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The Theogony (Greek
Greek language

Greek is an Indo-European languages native to the southern Balkan peninsula, the language of the Greek people. It forms an independent branch within Indo-European....
: Te?????a, theogonia = the birth of God(s)) is a poem by Hesiod
Hesiod

Hesiod was a Greek language oral poet, his date is uncertain but leading scholars agree that Hesiod lived in the latter half of the Eighth-century BCE....
 describing the origins and genealogies
Genealogy

Genealogy is the study of families and the tracing of their lineages and history. Genealogists use oral traditions, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family and to demonstrate kinship and pedigree of its members....
 of the gods
Polytheism

Polytheism is the belief in or worship of multiple deities, such as gods and goddesses. These are usually assembled into a Pantheon , along with their own mythology and rituals....
 of the ancient Greeks, composed circa 700 BC.

od's Theogony is a large-scale synthesis of a vast variety of local Greek
Ancient Greece

The term Ancient Greece refers to the period of History of Greece lasting from the Greek Dark Ages ca. 1100 BC and the Dorian invasion, to 146 BC and the Roman Republic conquest of Greece after the Battle of Corinth ....
 traditions concerning the gods, organized as a narrative
Narrative

A narrative or story that is created in a constructive format that describes a sequence of fictional or Non-fiction events. It derives from the Latin language verb narrare, which means "to recount" and is related to the adjective gnarus, meaning "knowing" or "skilled"....
 that tells about the origin of the cosmos
Cosmos

In its most general sense, a cosmos is an orderly or harmonious system. It originates from a Greek language term ??s??? meaning "order, orderly arrangement, ornaments," and is the antithetical concept of chaos....
 and about the gods that shaped cosmos.

Further, in the "Kings and Singers" passage (80-103) Hesiod appropriates to himself the authority usually reserved to sacred kingship.






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The Theogony (Greek
Greek language

Greek is an Indo-European languages native to the southern Balkan peninsula, the language of the Greek people. It forms an independent branch within Indo-European....
: Te?????a, theogonia = the birth of God(s)) is a poem by Hesiod
Hesiod

Hesiod was a Greek language oral poet, his date is uncertain but leading scholars agree that Hesiod lived in the latter half of the Eighth-century BCE....
 describing the origins and genealogies
Genealogy

Genealogy is the study of families and the tracing of their lineages and history. Genealogists use oral traditions, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family and to demonstrate kinship and pedigree of its members....
 of the gods
Polytheism

Polytheism is the belief in or worship of multiple deities, such as gods and goddesses. These are usually assembled into a Pantheon , along with their own mythology and rituals....
 of the ancient Greeks, composed circa 700 BC.

Descriptions

Hesiod's Theogony is a large-scale synthesis of a vast variety of local Greek
Ancient Greece

The term Ancient Greece refers to the period of History of Greece lasting from the Greek Dark Ages ca. 1100 BC and the Dorian invasion, to 146 BC and the Roman Republic conquest of Greece after the Battle of Corinth ....
 traditions concerning the gods, organized as a narrative
Narrative

A narrative or story that is created in a constructive format that describes a sequence of fictional or Non-fiction events. It derives from the Latin language verb narrare, which means "to recount" and is related to the adjective gnarus, meaning "knowing" or "skilled"....
 that tells about the origin of the cosmos
Cosmos

In its most general sense, a cosmos is an orderly or harmonious system. It originates from a Greek language term ??s??? meaning "order, orderly arrangement, ornaments," and is the antithetical concept of chaos....
 and about the gods that shaped cosmos.

Further, in the "Kings and Singers" passage (80-103) Hesiod appropriates to himself the authority usually reserved to sacred kingship. The poet declares that it is he, where we might have expected some king instead, upon whom the Muse
Muse

File:Muse reading Louvre CA2220.jpgThe Muses in Greek mythology, poetry, and literature are the goddesses or spirits who inspire the creation of literature and the arts....
s have bestowed the two gifts of a scepter and an authoritative voice (Hesiod, Theogony 30-3), which are the visible signs of kingship. It is not that this gesture is meant to make Hesiod a king. Rather, the point is that the authority of kingship now belongs to the poetic voice, the voice that is declaiming the Theogony.

Although it is often used as a sourcebook for Greek mythology
Greek mythology

Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the Ancient Greece concerning their List of Greek mythological figures#Immortals and Greek hero cult, Cosmology#Metaphysical cosmology, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices....
, the Theogony is both more and less than that. In formal terms it is a hymn invoking Zeus and the Muses: parallel passages between it and the much shorter Homeric Hymn to the Muses make it clear that the Theogony developed out of a tradition of hymnic preludes with which an ancient Greek rhapsode
Rhapsode

A rhapsode or, in modern usage, rhapsodist, refers to a classical Greece professional performer of epic poetry in the fifth and fourth centuries BC ....
 would begin his performance at poetic competitions. It is necessary to see the Theogony not as the definitive source of Greek mythology, but rather as a snapshot of a dynamic tradition that happened to crystallize when Hesiod formulated the myths he knew — and to remember that the traditions have continued evolving since that time.

The written form of the Theogony was established in the sixth century. Even some conservative editors have concluded that the Typheous episode (820-80) is an interpolation.

The decipherment of Hittite
Hittite language

Hittite or Nesili is the extinct language once spoken by the Hittites, a people who created an empire centered on ancient Hattusas in north-central Anatolia ....
 mythical texts, notably the Kingship in Heaven text first presented in 1946, with its castration mytheme, offers in the figure of Kumarbi
Kumarbi

Kumarbi is the Hurrian god, son of Anu, and father of the Weather-God Teshub.In the cuneiform text given the modern name Kingship in Heaven,...
 a Levantine parallel to Hesiod's Ouranos-Cronos conflict.

