The Twelve Titans

AND
The Lesser Gods
By: Pamate, Zamiera T. (BSN III-C)
The Twelve Titans
 In Greek mythology the Titans (The
elder gods) were a primeval race of
powerful deities, descendants of
Gaea who is Earth and Uranus who is
Sky, that ruled during the legendary
Golden Age and preceded the
Olympians.

They were immortal humongous

beings of incredible stamina and
strength and were also the first
pantheon of Greco-Roman gods and
goddesses .
 GAEA URANU
S
The The
Titans Titanesses
Kronos Mnemosyne
Oceanus Tethys
Crius Theia
Coeus Phoebe
Iapetus Rhea
Hyperion Themis.
GAEA
Gaea, the primordial earth or mother
goddess was one of the deities who
governed the universe before THE TITANS
existed.
She is the mother of everything.
According to one version, Gaea, along with
Chaos and Eros, coexisted during the
creation of the world.
Another version has it that the three of them
were born out of the Cosmic Egg, which
itself was created out of nothingness.
The Greek Historian Hesiod wrote that the union of
Gaea and Chaos created Uranus.

From there Gaea and Uranus gave birth to the

Giants, the Titans, Oceanus and the whole world.

Uranus decided to stop Gaea from creating

anything else and sent his children inside her,
imprisoning them in her womb, therefore
infuriating Gaea and causing her allegiance to her
Titan son Cronus, and together they overthrew
Uranus.
Uranus
He was the embodiment of the sky or
heavens, and known as the god of the
sky.
Uranus was the son and husband of Gaia,
Mother Earth.
In some stories Gaia, who is the mother
of all living things, conceived him without
a father. In others, the father of Uranus is
Aether or CHAOS.
Together, Uranus and Gaia had many offspring,
including the Titans, pre-Olympian gods and goddesses;
the CYCLOPES, the one-eyed giants and the
Hecatoncheires, giants who had fifty heads and one
hundred hands.
There were six male and six female Titans. The males
were Oceanus, CRIUS, Iapetus, HYPERION, CRONUS
and COEUS.
The goddesses were Theia, Rhea, Themis,
Mnemosyne, Phoebe and Tethys.
The Cyclops were Brontes, Steropes and Arges, and
the Hecatoncheires were Cottus, Briareos and
Gyges.
URANUS: The Bad Father
According to myth, Uranus came to Gaia every night and sired
the children upon her, but he disliked all of them. He
considered them threats to his power.
Though his Titan children could be quite beautiful, Uranus was
so repelled by the sight of the Hecatoncheires that he tried to
push them back into Gaias womb, which caused her terrible
pain.
Eventually, Uranus imprisoned the Cyclopes and the
Hecatoncheires in Tartarus, a gloomy place that lay beneath
the Earth or Hades.
This caused Gaia to resent Uranus even more, and she plotted
with her Titan children to at least overthrow him, since Uranus
was immortal and couldnt be killed.
Only her youngest son Cronus agreed to the plot, because he
wanted to replace his father as leader of the gods. Gaia
fashioned a sickle of flint and gave it to him.
One night, when Uranus came to Gaia, his sons ambushed him and held him down
while Cronus used the sickle to castrate him. He threw both the sickle and Uranus
genitals into the sea.
The blood from the mutilation fell on the earth and gave rise to the Gigantes, or
Giants; the ash tree nymphs called the Meliae and the Furies, or the Erinyes. Some
myths claim that the Telchines, gods who settled the isle of Rhodes, were also
born at this time.

The goddess APHRODITE arose from the genitals that were tossed into the sea.

Goddess of love and beauty

 When Uranus was mutilated he called his sons TITANES, or straining ones for
their betrayal and prophesied that Cronus would also be overthrown by his
children.
Cronus (Kronus)
The youngest and most powerful among the Titans.
He was married to Rhea, by whom he became the
father of Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades, Poseidon,
and Zeus. Cheiron is also called a son of Cronus.

He was the King of the Titanes and the god of time,

in particular time when viewed as a destructive, all-
devouring force.

He ruled the cosmos during the Golden Age after

castrating and deposing his father Uranus (Sky).
 In fear of a prophecy that he would in turn be
overthrown by his own son, Kronos swallowed
each of his children as they were born.

Rhea managed to save the youngest, Zeus, by

hiding him away on the island of Crete, and fed
Cronus a stone wrapped in swaddling clothes.

