1. ACCORDING TO HESIOD’S THEOGONY

2.  Inthe beginning there was Chaos
(―emptiness‖).
 Out of Chaos came Gaia, the Earth.
 Later came Night and Day and Eros (―Love‖).
 After that Gaia gave birth to Uranos, the
Sky.
 Gaia and Uranos then had twelve children,
the Titans.
 However, Uranos was afraid one of his
children could overthrow him.
 Therefore, he hid them in the dark centre of
the Earth –Gaia.
 This made Gaia angry and she plotted her
revenge.

3.  She persuaded her youngest son Kronos to
attack his father with a sharp sickle.
 So Kronos attacked his father while he was
asleep.
 Uranos’ blood dripped onto the sea giving
birth to Aphrodite, goddess of Love and
Beauty.
 Uranos was left wounded and powerless and
Kronos took his place as ruler of the sky.

4.  Kronos married his sister Rhea and they
had six children; three daughters:
Hestia, Demeter and Hera and three
sons: Hades, Poseidon and Zeus.
 However, Kronos was afraid one of his
children could overthrow him.
 Therefore, he ate his children as soon
as they were born.
 That made Rhea very angry so that
when she gave birth to her youngest
child, Zeus, she decided to trick Kronos.

5.  So she hid the child in a cave and
gave Kronos a stone wrapped as
if it was the child.
 Kronos swallowed the stone
without noticing. Meanwhile
Zeus was growing up safe and
sound hidden from his father.
 When Zeus became an adult he
decided to fight his father.
 However, he needed the
assistance of their brothers and
sisters.
 Therefore, firstly he tricked his
father into drinking a potion.

6.  When Kronos drank the potion he
felt sick and vomited the stone and
his children, still alive.
 Secondly, with the assistance of
his brothers and sisters Zeus fought
against Kronos and the Titans.
 Finally Zeus won the war. He then
shared the power with his brothers
Hades and Poseidon.
 Zeus became the ruler of the sky,
Poseidon of the sea and Hades of
the Underworld.

7.  Zeus then married his sister Hera. However, he
was an unfaithful husband and had many love
affaires both with goddesses and mortal women.
 Many children were born to Zeus from those
relationships.
- By Hera he had the god Ares and the goddess
Hebe.
- By Metis he had the goddess Athena.
- By Leto the twins Artemis –a goddess—and Apollo
–a god.
- By Maia the god Hermes.
- By Demeter the goddess Persephone.
- By Semele, a mortal woman, he had the god
Dionysus
 Finally, Hera had a son by herself, the god
Hephaestus.

8. APHRODITE
GAIA
OCEANUS THEA PHOEBE THEMIS MNEMOSYNE
TETHYS HYPERION COEUS IAPETUS CRIUS
ZEUS
DEMETER HERA
Primal gods
Titans
Olynpians I
Olympians II THE GREEK GODS’
Other deities
FAMILY TREE
Mortals

9.  Photograph of a sickle from
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Sickle_sigd.jpg
 J.A.D. Ingres, Venus Anadyomene (1848), Musée de Chantilly (France) from
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:1848_Jean-Auguste-
Dominique_Ingres_-_Venus_Anadyom%C3%A8ne.jpg
 Giorgio Vasari and Gherardi Christofano (16th century), The Mutiliation of Uranus
by Saturn, Palazzo Vecchio, Florence (Italy) from
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:The_Mutiliation_of_Uranus_by_Sat
urn.jpg
 Francisco de Goya, Saturno devorando a sus hijos (1819-23), Museo del Prado,
Madrid (Spain) from
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Saturno_devorando_a_sus_hijos.jpg
 Rhéa présentant une pierre à Cronos, Galerie mythologique, tome 1 d'A.L. Millin
1811 from
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Rh%C3%A9a_pr%C3%A9sentant_u
ne_pierre_emmaillot%C3%A9e_%C3%A0_Cronos_dessin_du_bas-
relief_d%27un_autel_romain.jpg
 Zeus wielding the thunderbold in his right hand and holding an eagle (?) on the
other hand. Detail of an Attic red-figure amphora, 480–470 BC. From Vulci.
Musée du Louvre, Paris (France) from
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Zeus_Louvre_G204.jpg
 Poseidon greeting Theseus (on the right). Detail, side A from an Attic red-
figured calyx-krater, first half of the 5th century BC. From Agrigento. Cabinet
des médailles de la Bibliothèque National de France. Paris (France) from
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Poseidon_enthroned_De_Ridder_41
8_CdM_Paris.jpg
 Hades (right-hand side) and Persephone (left-hand side). Detail from an Attic
red-figure amphora, ca. 470 BC. From Italy. Musée du Louvre, Paris (France)
from
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Amphora_Hades_Louvre_G209_n2.j
pg