下面比网校雅思频道为大家整理介绍古希腊神话中的十二主神，烤鸭们可以对这十二主神和他们的故事有一个简单的了解，在雅思口语考试中也许能用得上哦。
古希腊神话有新旧两部神谱，十二诸神是新神谱系的十二位神仙，雷神宙斯、天后赫拉、海皇波塞冬、火焰女神赫斯提亚、大地女神德墨忒尔、美神阿弗洛迪斯、太阳神阿波罗、女战神雅典娜、战神阿瑞斯、月神阿尔特弥斯、众神使者赫尔墨斯、工神赫菲斯托斯。十二个主神都有鲜明的性格与七情六欲，具有人的性格和情绪，具有超人的特殊本领。
宙斯Zeus
希腊神话中的主神，第三代神王。克洛诺斯和瑞亚之子，乌拉诺斯和盖亚之孙。众神之神，奥利匹斯山最高统治者。本词条中的动漫人物或游戏人物，亦是以其为原型或由其延伸出来的人物。
In the ancient Greek religion, Zeus (Ancient Greek: Ζε?ς, Zeús; Modern Greek: Δ?ας, Días) is the "Father of Gods and men" who rules the Olympians of Mount Olympus as a father rules the family. He is the god of sky and thunder in Greek mythology. His Romancounterpart is Jupiter and Etruscan counterpart is Tinia.
Zeus is the child of Cronus and Rhea, and the youngest of his siblings. In most traditions he is married toHera, although, at the oracle of Dodona, his consort is Dione: according to the Iliad, he is the father ofAphrodite by Dione. He is known for his erotic escapades. These resulted in many godly and heroic offspring, including Athena, Apollo and Artemis, Hermes, Persephone (by Demeter), Dionysus, Perseus,Heracles, Helen of Troy, Minos, and the Muses (by Mnemosyne); by Hera, he is usually said to have fatheredAres, Hebe and Hephaestus.
As Walter Burkert points out in his book, Greek Religion, "Even the gods who are not his natural children address him as Father, and all the gods rise in his presence." For the Greeks, he was the King of the Gods, who oversaw the universe. As Pausanias observed, "That Zeus is king in heaven is a saying common to all men". In Hesiod's Theogony Zeus assigns the various gods their roles. In the Homeric Hymns he is referred to as the chieftain of the gods.
His symbols are the thunderbolt, eagle, bull, and oak. In addition to his Indo-European inheritance, the classical "cloud-gatherer" also derives certain iconographic traits from the cultures of the Ancient Near East, such as the scepter. Zeus is frequently depicted by Greek artists in one of two poses: standing, striding forward, with a thunderbolt leveled in his raised right hand, or seated in majesty.
King of the gods
After reaching manhood, Zeus forced Cronus to disgorge first the stone (which was set down at Pytho under the glens of Parnassus to be a sign to mortal men, the Omphalos) then his siblings in reverse order of swallowing. In some versions, Metis gave Cronus an emetic to force him to disgorge the babies, or Zeus cut Cronus' stomach open. Then Zeus released the brothers of Cronus, the Gigantes, the Hecatonchires and the Cyclopes, from their dungeon inTartarus, killing their guard, Campe.
As a token of their appreciation, the Cyclopes gave him thunder and the thunderbolt, or lightning, which had previously been hidden by Gaia. Together, Zeus and his brothers and sisters, along with the Gigantes, Hecatonchires and Cyclopes overthrew Cronus and the other Titans, in the combat called the Titanomachy. The defeated Titans were then cast into a shadowy underworld region known as Tartarus. Atlas, one of the titans that fought against Zeus, was punished by having to hold up the sky.
After the battle with the Titans, Zeus shared the world with his elder brothers, Poseidon and Hades, by drawing lots: Zeus got the sky and air, Poseidon the waters, and Hades the world of the dead (the underworld). The ancient Earth, Gaia, could not be claimed; she was left to all three, each according to their capabilities, which explains why Poseidon was the "earth-shaker" (the god of earthquakes) and Hades claimed the humans that died (see alsoPenthus).