The god grew up, forced Kronos to disgorge his

swallowed offspring, and led the Olympians in
a ten year war against the Titanes (Titans),
driving them in defeat into the pit of Tartarus.
Rhea
She is the mother of the gods, and goddess of female
fertility, motherhood, and generation. (Also, Queen of
Heaven.) Her name means "flow" and "ease.

As the wife of Cronus, she represented the eternal

flow of time and generations; as the great Mother
(Meter Megale), the "flow" was menstrual blood, birth
waters, and milk.
She was also a goddess of comfort and ease, a blessing
reflected in the common Homeric phrase "the gods
who live at their ease (rhea)."
Oceanus
He is god of the great, earth-encircling River
Okeanos, font of all of the earth's fresh-
water - rivers, wells, springs and rain-clouds.

He was also the god who regulated the

heavenly bodies which rose from and set
into his waters.

He was the husband of Tethys (goddess of

the primal font of fresh water which
nourishes the earth.)
Tethys
The goddess of the primal font of fresh water
which nourishes the earth.

The mother of the Potamoi (Rivers), the

Okeanides (nymphs of springs, streams and
fountains), and the Nephelai (Clouds).

Tethys, daughter of Gaia (Earth), wife of

Oceanus, fed her children's springs with the
waters of Okeanos drawn through
(Oceanus and Tethys)
subterranean aquifers.
 Her name was derived from the Greek word tth
meaning "nurse" or "grandmother

In Greek vase painting Tethys appears as an

unremarkable woman accompanied by Eileithyia,
goddess of childbirth, and her fish-tailed husband
Okeanos.

In mosaic art she was depicted with a small pair of

wings on her brow which probably signified her role
of mother of rain-clouds.
Coeus
He is the god of intelligence and foresight,
meaning that, due to his inquisitive mind and
desire to learn, he was with gained knowledge
and understanding able to see beyond the
obvious.

He was also identified as god of wisdom and

heavenly oracles. Coeus was also known as a
Pillar of the north pole from which
constellations revolved and therefore,
controlled the axis between Heaven and Earth.
Crius
He was the god of heavenly constellations and was
also known as a Pillar of the south pole.

Crius, which means "Ram", was often referred as a

starting season of the Greek year, because his
constellation was called Aries which nowadays
means the start of spring.

Together with his other three brothers Coeus,

Hyperion and Iapetus, they presided as the Pillars
of holding Heaven and Earth apart.
Iapetus
He is the god of mortal life span or god of death. He
presided over the timeline of all mortals.

His nickname, "the piercer", actually meant that he

came for a life of mortals in terms of violence. In other
words, when Iapetus decided that one's time had
passed, he brought violent death upon him. He was also
known as a Pillar of west.

Together with his other three brothers Coeus, Hyperion

and Crius they presided as the Pillars of holding Heaven
and Earth apart.
Hyperion
He was the god of light or sunlight and was associated
with watching and observation from above. He was
also known as a Pillar of east.

PILLAR OF EAST:
(Pillars of holding Heaven and Earth apart.)
- Coeus
- Iapetus
- Crius
- Hyperion
Mnemosyne
She was a Titan goddess of memory and
remembrance. She was believed to be the inventors
of speech and writings.

In Hesiod's Theogony, her daughters, the Muses, are

described as the spirits who possessed kings and
poets, whom the gods favored and gave them special
powers of authoritative speech and wisdom.

Was one of the affairs of Zeus.

 Mnemosyne was one of the six daughters of
primeval deities Uranus and Gaea in the first
generation of Titans. Mnemosyne was also
known to be a mother of Muses and
represented the memorization of stories and
myths preserved in history before the discovery
of writing.

Mnemosyne dwelled over the hills of Eleuther

(in Pieria, near Mount Olympus) where Zeus
came to live with her for nine nights, away from
other immortal gods. Together in those nine
nights they gave birth to nine Muses.
 The Nine Muses:
1. Calliope - muse of epic poetry was believed to have possessed
Homer and gave him inspiration for the Odyssey and the Iliad.
2. Clio - muse of history. She is usually depicted of holding an
open scroll or is seated beside a chest of books.
3. Erato - muse of love and erotic poetry. Most of the time she is
depicted playing a kithara or a lyre, but in some cases she is
shown with a wreath of myrtle and roses.
4. Euterpe - muse of music. She is often depicted sitting on a
chair and playing her double flute.
5. Melpomene - muse of tragedy. However, she was originally a
muse of singing and dancing which came from her name
6. Polyhymnia - muse of sacred hymns. She is depicted as serious or
meditative, often standing, wearing long cloak and supporting her arm with a
part of the cloak.

