20 questions on the Greek gods — the Olympians, the Titanomachy, divine births and their Roman counterparts.
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The Greek gods are not admirable, and that is precisely why they have lasted three thousand years. They are jealous, petty, spectacularly unfaithful and entirely recognisable. Zeus rules the sky and cannot be trusted for an afternoon. Hera takes her revenge on his lovers rather than on him. Ares is so unpleasant that Homer has his own father tell him he is the most hateful of all the gods.
The order of things was settled by chance, not merit. After ten years of war against the Titans, the three brothers drew lots: Zeus got the sky, Poseidon the sea, Hades the Underworld. Their births are stranger still. Athena came out of Zeus's skull fully armed after he swallowed her mother. Aphrodite rose from sea foam off Cyprus, formed where the mutilated Uranus fell into the water. Hephaestus was born from Hera alone, and she threw him off Olympus for being imperfect.
There are twelve Olympians, except the list has thirteen candidates and everyone quietly disagrees about the last seat — Hestia or Dionysus. Hades is left out entirely, not from any lack of power but because the Twelve are defined by address: he lives downstairs. Through Rome they became Jupiter, Venus, Mars and Mercury, and from there they took over the planets, the days of the week and most of the vocabulary of Western art.