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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
