Greek Mythology Family Tree
According to Greek mythology, the family tree of the gods and goddesses began with Chaos. Chaos was a dark nothingness with no shape, sound, or life form. Chaos created Uranus (also known as Ouranos, Father of Heavens, the Sky, or the Heavens), Gaea (also known as Mother Earth, the Earth, Ge, and Gaia) and Eros (Desire). Gaea gave birth to the mountains and the sea by herself then she married Uranus and together they gave birth to the first 12 Titans, 6 males and 6 females. The children intermarried except for two of them. They were Lapetus, who married a nymph named Clymene, and Themis , who was seduced by Zeus, her nephew. The others were, Hyperion who married Theia, Oceanus who married Tethys, Cronus married Rhea, Ceous married Phoebe, and Crius married Mnemosyne. Uranus and Gaea also gave birth to the 3 Cyclopes. They were giants with one eye in the middle of their forehead. Gaea and Uranus then gave birth to the 3 Hectonchires, who were giant creatures with 50 heads and 100 arms.
The three Cyclopes were, Brontes, Steropes, and Arges. The three Hecatonchires were named Cottus, Briareus, and Gyges. All six of these giants helped Zeus in the war against the Titans.
Coeus and Phoebe gave birth to Leto and Asteria. Lapetus and Clymene gave birth to Atlas, Menoetius, and Prometheus.
Themis and Zeus gave birth to Horae, Eunomia, Dike, and Eirene.
Mnemosyne and Zeus (she was married to Crius but had an affair with Zeus), gave birth to the 9 Muses. They were the young women who gave inspiration to the artists and engineers. Their names were Clio, Urania, Melpomene, Thalia, Terpsichore, Calliope, Erato, Euterpe, and Polyhymnia.
Oceanus and Tethys gave birth to the Oceanids (rivers, lakes, ponds, and streams),and the rivers, and the river nymphs.
Hyperion and Theia gave birth to Helios, Eos, and Selene.
Cronus and Rhea gave birth to the first Olympian Gods. They were Demeter, Hades, Hera, Poseidon, Hestia, Zeus.
This was the first couple of generations of Greek gods and goddesses. There are many stories about each of them and they are very interesting stories. You can find a lot of information about the Greek god family tree and mythology online, and in the library. The Greek myths are just that, myths. They are stories about how the Ancient Greeks felt that the universe was created so there is no proof of any of these stories or that these gods or goddesses even exist. There is not any proof about the creatures and monsters either. They are just what a judge would call, is hearsay. But the myths are very interesting to read and imagine that it was actually that way. The Greeks believed it so strongly that they built temples statues, and art in the names of these gods and goddesses. They worshiped them and also made sacrifices to them.
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