the titans and the lesser gods of greek mythology

The Titans and the

Lesser Gods of Greek

Mythology

For the ancient Greeks, the very first gods were calledthe Titans. They were the gods before the Olympians

were born.

Uranus (like the planet!) was the god of the sky,

and Gaea was the Goddess of the Earth—

in fact, she was the Earth

itself, sometimes

called Mother Nature.

Say JEE-uh

Gaea and Uranus were the

parents of the other Titans.

The titan Atlas had the job of holding up the world!

Prometheus was another titan, brother of Atlas. He created man,

that is, he made human

beings.

Say pro-ME-thee-us

He was also famous for

giving fire to human beings—for the very first

time.

But Zeus did not want humans to have fire—so he punished Prometheus.

Prometheus had a brother, Epimetheus, who gave each animal its own special power.

Say ep-ee-ME-thee-us

Now, Zeus made the first woman, named Pandora, and gave her to Epimetheus—who

fell in love with her.

But Zeus also gave Pandora a box, called Pandora’s Box. When she opened it, all the

evils (bad things) of the world flew out.

Cronus and Rhea were two important titans.

SayKROH-nuss and REE-uh

Originally, Uranus was the king of the gods. Then Cronus became king of the gods.

The Roman name for Cronus was Saturn (like the planet!).

Cronus and Rhea were mother and

father of Zeus and

his brothers and sisters.

But Zeus fought against Cronus and the other titans. Zeus

became king of the gods and

the Olympians became the

most powerful gods.

Aphrodite had a son, named

Eros, who was the God of Love. (The

Romans called him Cupid.)

Say AIR-oss

Eros fell in love with a beautiful woman,

Psyche.

Say SIGH-kee

Helios was the God of the Sun, who drove the chariot of the sun across the sky each

day.

Say HE-lee-us

Helios had a son, Phaethon, who drove the

chariot when he shouldn’t have.

Say FAY-uh-tun

Aeolus was another god—

the God of Winds. His winds blew Odysseus’

ship far away.

Say EE-uh-luss

The Erinyes (or Furies) were three goddesses who punished anyone

who did anything very, very wrong.Say

ear-IN-ee-eez

The three Charites

(Graces) were goddesses of

beauty, laughing, and joy.

Say KAR-ih-teez

The Moirae (Fates) were

the three goddesses

of life—when it began,

how long it was, and

how it ended.

Say MOY-ree

Some say there were three Muses, goddesses of literature and the arts.

But others say there were nine muses.

Nymphs were female spirits, who lived in and protected

special places like rivers and forests. They looked like beautiful young women.

Calypso was a sea nymph

who made Odysseus stay on her island.

Echo was a nymph, too, who fell in love with a handsome young

man named Narcissus.

Maybe the Sirens were dangerous bird-women, with

beautiful singing voices.

But sometimes they are just

beautiful young women, or half-

women, half-fish, like mermaids, who lived in the sea. They were also dangerous.

The End