I am really enjoying this reading, Hesiod is a really wonderful writer.

Finish up the rest of Theogony this week (lines 500-end)

Summary

We begin with Hesiod invoking the muses and describing how they have gifted him with his musical ability.

We get a lineage of gods starting with Chaos, Earth (Gaia), and Heaven (Ouranos), leading to the birth of the Titans. The biggest and baddest is Cronos, who is gifted a sickle by Earth and proceeds to overthrow his father Heaven, castrating him in the process.

We then get the lineage from Cronos and Rhea, including the Fates, the Rivers, the Winds, and quite a few monsters such as Cyclopes and Gorgons.

The Olympian gods are born too, but Kronos is afraid of being overthrown like he did to his father, so he swallows them. Rhea tricks him by replacing baby Zeus with a rock, and when he grows up he forces Kronos to throw them all up. He also frees his other Titan uncles that had been imprisoned.