Theogony
Greek gods' origin
Theogony is an epic poem by the ancient Greek poet Hesiod, composed around 700 BCE, describing the origins of the Greek gods.
It traces the cosmos from primordial Chaos through successive generations of deities to Zeus's establishment of order on Olympus.
The work remains foundational for understanding Greek mythology: I'm reading Theogony for my classics course. (Lowercase theogony is any account of divine origins.)
Elder Greek deities
- CronusTitan king, father-devourer
- RheaGreek divine mother
- OceanusTitan personifying earth's river-boundary
- TethysGreek sea titaness
Hyperion · Phoebe · Mnemosyne · Prometheus · Epimetheus · Atlas
Existing from the start
Greek sky god
- HeraOlympian marriage deity
- PoseidonGreek sea deity
- DemeterGreek agricultural deity
- AthenaGreek wisdom deity
Apollo · Artemis · Ares · Aphrodite · Hephaestus · Hermes · Dionysus · Hades
Wrongful seizure of power
- overthrowForcible removal from power
- CronusTitan king, father-devourer
- ZeusGreek sky god
- castrationExcision of reproductive glands
prophecy · swallowing · regurgitation · rebellion · imprisonment · supremacy · reign · sovereignty
Impressively grand in scope
- didacticIntended to instruct
- hexameterSix-foot poetic line
- Greek poetryLiterature from ancient Athens
- MusesNine goddesses of arts
Titans
Elder Greek deities
- CronusTitan king, father-devourer
- RheaGreek divine mother
- OceanusTitan personifying earth's river-boundary
Tethys · Hyperion · Phoebe · Mnemosyne · Prometheus · Epimetheus · Atlas
primordial
Existing from the start
Zeus
Greek sky god
Athena · Apollo · Artemis · Ares · Aphrodite · Hephaestus · Hermes · Dionysus · Hades · Persephone
usurpation
Wrongful seizure of power
castration · prophecy · swallowing · regurgitation · rebellion · imprisonment · supremacy · reign · sovereignty · Rhea
epic
Impressively grand in scope
- didacticIntended to instruct
- hexameterSix-foot poetic line
- Greek poetryLiterature from ancient Athens
Muses · invocation · catalogue
- Greek mythologyZeus, Athena, Apollo, Hera, Poseidon
- mythologyZeus, Apollo, Athena, Poseidon, Odin
- classicsHomer, Iliad, the Iliad, Odyssey, the Odyssey
- ancient GreeceAthens, Sparta, Zeus, Parthenon, Acropolis
- Ancient Greek literatureIliad, Odyssey, Oedipus Rex, Antigone, Medea
- Ancient Greek WorksRepublic, Symposium, Nicomachean Ethics
Theogonycosmology
Study of universal structure
evolutionary biology · natural history · abiogenesis · astrophysics
Theogonyeschatology
Study of ultimate destiny
Ragnarök · twilight of the gods · apocalypse · deicide · end times