Primordial Gods: The First Generation of Greek Gods

Overall, there are several primordial gods. The first is Chaos, or “the void”. From there, there are several more, including:

  • Chaos (Void)
  • Phanes (Order)
  • Thalassa (Sea)
  • Gaia (Earth)
  • Uranus (Sky)
  • Hemera (Day)
  • Eros (Love)
  • Ourea (Mountains)
  • Pontus (Sea)
  • Tartarus (Underworld)
  • Erebus (Darkness)
  • Nix (Night)
  • Aether (Light)

Titan Gods: The Second Generation of Greek Gods

The Titans were the former gods: the generation of gods preceding the Olympians. They were overthrown as part of the Greek succession myth, which tells how Cronus seized power from his father Uranus and ruled the cosmos with his fellow Titans before being in turn defeated and replaced as the ruling pantheon of gods by Zeus and the Olympians in a ten-year war called “the Titanomachy”. As a result of this war, the vanquished Titans were banished from the upper world and held imprisoned under guard in Tartarus, although apparently some Titans were allowed to remain free.

The 12 Olympians: Third and Fourth Generations of Greek Gods 

After defeating their father Cronus in the Titanomachy, the Olympians, named for their home, Mt. Olympus in Greece, rose to prominence in Greek mythology. The names in this group are some of the most famous in all of Greek mythology, and their many children and grandchildren make up the bulk of the characters we find in ancient Greek myths.

  • Zeus
  • Hera
  • Poseidon
  • Aphrodite
  • Artemis
  • Apollo
  • Hermes
  • Hephaestus
  • Demeter
  • Athena
  • Dionysus
  • Hestia
  • Hades