Gaia resented the way Zeus had treated the Titans, because they were her children. Soon after taking the throne as king of the gods, Zeus had to fight some of Gaia's other children, the monsters Typhon and Echidna. He vanquished Typhon and trapped him under Mount Etna, but left Echidna and her children alive.
Zeus and Hera
Zeus was brother and consort of Hera. By Hera, Zeus sired Ares, Hebe and Hephaestus, though some accounts say that Hera produced these offspring alone. Some also include Eileithyia and Eris as their daughters. The conquests of Zeus among nymphs and the mythic mortal progenitors of Hellenicdynasties are famous. Olympian mythography even credits him with unions with Leto, Demeter, Dione and Maia. Among mortals were Semele, Io, Europaand Leda (for more details, see below) and with the young Ganymede (although he was mortal Zeus granted him eternal youth and immortality).
Many myths render Hera as jealous of his amorous conquests and a consistent enemy of Zeus' mistresses and their children by him. For a time, a nymphnamed Echo had the job of distracting Hera from his affairs by talking incessantly, and when Hera discovered the deception, she cursed Echo to repeat the words of others.
相关阅读
古希腊罗马神话里的神明繁多(罗马神话里的主神和神谱大致上与希腊神话相同，但在名称上有很大差异)，其中最主要的为十二大主神。他们是：
1、宙斯Zeus：天神之父，也是众神之神，地上万物的最高统治者。用雷霆和叫做“埃奎斯”的神盾治理天和地。同时，宙斯还是个花心大萝卜，到处拈花惹草使他的妻子赫拉嫉妒。
2、赫拉Hera：宙斯的妻子，神圣的婚姻女神，掌管婚姻，捍卫家庭。赫拉相当冷静并且拥有美好的身材。性格特征是嫉妒。
3、波塞冬Poseidon：海神，仅次于宙斯的强大的掌权者。波塞冬具有强大的力量，但他是一个头脑简单的神。他的兵器是三叉戟。
4、赫斯提亚Hestia：炉灶、火焰女神。谦让、随和、心地善良，深受众神的爱戴。
5、德墨忒尔Demeter：谷物、大地女神。她有着温和的态度、热情的笑容，但她很胆小。
6、阿佛洛狄忒Aphrodite：爱和美的女神。就是人们常说的维纳斯。她拥有白瓷般的肌肤，是个金发碧眼的美人。她是优雅和迷人的混合体，所有她的行为和语言都值得保留并用作典范。
7、阿波罗Apollon：太阳神，同时也是音乐、预言、弓箭、医疗之神。阿波罗是男神中最英俊的，他快乐、聪明，拥有阳光般明亮的气质，总是充满了勇气和力量，女人们都喜欢他。
8、雅典娜Athena：主管胜利、智慧和技艺的战争女神。她是从父亲宙斯的脑袋里诞生的女神，少言寡语，极具智慧，外表很酷，拥有很多“fans”。
9、阿瑞斯Ares：战神。总是一身盔甲，长相英俊，但因脾气暴躁喜欢大喊大叫众神都不太喜欢他，但偏偏爱与美的女神阿佛洛狄忒钟情于他。
10、阿尔忒弥斯Arthemis：月亮和狩猎女神，又是美丽而纯洁的处女神。她非常迷人，思维敏捷，做事果断，奔跑迅速，因此总是不可能在一个地方逗留太长的时间。
11、赫尔墨斯Hermes：宙斯的随从，牧童和游子之神。他是位兼具才华和魅力的神，常带着恶作剧般的微笑，行动迅速，是众神中最忙碌的一个。众神都很喜欢他。
12、赫菲斯托斯Hephaestus：手艺异常高超的铁匠之神。他又驼又瘸，是众神中最丑陋的神。但他的心地非常善良。