Unlike Christian theology, which is based on the belief that one god created the heavens, earth, and everything in the universe, Greek and Roman theology held that numerous gods were born out of the universe. In Greek and Roman theology, the universe created the Titans, and the Titans created the gods who then overtook the Titans. The twelve main gods lived on Olympus and oversaw human interactions. It is unclear from ancient literature where Olympus supposedly was located, though it is often described as a type of enormous mountain. On Olympus, the gods ate a substance called “ambrosia” and drank nectar. While the gods were thought to influence certain earthly phenomena, they did not live to serve mankind. 

We have highlighted twelve main gods of the Greek and Roman traditions. The first name listed refers to the Greek name for the god. The name in parenthesis is the name that the Romans used for the same god. The use of either the Roman or Greek names for the gods will signal whether a myth is Roman or Greek.