First generation


After the speaker declares that he has received the blessings of the Muses, and thanks them for giving him inspiration, he explains that Chaos
Chaos (mythology)

In Greek myth, Chaos or Khaos is the original state of existence from which the first gods appeared. In other words, the dark void of space....
 arose spontaneously. Chaos gives birth to Eros and Gaia
Gaia (mythology)

Gaia Gaia is a Greek primordial gods and chthonic deity in the Ancient Greek Pantheon and considered a Mother Goddess or Great Goddess....
 (Earth), the more orderly and safe foundation that would serve as a home for the gods and mortals, came afterwards. Tartarus
Tartarus

In classic Roman mythology, below Heaven, Earth, and Pontus is Tartarus, or Tartaros . It is a deep, gloomy place, a pit, or an abyss used as a dungeon of torment and suffering that resides beneath the Hades....
 (both a place below the earth as well as a deity) and Eros (Desire) also came into existence from nothing. Eros serves an important role in sexual reproduction, before which children had to be produced by means of parthenogenesis
Parthenogenesis

Parthenogenesis is an asexual form of reproduction found in females where growth and development of embryos or seeds occurs without fertilization by a male....
. From Chaos came Erebos (Darkness) and Nyx (Night). Erebos and Nyx reproduced to make Aither (Brightness) and Hemera
Hemera

In Greek mythology Hemera was the personification of day and one of the Protogenoi or primordial deities. She is the goddess of the daytime and, according to Hesiod, the daughter of Erebos and Nyx ....
 (Day). From Gaia came Ouranos (Sky), the Ourea
Ourea

In Greek mythology, the Ourea were rarely mentioned gods of the mountains, sons of Gaia , the Greek personifications of mountains. Each mountain was said to have its own god....
 (Mountains), and Pontus
Pontus (mythology)

File:ConstantaPontos.JPGIn Greek mythology, Pontus was an ancient, pre-Olympian sea-god, one of the protogenoi, the "first-born". Pontos was the son of Gaia , the Earth: Hesiod says that Gaia brought forth Pontos out of herself, without coupling....
 (Sea).

Ouranos mated with Gaia to create twelve Titan
Titan (mythology)

In Greek mythology, the Titans ; were a race of powerful deities that ruled during the legendary golden age. Their role as Elder Gods was overthrown by a race of younger gods, the Twelve Olympians, effected a mythological paradigm shift that the Greeks borrowed from the Ancient Near East....
s: Oceanos
Oceanus

Oceanus was believed to be the World Ocean in classical antiquity, which the Ancient Rome and Ancient Greece considered to be an enormous river encircling the world....
, Coeus
Coeus

In Greek mythology, Coeus was one of the Titan , the giant sons and daughters of Uranus and Gaia ; his equivalent in Latin poetry?though he scarcely makes an appearance in Roman mythology? was Polus, the embodiment of the celestrial axis around which the heavens revolve....
, Crius
Crius

In Greek mythology, Crius was one of the Titan in the list given in Hesiod's Theogony, a son of Uranus and Gaia . The least individualized among them, he was overthrown in the Titanomachy....
, Hyperion
Hyperion (mythology)

Hyperion is one of the twelve Titan gods of Ancient Greece, which were later supplanted by the Olympians. He was the son of Gaia and Uranus , and was referred to in early mythological writings as Helios Hyperion, 'Sun High-one'....
, Iapetos
Iapetus (mythology)

In Greek mythology, Iapetus, also Iapetos or Japetus , was a Titan , the son of Uranus and Gaia , and father of Atlas , Prometheus, Epimetheus , and Menoetius and through Prometheus, Epimetheus and Atlas an ancestor of the human race....
, Theia
Theia

In Greek mythology, Theia, goddess or divine, , also called Euryphaessa, wide-shining, was a Titan . The name Theia alone means simply, "goddess"; Theia Euryphaessa brings overtones of extent and brightness....
, Rhea
Rhea (mythology)

This page is about the Greek mythological figure. For the bird, see Rhea .Rhea was the Titan daughter of Ouranos , the sky, and Gaia , the earth, in Classical Greece mythology....
, Themis
Themis

Themis is an Greek mythology. She is described as "of good counsel", and was the embodiment of divine order, law, and custom. Themis means "law of nature" rather than human ordinance, literally "that which is put in place", from the verb t?????, t?themi, to put....
, Mnemosyne
Mnemosyne

Mnemosyne was the personification of memory in Greek mythology. This titan was the daughter of Gaia and Uranus and the mother of the Muses by Zeus....
, Phoebe
Phoebe (mythology)

In Greek mythology "golden-wreathed" Phoebe , in her very name simply the feminine counterpart of Phoebus, was one of the original Titan , one set of sons and daughters of Uranus and Gaia ....
, Tethys
Tethys (mythology)

File:Tethys mosaic 83d40m Phillopolis mid4th century -p2fx.2.jpgIn Greek mythology, Tethys , daughter of Uranus and Gaia was an archaic Titan ess and Greek sea gods sea goddess, invoked in classical Greek poetry but no longer venerated in cult....
, and Kronos
Cronus

Cronus or Kronos, , was the leader and the youngest of the first generation of Titan , divine descendants of Gaia , the earth, and Uranus , the sky....
; three Kyklopes
Cyclops

In Greek mythology and later Roman mythology, a cyclops , is a member of a primordial race of giant , each with a single eye in the middle of its forehead....
 (Cyclops): Brontes, Steropes, and Arges; and three Hecatonchires
Hecatonchires

The Hecatonchires, or Hekatonkheires, were three gargantuan figures of an archaic stage of Greek mythology. According to Hesiod they were children of Gaia and Uranus , simply the issue of Earth and Sky, or of Earth and Sea thus part of the very beginning of things in the submerged prehistory of Greek myth, though they played no part...
: Kottos, Briareos, and Gyges.

