﻿ Interactive Greek Gods Family Tree

Interactive Greek Gods Family Tree

Poseidon ruled the waves with his trident.
2nd-1st century BCE bronze statue.

Those living in ancient Greece had a special relationship with the gods and goddesses of mythology. Through stories shared across great distances and generations, the Greeks felt they knew their gods and goddesses well, just as we feel that we know our sports celebrities and movie stars. But although we follow the latest Hollywood trends and celebrity gossip for entertainment, the Greeks' relationship with their mythological celebrities was quite serious. In fact, Greek mythology is what brought order to an otherwise chaotic world. To the Greeks, gods and mythology explained and ruled everything - the trees and crops, the stars and planets, the mountains and seas, and even animals and dreams. Everything people saw around them was explained by a myth - a story that felt real and that provided a plausible explanation for how the world worked.

The Greek stories of the generations of gods, demons, giants, creatures and men, and how they relate to each other, are meant to give the orderliness of a "family tree" to the universe. This Family Tree of the Greek Gods helps you to see the complexity of the ancient Greek experience, but also helps you to sort out various mythological figures. You can either start at the beginning and work outward from the center to explore all of the branches of the "divine genealogy," or choose a particular figure by clicking on its label, finding that figure's story, and go on from there to explore, up the tree or down.

At the beginning is Chaos, the "nothingness" from which the first order in the universe – in the persons of the primeval gods and goddesses – emerges. Following the branches as they emerge from each node lets you follow the stories of the gods and goddesses as they create and destroy and recreate, in whatever directions their intelligence, emotions and urges take them. As the branches on the tree appear, the world is formed in more and more detail, and the significant characters in the myths about it materialize.

Whether you need a handy reference while reading a Greek myth or you simply wish to explore the role that mythology played in this ancient civilization, the Family Tree of the Gods helps to explain both the individual mythological "celebrities" and their relationships to one another - with a few trends and a bit of gossip thrown in!