Hesiod's Theogony tells the birth of the gods as a genealogy: earth from the void, sky from earth, Titans from sky, Olympians from Titans. This page gathers that genealogy in a single chart.
Tap a name: its parents, partners, children and the chain running back to Chaos open up. The gods who gave the planets their names are here too, just where they stand in classical astrology.
442 figures12 Titans6 children of Cronus60 lineages and groups
Key facts
According to Hesiod the first being is Chaos; Gaia, Tartarus, Eros and Nyx follow.
The 12 Titans are the children of Uranus and Gaia; from Cronus and Rhea come the 6 children of Cronus: Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades, Poseidon, 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, from Zeus and Dione in Homer.
The chart covers 442 figures in 60 lineages and groups; sources Hesiod's Theogony and Apollodorus' Library.
Main line: six generations
Left to right, 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 after Hesiod; Homer's account (Zeus and Dione) is given on the figure card. Hephaestus is also told of as the son Hera bore alone.
Lineage explorer: who is whose child?
Type a name or tap a box in the chart. The card 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, 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; from Chaos are born Erebus and Nyx (Night). Gaia bears Uranus (Sky) by herself and, uniting with him, brings forth the twelve Titans, the Cyclopes and the Hecatoncheires.
Who are the twelve Titans?
The children of Uranus and Gaia: Oceanus, Coeus, Crius, Hyperion, Iapetus, Cronus and Theia, Rhea, Themis, Mnemosyne, Phoebe, Tethys. The youngest, Cronus, overthrows his father; from his union with Rhea the six children of Cronus (Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades, Poseidon, Zeus) are born.
Who are the children of Zeus?
By Hera Ares, Hebe, Eileithyia (and in some accounts Hephaestus); by Leto Apollo and Artemis; by Maia Hermes; by Metis Athena; by Demeter Persephone; by Semele Dionysus; by Mnemosyne the nine Muses; by Themis the Moirai and the Horae; by Eurynome the Charites; by Alcmene Heracles; by Danaë Perseus; by Leda Helen and Pollux; by Europa Minos, Rhadamanthys and Sarpedon.
Whose daughter is Aphrodite?
There are two traditions. In Hesiod she is born from the foam of the seed of Uranus, castrated by Cronus, which fell into the sea, so she is a generation older than Zeus. In Homer she is the daughter of Zeus and the Oceanid Dione. The chart shows both.
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 (the parentage of the Erinyes, Hecate, Aphrodite or the Moirai) both accounts are noted. Names follow the standard English forms.
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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.