispensing justice.

To find out more about these gods go to the web site below and type in the god or goddesses’ name in the search box.

www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk/compass