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The Creation Of The World

      In the beginning was Chaos, the empty void at the beginning of creation. From Chaos came five forces: Gaia (Mother Earth), Tartarus (the Underworld), Erebus (the darkness of Tartarus), Eros (Love), and Nux (Night).
      Nux, was feared and worshipped even by the other Gods, as she had power over both Gods and Humans. With Erebus, she gave birth to Hemera (Day), Ether, Doom, Death, Misery, Deceit and Discord. Discord would later give birth to Murder, Slaughter, Battle and Crime.
      Gaia also gave birth, first to Uranus (The Sky), the mountains, and Pontus (Sea). This together formed the Earth. Everything came from Gaia and it was her who fed all life on it. She was not only the Earth, but the source of fertility. She was Mother, gave birth and fed life, and it was her who gave life in the form of Life-force. Her children were both Gods and parts of the Cosmos.
      Uranus was born from Gaia, so in fact her son, but he wasn't subordinate to Gaia. He was her equal, her husband and partner. Their marriage was one that brought together the Earth and the Sky, and from that marriage the second generation of rulers of the world was born. The marriage between them, a mother and her son, wasn't seen as inappropriate. Gods could do that, while it was strictly forbidden for humans. Gaia and Uranus had many children, most of which were monsters.
      Their firstborn were three roughly human-shaped monsters with hundred arms and fifty heads each. Their next born were the three one-eyed cyclopes Arges (Brightness), Brontes (Thunder) and Steropes (Lightning). The Cyclopes were strong and savage, but also skilled stonemasons. They build the ancient wall of the city of Mycene, and the stronghold of Tyrins on Peloponnese. After them, Gaia gave birth to many more children, most of which were monsters, although some weren't. The charming nymph Daphne was also Gaia's daughter. The most famous of their children however, were the Titans, the six sons and six daughters who became the first Gods:

      The marriage between Gaia and Uranus was torn apart by conflict and hatred, mostly because Uranus was afraid that one of his sons would dethrone him.
      Immediately after they were born, Uranus locked away his children inside their mothers body. This not only broke Gaia's heart, she loved her children, but also hurt her body that suffered under the forced imprisonment of her own children.
      The one hundred-armed giants were trapped in Tartarus, the deepest and darkest place in the Underworld. The cyclopes were banned to the mountain Etna, where their screaming caused the volcano to erupt.
      In the end, Gaia could no longer bear this, and in her despair she called for her children, the Titans, to free them from their father's tyranny. But all the Titans were afraid of their father's strength. Only Cronos, the youngest dared to help his mother. Gaia created a sickle for Cronos, of a metal so hard that only the Gods could forge the metal. Together they thought of an ambush. The same night, when Uranus tried to make love to his wife, Cronos used the sickle, castrated his father and threw his genitals into the sea.
      Aphrodite (Love) was born from the sperm that got mixed up with the sea water.
      Cronos took his place as Supreme God, and started an entirely new dynasty. Uranus lost his importance and disapeared from later stories. Gaia stayed, although a few of her responsibilities were passed on to the next generation of Gods and she was mostly worshipped as an oracle.
      After his victory, Cronos ruled the the World, together with the other Titans. However, he would turn out to be as afraid of being dethroned, as his father that he refused to set Gaia's trapped children free. Cronos married his sister Rhea. Cronos and Rhea had six children: Demeter, Hera, Hades, Poseidon, Hestia and Zeus.
