Hesiod — Theogony
← all texts · Greek · c. 700 BCE
What this is
The Greek creation and genealogy of the gods — from Chaos, Gaia🎨 and Ouranos through the Titans to Zeus🎨's victory🎨 and reign. The single most important map of who-begat-whom in Greek myth.
Highlighted names link to their entry in the encyclopedia.
Read & download
We don't host the text — these go to the source library.
The gods & things in it
Aphrodite🎨 Eos🎨 Eros🎨 Gaia🎨 Hades🎨 Hephaestus🎨 Hera🎨 Heracles🎨 Hestia🎨 Kronos🎨 Nike🎨 Perseus🎨 Prometheus🎨 Selene🎨 Zeus🎨Companion reading path
What to read alongside it, and why.
The Homeric Hymns
Greek
The hymns flesh out the individual gods Hesiod merely lists in the family tree.
The Orphic Hymns
Greek
The Orphic alternative theogony — same gods, a rival cosmology centered on Phanes and Dionysos.
Homer — The Iliad
Greek
Homer shows these gods in action; Hesiod tells you where they came from.