Chronology of Hominids and Humans 2 000 000 200 000 BC 200 000 45 000 BC 50 000 BC present Homo Erectus Neanderthal Homo Sapiens Chronology of Prehistoric Periods Paleolithic 100 000 c 12 500 BC Old stone age human burials fire language tools belief in Great Goddess cave paintings Mesolithic 12 500 c 8 500 BC Middle Stone Age improved hunting and fishing smaller tools bone jewelry Neolithic 8500 c 3000 BC New Stone Age agriculture domestication of animals pottery Jericho had stone defenses and skulls to worship ancestors Catalhoyuk bull shrines fresco paintings Chronological Periods Bronze Age 3000 1200 BC Early Bronze Age 3000 2000 BC Sumerians Egyptains Cycladic Islanders Early Helladic Greeks Middle Bronze Age 2000 1600 BC Babylonians Minoans Middle Helladic Greeks Late Bronze Age 1600 1200 BC Indo Europeans Hittites Mycenean Greeks Late Helladic Greeks Iron Age Dark Age 1200 900 BC Assyrians Geometric Period 900 700 BC Homer Hesiod Technical Terms Hominids the modern or extinct bipedal primates of the family Hominidae Animism soul spirit is the worldview that animals plants and inanimate object possess a spiritual essence Venus figurines Figuries to promote fertility shaped as female s body to represent Venus goddess of beauty and love Anthropomorphic form of a human Theriomorphic a deity having an animal form Bucrania a skull of an ox was a common form of carved decoration used to fill the metopes in Doric temples Polytheism belief in or worship of more than one god Monotheism the belief in or worship of one god Parthenogenesis virgin birth asexual reproduction Variant a form or version of something that differs in some respect from other forms of the same thing or from a standard Syncretism the amalgamation or attempted amalgamation of different religions cultures or schools of thought Personification an imaginary person or creature conceived or figured to represent a thing or abstraction the act of personifying Millennium a period of time equal to 1000 years a etiological myth study of the causes a myth that explains an origin eponymous ancestor eponym a person after whom a discovery invention place etc is named or thought to be named storm god Zeus trickster someone who deceives cheats patronymic id ids ides child of denoting or relating to a name derived from the name of a father or male ancestor ex son of daughter of cuneiform earliest known systems of writing distinguished by its wedge shaped marks on clay tablets Linear A undeciphered earlier script used for writing the Minoan language Linear B syllabic script that was used for writing Mycenaean Greek the earliest attested language form of Greek Great Goddess worshiped for the fertilely of humans crops domesticated Animals Hesiod Creation Theogony poem by Hesiod describing the origins and genealogies of the Greek gods Chaos primeval void was the first thing which existed parent of Erebos night Gaia Gaia Mother Earth Mother of Uranus Pontus and many other titans Tartarus Prison for Titans and as a dungeon of torment and suffering for the wicked Eros personification of love son of Aphrodite or primordial god Cupid god of desire erotic love attraction and affection often portrayed as the son of the love goddess Venus Aether personification of the upper air son of Erebus and Night Uranus Ouranros god of the sky son of Gaia father of Kronus Titans Rhea mother of gods she was responsible for the way things flow in the kingdom of Cronus sister wife of Kronus daughter of Uranus and Gaia Themis the personification of divine order law natural law and custom daughter of Gaia and Uranus Tethys aquatic sea goddess sister and wife of Oceanus daughter of Gaia and Uranus Mnemosyne personification of memory daughter of Uranus and Gaia mother of the nine Muses by Zeus Kronos Cronus Titan of time Ruler of the Titans father of Zeus Hera Poseidon Hades and Demeter son of Uranus and Gaia Ocean us the river that flowed around the Earth Oceanus was the oldest Titan son of Uranus and Gaea husband of the Titan Thethys Father of 3000 stream spirits and 3000 ocean nymphs Cyclopes One eyed creatures builders and craftsmender crafted Zeus s thunbolt sons of Uranus and Gaia Hecatoncheires giant creatures who have one hundred hands of unfathomable strength fought for Zeus against the Titans children of the Titans Uranus and Gaea Aphrodite Venus goddess of love and beauty born form the foaming of Uranus s castrated sexual parts Erinyes Furies female deities of vengeance born from Gaia after Kronus castrated Uranus Pontus Sea god of the sea son of Gaia Moirai Clotho One of the Fates Clotho was responsible for spinning the thread of human life She also controls people s lives Lachesis One of the Fates Lachesis is the measurer of the thread spun on Clotho s spindle Atropos One of the Fates Atropos chose when to end a mortal s life by cutting their thread Hesperides The three nymphs were daughters of Night entrusted with the care of the tree of the golden apples that grant immortality Ate Folly Greek goddess of mischief delusion ruin and folly daughter of Eris Nemesis goddess of revenge daughter of Night Sea Creatures Gods and Monsters Nereids sea nymphs fifty in total daughters of Nereus and Doris Oceanids sea nymphs who were the three thousand daughters of the Oceanus and Tethys Each was the patroness of a particular spring river sea lake pond pasture flower or cloud ex patroness of the Nile River Ceto a primordial sea goddess the daughter of Gaia and Pontus Iris Messenger Goddess Rainbow Ladon Snake in Garden of the Hersperides Celestial Objects Helios Sun personification and God of the Sun son of Hyperion and Theia Selene Moon goddess of the moon daughter of Hyperion and Theia Eos Aurora Dawn goddess of the dawn daughter of Hyperion and Theia Zephyr West Wind Boreas North Wind Zeus Victory Zeus king of the gods god of sky and thunder son of Kronos and Rhea rebelled against Kronos and usurped him Styx deity and a river that formed the boundary between Earth and the Underworld daughter of Tethys Power the personification of authority in all its forms son of Pallas and Styx Force personification of force and raw energy daughter of Pallas and Styx Victory Nike goddess who personified victory daughter of Pallas and Styx Mt Dikte Cave where Zeus was raised and trains to later combat Kronos Titanomachy a ten year series of battles fought with most of the Titans fighting against the Olympians and their allies thunderbolts lightning blots weapons created