THEOGONY, from θεός, God, and γονή, "feed, offspring," that branch of the heathen theology which taught the genealogy of their gods.

Hesiod gives us the ancient theogony in a poem under that title. Among the most ancient writers, Dr Burne observes that theogony and cosmogony signified the same thing. In effect, the generation of the gods of the ancient Persians, fire, water, and earth, is apparently no other than that of the primary elements.