Star Trek: 10 Times Aliens Influenced Human History

Much like the religious figures Kukulkan and Lucifer, the Greek gods were also discovered by Kirk's crew to be powerful, highly intelligent aliens who visited Earth throughout humanity's history.

In the Original Series episode Who Mourns For Adonais?, the Enterprise discovered their homeworld, Pollux IV, where, at that point, only Apollo remained. According to Apollo, he and the other Greek gods visited Earth about five thousand years ago seeking followers. For their species, adoration and worship were as important as food. They eventually became acquainted with the people of early Greece and were quickly declared gods because of their seemingly magical abilities (powers that apparently came from an extra organ they had in their chests that was able to control energy).

These aliens remained on Earth until one day they found that they had been largely forgotten and people were no longer worshipping them, so they left and returned to Pollux IV. On their homeworld there was no one to love them, and so they decided to abandon their corporeal bodies and, as Apollo put it, "spread themselves upon the wind… thinner, and thinner, until only the wind remained."

Apollo chose to stay in his physical body, believing that he would one day be worshiped by humanity again and find a Human woman to rule with him as his queen.