Theogony: Difference between revisions

▲{{quote| ''ή τοι μεν πρώτιστα Χάος γένετ' ...''}}

▲As the Muses taught [[Hesiod]], in the beginning there was Chaos - and indeed, this is one of the [[World of Chaos|most chaotic]] texts in the world's literary canon. Written most probably in the 7th century in classical epic dactylic hexameter, it is mainly a genealogical treatise with not a few elements of theological gossip about which god slept with whom and who was born as a result. 'Theogony' means 'The Origin of Gods', and it is [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin]]. Presenting the whole divine family on one genealogical tree is [http://www.theoi.com/TreeHesiod.html almost] impossible, but the Greeks apparently had little problems with memorizing all the details, as numerous stories from Greek mythology are perfectly consistent with the version of events described in ''Theogony'' (though, to complicate things even more, there is also a rival version written by Pseudo-Apollodorus, known as ''The Library'').

▲'''2)''' Children of Pontus (with or without Gaia as a mother). Mainly monsters (with Cerberus, Chimaira and Sphinx among them) and indistinguishable water nymphs, but also [[Everything's Better with Rainbows|Iris]]. The latter was probably the family's [[White Sheep]], her own sisters being Harpies.

▲'''3)''' Children of Ouranos and Gaia. Cyclopes, who had each only one eye, Hekatoncheires, who had each as many as one hundred hands, and twelve Titans, whose children were later to win the great divine battle for power. Among the descendants of the Titans were the [[Classical Mythology/Characters|Olympians]], rivers, celestial bodies, some personifications, three Fates, and, again, a bunch of indistinguishable water nymphs.