The lineage as a structured outline

Every figure in one pass, nested by descent. Greek genealogy is a graph rather than a tree, so each figure is listed once under the first parent of the tradition this site treats as primary; every other parent, and every variant tradition, is named in the entry with a link.

• ChaosΧάοςGeneration 0Night

  The gap that came first, before there was anywhere to be.

  Came into being without being borne.

  • ErebosἜρεβοςGeneration 0Night

    The darkness itself, and the road the dead take through it.

    Came into being without being borne.

  • NyxΝύξGeneration 0Night

    Night, and the mother of nearly everything nobody wants to meet.

    Came into being without being borne.

    • ErisἜριςGeneration 1War

      Not invited to the wedding, and got a ten-year war out of one apple.

      Borne by one parent alone, with no union.

    • HypnosὝπνοςGeneration 1Night

      Put Zeus to sleep twice and only got away with it because of his mother.

      Borne by one parent alone, with no union.

    • NemesisΝέμεσιςGeneration 1Fate

      Distributes what is deserved, which is rarely what anyone wants.

      Borne by one parent alone, with no union.

    • ThanatosΘάνατοςGeneration 1Underworld

      Has a heart of iron and no pity, and is the only god who takes nothing.

      Borne by one parent alone, with no union.

    • The MoiraiΜοῖραιGeneration 1Fate

      Three women with a thread, and the one limit the king of the gods respects.

      Borne by one parent alone, with no union.

      Variant tradition (Hesiod, Theogony): child of Themis and Zeus.

• ErosἜρωςGeneration 0Love

  The oldest god in Hesiod and the youngest one in every later poem.

  Came into being without being borne.

  Variant tradition (Apollodorus, Bibliotheca): child of Aphrodite and Ares.

• GaiaΓαῖαGeneration 0Harvest

  The ground, and the one who keeps overthrowing whoever sits on it.

  Came into being without being borne.

  Variant tradition (Hyginus, Fabulae): came out of Chaos.

  • OuranosΟὐρανόςGeneration 0Sky

    The sky his mother made to cover her, and then had cut down.

    Borne by one parent alone, with no union.

    • AphroditeἈφροδίτηGeneration 1Love

      Older than the Olympians in one tradition and Zeus's daughter in another.

      Formed out of spilled matter rather than borne.

      Variant tradition (Homer, Iliad): child of Dione and Zeus.

  • PontosΠόντοςGeneration 0Sea

    The sea itself, long before Poseidon claimed it.

    Borne by one parent alone, with no union.

  • HyperionὙπερίωνGeneration 1Sun

    Father of the sun, the moon and the dawn, and almost nothing else.

    Also Ouranos’s child.

  • IapetosἸαπετόςGeneration 1Fate

    Father of the four Titans who each got a different punishment.

    Also Ouranos’s child.

    • AtlasἌτλαςGeneration 2Sky

      Holds the sky apart from the earth, standing at the western edge, forever.

      • MaiaΜαῖαGeneration 3Night

        The shyest of the Pleiades, who lived alone in a cave and raised a thief.

        • HermesἙρμῆςGeneration 4Messenger

          Stole a herd of cattle before lunch on the day he was born.

          Also Zeus’s child.

          • PanΠάνGeneration 5Wild

            Goat-legged, loud, and the reason an army can break for no reason at all.

    • PrometheusΠρομηθεύςGeneration 2Forge

      Stole fire in a fennel stalk and paid for it every day for thirty thousand years.

  • KoiosΚοῖοςGeneration 1Wisdom

    Grandfather of Apollo and Artemis, and a name nobody can quite explain.

    Also Ouranos’s child.

  • KriosΚρῖοςGeneration 1Sky

    A Titan known almost entirely through his sons.

    Also Ouranos’s child.

    • AstraeusἈστραῖοςGeneration 2Night

      Married the dawn and fathered the winds and every star in the sky.

  • KronosΚρόνοςGeneration 1Harvest

    Cut down his father, then spent an age eating his own children to avoid the same.

    Also Ouranos’s child.

  • MnemosyneΜνημοσύνηGeneration 1Wisdom

    Memory, and the mother of the reason any of this survived.

    Also Ouranos’s child.

    • The MusesΜοῦσαιGeneration 3Wisdom

      Told Hesiod to his face that they can tell lies that sound exactly like the truth.

      Also Zeus’s child.

  • NereusΝηρεύςGeneration 1Sea

    The old man of the sea, who cannot lie and will not hold still.

    Also Pontos’s child.

    • AmphitriteἈμφιτρίτηGeneration 2Sea

      Ran to the ends of the earth to avoid marrying the sea, and was talked back by a dolphin.

      • TritonΤρίτωνGeneration 3Sea

        Blows a conch to raise the sea or put it down, on his father's orders.

        Also Poseidon’s child.

  • OkeanosὨκεανόςGeneration 1Sea

    The river running round the edge of the world, and the father of three thousand more.

    Also Ouranos’s child.

  • PhoibeΦοίβηGeneration 1Fate

    Held the Delphic oracle, and handed it to her grandson as a birthday gift.

    Also Ouranos’s child.

    • AsteriaἈστερίαGeneration 2Night

      Threw herself into the sea to escape Zeus and became the island her sister gave birth on.

