Wars in Greek Mythology

The Great Conflicts of the Ancient World

War is central to Greek mythology. The myths describe cosmic battles between generations of gods, legendary conflicts between mortal kingdoms, and the eternal struggle between civilization and chaos.

The Titanomachy was the first great war — Zeus and the Olympians versus Cronus and the Titans, lasting ten years before the younger gods prevailed with the help of the Cyclopes and Hundred-Handed Ones. The Gigantomachy followed when Gaia raised the Giants against the Olympians, a battle that could only be won with the help of a mortal hero — Heracles. The Trojan War is the most famous conflict in all of mythology, immortalized in Homer's Iliad. It lasted ten years, involved every major Greek hero, and was orchestrated by the gods for reasons that range from strategic (Athena supporting the Greeks) to petty (Aphrodite protecting Paris because he judged her the most beautiful). The Seven Against Thebes describes the civil war between Oedipus's sons Eteocles and Polynices over the throne of Thebes. Both brothers killed each other, and Antigone's defiance of King Creon's order not to bury Polynices became one of the most powerful stories about conscience versus law ever told.