Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes

Chapter 1 is broken up into several subchapters:

“The Titans and the Twelve Great Olympians”

Hamilton begins with a genealogy of the gods. In the beginning was the “universe,” “heaven and earth,” which gave birth to the first generation of gods, the Titans (19). Chief among them was Cronus, Saturn in Roman mythology, who was eventually overthrown by his son Zeus. Other important Titans were Ocean and his wife Tethys, Hyperion, Mnemosyne (Memory), Themis (Justice), Iapetus (father of Atlas), and Prometheus (patron of humankind). These Titans remained part of the pantheon even after Zeus overcame his father.

The twelve Olympians were siblings Zeus (Roman Jupiter) and his wife Hera (Roman Juno), Poseidon (Roman Neptune), Hades (Roman Pluto), and Hestia (Roman Vesta); Zeus’s children Ares (Roman Mars), Athena (Roman Minerva), Apollo and his twin sister Artemis (Roman Diana), Hermes (Roman Mercury), Aphrodite (Roman Venus), and Hera’s son Hephaestus (Roman Vulcan). The realms of earth, sea, and sky were divided between the three brothers, Zeus (ruler of the sky), Poseidon (ruler of the sea), and Hades (ruler of the dead). Zeus’s wife Hera presided over marriage and married women and as a patron and protector of heroes. Hades’ wife was Persephone (Roman Proserpina). Zeus’s sister Hestia was goddess of the hearth.