7. Terpsichore - muse of dancing. Usually, she is depicted in a sitting position

and playing a lyre with her special plectrum. She is also mentioned to be the
mother of Sirens.

8. Thalia - muse of comedy. Most of the time, she is depicted holding a comic
mask in her hand and wearing a cloak and a crown made of ivy.

9. Urania - muse of astronomy. She is depicted with a globe in her hand. Urania
was believed to be able of foretell the future by arrangement of the stars and
is often associated with Universal Love and the Holy Spirit.
Theia
She was a Titan goddess of shining, associated with
shining light, shining metals or jewels.

Her other name Euryphaessa means "wide-shining" and

therefore she was connected with all that is shining.

She was also a goddess of sight, because ancient Greeks

believed that eyes emitted beams of light which allowed
them to see what they looked upon. Theia was also, like
her sisters Phoebe and Themis, associated with
prophecies. She had a shrine in Thessaly.
Themis
She was a was a Titan goddess of divine law and
order. She was a messenger of the very first rules of
conduct, established by the elder gods.

Her ability to foresee the future enabled her to

become one of the oracles at Delphi, which in turn
led to her establishment as the goddess of divine
justice.

Her place was at the Oracle of Delphi where she was

one of the early prophets, second more precisely,
according to Aeschylus.
Blindfolded = she can see the future.

Balance = Impartiality
In a role of divine voice (themistes), she first
instructed the primal laws of justice and morality
to mankind. Some of these were precepts of piety,
rules of hospitality, good governance, conduct of
assembly and various offerings to gods. Themis
was also known to be a counsellor of Zeus,
advising the king of gods on the conduct of men.

Alongside her daughter Dike (justice), she would

have reported to Zeus, if the primal laws had been
breached by anyone. She is also said to had, on
Zeus` orders, gathered all the gods to the
Sword = authority
assembly on Olympus during Trojan war.
Phoebe
She was a Titan goddess of prophetic radiance, often
associated with Selene (goddess of the moon).

She, however, had never been referred as the goddess

of the moon. The misinterpretation probably comes
because her granddaughter Artemis was also called
Phoebe, after her, just like her grandson Apollo was
called Phoebus.

She became the third prophet at the Oracle of Delphi,

where she was believed to have heard her mother's
voices. Her predecessors were Gaea and Themis.
 Phoebe was rather associated with being prophetic,
like her sister Themis and her mother Gaea.

She was also one of the twelve titans who were the
descendants of Uranus and Gaea.

She was, like all of her sisters, never involved in the

war between Titans and Olympian gods, and was
spared from being imprisoned in Tartarus. Instead,
she took her place at the oracle of Delphi.

Phoebe consorted with her brother Coeus, with

whom she had two daughters. One of the daughters,
called Leto.
The Lesser Gods
Mount Olympus
In real life, Mount Olympus is the highest mountain in Greece.

In Greek mythology, It was where the dwelling place of the Olympian Gods is
and it was created after the Titanomachy, the battle during which the
Olympians defeated their predecessors, the Titans.
The peak Mytikas was then called Pantheon and was the venue where all the
fiery discussions among the deities took place. There was also a place where
the Throne of Zeus was located.
The twelve Olympians that resided at Mount Olympus were Zeus, Hera,
Poseidon, Athena, Apollo, Artemis, Hestia, Demeter, Hermes, Aphrodite, Ares
and Hephaestus. Apart from the gods, the foot of the mountain was also the
place where the nine Muses lived.
The Lesser Gods
They are the other divinities in heaven aside from the twelve
Olympians.
These lesser gods can be broadly categorized into five groups,
based on either the realm of the ancient cosmos that they
existed, and on an important area of ancient Greek life.
1. God of the Sky
2. God of the Sea
3. God of Love
4. God of the Underworld
5. God of Healing
The lesser gods
of Olympus
Iris
Goddess of Rainbow and the Olympian gods
messenger (together with Hermes) She was the
daughter of Thaumas and the oceanid Electra and
granddaughter of Gaia and god Poseidon.

