Retelling Hesiod: Theogony
Greek
Introduction
This is the Mythopouch retelling of Hesiod's Theogony, written for readers aged 15 and up. It presents the origins of the Greek gods as a modern educational narrative, from Hesiod's encounter with the Muses and the first divine powers to the conflicts that establish Zeus's rule.
The story follows divine families, the fall of Cronus, Prometheus and the gift of fire, the war against the Titans, and the new order of gods and heroes. It is original modern wording, not Hesiod's Greek and not Hugh G. Evelyn-White's historical English translation.
What this retelling is
The retelling develops the poem's genealogies and major episodes into a continuous narrative with imagined scenes, dialogue and interpretation. The chapters include pronunciation guidance, mythology notes, explanatory footnotes and questions for reflection.
There are 22 narrative chapters, followed by three reference sections numbered as Chapters 23-25: Pronunciation Guide to Greek Names, Discussion Questions by Chapter, and The Divine Family Trees.
The complete PDF contains all three volumes and the reference material in 122 pages. The separate volume files are:
1. Songs and the First Things: Chapters 1-9, 43 pages. The Muses, Chaos and the first gods, Heaven and Earth, Night's children, sea deities, monsters, rivers and Oceanids.
2. Light, Oath and the Fall of Cronus: Chapters 10-16, 33 pages. The celestial families, Styx and Hecate, Rhea and the swallowed children, Zeus's rise, Prometheus, fire and the first woman.
3. War in Heaven and the New Order: Chapters 17-22 and the reference appendix, 52 pages. The Hundred-Armed Ones, the Titan war, Tartarus, Typhoeus, Zeus's household and the unions of immortals and mortals.
This is not a line-by-line translation or a Theogony-only paraphrase. Chapter 16 expressly combines the maiden's creation in Theogony with the name Pandora, divine gifts and jar episode from Works and Days. Other notes discuss related traditions and interpretation.
How to use it with the Sources page
Use Theogony (Sources) to check what the ancient poem says about a name, relationship or episode. Its source text is Hugh G. Evelyn-White's English translation, first published in 1914, in a standalone 34-page PDF newly typeset in 2026. It is not a facsimile, and its new page numbers should not be confused with those of a historical printed edition.
Use this retelling for a modern narrative and its accompanying learning material. The retelling's chapter numbers do not replace the ancient poem's line numbers. Where the narrative adds imagined detail or draws on another work, distinguish that material from direct evidence in Theogony.
The complete retelling and the three separate volume PDFs provide two ways to read the same modern work. The original mythological material is separate from Mythopouch's modern wording.
Summary
A modern 15+ retelling of Hesiod's Theogony, available as a complete 122-page PDF or three volumes. It follows the first gods, Cronus, Prometheus and the rise of Zeus, with pronunciation guidance, mythology notes, reflection questions and divine family trees.
Copyright Note
Original educational retelling © 2026 Mythopouch. All rights reserved. The ancient Greek myths and Hesiod's poem are not owned by Mythopouch. This retelling is not Hugh G. Evelyn-White's translation and is not a scholarly edition of the Greek text.