Second generation

Ouranos was disgusted with his children, the Hecatonchires
Hecatonchires

The Hecatonchires, or Hekatonkheires, were three gargantuan figures of an archaic stage of Greek mythology. According to Hesiod they were children of Gaia and Uranus , simply the issue of Earth and Sky, or of Earth and Sea thus part of the very beginning of things in the submerged prehistory of Greek myth, though they played no part...
, so he hid them away somewhere in Gaia. Angered by this, she asked her children the Titans to punish their father. Only Kronos was willing to do so. Kronos castrated his father with a sickle from Gaia. The blood from Ouranos splattered onto the earth producing Erinyes
Erinyes

In Greek mythology the Erinyes or Eumenides or Furies in Roman mythology were female, chthonic deities of revenge or supernatural personifications of the anger of the dead....
 (the Furies), Giant
Giant (mythology)

The mythology and legends of many different cultures include monsters of human appearance but prodigious size and strength. "Giant" is the English word commonly used for such beings, derived from one of the most famed examples: the gigantes of Greek mythology....
s, and Meliai. Kronos threw the severed testicles into the Sea (Thalassa
Thalassa (mythology)

In Greek mythology, Thalassa was a primordial sea goddess, daughter of Aether and Hemera . With Pontus , she was the mother of the nine Telchines and Halia....
), around which foam developed and transformed into the goddess
Goddess

A goddess is a female deity. Often deities are part of a polytheism system that includes several deities in a pantheon .Common associations of goddesses are the Earth goddess, the Mother Goddess, Love goddess, and the hearth goddess, reflecting historical gender roles....
 of Love
Love

Love is any of a number of emotions and experiences related to a sense of strong affection and attachment . The word wikt:en:love can refer to a variety of different feelings, states, and attitudes, ranging from generic pleasure to intense interpersonal attraction....
, Aphrodite
Aphrodite

Aphrodite is the classical Greek mythology goddess of love, sex, and beauty. According to Greek oral poet Hesiod, she was born when Uranus was castrated by his son Cronus....
 (which is why in some myths, Aphrodite was daughter of Ouranos and the goddess Thalassa
Thalassa (mythology)

In Greek mythology, Thalassa was a primordial sea goddess, daughter of Aether and Hemera . With Pontus , she was the mother of the nine Telchines and Halia....
).

Meanwhile, Nyx, though she married Erebos, produced children parthenogenetically: Moros
Moros

In Greek mythology, Moros is the personification of impending doom, who drives every being, mortal or otherwise, to its fated doom. Very little is known about him, but he is thought to be omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent, and not even Zeus can defeat him....
 (Doom), Oneiroi
Oneiroi

In Greek mythology, the Oneiroi were the brothers or sons of Hypnos, the god of sleep. They were personifications of dreams—black-winged Daemon s—and were said to live on the shores of the Ocean in the far West, in a cavern near the border of Hades....
 (Dreams), Ker and the Keres
Keres (mythology)

In Greek mythology, the Ceres were female death-spirits. The Keres were daughters of Nyx , and as such the sisters of Fate , Doom , Death and Sleep , Strife , Old Age , Divine Retribution , Charon , and other personifications....
 (Destinies), Eris
Eris (mythology)

Eris is the Greek mythology goddess of strife, her name being translated into Latin as Discordia. Her Greek opposite is Harmonia , whose Latin counterpart is Concordia ....
 (Discord), Momos (Blame), Philotes
Philotes (mythology)

Philotes is a minor Greek goddess. She was a daughter of Nyx . She is the personification of affection and friendship....
 (Love), Geras
Geras

In Greek mythology, Geras was the god of ageing. It was considered a virtue whereby the more geras a man acquired, the more kleos and arete he was considered to have....
 (Old Age), Thanatos
Thanatos

In Greek religion, Th?natos was the Daemon personification of Death and Mortality. He was a minor figure in Greek mythology, often referred to but rarely appearing in person....
 (Death), Moirai (Fates), Nemesis
Nemesis (mythology)

Nemesis , also called Rhamnousia/Rhamnusia , at her sanctuary at Rhamnous, north of Marathon, Greece, in Greek mythology was the spirit of divine punitive justice against those who succumb to hubris, vengeful fate personified as a remorseless goddess....
 (Retribution), Hesperides
Hesperides

In Greek mythology, the Hesperides are nymphs who tend a blissful garden in a far western corner of the world, located near the Atlas mountains in Ancient Libya, or on a distant blessed island at the edge of the encircling Oceanus....
 (Daughters of Night), Hypnos
Hypnos

In Greek mythology, Hypnos was the personification of sleep; the Roman mythology equivalent was known as Somnus. His twin was Thanatos ; their mother was the goddess Nyx ....
 (Sleep), Oizys
Oizys

In Greek mythology, Oizys is the goddess of distress, worry, and anxiety. She is the daughter of Nyx , the goddess of night and the twin of the god Momos. Her Latin name is Miseria, from which the English word 'misery' is derived....
 (Hardship), and Apate
Apate

Apate was the daughter of Nyx in Greek mythology. She was the personification of deceit, and was one of the evil spirits released from Pandora's box....
 (Deceit).

From Eris
Eris (mythology)

Eris is the Greek mythology goddess of strife, her name being translated into Latin as Discordia. Her Greek opposite is Harmonia , whose Latin counterpart is Concordia ....
, following in her mother's footsteps, came Ponos
Ponos

Ponos was the god of sorrow in Greek mythology. His mother was the goddess Eris , who was the daughter of Nyx . He was brother to Algos, Lethe, Limos , and Horcus....
 (Pain), Hysmine (Battles), the Neikea (Quarrels), the Phonoi (Murders), Lethe
Lethe

In Classical Greek, Lethe literally means "forgetfulness" or "concealment". It is related to the Greek word for "truth": a-lethe-ia , meaning "un-forgetfulness" or "un-concealment"....
 (Oblivion), Makhai
Makhai

In Greek mythology, the Makhai were the daemons of battle and combat, and were sons or daughters of Eris . The daemons Homados , Alala , Proioxis , Palioxis and Kydoimos were probably numbered among the Makhai....
 (Fight), Pseudologos (Lies), Amphilogia (Disputes), Limos (Famine), Androktasia (Manslaughters), Ate
Ate

At?, a Greek word for "ruin, folly, delusion", is the action performed by the hero, usually because of his or her hubris that leads to his or her death or downfall....
 (Ruin), Dysnomia
Dysnomia (mythology)

Dysnomia , imagined by Hesiod among the daughters of "abhorred Eris " , is the Daemon #In Greece and Rome of "lawlessness", who shares her nature with Ate ; she makes rare appearances among other personifications in poetical contexts that are marginal to Greek mythology but become central to Greek philosophy: see Laws ....
 (Anarchy and Disobedience(Lawlessness)), the Algea (Illness), Horkos (Oaths), and Logoi (Stories).