She is described as a virgin, although according to one

myth, she lay with Zephyrus and gave birth to Eros. She
carried the waters of the river Styx, on which the
immortals took oaths.

She also conveyed Zeus's orders to the other gods and

changed form to convey the will of the gods to mortals.
Charites (graces)
The Graces were lesser gods which personified
attraction, charm and desire. They symbolized graces
and happiness in nature and in the lives of the mortals.

The Charites were givers of all goods. They used flowers

and fruit as symbols to civilize the mortals' lives and
they were the providers of inspiration for all forms of
art.

They were invited to all the celebrations on Mount

Olympus and they had a special close relationship with
goddess Aphrodite.
Horae
The Horae were lesser gods which guarded the gates
of heavens and Olympus. They symbolized the
seasons and later, the subdivisions of the day and
the hour.

They were daughters of Zeus and Themis. Their

names were Eunomia(Order), Dike(Justice) and
Eirene(Peace).

The Horae were deities of both natural and moral

order; inseparable the gave mortals the gifts of
justice, equality before the law and a peaceful life..
Muses
The Muses were lesser gods of music and intellectual
creation. Their cult seems to originate from Thrace.

According to Hesiod, there were in total nine of these

Muses, who were born in Pieria and were the daughters
of Zeus and Mnemosyne. Each one of them, was
considered to be a patron of a particular form of art.

The Nine (9) Muses:

1. Clio - the Muse of History
2. Euterpe - the Muse of music and lyric poetry
3. Thalia - the Muse of comedy
4. Melpomene - the Muse of tragedy
The Muses' favorite place of
5. Terpsichore - the Muse of dance residence was Mount Helicon, from
6. Erato - the Muse of love poetry and music songs which they would descend wrapped
in a cloud to chant the events - past,
7. Polymnia - the Muse of sacred song and oratory
present and future.
8. Urania - the Muse of astronomy
9. Calliope - the Muse of epic or heroic poetry.
Helius (sun)
He was the son of the Titan Hyperion and Theia. He was brother of Eos and Selene.
According to myth, he would tirelessly cross the sky on a chariot that was drawn by
horses with breaths of flame, thus bringing light to gods and mortals. At night, he would
rest in a boat or a chalice in the ocean, from where he rose every morning.

Omniscient, proud and ruthless, the god would punish anyone who came into conflict
with him. Once, when a son of Nereus bragged that he was faster than him, he punished
him by turning him into a mollusk. There are many references of the god's unions with
both goddesses and mortal women. Best known among his mortal mistresses was
Rhodes, after whom the well known greek island of Dodecanese got its name. From their
union, Helius acquired seven sons and through them, his grandchildren Lindos, Ialyssos
and Cameiros founded the island's ancient cities.
Eos
Daughter of the Titan Hyperion and Theia
and sister of Helius and Selene, Eos was the
eternally young goddess of the dawn.

According to Homer, she would rise from

her bed each morning, to bring life to gods
and mortals.
Selene
Daughter of Hyperion, was the personification of the moon. She was also known as Mene.
According to myth, she lay with Zeus and bore him the beautiful daughters Pandia,
Nemea and Herse, who was the personification of morning dew. The poet Mousaios is
also considered to be her son.

The cult of Selene was widespread in Peloponese, and the Spartans would always make
sure to embark on military campaigns, only in favorable lunar phases. In Nemea, a city in
Argolid, it was believed that the Nemean lion killed in one of the labors of Hercules, was
Selene's son.

Because the moon's crescent resembles a bull's horns, the goddess was depicted
seated on a bull or a cow, or on a chariot driven by these horned beasts.
Nereus and Nereids:
Nereus was the eldest son of Pontus and Gaia and brother of Thaumas, Phorcys, Ceto
and Eurybia. He lived at the bottom of the Aegean Sea and had the gift of foretelling
the future and the ability to change its form.

Nereus lay with Doris, daughter of Oceanus. With her, she had the Nereids, which were
lesser gods, allegedly amounting to fifty or one hundred. The nereids lived with their
father at the bottom of the sea and helped sailors in distress.

The most well known of the Nereids were Amphitrite, who was the queen of the
Sea as she was married to god Poseidon, and Thetis who was married to Peleus
and was the mother of the hero of the Trojan War, Achilles.
Proteus
According to most mythological accounts, the sea god
Proteus was of Egyptian origin. From Egypt, he went to
Thrace, where he married the nymph Coronis and fathered
two sons.

