How does someone become a greek god, in other words, how did Zeus or Athena become a god or get the title "greek god"?

Gods (generally) do not become gods. They are gods. The Greeks used the myths of the gods and goddesses and their interaction with humans to explain the world around them, the origin of the world, to teach ethical lessons. It was their religion as Christianity, Judaism, and Buddhism are religions people believe in and practice the tenets of today.

They were considered gods because of the power they had. Their powers were by virtue of being the children of the titans.

Sotto voce: Many Roman Emperors were deified after their deaths.

@gailcalled Yeah, sort of like canonization.

yeh gotta be thunk up t’ ‘splain th’ sun rizun.

Most mythological religions, be it the Greek, Roman, Egyptian, Persian, Norse, or Amerindian gods, had the Sun as its central god. Christianity and all modern Abrahamic religious derive from this Sun God concept. Jesus is indeed a sun god

Gods can enter pantheons in more than one way. A god is often a personification of an aspect of nature, which is true for the most powerful gods in many classical mythologies. For example the Titans of Greek mythology were personifications of the primordial forces of the world—time, ocean, sun, earth, night, etc.

Gods could also epitomize a type. This occurred more in the second generation of Greek gods, the Olympians. To cite a few, Ares, as the god of war, represented the ideal warrior, Hephaestus, as the god of blacksmiths and metalworkers, was the ideal craftsman, and Artemis, as the goddess of the hunt, was the ideal huntress.

Or thirdly, a god could have his origins in a real person who, because of heroic deeds or extraordinary accomplishments of some kind, was considered divine by his culture and deified, or incorporated into his culture’s mythology, after his death (a process known as Apotheosis). A fair number of “national gods” are of this nature.

In fact it is interesting to note that the most powerful trinity of gods in Roman mythology included one god fitting each of the three described situations: Jupiter (Zeus) was the god who ruled over the force of lightning, Mars (Ares), as previously discussed, was the god of war, and Quirinus (who has no equivalent in Greek Mythology) who was the deified form of Romulus, one of the mythical founders of Rome.

Well, I’m not sure how, but I have an argument. Someone said that Greek gods are gods from birth, but that’s not true with Aphrodite. They found her in the middle of the ocean and thought that she was so beautiful, they made her a god.