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1-2-War in Heaven and on Earth
1-2-1-Uranus
Cronus however did not release his brothers, the Hundred-Handed and the Cyclops, from Tartarus. The whole purpose that Gaea instructed Cronus and the Titans to revolt against Uranus' rule was to release her other sons from Tartarus. Instead, Cronus had the monster Campe to guard the Hundred Handed and the Cyclopes, to prevent their escape from Tartarus. This caused his mother to become angry with her son that she announced that Cronus would be in turn, be overthrown by his own son, like when Cronus overthrew his father. Cronus tried to avoid this fate, by swallowing each child that his sister-wife (Reha) gave birth to. The usual story is that, he swallowed all his children except his youngest Zeus.
Although, Zeus and the Olympians defeated the Titans, they were faced with an even mightier foe, the Typhon.Gaea had conceived the new offspring from her brother Tartarus. Apollodorus gave a wonderful description of Typhon, in his work called the Library. Typhon was a gigantic winged monster that was part man and part beast. Typhon was also taller than the tallest mountain. Under Typhon's arms there was a hundred dragon-heads. Below his thighs were the massive coils of vipers. Typhon was a terribly horrifying sight and was deadly since flame would gush from his mouth. Typhon was father by Echidna(daughter of Phorcys and Ceto, or else, Gaea and Tartarus, which make it Typhon's sister) of many monstrous offspring: Cerberus,Chimaera,Orthus,the Hydra,Nemean Lion,Sphinx,the Caucasian Eagle, the Crommyonian Sow and vultures.
There are few different versions on how Zeus defeated the Typhon. Here, I will relate to the most popular version of the myth. When Typhon came and attacked the heaven, all the Olympians fled south from Typhon, to Egypt. The Olympians had transformed themselves into various animals to escape from the monster. Apollo had disguised himself into a crow, his sister Artemis into a cat, while Dionysus had changed into a goat, Hera into a snowy cow, Hermes into ibis, Aphrodite and Eros into fishes. Only Zeus dared to confront Typhon. Zeus hurled his deadly thunderbolts, but as the monster drew closer, Zeus would attack Typhon with the sickle of adamantine (note that this is the same sickle that Cronus had used against his father Uranus, see War in Heaven and Earth; and possibly the same sickle used by Perseus to decapitate Medusa). The Typhon fled to Mount Casion in Syria. Zeus seeing that the monster had being seriously wounded, he became over-confident. Typhon trapped Zeus in his massive coils, and with Zeus' sickle, Typhon managed to cut the sinews and tendons of Zeus' hands and had the god imprisoned in the cave. According to Apollodorus, Typhon had set a she-dragon Delphyne to guard this cave. Without his sinews, Zeus was helpless and could not wield the thunderbolts.Hermes and Aigipan had somehow retrieved the sinews and rescued Zeus. After Zeus was restored of his sinews, Zeus regained the use of the thunderbolts.Zeus wielded his mighty thunderbolts against Typhon, pursuing the monster to Sicily. Zeus defeated Typhon, and buried the monster under Mount Etna or the entire island of Sicily. The volcanic eruptions of Mount Etna were the result of Typhon's spewing out his fire.
