The Greek Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Greece are known as the Twelve Olympians.

In ancient Greek religion and mythology, the twelve Olympians are the major deities of the Greek pantheon, commonly considered to be Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Demeter, Athena, Apollo, Artemis, Ares, Hephaestus, Aphrodite, and either Hestia or Diony.According to tradition, they resided on Mount Olympus.

Although he was the brother of the first generation of Olympians, Hades was not usually considered to be one of them.

The Olympians were a race of deities, consisting of a third and fourth generation of beings, who were worshipped as the main gods of the Greek pantheon.In a ten-year-long war of gods, Zeus led his siblings to victory over the previous generation of ruling gods.The most important of the first generation of Olympians were Zeus, Poseidon, Hera, Demeter and Hestia, along with the principal offspring of Zeus: Apollo, Artemis, Ares, Aphrodite.Although he was the brother of Zeus and the other first generation of Olympians, as well as being a major deity in the Greek pantheon, he wasn't usually considered to be one of the Olympians.Olympic gods can be compared to chthonic gods in the way that they sacrifice in a bothros or megaron rather than at an altar.

The number of Olympian gods was twelve, but besides the (thirteen) principal Olympians listed above, there were many other residents of Olympus.After his apotheosis, Heracles became a resident of Olympus and married another Olympian.The children of Styx, Zelus, Nike, Kratos, and Bia, have no house apart from Zeus, nor any dwelling or path except that of God, according to Hesiod.The Muses and the Graces might be considered Olympians.10

There were many different cultic groupings of twelve gods throughout ancient Greece.The earliest evidence of Greek religious practice is found in the late sixth century BC.The archon Pisistratus established an altar of the twelve gods in the agora of Athens.The central point from which distances from Athens were measured was the altar.It was [13].

There was an early tradition of twelve gods.The Homeric Hymn to Hermes shows the god dividing the sacrifice of two cows he stole from Apollo into twelve parts on the banks of the river Alpheus.

Pindar has Heracles sacrificing alongside the Alpheus to the "twelve ruling gods".

"six double altars" is one of Pindar's Olympian odes.A shrine with six pairs of gods was founded by Heracles in 400 BC.[19]

In Sicily, there were cults of the twelve gods, including Delos, Magnesia on the Maeander, and Leontinoi.The number of gods was fixed, but the membership varied.The majority of the gods included as members of these other cults of twelve gods were Olympians.For example, Herodorus of Heraclea identified the six pairs of gods as Zeus and Poseidon, Hera and Athena, Hermes and Apollo, the Graces and Dionysus, Artemis and Alpheus and Cronus.There are three clear non-Olympians on the list: the parents of the first generation of Olympians, Cronus and Rhea.