Brainstorming Part 8: Greco-Roman Mythos

One of the largest pantheons with detailed information and mythology about the members is the Greek pantheon, but not all of the minor personified concepts would truly be gods in AD&D; some of the minor ones would just be near-powers and not have cults of their own, but I would need to do some research to determine who should have a cult in the game and who wouldn’t. In addition, Roman mythology imported a wide variety of Greek myth and concepts into their own (mostly unrelated at the beginning) religion; some of the deities with significant differences (like Mars) deserve their own entries while others would just be aliases. In addition, the Etruscans had a great deal of Hellenization as well, and they might be worth being included too. Further, the Titans would warrant their own pantheon of sorts, and many would function as the enemies of the Olympians. While in reality, most Titans likely never had cults or received actual worship, they could and should in the D&D game. In addition, the Greek Mystery Cults were a major element of their religion in the late pre-Christian eras, and I would need to try and capture that as well.

One significant thing missing from the AD&D material on the Olympians is the Gigantomachy, the war against the gigantes/giants. This should be an ancient, pre-historic thing and I should have integrated it into the Giant Pantheon writeups (I plan to rectify this), and none of the named members should be gods (at least one source indicates all but one of the Giants were slain), and the elven war against the giants should be connected to this too. I would have most of the Greek-facing part of the war focused against offspring of Annam and Gaia, as well as near-divine offspring of Grolantor and Karontor.

Greek Deities:

—Aphrodite (1e DD, 2e L&L)
—Apollo (1e DD, 2e L&L)
—Ares (1e DD, 2e L&L)
—Artemis (1e DD, 2e L&L)
—Asclepius (HR6)
—Athena (1e DD, 2e L&L)
—Chiron/Kheiron (my Monster Mythology Update Project)
—Demeter (1e DD, 2e L&L)
—Dionysus (1e DD, 2e L&L)
—Furies (1e DD, 2e L&L)
—Gaea (2e L&L)
—Hades (1e DD, 2e L&L)
—Hecate (1e DD, 2e L&L)
—Hephaestus (1e DD, 2e L&L)
—Hera (1e DD, 2e L&L)
—Heracles (1e DD, 2e L&L)
—Hermes (1e DD, 2e L&L)
—Hestia (Dragon 153)
—Nike (1e DD)
—Pan (1e DD)
—Poseidon (1e DD, 2e L&L)
—Tyche (1e DD)
—Uranus (2e L&L)
—Zeus (1e DD, 2e L&L)

Other major gods/entities who probably should be included:
—Dioskuri (Castor and Pollux)
—Echidna
—Helios
—Moirai
—Muses
—Persephone
—Typhon
The Winds

Titans (not all of whom are in Tartarus):

—Atlas (1e DD)
—Coeus (1e DD)
—Crius (1e DD)
—Cronus (1e DD, 2e L&L)
—Epimetheus (1e DD)
—Mnemosyne (Vortex of Madness)
—Oceanus (1e DD)
—Prometheus (1e DD)
—Rhea (2e L&L)
—Themis (Vortex of Madness)

Other Titans not in the published material:
—Hyperion
—Iapetus
—Phoebe
—Tethys
—Theia

Roman, some of which would be different enough to warrant separate entries:

—Bacchus (HR5)
—Ceres (HR5)
—Cybele (HR5, actually Anatolian/Phrygian)
—Eris (Dragon 133)
—Isis (HR5, actually Egyptian)
—Janus (Dragon 133)
—Mithras (HR5, actually Persian)
—Saturn (Dragon 133)
—Serapis (Dragon 133, actually Egyptian)
—Silvanus (1e DD, F&A); listed as a Celtic god in AD&D
—Vesta (Dragon 133)

Other Roman deities not in the published material:
—Mars, a much more prominent war god for the Romans than Ares was for the Greeks, and with an agricultural element.
—Quirinus, an early god, possibly representing the citizens of Rome as a collective group
The Lares, minor protective deities who together might constitute a cult

2 Responses to Brainstorming Part 8: Greco-Roman Mythos

  1. Alzrius says:

    Any reason not to include the Divis Imperator demigods (Dragon #133)?

    • AuldDragon says:

      Oh, talking about imperial cults wound be on the agenda, but I wouldn’t write up any of the historic emperors as gods. Any worlds with civilizations that follow the Roman pantheon would have their own set of them, I feel. But I also forgot. :D

      Historical figures like Gilgamesh and Imhotep are a bit different because there isn’t a direct historical connection to the present day, unlike the Roman emperors, and I would treat them as having moved beyond their original ascended status and gaining wide acknowledgement beyond their worlds of origin, which would not be the case for Roman Emperors and Pharaohs.

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