* Early Greek (various scripts): Before the Classical period (roughly 5th century BC), different regions used variations of scripts. Reconstructing the spellings for this era is difficult and would depend on the specific region and time period. Inscriptions from this era are sometimes hard to decipher fully.
* Classical Greek (Ionic alphabet): This is the alphabet that eventually became standardized. It's the one you'll most often see used when representing the names of Greek gods in "ancient lettering". It's crucial to understand that while we use this alphabet as a representation, the pronunciation would have been different than modern Greek or English pronunciations.
Here's how you'd spell some common god names using the Classical Greek (Ionic) alphabet, along with transliterations to help you pronounce them (remember pronunciations are approximations):
* Zeus: Ζεύς (Zefs)
* Hera: Ἥρα (Hēra)
* Poseidon: Ποσειδῶν (Poseidōn)
* Hades: ᾍδης (Haidēs)
* Athena: Ἀθηνᾶ (Athēnā)
* Apollo: Ἀπόλλων (Apollōn)
* Artemis: Ἄρτεμις (Ártemis)
* Ares: Ἄρης (Arēs)
* Aphrodite: Ἀφροδίτη (Aphrodītē)
* Hephaestus: Ἥφαιστος (Hēphaistos)
* Hermes: Ἑρμῆς (Hermēs)
* Dionysus: Διόνυσος (Dionysos)
Important Note: The accent marks (like the acute and macron) are crucial in Ancient Greek to indicate pronunciation. They show which syllable is stressed and the length of vowels. Omitting them changes the meaning or pronunciation. Many online resources and fonts supporting Ancient Greek will allow you to include these.
To write these names in "ancient lettering" digitally, you'll need a font that supports Ancient Greek. Many are freely available online. Just search for "Ancient Greek font" or "Ionic alphabet font."