Volta
LegendUndated

Zeus, Poseidon and Hades Divide the World

Also called: Twelve Olympians, Dodekatheon

A legend handed down over the centuries.

A Greek myth told in Book 15 of Homer’s Iliad. After defeating the Titans, the three sons of Cronus cast lots: Zeus won the sky, Poseidon the sea and Hades the underworld, while the earth and Olympus were shared by all.

Caravaggio, Jupiter, Neptune and Pluto, c. 1597 — ceiling painting in the Casino dell’Aurora of the Villa Ludovisi, Rome; the three brother gods surround a globe of the world
Caravaggio, Jupiter, Neptune and Pluto, c. 1597 — ceiling painting in the Casino dell’Aurora of the Villa Ludovisi, Rome; the three brother gods surround a globe of the world

Caravaggio · Public domain · Source

This Greek myth is told by Poseidon himself in Book 15 of Homer’s Iliad. The three sons of Cronus divided the world by lot: Zeus received the wide sky, Poseidon the grey sea and Hades the murky underworld, while the earth and lofty Olympus remained common to all three. Poseidon therefore resists Zeus’ orders, saying they are brothers of equal portion. Apollodorus’ Library tells of the same casting of lots, but Hesiod’s Theogony says only that the gods asked Zeus to be their king.

The gods who settled on Mount Olympus are the “Olympian gods”. The usual later list of twelve is Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Demeter, Athena, Apollo, Artemis, Ares, Aphrodite, Hephaestus, Hermes and Hestia (or Dionysus); Hades, dwelling below, is not normally counted among them. The list of twelve varied somewhat by period and place.

Show on the map

Themes that include this event

  • The Olympian Gods800 BC – 432 BC

    From Chaos and Gaia to the War of the Titans, the reign of Zeus, Prometheus and Pandora — the gods of Greek myth in story order, alongside Hesiod’s Theogony and the real sanctuaries where the myths lived: Eleusis, Delphi, the Parthenon and Olympia