THE IMMORTALS of the Ancient Greek pantheon can be divided into roughly eight classes.

THE FIRST of these were the PROTOGENOI or First Born gods. These were the primeval beings who emerged at creation to form the very fabric of universe: Earth, Sea, Sky, Night, Day, etc. Although they were divinites they were purely elemental in form: Gaia was the literal Earth, Pontos the Sea, and Ouranos the Dome of Heaven. However they were sometimes represented assuming anthroporphic shape, albeit ones that were indivisible from their native element. Gaia the earth, for example, might manifest herself as a matronly woman half-risen from the ground ; and Thalassa the sea might lift her head above the waves in the shape of a sea-formed woman.


THE GODS
THE SECOND were the nature DAIMONES (Spirits) and NYMPHAI who nurtured life in the four elements. E.g. fresh-water Naiades, forest Dryades, beast-loving Satyroi, marine Tritones, etc.

THE THIRD were the body- and mind-affecting DAIMONES (Spirits). E.g. Sleep (Hypnos), Love (Eros), Joy (Euphrosyne), Hate (Eris), Fear (Phobos), Death (Thanatos), Old Age (Geras), etc.

THE FOURTH class consisted of the THEOI (Gods) who controlled the forces of nature and bestowed civilised arts upon mankind.