After Ouranos's castration, Gaia married Pontos and they have a descendent line consisting of sea deities, sea nymphs, and hybrid monsters. One child of Gaia and Pontos is Nereus
Nereus

Nereus , in Greek Mythology, was the eldest son of Pontus and Gaia , a Titan who fathered the Nereids, with whom Nereus lived in the Aegean Sea....
 (Old Man of the Sea), who marries Doris
Doris (mythology)

This is an article about the Greek goddess. For other uses, see Doris .Doris , an Oceanid, was a sea nymph in Greek mythology, whose name represented the bounty of the sea....
, a daughter of Okeanos and Tethys, and has Nereids, the fifty nymphs of the sea - one of whom is Thetis
Thetis

Silver-footed Thetis , disposer or "placer" , is encountered in Greek mythology mostly as a sea nymph, one of the fifty Nereids, daughters of the ancient one of the seas with shape-shifting abilities who survives in the historical vestiges of most later Greek myths as Proteus ....
. Another child of Gaia and Pontos is Thaumas
Thaumas

In Greek mythology, Thaumas was a sea god, son of Pontus and Gaia . He married an Oceanid, Electra, and was the father of the Harpies and Iris , the goddess of rainbows and messenger of the gods. Thaumas was also the name of a centaur....
, who marries Electra
Electra

In Greek mythology, Electra was an Argosian princess and daughter of King Agamemnon and Queen Clytemnestra, and was a sibling to sisters Iphigeneia, Chrysothemis, and brother Orestes....
, a sister of Doris, and has Iris
Iris (mythology)

In Greek mythology, Iris is the personification of the rainbow and messenger of the gods. As the sun unites Earth and heaven, Iris links the gods to humanity....
 (Rainbow) and two Harpies.

Phorkys and Keto
Ceto

In Greek mythology, Cetus , also called Ceto or Cetea, was a hideous sea monster, a daughter of Gaia and Pontus . The asteroid 65489 Ceto was named after her, and its satellite Ceto I Phorcys after her husband....
, two siblings, marry each other and have the Graiae, the Gorgons, Echidna
Echidna (mythology)

In the most ancient layers of Greek mythology, Echidna was called the "Mother of All Monsters". Echidna was described by Hesiod as a female monster spawned in a cave, who mothered with her mate Typhon every major horrible monster in the Greek myths,...
, and Ophion
Ophion

In some versions of Greek mythology, Ophion , also called Ophioneus ruled the world with Eurynome before the two of them were cast down by Cronus and Rhea ....
. Medusa
Medusa

In Greek mythology, Medusa was a gorgon, a chthonic female monster; gazing upon her would turn onlookers to stone. She was beheaded by the hero Perseus, who thereafter used her head as a weapon until giving it to the goddess Athena to place on her Aegis....
, one of the Gorgons, has two children with Poseidon, the winged-horse Pegasus
Pegasus

In Greek mythology, Pegasus was a winged horse sired by Poseidon, in his role as horse-god, and foaled by the Gorgon Medusa....
 and giant Chrysaor
Chrysaor

In Greek mythology, Chrysaor , the brother of Pegasus, was often depicted as a young man, the son of Poseidon and Medusa . Chrysaor and his brother, the winged horse Pegasus, were not born until Perseus chopped off Medusa's head....
, at the instant of her decapitation by Perseus
Perseus

Perseus , the legendary founder of Mycenae and of the Mycenae there, was the first of the mythic heroes of Greek mythology whose exploits in defeating various archaic monsters provided the founding myths in the cult of the Twelve Olympians....
. Chrysaor marries Callirhoe
Callirrhoe (naiad)

In Greek mythology, Callirrhoe was a naiads. She was the daughter of Oceanus and Tethys . She had three husbands, Chrysaor, Neilus and Poseidon....
, another daughter of Okeanos, and has the three-headed Geryon
Geryon

In Greek mythology, Geryon , son of Chrysaor and Callirrhoe and grandson of Medusa was a fearsome giant who dwelt on the island Erytheia of the mythic Hesperides in the far west of the Mediterranean....
.

Gaia also marries Tartaros and has Typhoeus, whom Echidna marries and has Orthos
Orthrus

In Greek mythology, Orthrus was a multi-headed animal dog and a doublet of Cerberus, both whelped by the chthonic monster Echidna by Typhon....
, Kerberos
Cerberus

Cerberus is the name given to the entity which, in Greek mythology and Roman mythology, is a multi-headed dog which guards the gates of Hades, to prevent those who have crossed the river Styx from ever escaping....
, Hydra
Lernaean Hydra

In Greek mythology, the Lernaean Hydra The Hydra was the offspring of Typhon and Echidna , noisome offspring of the earth goddess, Gaia. It was said to be the sibling of the Nemean Lion, the Stymphalian birds, the Chimera ,and Cerberus....
, and Chimera
Chimera (mythology)

This article is about the Greek_Mythology creature. For other uses, see Chimera.In Greek mythology, the Chimera was a monstrous creature of Lycia in Asia Minor, composed of the parts of multiple animals: upon the body of a lioness with a tail that terminated in a snake's head, the head of a goat arose on her back at the center of her...
. From Orthos and either Chimera or Echidna were born the Sphinx
Sphinx

A sphinx is a zoomorphic mythological figure which is depicted as a recumbent lion with a human head. It has its origins in sculpted figures of Old Kingdom Ancient Egypt, to which the ancient Greeks applied their own name for a female monster, the "strangler", an archaic figure of Greek mythology....
 and the Nemean Lion
Nemean Lion

The Nemean lion was a vicious monster in Greek mythology that lived in Nemea. He was eventually killed by Heracles. The lion was usually considered the offspring of Typhon and Echidna , but it was also said to have fallen from the moon, offspring of Zeus and Selene....
.