Like Nereus, Proteus had the ability to transform himself, as

well as the ability to foretell the future. Historian
Herodotus mention an old Egyptian story, according to
which Proteus was king of Egypt during the time of the
Trojan War and gave shelter to Paris and Helen. In this
version, Proteus kept Helen, whom he later returned to her
husband Menelaus.
Sirens
The Sirens or Seirenes were lesser gods believed to be
daughters of Phorcys, or they had been born from the
blood of the horn of the river god Achelous. Either
Gaia or one of the Muses (Terpsichore, Melpomene or
Calliope)was believed to be their mother.

The Sirens were believed to be three in total, their

names being either Parthenope, Leucosia and Legeia
(according to the version of the muse Terpsichore
being their mother), or Thelxipeia, Aglaope and
Pecinoe (according to the alternative version that
claims that the muse Melpomene was their mother).
 They were sweet-voiced women who had
human heads and bird bodies. They
inhabited islands in the Tyrrhenian Sea and
they were man-eaters of sailors who,
enticed by their sweet singing, would make
the mistake of approaching the shores of
the Siren's island.

But, there was a horrid omen linked with

the formidable deities: The Sirens were
condemned to crash into the sea and
drown, if they once failed to lure the sailors
into their deadly trap.
 As the legend goes, the Sirens met their fate when
the hero Odysseus was passing by their island, on
his return trip to Ithaca from Troy: Being
knowledgeable about their deadly ploy, he tied his
sailors to the mast of the ship, plugging their ears
with wax. He was thus able to sail away, managing
to avoid the Sirens. As the prophecy went, the
Sirens subsequently fell into the sea and drowned.

Ancient Greeks believed that Sirens were

responsible for the nightmares that haunted their
sleep. Yet, they also believed that they were
beneficial deities, for those who managed to
appease them.
Scylla and Charybdis
Scylla was a monstrous creature with
twelve legs, six necks and six horrible
heads, each equipped with three rows of
strong teeth. She lived on the top of high
cliff in Lower Italy overlooking the
Messenean straits and ate marine creatures
and unsuspecting travelers.

Once a beautiful nymph, she was

transformed into a monster by Amphitrite
or Circe, as a punishment for falling in love
with either Glaucus, or Poseidon.
 Charybdis, another sea monster, lived across the sea
opposite Scylla and she was the personification of
whirlpools. She was the daughter of Poseidon and
Gaia, but was changed into a monster by Zeus, as a
punishment for stealing Hercules's cattle.

Half woman, half fish, she would suck down the

waters of the sea three times a day, then throw
them back up, sucking sailors and ships into the
vortex.

Both monsters symbolized the dangers of the open

sea and the difficulties faced by ancient sea
travelers.
Oceanids
Oceanus's and Tethys's 3,000 daughters were lesser gods known as Oceanids. The most
well known of these were two, Eurynome and Persa, wife of god Helius and mother of
sorceress Circe and Aeetes, king of Colchis.
Nymphs
They were deities which protected springs, forests,
meadows, trees and caves. They personified the benign
forces of nature and were especially honored by young
women, preparing to get married.

Depending on the origin and the object they protected,

they were either called:

1. Naiads (protectors of rivers and wells)

2. Orestiades (protectors of forests) The nymphs were daughters of Zeus, while, according to
3. Dryads (protectors of trees) Hesiod, some of them were born from the blood spilled by
Uranus, as narrated in the creation myth.
4. Agronome (protectors of meadows).
Eros
The primary god of love, which embodies the mutual
attraction and union of men and women.

In Plato's Symposium, it is mentioned that Eros is not a

god but a demon - in other words he is one of the
lesser gods - who is the son of Poros (Wealth) and Penia
(Poverty), thus symbolizing the fact that Eros is the
driving force behind the creation of life and the
struggle for social advancement.

Eros is featured in the creation myth narrated in

"Theogony", as one of the primary god creators of the
Universe.
 In classical mythology, Eros is indeed
considered to be one of the lesser gods,
son of Eilythia, goddess of childbirth, or
Iris and Zephyrus; in other myths he is
considered to be the son of Aphrodite and
Zeus, Ares, or Hermes.

