Theogony is an outline or description of the creation of the universe as well as everything and everyone that resides within it. As such, Theogony begins with Chaos: nothingness. Out of this Chaos, the first beings were born. These beings were Gaia (or, Mother Earth), Eros (desire), Tartarus (the underworld), Erebus (darkness), and Nyx (night). In a virgin-birth, Gaia created Uranus — the sky, or heavens. From Gaia and Uranus, the twelve Titans, three Cyclopes, and three hecatonchiries (hundred-headed monsters) were born. Uranus hated the hecatoncheries and banished them to Tartatus.
Gaia, devastated by Uranus’ actions, asked Kronos, one of the Titans, to dethrone Uranus. Using a sickle made of adamant gifted to him by Gaia, Kronos castrated Uranus and successfully dethroned him. From Uranus’ blood, the Furues, Giants, and Meliai are born. Kronos threw Uranus’ genitals into the sea, from which Aphrodite, goddess of love, was born. Kronos and his wife, Rhea, ascended to the throne as king and queen of the gods.
Kronos and Rhea had six children: Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades, Poseidon, and Zeus. There was a prophecy that one of Kronos’ children would overthrow him as he had his own father, and in order to prevent this, Kronos ate each of his children as they were born. Rhea, upset and horrified by Kronos’ actions, prevented him from eating her youngest child, Zeus, by giving Kronos a rock disguised as a baby in his place. In order to avoid being found by Kronos, Zeus was hidden on Mount Ida.
Once Zeus had matured and grown strong enough, he embarked to avenge his siblings and defeat Kronos. Disguising himself, Zeus forced Kronos into throwing up his siblings by giving him a poisoned drink. Alongside his siblings, the Cyclopes, and the Titans Prometheus and Epimetheus, Zeus fought against Kronos and his allies: the Giants. After a ten-year battle, Kronos was defeated, and Zeus and Hera ascended to the throne as the new and final rulers of the gods.