In the family of the Titans, Okeanos and Tethys marry and have three thousand rivers (including the Nile and Skamandar) and three thousand Okeanid Nymphs (including Electra, Kalypso, and Styx
Styx

Styx may refer to:* Styx , the river that forms the boundary between the Greek underworld and the world of the living, as well as a goddess and a nymph that represent the river....
). Theia and Hyperion marry and have Helios
Helios

Helios is the god of sun.In Greek mythology the sun was personified as Helios . Homer often calls him simply Titan or Hyperion , while Hesiod and the Homeric Hymn separate him as a son of the Titans Hyperion and Theia or Euryphaessa and brother of the goddesses Selene, the moon, and Eos, the dawn....
 (Sun), Selene
Selene

Selene is the Titan goddess of the moon.In Greek mythology, Selene was an archaic lunar deity and the daughter of the Titan Hyperion and Theia....
 (Moon), and Eos
Eos

Eos is, in Greek mythology, the Titan goddess of the dawn, who rose from her home at the edge of Oceanus, the Ocean that surrounds the world, to herald her brother Helios, the sun....
 (Dawn). Kreios and Eurybia marry to bear Astraios, Pallas
Pallas (son of Crius)

Pallas is a Titan , associated with war, killed by Athena in fight with gods. Most sources indicate that he was the son of Crius and Eurybia, the brother of Astraeus and Perses , and the husband of Styx ....
, and Perses
Perses (Titan)

Perses was the son of Titan siblings, Kreios and Eurybia. He was said to "surpass all in wisdom" in the Theogony of Hesiod. He was wed to Asteria, his cousin, daughter of Titans Phoibe and Koios....
. Eos and Astraios will later marry and have Zephyros, Boreas, Notos, Eosphoros, Hesperos, Phosphoros and the Stars (foremost of which are Phaenon, Phaethon, Pyroeis, Stilbon, those of the Zodiac
Zodiac

Zodiac denotes an annual cycle of twelve stations along the ecliptic, the apparent path of the Sun across the heavens through the constellations that divide the ecliptic into twelve equal zones of celestial longitude....
 and those three acknowledged before). From Pallas and Styx (another Okeanid) came Zelos
Zelus

In Greek mythology, Zelus was the son of Pallas and Styx . Zelus and siblings Nike , Cratos and Bia were angel who stood in attendance at Zeus' throne and formed part of his retinue....
 (Zeal), Nike
Nike (mythology)

In Greek mythology, Nike , was a goddess who personified triumph throughout the ages of the ancient Greek culture. The Roman equivalent was Victoria ....
 (Victory), Cratos
Cratos

In Greek mythology, Cratos was a son of Pallas and Styx , and he was the personification of strength and power. Cratos and his siblings, Nike , Bia and Zelus , were all companions of Zeus....
 (Strength), and Bia
Bia (mythology)

In Greek mythology, Bia was the personification of force, daughter of Pallas and Styx . She was the sister of Nike , Cratos, and Zelus; she and her siblings were constant companions of Zeus....
 (Force). Koios and Phoibe marry and have Leto
Leto

In Greek mythology, Let? is a daughter of the Titan Coeus and Phoebe : Kos claimed her birthplace. In the Olympian scheme of things, Zeus is the father of her twins, Apollo and Artemis, the Letoides....
, Asteria
Asteria

In Greek mythology, Asteria was a name attributed to five individuals:...
 (who later marries Perses and has Hekate). Iapetos marries Klymene (an Okeanid Nymph) and had Atlas
Atlas (mythology)

In Greek mythology, Atlas was the primordial Titan who supported the heavens. Atlas was the son of the Titan Iapetus and the Oceanid Asia or Klym?ne :...
, Menoetius, Prometheus
Prometheus

In Greek mythology, Prometheus is a Titan known for his wily intelligence, who stole fire from Zeus and gave it to human beings for their use....
, and Epimetheus
Epimetheus (mythology)

In Greek mythology, Epimetheus was the brother of Prometheus , a pair of Titan s who "acted as representatives of mankind" . They were the inseparable sons of Iapetus , who in other contexts was the father of Atlas ....
.

Third and final generation

Kronos, having taken control of the Cosmos
Cosmos

In its most general sense, a cosmos is an orderly or harmonious system. It originates from a Greek language term ??s??? meaning "order, orderly arrangement, ornaments," and is the antithetical concept of chaos....
, wanted to ensure that he maintained power. Ouranos and Gaia
Gaia

Gaia or Gaea most commonly refers to Gaia , the primal Greek goddess of the earth. But it may also refer to:...
 prophesied to him that one of his children would overthrow him, so when he married Rhea, he made sure to swallow each of the children she birthed: Hestia
Hestia

In Greek mythology, virginal Hestia, daughter of Cronus and Rhea , is the goddess of the hearth, of the right ordering of domesticity and the family, who received the first offering at every sacrifice in the household....
, Demeter
Demeter

File:Demeter in horse chariot w daughter kore 83d40m wikiC Tempio Y di Selinunte sec VIa.JPGDemeter , in Greek mythology, is the Goddess of cereal and fertility, the pure....
, Hera
Hera

In the Twelve Olympians of classical Greek Mythology, Hera or Here was the wife and older sister of Zeus. Her chief function was as goddess of women and marriage....
, Hades
Hades

Hades refers both to the ancient Greek underworld, the abode of Hades, and to the god of the underworld. Hades in Homer referred just to the god; the genitive case , Haidou, was an elision to denote locality: "[the house/dominion] of Hades"....
, Poseidon
Poseidon

In Greek mythology, Poseidon was the god of the sea and, as "Earth-Shaker," of earthquakes. The name of the god Nethuns in Etruscan mythology was adopted in Latin for Neptune in Roman mythology: both were sea gods analogous to Poseidon....
, Zeus
Zeus

Zeus in Greek mythology is the king of the gods, the ruler of Mount Olympus and the god of the sky father and List of thunder gods. His symbols are the thunderbolt, eagle, bull , and oak....
 (in that order). However, Rhea asked Gaia and Ouranos for help in saving Zeus by sending Rhea to Crete to bear Zeus and giving Kronos a huge stone to swallow thinking that it was another of Rhea's children. Gaia then takes Zeus and hides him deep in a cave beneath the Aegean Mountains.

