"Families are mess. Immortal families are eternally messy. Sometimes the best we can do is to remind each other that we're related, for better or worse...and try to keep the maiming and killing to a minimum." -Rick Riordan in The Lightning Thief
Uranus and Gaia are known as the father and mother of the Greek world. Uranus represents the sky and Gaia represents the earth. Together they had the first cyclopes, the one-hundred handed ones, Echidna (a woman/dragon) and, most famously, the Titans. Their most famous Titan children were:
Together, Kronos (the Titan of Time) and his sister Rhea (the Titan of Fertility and the Earth) had six of the gods and goddesses of Olympus. The goddesses are:
And the gods are:
Now... This is were things start to get a little complicated....
One day, Uranus was injured and a part of him was cut off and tossed into the sea. That part of him combined with the sea water and from it came Aphrodite:
One day, Uranus was injured and a part of him was cut off and tossed into the sea. That part of him combined with the sea water and from it came Aphrodite:
Zeus and his sister Hera were married and became the King and Queen of the Heavens and reigned over all the other gods and goddesses. Together they had 2 gods of Olympus, Hephaestus and Ares:
Aphrodite and Hephaestus were married but because Aphrodite was so beautiful, she also had a relationship with Ares.
Still with me?... We still have a lot more ground to cover...
Although Zeus and Hera were married, Zeus liked to have relationships with others as well. Zeus and his sister Demeter have a daughter together, Persephone. Persephone fell asleep in a field one day and was kidnapped and taken to the Underworld. While she was down there she ate some pomegranate seeds because she was hungry. She did not know, however, that if you eat anything in the Underworld then you have to stay there. Persephone became the bride of Hades. Although Persephone has to live in the Underworld, she is able to come out every year for a few months because she is a goddess. At this time the seasons are spring and summer, when she must return to the Underworld the seasons change from fall to winter.
Still with me?... We still have a lot more ground to cover...
Although Zeus and Hera were married, Zeus liked to have relationships with others as well. Zeus and his sister Demeter have a daughter together, Persephone. Persephone fell asleep in a field one day and was kidnapped and taken to the Underworld. While she was down there she ate some pomegranate seeds because she was hungry. She did not know, however, that if you eat anything in the Underworld then you have to stay there. Persephone became the bride of Hades. Although Persephone has to live in the Underworld, she is able to come out every year for a few months because she is a goddess. At this time the seasons are spring and summer, when she must return to the Underworld the seasons change from fall to winter.
The Titan Phoebe had a child with one of her Titan brothers, together they conceived Leto.
Zeus and Leto had a relationship and conceived twins, 2 more of the Olympians, Artemis and Apollo:
Zeus also had a relationship with the Titan Metis. Metis and Zeus had the Goddess Athena together, but not in the way you might think. After Metis and Zeus had their relationship, Zeus started to have a terrible headache. One day, when Zeus couldn't take the pain any longer, he cracked open his head and Athena popped out a fully grown woman!
Zeus also had a relationship with another goddess named Maia, together they had another Olympian god, Hermes:
The final Olympian god did not start out that way. Dionysus is the son of Zeus and a mortal woman Semele. He won a seat at Olympus because he invented wine and proved himself to be a hero.
And now we have finally made it to the bottom of the Greek Universe Family Tree! Percy Jackson is the son of Poseidon and Sally Jackson and Annabeth Chase is the daughter of Athena and Professor Chase.
Both Percy and Annabeth come from a long line of gods, but don't think it is gross that they are dating, Percy and Annabeth are not related even in the slightest, believe me, they checked!
Endnote: Genre One
We decided to add a family tree because we thought that it was a good way to help keep all the characters and their godly ancestors in order. There are a lot of interesting Greek myths about the creation of the world and who were the first beings and we agreed that a family tree would be an organized, understandable way to keep the history straight. At some points in Rick Riordan's books, it can be hard for readers to remember which character is descendant from which god, but if a reader had this family tree then they would be able to look at it and know who is who!
We decided to add a family tree because we thought that it was a good way to help keep all the characters and their godly ancestors in order. There are a lot of interesting Greek myths about the creation of the world and who were the first beings and we agreed that a family tree would be an organized, understandable way to keep the history straight. At some points in Rick Riordan's books, it can be hard for readers to remember which character is descendant from which god, but if a reader had this family tree then they would be able to look at it and know who is who!