      Because Gaia had warned Cronos that one day his son would dethrone him, he ate all of his children imediately after birth. Rhea was, as had Gaia before her, hurt by the death of her children, and together with Gaia she came up with a plan to save her youngest child, Zeus from being eaten. So when Zeus was born, she gave Cronos some rocks, wrapped up in a cloth, which he ate instead of Zeus. Gaia hide Zeus away in Mount Dicte, on the isle of Crete. There, the young Zeus was raised by Amaltheia, who was both goat and nymph. She fed the young God with milk and honey, and later Zeus would reward her for her services by placing her on the firmament as the constellation of Capricorn. Zeus grew up, got educated by Pan, the Forest God, who was half human, half goat. When Zeus heard of the suffering of his mother, the murder of his brothers and sister and Cronos attempts to murder him as well he swore to revenge them one day. Zeus married Metis, a very wise nymph who would later be the mother of Athena. Metis fed Cronos an emetic, and when Cronos had to vomit, he belched forth the stones he had eaten instead of Zeus, and all his other children. Zeus and his brothers and sisters joined forces, and together they would overthrown the Titans.
      Zeus claim of the Throne wouldn't be as easy as Cronos' one had been. Cronos refused to acknowledge Zeus' claim for the throne, and refused to recognize his power. So Cronos called for the other Titans to help him, and a 10-year long war between the Titans and Zeus and his brothers and sisters, called the "Titanomachy" started.
      Zeus and his brothers and sisters entrenched themselves on Mount Olympus, the Titans and their children occupied Mount Othrys in southern Greece. Zeus, being in the minority, took a daring chance. He set the Cyclopes free, on the condition that they would make weapons for him. They agreed, and made a Helmet of Invisibility for Hades, a trident for Poseidon, and the ligtning for Zeus. Next, Zeus gave the one hundred-armed Giants their freedom back, who turned out to be valuable allies. With their hundred arms, they could very accurately throw giant rocks. Because Zeus did this, he also gained Gaia's support, who had been trying for years to free her children from their imprisonment. Gaia tried to talk the Titans into acknowledging Zeus as the new Supreme God, and although the wisest of them did, most did not and joined Cronos in his fight against Zeus. The Titans made Atlas, one of Iapetus' sons their supreme commander, and under his command the battle started.
      In the beginning, Zeus and his companions seemed to be winning, mostly because of his lightning flashes, but Atlas and the Titans fought back and resisted the attacks made by Zeus. In the end however, Zeus and his forces gained the upper hand, and lay siege on Mount Othrys. The three brothers, Zeus, Poseidon and Hades came up with a plan. first, Hades, aided by his helmet, sneaked in to steal Cronos weapons. After that, Poseidon would attack Cronos, allowing Zeus to get a clear shot with his lightning bolts. Meanwhile, the Giants would occupy the other Titans by attacking them with huge rocks. they succeded, and the Titans were threw in the Tartarus, where they were being guarded by the giants. Atles, their commander, was forced to carry the skies on his shoulder.
      Zeus later pardoned the Titans, and send them away to the Elysium, an idyllic island were they would remain forever. Only Atlas wasn't forgiven, and forced forever to carry the vault of heaven on his shoulders. To secure the position of the Supreme God, Zeus fought two more battles. The first was called the "Giantomachy", a fierce battle he had to fight against the monsters who were born from the blood of Uranus, spilled when Cronos castrated him. Although Gaia has first joined forces with Zeus, his arrogant behavior made her very angry, and she ask the Giants to overthrow Zeus. They threw rocks and burning treetrunks against the Gods, who were aided by their children Ares, Hermes, Apolla, Artemis and Athena. Although they could injure the Giants, they were unable to kill them. An oracle had foreseen that only a mortal could kill them, so Athena asked Heracles to join forces with the Gods. With his help, the Olympic Gods were finally able to kill the monsters. Gaia's rage hadn't cooled down yet. She gave birth to the Typhon, a monster with hundred dragonheads, snakes as legs and one hundred hands. Zeus decided to face this enemy alone, thus starting a series of duels fought so fierce that even the Titans, locked away in the Tartarus shivered with fear. Typhon managed to remove Zeus' tendons, but Hermes found them and placed them back into Zeus' body. After he had regained his strength, he fought another battle with the Typhon and managed to kill it under Mount Etna.
      After gaining undisputed control, Zeus and his brothers divided the world among them. Zeus would rule the Sky and the Land, while Poseidon gained control over the Sea, and Hades ruled the Underworld.