In art, he is mostly depicted as a beautiful

,playful and winged boy who carries his
bow and arrows, which carry the sweet
poison tormenting the souls of both
mortals and immortals, when they are hit.
Dike
Existing in the underworld realm, Dike
personified justice through retribution.
According to Hesiod, Dike was one of the three
Charites (or Graces), daughter of Zeus and
Themis.

Dike is linked with the Ancient Greek custom of

persecution of the guilty, either by the
community or by the victim's family. Her
assistants were the Erinyes (Furies), who
hound criminals.
Nemesis
In Greek Mythology, Nemesis was one of the lesser gods that
personified the retribution casted upon all mortals who had been
sacrilegious, disrespectful, or arrogant. In other words, it
embodied the gods' frustration against the mortals who had
exceeded the boundaries of moderation - even extreme success.

The cult of Nemesis was quite widespread in Asia Minor. In

Smyrna, in particular, coins have been found which depict the
head of Nemesis on their face. In addition, she was depicted in
statues in Olympia and on the island of Thassos, as well as on
reliefs in Thessaloniki.
Keres
Ker, or "the lady of death" as Homer describes her, was a
goddess of destruction, violent death and vengeance
who wandered around battle fields with Eris (Discord)
and Kydoemus, a war demon who is the personification
of the noise of the battle. Ker wore a garment which was
dyed red from the blood spilled during a battle.

In other accounts, the Keres were two demons who were

blood-soaked, black, winged figures with human form.
The ancient Greeks believed that the Keres followed
anyone who was destined to have a violent death, from
the day he or she was born, until the day he or she died.
Harpies
Harpies were winged,
predatory deities, who
snatched the souls of the
mortals to bring them to
Hades.

They were the daughters of

Thaumas, son of Pontus and
Gaia, and the oceanid
Electra. They were sisters of
Iris.
Erinyes
The winged Erinyes were horrible, subterranean lesser gods of
destiny and revenge.

According to Hesiod, they were born from the drops of blood

that fell on the earth was Uranus was castrated.

The Erinyes persecuted and haunted all those who upset the
order of things by performing deeds which are generally
unacceptable. Notable examples of such cases, were the
persecution of Orestes who, according to the relevant myth,
committed matricide and the case of Oedipus, who committed
patricide.
 There were different versions about their
exact number and their names. According
to the most prevalent one, they were
three and their names were Alecto (she
who is not mollified), Tisiphone (the
avenger of murders) and Megaera (the
spirit of hatred).

Black and wearing black clothes, they had

a fierce look, foul-smelling, fiery breath,
foam around their mouths, snakes in their
hair and hands and they flew through the
air chasing their victim. Neither mortals
nor gods could escape their rage.
Charon
The son of Nyx (Night) and
Erebus, the ferryman Charon
would deliver the souls of
the dead to Hades, in return
for a fee of one obol.

Over time, the ferryman

who would transport the
souls across the Acheron
River, became a
personification of death and
the underworld.
Asclepius
According to the most prevalent myth, Asclepius was
the son of god Apollo and Coronis, daughter of king
Phlegyas of Thessaly. His birth was quite adventurous,
as described in the relevant chapter of Apollo's
profile.

He was then given by his father to centaur Cheiron to

raise him and teach him the science of healing.
Asclepius's skills as a doctor became so advanced,
that he could even raise the dead, prompting the
jealousy of the Olympian gods and the rage of Zeus,
who struck him with a lightning bolt.
 Asclepius became so revered across Greece for his
extraordinary healing skills, that he was
worshipped everywhere in the ancient Greek
world and its colonies. In classical times, Epidaurus
was recognized as the metropolis of Asclepius's
cult.

The places of his worship were called Ascleipeions.

The most famous of these which were spread in
Greece, was located at Epidaurus. Patients who
were coming from the four corners of Greece to be
healed by Asclepius, stayed within the temple
overnight. As they believed, the god would appear
in their sleep, thus restoring their good health.
 The Ascleipions were usually built in healthy
environments - for instance in woods or near thermal
spas. The cure included baths, diet and exercise.
Prominent sanctuaries were located in Athens, in Piraeus,
on the island of Cos and in Trikala.

Especially in Cos, according to local mythology, two sons

of Asclepius settled on the island and became the
founders of Asclepieiades, doctors who formed a guild
and passed their knowledge about medicine to posterity,
through secret rituals. Hygeia, which was a deity that
personified good health, appeared to be a daughter of
Asclepius, as well as, according to other myths, his wife.
 !!!
(THE END)