ABSTRACT

Chapter 3 surveys the three great divine families in Hesiod’s genealogical scheme, the families founded by Earth through children borne to her self-generated sons Sky (Ouranos) and Sea (Pontos), and the family of Night. The first part of the chapter surveys families founded by the Titans, the main children of Earth and Sky. The other families and the deities born into them are then considered in greater detail, above all the family of Oceanos and Tethys, who were the parents of the Ocean-nymphs and Rivers, that of Hyperion and Theia, whose family accounted for the origin of the sun-god Helios, the moon-goddess Selene, and the dawn-goddess Eos, and that of Iapetos and Clymene, the parents of Prometheus, Epimetheus, Atlas, and Menoitios. The second part of the chapter surveys the great family founded by Earth through children conceived to Sea (Pontos), which consisted partly of sea-gods, sea-nymphs, and winged aerial beings, and partly of monsters who needed be separated genealogically from the higher gods. The third part of the chapter is devoted to the family of Night, which consisted mainly of personifications of dark and sinister forces.