Greek Gods Family Tree: An Interactive Chart from Chaos to the Olympians

This is the family tree of the Greek gods as Hesiod gives it in the Theogony, composed around 700 BCE: fifty figures in six generations, from Chaos to the children of Zeus. Select any name on the chart above to trace its line. The table further down lists every figure with its parents and the lines of the poem that record them.

The Greek gods family tree at a glance: six generations

Read the chart from top to bottom and it tells one story: each generation of gods is overthrown by its own children until Zeus ends the cycle. The six rows are these.

1. The first to exist. Chaos comes into being first, then Gaia (Earth), Tartarus and Eros. Hesiod gives them no parents and does not make Chaos the mother of Gaia (Theogony 116–122).

2. The children of Chaos and of Gaia. From Chaos come Erebus (Darkness) and Nyx (Night). Gaia, without a partner, bears Uranus (Sky) to cover her and Pontus (Sea) (Theogony 123–132).

3. The Titans and their brothers. Gaia and Uranus have eighteen children: the twelve Titans, the three one-eyed Cyclopes and the three Hundred-Handers. Uranus hides them away inside Gaia; Cronus, the youngest Titan, castrates his father with a sickle (Theogony 133–182).

4. The children of the Titans. The Titans pair off, mostly with one another. Their children include the Sun, Moon and Dawn (Helios, Selene and Eos), Leto, and the sons of Iapetus, among them Atlas and Prometheus (Theogony 371–374, 404–410, 507–511).

5. The children of Cronus and Rhea. Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades, Poseidon and Zeus. Cronus swallows the first five at birth; Rhea saves Zeus by handing Cronus a stone wrapped in swaddling clothes (Theogony 453–491). Aphrodite appears in this row for convenience, though in Hesiod she is older: she rises from the sea foam around the severed parts of Uranus.

6. The children of Zeus. Athena, Apollo, Artemis, Ares, Hermes, Dionysus, Persephone and the rest, born to Zeus by seven divine wives and by several other mothers (Theogony 886–944).

Zeus's family tree: parents, siblings, wives and children

Zeus is the son of the Titans Cronus and Rhea, which makes Uranus and Gaia his grandparents on both sides. His brothers are Hades and Poseidon; his sisters are Hestia, Demeter and Hera. In Hesiod he is the youngest of the six. In Homer he is the elder brother, older than Poseidon.

After Cronus is tricked into bringing his swallowed children back up, Zeus and his siblings fight the Titans for ten years and win with the help of the Cyclopes, who give him the thunderbolt, and the Hundred-Handers (Theogony 492–506, 617–720).

Hesiod then lists seven wives of Zeus in order (Theogony 886–923):

1. Metis, whom he swallows while she is pregnant. Athena is later born from his head.
2. Themis, mother of the Horae (Seasons) and the Moirai (Fates).
3. Eurynome, an Oceanid, mother of the three Charites (Graces).
4. Demeter, his sister, mother of Persephone.
5. Mnemosyne, mother of the nine Muses.
6. Leto, mother of Apollo and Artemis.
7. Hera, his sister and last wife, mother of Hebe, Ares and Eileithyia.

Three more sons follow: Hermes by Maia, daughter of Atlas; Dionysus by the mortal Semele; and Heracles by the mortal Alcmene (Theogony 938–944). Hephaestus is the exception among the younger Olympians: in Hesiod, Hera bears him by herself, without Zeus.

The twelve Olympians on the family tree

The Twelve Olympians are a grouping from Greek worship, not a list Hesiod gives, so the tree has to be read across two rows to find them. Press “The Twelve Olympians” above the chart to light them up.

Five are children of Cronus and Rhea: Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Demeter and Hestia. Six are children of Zeus or Hera: Athena, Apollo, Artemis, Ares, Hermes and Hephaestus. The twelfth, Aphrodite, belongs to neither group in Hesiod. Some ancient versions of the Twelve include Dionysus instead of Hestia, which is why thirteen names are highlighted. Hades is a brother of Zeus but lives below the earth and is not normally counted among the Twelve.

The Titans' family tree

The twelve Titans are the children of Gaia and Uranus: six brothers (Oceanus, Coeus, Crius, Hyperion, Iapetus and Cronus) and six sisters (Theia, Rhea, Themis, Mnemosyne, Phoebe and Tethys) (Theogony 133–138).

Four couples form among them. Oceanus and Tethys have the rivers and the Oceanids. Hyperion and Theia have Helios, Selene and Eos. Coeus and Phoebe have Leto and Asteria. Cronus and Rhea have the first Olympians. Crius marries Eurybia, a daughter of Pontus, and Iapetus marries the Oceanid Clymene. Themis and Mnemosyne later become wives of Zeus.

After their defeat the Titans who fought Zeus are shut in Tartarus, with the Hundred-Handers as their guards (Theogony 717–735).

Every figure on the chart, with parents and sources

Line numbers follow the standard numbering of the Theogony. Where a mother or father is named but does not appear on the chart, the name is given in full.

Why this tree follows Hesiod

No single family tree of the Greek gods exists. Homer, Hesiod, the Homeric Hymns and later mythographers such as Apollodorus disagree on parents, birth order and even on who belongs. Hesiod is used here because the Theogony is the oldest surviving account that sets out the whole genealogy in order, and because every claim can be checked against a line of the poem. The two best-known disagreements are marked on the chart: Aphrodite, who rises from the sea in Hesiod but is the daughter of Zeus and Dione in Homer, and Hephaestus, born of Hera alone in Hesiod but a son of Zeus and Hera in Homer.

Greek gods family tree: common questions

Who was the first Greek god?

In Hesiod the first being is Chaos, a gap or void. Gaia, Tartarus and Eros come into existence next. None of the four has parents (Theogony 116–122).

Who are Zeus's parents?

The Titans Cronus and Rhea. His grandparents on both sides are Uranus (Sky) and Gaia (Earth).

Are Zeus and Hera brother and sister?

Yes. Both are children of Cronus and Rhea. Hera is the last of the seven wives Hesiod names for Zeus (Theogony 921–923).

Who are Zeus's brothers and sisters?

Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades and Poseidon. Hesiod calls Zeus the youngest; in Homer he is older than Poseidon.

Is Aphrodite the daughter of Zeus?

It depends on the poet. Homer makes her the daughter of Zeus and Dione. In Hesiod she is born from the sea foam around the severed parts of Uranus, which makes her a generation older than Zeus (Theogony 188–206).

What is the difference between the Titans and the Olympians?

The Titans are twelve of the children of Gaia and Uranus. The Olympians are Zeus and his siblings together with the next generation, most of them children of Zeus, who rule from Mount Olympus after defeating the Titans in a ten-year war.

Is Hades one of the twelve Olympians?

Not normally. Hades is a son of Cronus and Rhea and a brother of Zeus, but he rules the dead below the earth and is usually left out of the Twelve.

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• Norse vs Greek mythology: how the two pantheons differ.
• The most powerful gods in mythology, ranked: Zeus against the chief gods of other traditions.
• Essential Greek mythology books: where to read Hesiod, Homer and the later mythographers.
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