Tricked by Rhea (the Theogony does not detail how), Kronos vomits up his other 5 children. Joining with Zeus, they waged a great war on the Titans for control of the Cosmos
Cosmos

In its most general sense, a cosmos is an orderly or harmonious system. It originates from a Greek language term ??s??? meaning "order, orderly arrangement, ornaments," and is the antithetical concept of chaos....
. The war lasted ten years, with the Olympian gods, Cyclopes, Prometheus and Epimetheus, the children of Klymene, on one side, and the Titans and the Giants on the other (with only Oceanos as a neutral force). Eventually Zeus releases the Hundred-Handed ones to shake the earth, allowing him to gain the upper hand, and casts the fury of his thunderbolts at the Titans, throwing them into Tartaros. Zeus later must battle Typhoeus, a son of Gaia and Tartaros created because Gaia was angry that the Titans were defeated, and is victorious again.

Because Prometheus helped Zeus, he was not sent to Tartaros like the other Titans. However, Prometheus sought to trick Zeus. Slaughtering a cow, he took the valuable fat and meat, and sewed it inside the cow's stomach. Prometheus then took the bones and hid them with a thin layer of fat. Prometheus asked Zeus' opinion on which offering pile he found more desirable, hoping to trick the god into selecting the less desirable portion. However, Hesiod relates that Zeus saw through the trick and responded in a fury. Zeus declared that the ash tree would never hold fire, in effect denying the benefit of fire to man. In response, Prometheus sneaks into the gods' chambers and steals a glowing ember with a piece of reed.

For this theft, Zeus punishes Prometheus by chaining him to a cliff, where an eagle fed on his ever-regenerating liver every day. Prometheus would not be freed until Heracles
Heracles

In Greek mythology, Heracles or Herakles meaning "glory of Hera", or "Glorious through Hera" Alcides or Alcaeus " was a hero, the son of Zeus and Alcmene, foster son of Amphitryon and great-grandson of Perseus....
, a son of Zeus, comes to free him. Since man had access to fire, Zeus devises woman as a general punishment in trade. Hephaistos and Athena build woman with exquisite detail, and she is considered beautiful by all men and gods (it is generally agreed in academic translations that this woman is Pandora
Pandora

[Image:Pandora.jpg|right|thumb|300px|"The Creation of "[A]NESIDORA" on a white-ground kylix by the Tarquinia Painter, ca 460 BC In Greek mythology, Pandora was the first woman....
). Despite her beauty, Hesiod writes that woman is a bane for mankind, attributing women with laziness and a waste of resources. Hesiod notes that Zeus' curse, womankind, can only bring man suffering as his wife, and any man who tries to avoid marriage will suffer.

Zeus marries seven wives. The first is the Oceanid Metis
Metis (mythology)

In Greek mythology, Metis was of the Titan generation and, like several primordial figures, an Oceanid, in the sense that M?tis was born of Oceanus and Tethys , of an earlier age than Zeus and his siblings....
, whom he swallowed to avoid getting a son that, as happened with Kronos and Ouranos, would overthrow him, as well as to absorb her wisdom so that she can advise him in the future. He would later "give birth" to Athena
Athena

In Greek mythology, Athena is the shrewd companion of Hero and the goddess of Hero endeavour. She is the virgin patron of Athens, which built the Parthenon to worship her....
 from his head, which would anger Hera enough for her to produce her own son parthenogenetically, Typhaon, the part snake,part dragon sea monster. The second wife is Themis
Themis

Themis is an Greek mythology. She is described as "of good counsel", and was the embodiment of divine order, law, and custom. Themis means "law of nature" rather than human ordinance, literally "that which is put in place", from the verb t?????, t?themi, to put....
, who bears the three Horae
Horae

In Greek mythology, the Horai, Latinized Horae were three goddesses controlling orderly life. They were daughters of Zeus and Themis, half-sisters to the Moirae....
 (Hours) – Eunomia
Eunomia (goddess)

Eunomia was a minor Greek goddess....
 (Order), Dike
Dike (mythology)

In Ancient Greece, Dike was the spirit of moral order and fair judgement based on immemorial custom....
 (Justice), Eirene
Eirene (Greek goddess)

Eirene, or Irene , one of the Horae, was the personification of peace, and was depicted in art as a beautiful young woman carrying a cornucopia, scepter and a torch or rhyton....
 (Peace
Peace

Peace is a term that most commonly refers to an absence of aggression, violence or hostility, but which also represents a larger concept wherein there are healthy or newly-healed interpersonal relationship or international relations, safety in matters of social or economic welfare, the acknowledgment of equality and fairness in political re...
) and the three Moirae
Moirae

The Moirae or Moerae , in Greek mythology, were the white-robed personifications of destiny . The Greek word moira literally means a part or portion, and by extension one's portion in life or destiny....
 (Fates) – Klotho
Clotho

Clotho or Klotho — the "spinner" — was the youngest of the Moirae of Greek mythology, otherwise known as the Fates due to their roles in governing over the lives of humans....
 (Spinner), Lachesis
Lachesis (mythology)

In Greek mythology, Lachesis was the second of the Three Fates, or Moirae. She was the apportioner, deciding how much time for life was to be allowed for each person or being....
 (Alotter), Atropos
Atropos

In Greek mythology, Atropos was one of the three Moirae, Goddesses of wikt:fate and destiny. Her Roman equivalent was Morta . Atropos was the oldest of the Three Fates, and was known as the "inflexible" or "inevitable." It was Atropos who chose the mechanism of death and ended the life of each mortal by cutting their thread with her "abhor...
 (Unturned), as well as Tyche
Tyche

In Ancient Greek religion, Tyche was the presiding tutelary deity that governed the fortune and prosperity of a city, its destiny. Increasingly during the Hellenistic period, cities had their own specific iconic version of Tyche, wearing a mural crown ....
. Zeus then married his third wife Eurynome, who bears the three Charites (Graces): Aglaia, Euphrosyne, and Thalia. The fourth wife is his sister Demeter
Demeter