Zeus , the leader of the Olympians, became the supreme ruler of the universe. He shared the world with his two brothers, Poseidon and Hades. Through casting the lot, Zeus receive the heaven and became the god of the sky, including the rain and storm, while Poseidon became god of the sea and Hades ruled the Underworld, the world of the dead. The younger gods were called Olympians because they made their home on or in the sky above Mount Olympus. Olympus was a mountain almost 3000 metres high, in northern Thessaly.Zeus became the father of most of the younger Olympian gods. Zeus learned from his grandparents, Gaea and Uranus, that if his first wife,Metis, bore a second child, that son would dethrone him as he had overthrown his father Cronus. Zeus wanted to avoid this fate, decided to swallow Metis, while she was still pregnant. When it was time for Metis to give birth, Zeus was suffering from a massive headache. Unable to bear the pain, Hephaestus or Prometheus split open Zeus' head with an axe. His daughter, Athena sprang out of the Zeus' head fully armed. This alarmed the other gods, until she took off her helmet, revealing a less warlike appearance. Zeus married the Titaness Themis, before he married his own sister Hera. Hera became his consort, queen of heaven. She bore Zeus, Ares and two daughters –Eileithyia and Hebe. Some say that Hephaestus was also their son, but Hephaestus was more popularly known as the son of Hera, without a father. Zeus had several love affairs with other goddesses. By the Titaness, Leto, he became the father of the twins, Apollo and Artemis. The Pleiade Maia, daughter of Atlas, was the mother of Hermes, the messenger of the gods. According to some authors, Aphrodite was his daughter by Diione, daughter of Oceanus and Tethys, while other earlier writers say she sprung out of the sea, from severed genitals of Uranus(I preferred this version, since aphros means "sea-foams"). The other Olympian was Hestia , the eldest child of Cronus and Rhea. Some writers say that Dionysus, son of Zeus and a mortal, Semele, became an Olympian, when Hestia decided to step aside for the youngest god. Though Zeus' other sister, Demeter, was the great earth goddess, she was not always recognised as an Olympian. Those who say that she was an Olympian, say that Hades was not, because Hades had never lived in Olympus.
1-5-Five Ages of Man
The creation of mankind can be divided into five ages.Cronus created the Golden Age. It was the happiest erafor mankind, where people lived and died peacefully. There was no illness and no disease. They never suffer from hardship of war or toil of the earth. Foods were wild and plentiful. When they died they became spirits, becoming guardian of mankind. But when the new gods arrived, they began experimenting on the creation of mankind, creating a new age. Each succeeding age would be inferior from the last, from excellent to worse. The Silver Age was inferior to the Golden Age. It was time when the gods destroy them, because they refused to honour them. The third period was the Bronze Age, which was populated with brazen men, who loved war for its own sake, until they destroyed themselves in continuous warfare. According to Apollodorus, Zeus tried to destroy the men of the Bronze Age with the Deluge. This was followed by the Heroic Age. A race of demigods, heroes who would find themselves rewarded for their courage and heroic feats, at their death, in the Isles of the Blessed (Elysium). The last age was the Iron Age. This was the worse age, where good will and decency would cease to exist. Men would suffer from great oppression by the wicked rulers. The rulers would only satisfy their own needs, because of their greed and thirst for power, until Zeus would destroy this race. cording to Apollodorus, it was Prometheus who created mankind, not Cronus nor Zeus. According to one myth, Prometheus would make each man and woman from clay and displayed what he had made to Zeus. One beautiful youth that Prometheus had created, he wanted to hide, because he knew of Zeus' fondness for boy.
1-6-Saviour of Mankind
1-6-1-Gift of the Fire
When Zeus became the supreme ruler of the universe, he was not interested with mortals, and began experimenting with the creation of mankind. The Titan,Prometheus , however, tried to protect mankind from the other gods. But in doing so Prometheus would bring about his own downfall. Prometheus was one of the few males Titans to support the Olympians in the war against the Titans. Prometheus knew the Titans would lose the war, so he persuaded his brother to change side. Prometheus was an extremely intelligent and wise god, who was gifted with foresight. He failed to persuade his father Iapetus and his elder brother Atlas not to resist against Zeus, but without avail. Both Iapetus and Atlas were punished for opposing the Olympians. Prometheus was guardian of mankind, often trying to aid them. Prometheus stole fire from the heaven, hiding the fire within a hollow fennel-stalk, and gave it to man (or he taught them how to make fire). Prometheus had also tricked Zeus, to select the part of the sacrifice the gods and man will receive. He made sure that man receive the best part. He cut a bull, and disguised the meat with its hide and entrails on top, while the bones were covered with fat. Zeus was angry with Prometheus, when he found out that he had selected the fat with only bones. The bones and fat were to be used to sacrifice to the gods, while man would keep the best meat for himself.
1-6-2-Pandora 
Zeus took his revenge upon mankind, by creating the first mortal woman, named Pandora. The gods gave her gifts before showing his creation to the rest of the world. Zeus gave Pandora to Prometheus' brother, Epimetheus, in marriage. Prometheus tried to warn his brother not to accept anything from Zeus, but Epimetheus did not listen to his wise brother. One of the wedding gifts given to the new couple was a beautiful, large box. Pandora was told, to never open the box. But Pandora was curious; she wanted to know what was in the box. One day, she opened the box. All sorts of misfortunes - sufferings and evils - had escaped, to plague mankind. In horror, Pandora quickly closed the lid, but it was too late. The only thing that did not escape was Hope. This was the only thing that provided comfort for mankind in their suffering.
