Greek Gods

Greek Mythology Timeline

Greek myth has its own internal chronology — a sweeping arc from the birth of the cosmos to the end of the heroic age. Follow the great events in order.

Ordering follows Hesiod's Theogony for the cosmogonic events and the conventional epic cycle for the heroic age. Where sources conflict, we follow the most widely cited sequence.

Era I — The Cosmos Awakens

  1. Chaos comes into being

    Before everything, there is only Chaos — the formless, gaping void from which all later beings emerge. Hesiod calls it the very first thing that ever existed.

  2. Birth of the Primordial deities

    From Chaos arise Gaia (Earth), Tartarus (the Abyss), Eros (Desire), Erebus (Darkness), and Nyx (Night). These are the elemental forces that make later creation possible.

  3. Gaia gives birth to Sky, Sea, and Mountains

    Gaia produces Uranus (the starry Sky) as her equal and partner, then Pontus (the Sea) and the Ourea (the Mountains). The world begins to take shape.

  4. Birth of the twelve Titans

    The union of Gaia and Uranus produces the twelve Titans — Kronos, Rhea, Oceanus, Hyperion, Themis, Mnemosyne and the rest — along with the Cyclopes and Hundred-Handers.

Era II — Rule of the Titans

  1. Kronos overthrows Uranus

    Uranus imprisons his monstrous children inside Gaia. In revenge, Gaia gives Kronos a sickle. He castrates his father and seizes the throne — the first divine succession.

  2. The Golden Age of the Titans

    Under Kronos, mortals live without toil or sorrow. Hesiod describes this era as the lost paradise of humanity — a peace that will not survive the next succession.

  3. Kronos swallows his children

    Warned that one of his own children will overthrow him, Kronos swallows each newborn god as Rhea bears them — Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades, Poseidon, all imprisoned inside their father.

  4. Rhea hides the infant Zeus

    Rhea smuggles the baby Zeus to Crete and gives Kronos a swaddled stone instead. Zeus grows up in secret on Mount Ida, raised by nymphs and the goat Amalthea.

Era III — War of the Gods

  1. The Titanomachy

    Grown to manhood, Zeus frees his swallowed siblings and wages a ten-year war against the Titans. With the help of the Cyclopes' thunderbolts, the Olympians win and cast the Titans into Tartarus.

  2. Division of the cosmos

    Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades draw lots to divide the world. Zeus takes the sky, Poseidon the sea, and Hades the underworld. The earth and Olympus are shared.

  3. Prometheus steals fire for mortals

    The Titan Prometheus tricks Zeus over a sacrificial offering, then steals fire from Olympus and gives it to humankind. Zeus chains him to a rock where an eagle eats his liver each day.

  4. Pandora opens the jar

    As punishment for Prometheus' theft, Zeus has the first woman, Pandora, fashioned and sent to mortals with a sealed jar. Curiosity opens it; every evil in the world flies out — only Hope remains inside.

  5. The Gigantomachy

    Gaia, furious at the imprisonment of her Titan children, raises the Giants against the Olympians. The gods can only win with the help of a mortal — Heracles — beginning the heroic age.

Era IV — Age of Heroes

  1. The Heroic Age begins

    Gods father children with mortal women, producing demigods of extraordinary ability. Perseus, Theseus, Heracles, Bellerophon, Atalanta — the world fills with heroes.

  2. The Twelve Labors of Heracles

    Driven mad by Hera and forced to serve King Eurystheus, Heracles completes twelve impossible tasks — from the Nemean Lion to Cerberus — and wins immortality among the gods.

  3. The voyage of the Argonauts

    Jason gathers a crew of heroes — Heracles, Orpheus, Atalanta, the Dioscuri — and sails the Argo to Colchis to seize the Golden Fleece. The first great quest narrative.

  4. The Trojan War

    Helen is taken from Sparta to Troy. The Greeks lay siege for ten years. Achilles, Hector, Odysseus, Ajax, and the gods themselves are drawn in. Troy finally falls to the Wooden Horse.

  5. The return of Odysseus

    Odysseus spends ten years sailing home from Troy, surviving the Cyclops, the Sirens, Circe, and the underworld. His return to Ithaca closes the heroic age — the gods step back from mortal affairs.

Greek myth is not history — there is no fixed BCE date. The order shown here is the internal chronology used by ancient poets themselves.