File:Demeter in horse chariot w daughter kore 83d40m wikiC Tempio Y di Selinunte sec VIa.JPGDemeter , in Greek mythology, is the Goddess of cereal and fertility, the pure....
, who bears Persephone. Persephone would later marry Hades, and bear Melinoe
Melinoe

Melinoe was the ancient Greek mythology goddess of ghosts, and propitiation-offerings made to the deceased. She wandered the earth every night with a train of ghosts, scaring anyone in their path....
, Goddess of Ghosts, and Zagreus
Zagreus

In Greek mythology, Zagreus was identified with the god Dionysus and was worshipped by followers of Orphism who believed him to be an ancient god of the Minoans....
, God of the Orphic Mysteries, and Macaria
Macaria

In Greek mythology, Macaria was one of the Heracleidae, children of Heracles. She was in Heracleidae , a play by Euripides. She and her brothers and sisters hid from Eursytheus in Athens, Greece, ruled by King Demophon....
, Goddess of the Blessed Afterlife. The fifth wife of Zeus is another aunt, Mnemosyne, from whom came the nine Muses – Kleio, Euterpe
Euterpe

In Greek mythology, Euterpe was one of the Muses, the daughters of Mnemosyne, fathered by Zeus. Called the "Giver of delight", when later poets assigned roles to each of the Muses, she was the muse of music....
, Thaleia, Melpomene
Melpomene

Melpom?ne , initially the Muse of Singing, she then became the Muse of Tragedy, for which she is best known now. Her name was derived from the Greek verb melp? or melpomai meaning "to celebrate with dance and song." She is often represented with a tragic mask and wearing the cothurnus, boots traditionally worn by tragic actors....
, Terpsikhore, Erato
Erato

In Greek mythology, Erato is one of the Greek Muses. The name would mean "lovely" if derived from Eros , as Apollonius of Rhodes playfully suggested in the invocation to Erato that begins Book III of his Argonautica....
, Polymnia
Polyhymnia

Polyhymnia , in Greek mythology, was the Muse of sacred poetry, sacred hymn and eloquence as well as agriculture and pantomime. She is also known as the Muse of mime....
, Urania
Urania

In Greek mythology, Urania , was the muse of astronomy and astrology. She is usually depicted as having a globe in her left hand. She is able to foretell the future by the position of the stars....
, and Kalliope. The sixth wife is Leto, who gives birth to Apollo
Apollo

In Greek mythology and Roman mythology, Apollo , is one of the most important and many-sided of the Twelve Olympians. The ideal of the kouros , Apollo has been variously recognized as a god of light and the sun; truth and prophecy; archery; medicine and healing; music, poetry, and the arts; and more....
 and Artemis
Artemis

In Greek mythology, Artemis was the daughter of Zeus and Leto, and the twin sister of Apollo. She was the Hellenic goddess of forests and hills, child birth/virginity/fertility, the hunt and was often depicted as a huntress carrying a bow and arrows.....
. The seventh and final wife is Hera, who gives birth to Hebe
Hebe (mythology)

In Greek mythology, Hebe is the goddess of youth . She is the daughter of Zeus and Hera. H?b? was the cupbearer for the gods and goddesses of Mount Olympus, serving their nectar and ambrosia, until she was married to Heracles ; her successor was the young Troy prince Ganymede ....
, Ares
Ares

In Greek mythology, Ares is the son of Zeus and Hera. Though often referred to as the Twelve Olympians God of warfare, he is more accurately the god of bloodlust, or slaughter personified: "Ares is apparently an ancient abstract noun meaning throng of battle, war."...
, Enyo
Enyo

Enyo in Greek mythology, was an ancient goddess of war, acting as a counterpart and companion to the war god Ares. She is also identified as his sister, and daughter of Zeus and Hera, in a role closely resembling that of Eris ; with Homer representing the two as the same goddess....
, Hephastios,and Eileithyia. Of course, though Zeus no longer marries, he still has affairs with many other women, such as Semele
Semele

File:Gustave Moreau 004.jpgIn Greek mythology, Semele, daughter of Cadmus and Harmonia , was the mortal mother of Dionysus by Zeus in one of his many origin myths....
, who would give birth to Dionysus
Dionysus

In classical mythology, Dionysus or Dionysos , is the God of wine, the inspirer of ritual madness and ecstasy, and a major figure of Greek mythology, and one of the twelve Olympians, among whom Greek mythology treated Dionysus as a late arrival....
, and Alkmene, the mother of Heracles
Heracles

In Greek mythology, Heracles or Herakles meaning "glory of Hera", or "Glorious through Hera" Alcides or Alcaeus " was a hero, the son of Zeus and Alcmene, foster son of Amphitryon and great-grandson of Perseus....
, who marries Hebe
Hebe (mythology)

In Greek mythology, Hebe is the goddess of youth . She is the daughter of Zeus and Hera. H?b? was the cupbearer for the gods and goddesses of Mount Olympus, serving their nectar and ambrosia, until she was married to Heracles ; her successor was the young Troy prince Ganymede ....
.

Poseidon marries Amphitrite
Amphitrite

In ancient Greek mythology, Amphitrite was a sea-goddess. Under the influence of the Olympian pantheon, she became merely the consort of Poseidon, and was further diminished by poets to a symbolic representation of the sea....
 and produces Triton
Triton (mythology)

Triton is a mythological Greek mythology, the messenger of the deep. He is the son of Poseidon, god of the sea, and Amphitrite, goddess of the sea....
. Ares and Aphrodite would marry to make Phobos
Phobos (mythology)

Phobos is the embodiment of fear and Horror in Greek mythology. He is the offspring of Ares and Aphrodite. He was known for accompanying Ares into battle along with his brother, Deimos , the goddess Enyo, and his father?s attendants....
 (Fear), Deimos
Deimos (mythology)

In Greek mythology, Deimos was the personification of Angst.He was the son of Ares and Aphrodite. He, his twin brother Phobos and the goddess Enyo accompanied Ares into battle, as well as his father's attendants, Trembling, Fear, Dread, and Panic....
 (Cowardice), and Harmonia
Harmonia (mythology)