1-6-3-Prometheus' Punishment
Prometheus did not escape Zeus' punishment, for giving fire to mankind. He was taken to Caucasian Mountains, and chained to the highest peak. Each day, a giant eagle would come and feed on Prometheus' liver and entrails, causing the Titan to suffer in great agony.Prometheus appeared in Aeschylus' play, Prometheus Bound (mid 5th century BC), where the Titan encountered a suffering heifer. This cow was a maiden named Io, daughter of the Argive river god, Inachus. Unfortunately, she was a high priestess of Hera, who was loved by Hera's husband, Zeus. Zeus tried to hide Io from Hera, by transforming the girl into a beautiful white cow. Hera asked for the heifer (Io) as a gift, which Zeus couldn't refuse. Hera knew who the cow was, anyway. Hera set a herdsman, named Argus Panoptes with hundred eyes, to guard Io, so that Zeus couldn't rescue Io. After Hermes had killed Argus Panoptes, Hera sent a gadfly to torment Io. The gadfly stung her repeatedly that Io began to wander through many distant lands. When Prometheus met her, the Titan informed her that she would have her natural form restored to her one day, when she reaches Egypt. She would have a son by Zeus, and she would have descendants that produce powerful rulers and great heroes. Prometheus also foretold his own freedom, and reconciliation with Zeus. See Io, in the Heroines page. The irony of Prometheus' punishment was that Heracles , son of Zeus, would release the Titan from his bondage. In returned for his freedom, Prometheus informed Heracles how to win the apples of Hesperides from Prometheus' own brother, Atlas. Once Prometheus gained his freedom, the Titan, once again, shared his wisdom to Zeus. Prometheus warned Zeus not to seduce the sea goddess Thetis, because she would bear a son who would be greater than his father. Zeus avoided this fate by marrying Thetis to the hero Peleus.There was another reason, why Prometheus was released. According to Hesiod, it was simply that Zeus wished to increase the glories and fames of his son (Heracles).
1-7-Deluge
Hesiod doesn't recount of the Deluge, so I had to rely on several different authors. Zeus decided to destroy the race of men with flood, for their wickedness and impiety. According to Apollodorus, it was the race of men in the Bronze Age that Zeus wanted to destroy. Zeus sending rain and storm while Poseidon send water from the sea, covering the land with water. Prometheus managed to save his family, by warning them. Deucalion was his son by Pronoea. Deucalion had married Pyrrha, daughter of Epimetheus and Pandora. They built a chest, stored with provision. The flood lasted nine days and nights, when the chest landed at the peak of Mount Parnassus. Even though Zeus did not like Prometheus, the god was not angry that Deucalion and Pyrrha had survived the flood since they were pious couple. According to Ovid, Deucalion and Pyrrha were lonely, being the only survivors. They found a ruin temple and prayed to the goddess Themis. Themis told them to throw the bones of their mother over their shoulders. At first they were outraged by such suggestion, until Deucalion correctly interpreted that the stones on the ground were the bone of mother earth (Gaea). As the two started throwing stones behind them, people sprung out of the earth. These people became known as the Stone People. Stones that Deucalion threw, became men, while Pyrrha created women with her tossed stones. According to Apollodorus, Deucalion offered sacrifice to Zeus, as the God of Escape, when they had disembarked from the chest. Zeus sent Hermes to grant them a wish. Deucalion said that they want people, so it was Zeus, not Themis, who instructed Deucalion and Pyrrha to throw rocks over their shoulders to make people out of stones. Deucalion and Pyrrha became parents of Hellen, Amphictyon, Protogeneia, Pandora and Thyia. Deucalion ruled in Phthia, and was succeeded by his son,Hellen. According to Apollodorus, not the whole of mankind died in the Flood, with the exception of Deucalion and Pyrrha; there were other survivors, but Apollodorus doesn't say who. These few survivors were able to escape the devastation through scaling high mountains.
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