It is interesting and useful to know, in the first place, the etymological origin of the term that interests us and therefore what we are going to do is discover it. Specifically, it is necessary to state that theogony is a word that comes from the Greek “theogonia”, which can be translated as “the study of the origin of the gods” and that it is made up of several components:
-The noun “theos”, which is synonymous with God.
— “Gignomai”, which is equivalent to “born”.
-The suffix “-ia”, which is used to indicate “quality” or “action”.
According to the dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy (RAE), the idea of theogony refers to the generation of the pagan gods. It is important to note that “Theogony” is also the title of a work that Hesiod wrote around the 7th or 8th century BC. In this work, the poet details the genealogy of the different gods that are part of the mythology of Ancient Greece. He also provides a version of the origin of the universe.
At a general level, it is often said that the theogony is responsible for explaining the origin of the gods and, by extension, of the universe, since the gods are the creators of the cosmos. In this sense, theogony is often associated with cosmogony (revolving around the origin of the world). The theogony, on the other hand, provides information about the lineage of the deities. Your account can present information about the ancestors of a god, indicate their relationship and mention descendants. In this way he builds a family tree of the gods. In this case, we can establish that the theogony does not hesitate to determine the existence of three generations of gods:
-The generation of heaven and earth. This is mainly composed of Gea and Uranus, a first couple of gods who were in charge of molding animals, humans, mountains, rivers, seas…
-The generation of titans. In this second generation of gods, figures such as Cronos (Time) and Rhea (Nature) take center stage, of which Hestia (goddess of the home), Hera (goddess of marriage), Poseidon (god of the seas), Demeter (goddess of the sea) descendant of agriculture) or Hades (goddess of the dead). All this without also forgetting Zeus.
-The generation of the Olympian gods. In this regard, it is established that it is the result of Zeus’ triumph over the Titans, which led him to marry Hera and, from there, rule from Olympus. As a result of this relationship, many other gods emerged, such as Apollo or Artemis, among others. In the specific case of Hesiod’s “Theogony”, the poet affirms that what was narrated was told to him by the daughters of Zeus. The writer starts from the primordial gods and covers four generations of deities, mentioning Cronos, Zeus, Poseidon and other gods of great importance for the culture of Ancient Greece.
