Short answers, pulled from the story.
Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the ancient Greeks and a genre of ancient Greek folklore. These stories were initially propagated in an oral-poetic tradition most likely by Minoan and Mycenaean singers starting in the 18th century BC.
The main deities include Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, Hestia, Demeter, and Hera, who were born from Cronus and Rhea. Zeus became the ruler of the gods after he freed the Cyclopes from Tartarus and defeated Cronus in war for the kingship of the gods.
The Heroic Age is the age in which the heroes lived and is known for monumental events such as the Argonautic expedition, the Theban Cycle, and the Trojan War. Heracles, Jason, Theseus, and Perseus are key heroes associated with this age.
Plato created his own allegorical myths and attacked the traditional tales of the gods as immoral, referring to them as old wives chatter. Aristotle criticized the pre-Socratic quasi-mythical philosophical approach and underscored that Hesiod and theological writers were concerned only with what seemed plausible to themselves.
Modern understanding of Greek mythology began as a double reaction at the end of the eighteenth century against the traditional attitude of Christian animosity. Key figures include Johann Matthias Gesner, Christian Gottlob Heyne, and Hermann Steuding, who published his book Griechische und römische Götter- und Heldensage in 1897.