The Twelve Olympians

The Twelve Olympians

The Twelve Olympians
Reading Level

	edHelper's suggested reading level:	grades 4 to 6
	Flesch-Kincaid grade level:	5.11

Vocabulary

	challenging words:		elite, falling-out, sibling, underworld, definitely, deity, ancient, tales, entire, original, lasted, hatred, apollo, actually, atop, beginning
	content words:		Mount Olympus, Atop Mount Olympus

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The Twelve Olympians
By Vickie Chao

¹     The ancient Greeks worshipped many gods and goddesses. According to their legends, there were twelve major deities. Together, they were called the twelve Olympians. The twelve Olympians did not rule the world from the very beginning. They had a falling-out with the Titans. The two sides went into war that lasted for nearly ten years. When the fight was finally over, the Olympians had won. They threw the Titans to the underworld. Then they moved to live atop Mount Olympus. They ruled the world from there.

²     Of the twelve Olympians, Zeus was the most powerful. He was the leader of the entire band. His word was final. No deity would ever dare to cross him! Zeus had many wives. One of them, Hera, was actually his sister. She was also among the twelve Olympians. Zeus and Hera had several children together. Some of them wound up in this elite group, too.

³     So, besides Zeus and Hera, who else made up the twelve Olympians? The ancient Greeks, apparently, could not answer the question definitely. They had ten specific gods and goddesses that were always on the list. Then, they had four alternate ones for the two remaining spots. Here are the fourteen deities: