He was always willing to wreak havoc just to display his might in battle and rarely thought of fighting for justice or self-defense. But he reflected the violent and gory aspects of war far more than the righteous and just violence for the greater good. Aresīorn of Zeus and Hera, Ares was also known as the god of war. He also created majestic armor and shields for the gods, the most famous of them being the one donned by Achilles in the Battle of Troy. Once he fell to earth, he went on to become a prodigious craftsman and was eventually reinstated to heaven where he made a number of marvelous items for the gods and goddesses. He was born with a limp, which led his mother to throw him off Mount Olympus, though by different accounts he intervened in a brawl between Zeus and Hera and ended up getting dragged off Olympus by the mighty Zeus. Homer describes him as the crippled son of Zeus and Hera, while Hesiod takes a rather unconventional (and far more intriguing) route by stating that Hera bore him alone. His beginnings have been described in contradictory terms by Homer and Hesiod. Popular in Greek folklore, the god of fire, Hephaestus, was associated with the realm of heaven. No wonder he was also known as the god of cunning and thievery.

Just to give an example of how elaborate his tricks could be, it is said that he jumped out of his crib when he was a baby, stole Apollo’s cattle and returned to the crib the picture of innocence. Given the cunning tricks he would play on fellow gods for his own amusement, one can find stark similarities between him and the popular Norse god Loki.

Since he could easily move between the three main worlds in the mythological paradigm of ancient Greece: heaven, the seas, and the underworld, he often acted as a messenger for the gods. Hermes was a quick thinker and even quicker with his movements, and he was notorious among the gods for his cunning. Popularly, he comes across as a handsome, athletic, beardless youth and sometimes as an older bearded man. He has been depicted in many different ways in poems, plays, and myths. Also known as “the messenger,” Hermes was the son of Zeus and Maia.

Greek god of war