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Greek and Roman Mythology
Beginning of the World
Beginning of the World
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Chaos Night & Erebus
Night + Erebus Love
Love Light & Day
Earth (Gaea) Heaven (Uranus)
Genealogy 1 in Greek Mythology
Uranus and Gaea
Genealogy 2 in Greek Mythology
Family Tree of Gaea and Uranus
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Gaea (Mother Earth) + Uranus (Father Heaven):
• The Hecatonchires
• The Cyclops
• The Titans
The Hecatonchires & The Cyclops
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Hekatonkheires, hundred-handed, fifty-headed
giants
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Briares
Cottus
Gyges
Cyclopes, one-eyed giants
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Brontes
Steropes
Arges
Hecatoncheires
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Hecatoncheires means "hundred handed." They were
gigantic and had fifty heads and one hundred arms each
of great strength. There were three of them: Briareus also
called Aegaeon, Cottus, and Gyges, also called Gyes.
They were born to Gaea and Uranus. Their mutual hatred
of Uranus caused him to force the Hecatoncheires back
into Gaea's womb. This precipitated Gaea's rebellion
against Uranus. When Cronus came to power he
imprisoned the Cyclopes in Tartarus. They were released
by Zeus and fought with him against the Titans. They
were able to hurl huge boulders as many as a hundred at a
time against their opponents. One of them, Briareus,
served as Zeus's bodygaurd.
Cyclopes
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The Cyclopes were gigantic one eyed monsters. The most
famous is Polyphemus, the Cyclops blinded by Odysseus.
Hesiod mentions only three (not a race or tribe): Arges
(thunderbolt), Steropes (lightning), and Brontes (thunder),
obviously storm Gods. They were born to Gaea and
Uranus. They were also the first smiths.
When Cronus came to power he imprisoned the Cyclopes
in Tartarus. They were released by Zeus and fought with
him against the Titans. As a reward for their release the
Cyclopes gave Zeus his weapons of lighting and thunder.
They continued as his workers at Mount Olympus forging
his thunderbolts .
The Titans , the elder gods
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In the first generation of twelve Titans, the males
were Oceanus, Hyperion, Coeus, Cronus, Crius
and Iapetus and the females were Mnemosyne,
Tethys, Theia, Phoebe, Rhea and Themis. The
second generation of Titans consisted of
Hyperion's children Eros, Helios, and Selene;
Coeus's daughters Leto and Asteria; Iapetus's sons
Atlas, Prometheus, Epimetheus and Menoetius;
Oceanus' daughter Metis; and Crius's sons
Astraeus, Pallas and Perses.
Rhea, Cronus’ sister-queen
Cronus with a sickle
Castration of Uranus by Cronus
Creatures born from Uranus’ blood
-The Giants
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The Giants were generated from Uranus’ blood
resulting from his castration by Cronus. They
became powerful enough to try to unseat Zeus and
the Olympians early in their rule. When the Gods
won they imprisoned the Giants in Tartarus.
Creatures born from Uranus’ blood
-The Furies (Erinyes)
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The Furies in Greek and Roman mythology were
three daughters of Mother Earth, conceived from
the blood of Uranus, when Cronus castrated him.
They were powerful divinities that personified
conscience and punished crimes against kindred
blood, especially matricide. They were usually
represented as winged women with serpent hair.
Their names were Megaera [jealous], Tisiphone
[blood avenger], and Alecto [unceasing in
pursuit].
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Creatures born from Uranus’ blood
-The Furies (Erinyes)
Creature born after Uranus’ castration
-Aphrodite
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Aphrodite was born from the white foam which
spread around Uranus' genitals