Classical Mythology

Timeline
By: William Letzer
 Life Begins With Χηαος
 Chaos is born from darkness of the Unknown and
represents

a. The gap

b. The void

c. The space between

 Gaia “The Earth”
 Emerges from Chaos and separates heaven from the
earth, water from the land, air from airless space.
 First gives birth to Tartarus “The Underworld” and
Eros “Desire, Sexual Attraction”.
 Chaos Gives Birth to
Erebus "the Darkness of
the Underworld” and Nyx
"Night"
 Gaia gives birth to Uranus
"The Sky” and Pontus "The
Sea”
Uranus Fertilizes Gaia with
Rains
 From Gaia spring the mountains, the water, the
animals and plants. Gaia and Uranus give birth to the
Ἑκατόγχειρες’ Hundred-handed Giants (Cottus,
Braireus, Gyges), and the Cyclopes (Brontes,
Steropes, Arges).
 Erebus and Nyx
Give birth to Hemera "Day”, Aether
"Upper Air”, Moros "Doom”, Cer
“Goddess of Death”, Thanatos ”God of
Death”, Hypnos "Sleep”, Momus “God
of Criticism”, Nemesis "Retribution”, The
Hesperides “guardians of golden
apples”, Charon “the Ferryman” Eris
"Strife”, Keres, and the Moirai “Fates”
 “The Sacred Marriage”
Gaia and Uranus
 Become the parents of the 12 Titans (Oceanus,
Tethys, Coeus, Crius, Hyperion, Iapetus, Theia, Rhea,
Themis, Mnemosyne, Phoebe, and Cronus). As they
are born, Uranus thrusts these children back into the
womb of the Earth.
 Castration of Uranus
 Gaia devises a way to overthrow Uranus' tyrannical
rule and fashions for him a sickle of iron. Cronus
overthrows Uranus, slicing off his genitals, and
tosses them into the sea.  Impregnated by the blood
from this act, the Earth gives birth to the Erinyes, the
Giants, and the "Ash Tree Nymphs".  Aphrodite is
born from the foam created by Uranus' genitals on
the surface of the sea.
 Iapetus
 Father of the Titans, Atlas, Menoetius, Prometheus-
Through Themis and Epimetheus.
 Hyperion and Theia
 Give birth to Helius "The Sun”, Selene "The Moon”
and Eos "The Dawn”
 Coeus and Phoebe
 Give birth to Leto and Asteria
 Oceanus and Tethys

 Give birth to 3000 rivers and 3000 Oceanids

“Second Sacred Marriage”
between Cronus and Rhea
 Gives birth to Hestia, Hades, Demeter, Poseidon,
Hera, and Zeus -- but having been warned that he,
too, would be overthrown by his children,
swallowed each of these children whole.
 Leto
Bore
 Artemis

 Apollo

 Asteria “a star-goddess”
 Zeus and Mnemosyne
 Zeus slept with Mnemosyne for nine nights, and one
year later, she gave birth to the nine wondrous
daughters “The Muses”. Mnemosyne had named
them as Cleio, Euterpe, Thaleia, Melpomene,
Terpischore, Erato, Polyhymnia, Urania and Calliope
being her eldest daughter.
 Zeus and Metis
 Metis gave birth to Athena and nurtured her inside
Zeus until Zeus complained of headaches and called
for Hephaestus to split open his head with his
smithing tools. Athena burst forth from his forehead
fully armed with weapons given by her mother.
 How Did Athena Get the Name Pallas Athena? Pallas
is a nymph, daughter of Triton (a sea god) and
childhood friend of Athena. Athena kills Pallas,
accidentally, and thereby gains the name for herself.
 Zeus and Pleiade Maia
 Pleiade Maia was one of the daughters of Atlas

 Zeus and Maia gave birth to Hermes

 Hermes later had Pan

 Zeus and Selene
 Give Birth to Dionysus

 Dionysus is the father of Maenads and Satyrs