In Greek mythology, Harmonia is the immortal goddess of harmony and concord. Her Rome counterpart is Concordia , and her Greek opposite is Eris , whose Roman counterpart is Discordia....
 (Harmony), who would later marry Kadmos to sire Ino
Ino (Greek mythology)

In Greek mythology Ino was a mortal queen of Thebes , the second wife of Athamas, the mother of Learches and Melicertes, daughter of Cadmus and Harmonia and stepmother of Phrixus and Helle ....
 (who with her son, Melicertes
Melicertes

In Greek mythology, Melicertes is the son of the Boeotian prince Athamas and Ino, daughter of Cadmus.Ino, pursued by her husband, who had been driven mad by Hera because Ino had brought up the infant Dionysus, threw herself and Melicertes into the sea from a high rock between Megara and Corinth, Greece, Both were changed into marine deitie...
 would become a sea deity) Semele
Semele

File:Gustave Moreau 004.jpgIn Greek mythology, Semele, daughter of Cadmus and Harmonia , was the mortal mother of Dionysus by Zeus in one of his many origin myths....
 (Mother of Dionysos), Agaue (Mother of Actaeon), Polydorus
Polydorus (son of Cadmus)

Polydorus was the only son of Cadmus and Harmonia_ and king of Thebes, Greece. Upon his father's death, Pentheus, the son of his sister Agave and Echion, one of the Spartoi, ruled Thebes....
, and Autonoe
Autonoe

In Greek mythology, Autono? was a daughter of Cadmus, founder of Thebes, Greece, and the goddess Harmonia . She was the wife of Aristaeus and mother of Actaeon and possibly Macris....
 (who would later be driven in to perpetual Bacchic Frenzy by her nephew, Dionysos). Helios and Perseis
Perseis

Perseis may refer to:*Perse*Perseis ...
 birth Kirke
Circe

In Greek mythology, Circe , is a Queen goddess living on the island of Aeaea.Circe's father was Helios , the god of the sun and the owner of the land where Odysseus' men ate cattle, and her mother was Hecate the goddess of magic and the moon ; she was sister of two kings of Colchis, Aeetes and Perses, and of Pasipha?, mother of the Mino...
 (Circe), who with Poseidon would mother Phaunos, God of the Forest, and with Dionysos mother Comos, God of Revelry and Festivity . And with Odysseus
Odysseus

Odysseus or Ulysses , in Greek mythology , was a legendary Greeks king of Ithaca and the hero of Homer's Epic poetry, the Odyssey. Odysseus also plays a key role in Homer's Iliad and other works in the Epic Cycle....
, she would later give birth to Agrius
Agrius

Agrius was in Greek mythology a son of Parthaon, king of Calydon in Aetolia, and Euryte; he was the brother of Oeneus , Alcathous, Melas, Leucopeus, and Sterope....
. Atlas' daughter Kalypso
Calypso (mythology)

Sorry, no overview for this topic
 would give birth to Odysseus' children Telegonos, Teledamus, Latinus
Latinus

Latinus or Latinos was a figure in both Greek mythology and Roman mythology mythology....
, Nausithoos, and Nausinous
Nausinous

In Greek mythology, Nausinous was the son of Odysseus and Calypso .While Odysseus did not love Calypso and instead wished only for his rightful wife, Penelope, Hermes warned Odysseus to not hesitate in sharing her bed lest he be struck down by the powerful goddess....
.

See also

  • Cosmogony
    Cosmogony

    Cosmogony, or cosmogeny, is any theory concerning the coming into existence or origin of the universe, or about how reality came to be. The word comes from the Greek ??s??????a , from ??s??? "cosmos, the world", and the root of ?????a? / ?????a "to be born, come about"....
  • Gigantomachy
  • Theomachy
    Theomachy

    Theomachy is a reference to battles fought between Ancient Greece Olympians themselves. In the Iliad, two theomachies occur. One is fought between Diomedes with the direct aid of Athena against Ares....
  • Titanomachy
    Titanomachy

    In Greek mythology, the Titanomachy, or War of the Titans , was the ten-year series of battles fought between the two races of deities long before the existence of mankind: the Titan , fighting from Mount Othrys, or Mount Etna and the Twelve Olympians, who would come to reign on Mount Olympus ....


Sources

  • Brown, Norman O. Introduction to Hesiod: Theogony (New York: Liberal Arts Press) 1953.
  • Bulfinch's Age of Fable or Beauties of Mythology by Thomas Bulfinch Publisher: S W Tilton (1894)ASIN: B000JWAT00
  • Lamberton, Robert, Hesiod, New Haven : Yale University Press, 1988. ISBN 0300040687. Cf. Chapter II, "The Theogony", pp.38-104.
  • Tandy, David W., and Neale, Walter C. [translators], Works and Days: a translation and commentary for the social sciences, Berkeley: University of California Press, 1996. ISBN 0520203836
  • Verdenius, Willem Jacob, A Commentary on Hesiod Works and Days vv 1-382 (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1985). ISBN 9004074651


Selected translations

  • Athanassakis, Apostolos N.
    Apostolos Athanassakis

    Apostolos N. Athanassakis is a classical scholar and Argyropoulos Chair in Hellenic Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara . Professor Athanassakis, or "Professor A" as he is often referred to by students, currently serves as the faculty in residence in Manzanita Village....
    , Theogony ; Works and days ; Shield / Hesiod ; introduction, translation, and notes, Baltimore : Johns Hopkins University Press, 1983. ISBN 0801829984
  • Frazer, R.M. (Richard McIlwaine), The Poems of Hesiod, Norman : University of Oklahoma Press, 1983. ISBN 0806118377
  • Most, Glenn, translator, Hesiod, 2 vols., Loeb Classical Library, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 2006-07.
  • Schlegel, Catherine M., and Henry Weinfield, translators, Theogony and Works and Days, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 2006


External links

  • e-text (in English)
  • e-text in Greek (from Perseus)
  • e-text in English (from Perseus)