Genealogy of Achilles

The family of Achilles from Peleus and Thetis to Chaos

TABLE 1
Achilles
THETIS Mother of Achilles				Peleus Father of Achilles
				Endeis Mother of Peleus and paternal grandmother of Achilles		Aiacos Father of Peleus and paternal grandfather of Achilles
				CHARICLO	SCIRON	AEGINA	ZEUS

As you can see from TABLE 1, which shows the great Greek hero Achilles, his parents, two of grandparents, and four of his great-grandparents, the parents of Achilles were Thetis and Peleus. Thetis was a nymph and an immortal, but Peleus was human. Earlier, both the gods Poseidon and Zeus had been interested in marrying or at least mating with Thetis, but they had given up because of a prophecy that the son of Thetis would eclipse his father in fame. So, instead, the mortal Peleus married Thetis, instead.

The parents of Peleus were Aiacos (making him grandfather of Achilles) and Endeis (making her a grandmother of Achilles). The parents of Aiacos (or the great-grandparents of Achilles) were Zeus and Aegina.

TABLE 2

THETIS - The Mother of Achilles

Doris

Nereus

Tethys

Oceanos

Gaia

Pontos

Gaia

Uranos

Gaia

Uranos

_

Chaos

_

Chaos

_

Chaos

Gaia

_

_

Chaos

Gaia

_

_

_

_

_

_

Chaos

_

_

In the family tree of Achilles, Zeus comes up several times. One of the more famous mortal sons of Zeus was Tantalus -- the one who served up his own son Pelops at a feast for the gods. The goddess Demeter, who was mourning the loss of her daughter Persephone, was too distracted to notice the feast meal consisted of human flesh, so she ate the shoulder of Pelops before the gods could restore Pelops to life. After they did revivify Pelops, Demeter replaced the missing part with an ivory shoulder. For his crime, Tantalus was sentenced to eternal suffering in the Underworld.

In the family tree of Achilles, Pelops appears as the parent of a son named Sciron [see TABLE 4]. This would make Sciron a brother of Atreus (as in the cursed House of Atreus) and Thyestes. The Athenian hero Theseus later killed Sciron.

TABLE 3

CHARICLO - Mother of Endeis (Mother of Peleus [Peleus is the father of Achilles]) Chariclo is a great-grandmother of Achilles. Aegina is the other great-grandmother of Achilles on his father's side.

_

Cychreos

_

_

Salamis

Poseidon

_

_

_

_

Metope

Asopos

Rhea

Cronos

_

_

_

_

_

_

_

_

Stym phalis

Ladon

Tethys

Oceanos

_

_

_

_

TABLE 4

SCIRON - Father of Endeis (Mother of Peleus [Peleus is the father of Achilles]) Sciron is a great-grandfather of Achilles. Zeus is the other great-grandfather of Achilles on his father's side.

Hippodamia

Pelops

Eurianase

Tantalos

ZEUS

Pactolus

Pluto

ZEUS

Leucothea

ZEUS

The gods made Pelops more beautiful than ever when they resurrected him. His beauty was so great the god Poseidon fell in love him. Poseidon remained so enamored he helped Pelops in his quest for a mate, by enabling Pelops to defeat the more than overbearing father of Hippodamia, Oenomaus. Pelops then commemorated his victory over Oenomaus with the first Olympic Games.

TABLE 5
HIPPODAMIA
Sterope				Oenomaus
Pleione		Atlas		Harpinna		Ares
Tethys	Oceanos	Clymene	Iapetos	Metope	Asopos	Hera	ZEUS

TABLE 6

AEGINA - Mother of Aiacos (Father of Peleus [Peleus is the father of Achilles])

METOPE

ASOPOS

Stymphalis

Ladon

Tethys

Oceanos

_

_

Tethys

Oceanos

TABLE 7

ZEUS - Father of Aiacos (Father of Peleus [Peleus is the father of Achilles])

CRONOS

RHEA

Uranos

Gaia

Uranos

Gaia

_

Gaia

Chaos

_

_

Gaia

Chaos

_

_

_

Chaos

_

_

_

_

_

_

_

Chaos

_

_

_

_

_

Resources
• Events in the Trojan War
• Who's Who in Greek Legend - Achilles and other heroes
• Genealogy of the Titans and First Gods
• Genealogy of Hermes - Another son of Zeus
• Achilles - Short entry on Achilles, with small picture of Achilles
• [ Genealogy of Achilles]

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The URL for this feature is
http://ancienthistory.about.com/library/bl/bl_achillesgenealogy.htm
Achilles Genealogy
This resource is copyright © 2003-2005 N.S. Gill.

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