Hesiod's Theogony tells the birth of the gods as a genealogy. First Chaos and then Earth come into being. Sky is born from Earth, the Titans from Sky and the Olympians from the Titans. Hesiod does not say that Earth is born from Chaos, only that she comes after it. This chart uses Chaos as its root and attaches Gaia to it for ease of reading. The poem itself places the two primordial beings side by side. This page gathers that genealogy into a single chart.
Tap a name and its parents, partners, children and the chain running back to Chaos open up. The gods who gave the planets their names are here too, in the places they hold in classical astrology.
442 figures12 Titans6 children of Cronus60 lineages and groups
Key facts
According to Hesiod the first being is Chaos, and Gaia, Tartarus, Eros and Nyx follow.
The twelve Titans are the children of Uranus and Gaia, and from Cronus and Rhea come the six children of Cronus: Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades, Poseidon and Zeus.
Zeus' children include Athena, Apollo, Artemis, Hermes, Ares, Persephone, Dionysus, Heracles and the nine Muses.
Aphrodite is born from the foam of Uranus in Hesiod and from Zeus and Dione in Homer.
The chart covers 442 figures in 60 lineages and groups and draws on Hesiod's Theogony and Apollodorus' Library.
Main line: six generations
The chart runs left to right through six generations: Chaos, the primordial beings, the Titans, the children of Cronus, the generation of Zeus and their children. Large clans appear as dashed group boxes. Tap a box to open its list below. Drag to pan, Ctrl/⌘ + wheel or the buttons to zoom.
In the chart Aphrodite is attached to Uranus, following Hesiod. Homer's account, which makes her the daughter of Zeus and Dione, is given on her card. Some accounts likewise make Hephaestus the son Hera bore alone.
Lineage explorer: who is whose child?
Type a name or tap a box in the chart. The card that opens shows the parent, partner and child links recorded in the sources. "Not recorded" means no link is drawn for that figure in this chart, not that none exists in the sources.
Close kin: grandparents · parents and partners · figure and siblings · children
Lineages and groups
All 442 figures in the chart are listed here by lineage and group. The chips above filter by type. Tap a name and the explorer opens that figure.
According to Hesiod's Theogony the first thing to exist is Chaos, the void. Then come Gaia (Earth), Tartarus and Eros, and from Chaos are born Erebus and Nyx (Night). Gaia bears Uranus (Sky) by herself and then, uniting with him, brings forth the twelve Titans, the Cyclopes and the Hecatoncheires.
Who are the twelve Titans?
The twelve Titans are the children of Uranus and Gaia: Oceanus, Coeus, Crius, Hyperion, Iapetus, Cronus, Theia, Rhea, Themis, Mnemosyne, Phoebe and Tethys. The youngest, Cronus, overthrows his father. From his union with Rhea the six children of Cronus are born: Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades, Poseidon and Zeus.
Who are the children of Zeus?
Zeus has children by many partners. By Hera he fathers Ares, Hebe and Eileithyia, and in some accounts Hephaestus. Leto bears him Apollo and Artemis, Maia Hermes, Metis Athena, Demeter Persephone and Semele Dionysus. Mnemosyne bears the nine Muses, Themis the Moirai and the Horae, and Eurynome the Charites. Alcmene bears Heracles, Danaë Perseus, Leda Helen and Pollux, and Europa Minos, Rhadamanthys and Sarpedon.
Whose daughter is Aphrodite?
There are two traditions. In Hesiod she is born from the sea foam that gathers around the severed member of Uranus after Cronus castrates him, which makes her a generation older than Zeus. In Homer she is the daughter of Zeus and the Oceanid Dione. The chart shows both accounts.
What sources is this family tree based on?
The main source is Hesiod's Theogony. For the heroic lineages Apollodorus' Library, Homer and the tragedians have been added. Where the sources diverge, for example on the parentage of the Erinyes, Hecate, Aphrodite or the Moirai, both accounts are noted. Names follow the standard English forms.
Share:
Explore Further
The planets bear these gods' names
Cronus, Zeus, Ares, Aphrodite, Hermes: in classical astrology each planet's character is read from its place in the myth. The Planet Mythology pages follow these roots planet by planet.