Greek Goddesses - P
Every Greek Goddess You've Heard Of - And A Bunch You Haven't
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- Pallas was an epithet of Athena, meaning Maiden or youth. The name has a story though. There was once another named Pallas, accepted by most as the girl-companion of the young Athena. When the two were little they decided to play a game of friendly combat with sword and spear, and Athena accidentally killed her. In her grief and remorse, Athena put Pallas' name before her own. There is a more complete version of this in the Nymphs section and more again in the story of Athena's birth.
- She was one of the many daughters of Epione and Aesclepius. She was sister to Hygeia, Aegle, and Iaso. Like the other members of her family, she was a Goddess of Healing. Her name, in fact, was the All Healing. She shared an altar with her sisters and Aphrodite and Athena.
- She was specifically, Goddess of all the Achaians, but WHO she was is debatable. In Aegae she was Demeter, and in Patrae she was Athena.n
- A Goddess of Weaving.
- Her name meant "All Bright" and she was the Goddess of the Brightness, especially the Sun. She may have also been the Goddess of the Full Moon, as she was the mate of Zeus in his epithet of Zeus Pandion (the Full Moon God). I got my info straight from Encyclopedia Mythica on this one. Another source says that she and her sisters were the daughters of Zeus and Selene.
- She was worshipped as a Goddess of Agriculture and was credited by some for the introduction of weaving. She was one of the Agraulides. Basically, she was one of the daughters of Cecrops and Agraulos who killed herself - yet started being worshipped in a sort of heroine cult. If you want to know the story behind her suicide, check out the story of Erichthonius in the Myth pages. I'm not actually sure if it's there yet. It's a cool story, though!
- This daughter of Tethys and Oceanus was a Goddess of Persuasion and Consolation. Despite her parentage, she was NOT a water deity.
- Parthenos, as in Parthenon, was an epithet of Athena. It means Virgin. The Parthenon is a temple to Athena in Athens, Greece (what a shocker!).
- Not to be confused with the bull-lovin' Queen o' Crete (here), this was a daughter of Atlas and she was an oracular Goddess. There are different opinions of how her life went, including that she was just a godly version of Cassandra, and that she was Daphne. But a lot of people believed in her, and people would sleep in her temple to dream of the future.n
- Peitho was the personification of Persuasion. She was an attendent of the Aphrodite, as well as one of the Gamelii (a Protectress of Marriage) the attendants of Hera.
- I don't care how old I get, this name will always make me giggle. Penia. Hee hee. Yeah, so anyway, Penia was the personification and Goddess of Poverty. She was worshipped among the poor. Legend has it that after a feast on Olympus she married Porus, the personification of "Expediency." Some say that she and Porus gave birth to Eros. Heh. Penia.
- Pepromene was the personification of the idea that every human is tied to a destiny. This is basically the same as Ananke (Fate).
- Perse was one of the underworld moon Goddesses. She was the consort of Helios and bore Circe, Aeetes, Perses, Aloeus, and Pasiphae (and all her kids had some serious magical talent). She was also called Naeara or the New One, the embodiment of the New Moon. An interesting point here is that all her kids were called "Perseides" rather than Heliades (like the rest of Helios' kids). Unclear whether or not that was because her influence was more important in terms of who these kids would become, because she was super cool all on her own, or if Heliades just applies to later kids.
- Persephone was special, which is part of why she has her own page. She was the daughter of Demeter, the Maiden of Spring. Wherever she walked flowers grew. Unfortunately, one day Hades, the God of the Underworld, abducted her, raped her, and made her Queen of the Underworld. There was no escaping the misery of her new realm either because she had eaten seeds from a pomegranate that grew there. So she was miserable for the half of her life she spent with him. However, because of her mother's advocacy, she was allowed to spend sometime in the world with her. This obvious connection to the seasons is not coincidental, and formed one of the most important Mysteries of ancient Greece. Read more about Persephone.
- Pheme was the Goddess of Popular Rumour. She had a temple in Athens. Pheme was always prying. She announced whatever she heard, first to only a few, then louder until everyone had known. Pheme was represented as a winged, gentle figure holding a trumpet.
- She invented hexameter verse. She was the Goddess of Poetry and the daughter of Apollo and his first priestess at Delphi.
- She was mostly associated with Peitho, but she also had a temple to her in Athens. She was the personification of Friendship. She wasn't a Muse despite a related topic.
- Philote was the Greek personification of Affection. She was one of the MANY daughters of Nyx. Wow, I never knew about her before the Encyclopedia Mythica. What a cool Goddess.
- Philyra was a Thessalian Goddess. She was a shape-shifter, and the Goddess of Beauty, Perfume, Healing and Writing. She was also given credit for the invention of paper. She was the mother of Cheiron (the wise and oh-so-cool King of the Centaurs) by Cronos (the father of Zeus). If you're wondering how Cheiron ended up as in centaur form despite his different heritage, it is because his mom and Cronos did the deed in horsey form. Philyra was the daughter of Oceanus (but probably not Tethys).n
- Phoebe was a Titan, one of the original (that is, pre-classical) 14. She and Atlas were given dominion over the Moon, whose planetary power is that of Enchantment, and the second day of the week was their's. So, Phoebe is another Moon Goddess, her name means Bright Moon. She was the mother of Leto and Asteria through her brother Coeus(Intelligence). There was another Phoebe, a human priestess, who figures briefly in the story of Castor and Pollux. Anyway, it's Phoebe who was the grandmother of Artemis and Apollo, and her name became surnames for both twins.
- The personification of Nature.
- It means Creator, and it was the surname of Leto when saved a girl baby's life by changing its sex to male when the child's father would have otherwise killed the baby.
- Check out the Pleiades on the Nymphs Page.n
- The Goddess of Retaliation. Interesting. . . not retribution, like most of them, but retaliation. She was in the train of Dike and was once sent in the form of a monster punish the people of Argos for killing Psamathe (where she apparently got killed!).n
- Polias is an epithet of Athena as the protector of the Acropolis and Athens. The word polis means city in Greek.
- Potnia is just the Greek word for "mistress" and is put in front of a lot of things, especially if you're talking about Mothers, but it was also used (I imagine, but am not sure) in conjunction with various goddesses.n
- A Goddess of Oaths.
- Prosymna was one of the names for the New Moon. She was also a nurse of Hera with her sisters: Acraea and Euboea.
- She was the Goddess of Success in Business. She was really an earth goddess, but managed to become associated with the city-life. As society changes, so does theology.
- There's not a lot that I don't know about this chick. She was the Goddess of the Soul. She was the wife of Eros (God of Love, son of Aphrodite) and their myth is about how Love and the Soul came together. It is a beautiful story, and now it is HERE! In the Myth Pages. A quick once over is she got abandoned on a mountain, an invisible dude picked her up and took her home with him. She went all Pandora and figured out it was Eros (read the story to learn how she figured it out), and, after many trials, she lived happily ever after. Or did she?
- The personification of Begging and the sister of Penia.n
- Pyrrha was a later Titani, a daughter of Epimetheus. She married Deucalion, a son of Prometheus. Prometheus warned Deucalion that Zeus was pissed, and they made an ark and survived Zeus' flood. As they were the only ones to survive, they became the first of the new human race. For more on the story, check out the detail version in the Myth Pages. The name Pyrrha means Fiery Red.n
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Last Updated July 16, 2011