Greek Mythology: Killing a God/Goddess

The only one I know of is Asclepius, the Greek god of healing. He was the son of Apollo and the lake nymph Coronis. His healing powers were so great that he once raised a man from the dead. Zeus was infuriated because it threatened the gods' monopoly of immortality. Zeus killed him with a thunderbolt, but Apollo requested that he be placed among the stars after his death.

Apollo was briefly made mortal by Zeus as a punishment, and forced to act as a servant to the oracles of Delphi.

Those are the only two I can think of. Hope it helps!

BiggerBoat said:

Are there any reference in Greek Mythology to killing (not just banishing, sending to Tarturus, etc.) a God or Goddess?

Alternatively, how about references to Gods/Goddesses being made mortal?

I've googled and crawled many of the mythology sites but am having trouble finding a story that relates to either of these situations.

Thanks!

Click to expand...

Well, interesting question.

But has interesting answers. Like:

Was Hercules a god or not? Sure, sure, sure, he was half Olympian...the son of a god and all that jazz. He had extraordinary strength and resiliency but didn't live in Olympus. After his death he was placed into the pantheon of the heavens as a constellation as well.

But was he a god?

How about Chronos? He was killed by the Titans who were later killed/imprisoned by the current gods.

Orpheus? Again, son of a god. Callisto. Son of a muse. Hrmmm...do they count as gods?

Of course there is the legend of the end of the gods, where Olympus fell and all the gods would be dead.

Wish I had some ready websites for your perusal but most of my mythology stuff is offline in the form of actual books:

this link has a bit on Dionysus who was killed by Titans and later resurrected by Rhea: http://edweb.sdsu.edu/people/bdodge/scaffold/GG/othergod.html

Good luck with the search.

Rabe...

A god cannot be killed--however, to swear an oath on the River Styx and break it puts a god into a coma for a number of years, and then they're banished from Olympus for a while. Banishment to Tartarus is also tantamount to death--there's a reason you never hear from Cronus et co. again.

The poster above listed some heroes, who tend to be the offspring of gods. For the most part, the child of a mortal and a god will be mortal; but sometimes, based on the whim of the storyteller, the kid'll be an actual god.

ETA: Asclepius was actually only a hero when he was in mortal danger, and was later deified by future generaltions of storytellers.