      Also Koios’s child.

      • HekateἙκάτηGeneration 3Night

        Honoured by Zeus above every other god, and worshipped at the doorstep.

    • LetoΛητώGeneration 2Night

      Nine days in labour, refused by every land that feared Hera.

      Also Koios’s child.

      • ApolloἈπόλλωνGeneration 3Sun

        Answers every question truthfully and in a form nobody understands until afterwards.

        Also Zeus’s child.

      • ArtemisἌρτεμιςGeneration 3Wild

        Mistress of animals, and entirely willing to kill you for a mistake.

        Also Zeus’s child.

  • RheaῬέαGeneration 1Wild

    Handed her husband a stone and kept the child.

    Also Ouranos’s child.

    • DemeterΔημήτηρGeneration 2Harvest

      Stopped the harvest to get her daughter back, and very nearly starved out the gods.

      Also Kronos’s child.

      • PersephoneΠερσεφόνηGeneration 3Underworld

        Taken as a girl, returned as a queen, and no longer entirely her mother's.

        Also Zeus’s child.

    • HadesἍιδηςGeneration 2Underworld

      The one god who cannot be argued with, and the only one who never breaks a bargain.

      Also Kronos’s child.

    • HeraἭραGeneration 2Sky

      Queen of the gods, and the only one who consistently gets what she wants from Zeus.

      Also Kronos’s child.

      • AresἌρηςGeneration 3War

        Everything about war that nobody wants to say out loud.

        Also Zeus’s child.

      • HebeἭβηGeneration 3Revel

        Poured the nectar until a Trojan boy was brought up to do it instead.

        Also Zeus’s child.

      • HephaistosἭφαιστοςGeneration 3Forge

        The only Olympian who works, and the only one thrown out of heaven twice.

        Borne by one parent alone, with no union.

        Variant tradition (Homer, Iliad): child of Hera and Zeus.

    • HestiaἙστίαGeneration 2Forge

      Refused two gods and a throne, and gets the first offering at every sacrifice.

      Also Kronos’s child.

    • PoseidonΠοσειδῶνGeneration 2Sea

      Took the sea by lot, and has never once conceded that it was the lesser share.

      Also Kronos’s child.

    • ZeusΖεύςGeneration 2Sky

      Ended the succession by swallowing the wife who would have produced his replacement.

      Also Kronos’s child.

      • DionysosΔιόνυσοςGeneration 3Revel

        Arrives as a stranger, is refused, and destroys the household that refused him.

        Variant tradition (Diodorus Siculus, Library of History): child of Persephone and Zeus.

      • The CharitesΧάριτεςGeneration 3Love

        Charm as a real force, and one of them was sold to Sleep as a bribe.

        Variant tradition (Anacreon, Fragments): child of Aphrodite and Dionysos.

  • TethysΤηθύςGeneration 1Sea

    Mother of every river and three thousand springs, and Hera's foster-mother.

    Also Ouranos’s child.

    • DioneΔιώνηGeneration 2Love

      Aphrodite's mother in Homer, and the goddess Dodona put beside Zeus.

      Also Okeanos’s child.

      Variant tradition (Apollodorus, Bibliotheca): child of Gaia and Ouranos.

    • MetisΜῆτιςGeneration 2Wisdom

      Zeus swallowed her whole and kept her advice inside him permanently.

      Also Okeanos’s child.

      • AthenaἈθηνᾶGeneration 3Wisdom

        Born armed out of her father's head, and never once loses an argument.

        Born from a parent's body rather than by ordinary generation.

        Also Zeus’s child.

    • StyxΣτύξGeneration 2Underworld

      The oath the gods cannot break, and the first Titan to change sides.

      Also Okeanos’s child.

      • NikeΝίκηGeneration 3War

        Stands beside the throne of Zeus and lands on whoever has just won.

  • ThaumasΘαύμαςGeneration 1Sea

    Wonder itself, and the father of the rainbow.

    Also Pontos’s child.

    • IrisἾριςGeneration 2Messenger

      The rainbow, and the one sent when Hermes is busy or the errand is Hera's.

  • The ErinyesἘρινύεςGeneration 1Underworld

    Born out of the blood of a castration, and they never let a family killing go.

    Formed out of spilled matter rather than borne.

    Also Ouranos’s child.

  • TheiaΘείαGeneration 1Sun

    The reason gold looks like something, and mother of the three lights.

    Also Ouranos’s child.

    • EosἨώςGeneration 2Sun

      Opens every day in Homer, and keeps carrying off young men who then get old.

      Also Hyperion’s child.

    • HeliosἭλιοςGeneration 2Sun

      Sees everything that happens, and is called as a witness for exactly that reason.

      Also Hyperion’s child.

      • CirceΚίρκηGeneration 3Wild

        Turned a landing party into pigs, then gave their captain the sailing directions.

    • SeleneΣελήνηGeneration 2Night

      Drives the moon over a sleeping world, and stops nightly for one sleeping man.

      Also Hyperion’s child.

  • ThemisΘέμιςGeneration 1Fate

    Divine law, seated beside Zeus and older than his throne.

    Also Ouranos’s child.

• TartarosΤάρταροςGeneration 0Underworld

  The pit under the underworld, and the god who is that pit.

  Came into being without being borne.