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:
Oceanus (Ocean) and his sister and wife Tethis
Hyperion (Sun) and his sister and wife Theia
Themis and Rhea, two Earth goddesses
Mnemosyne (Memory)
Iapetus, Coeus, Phoebe and Crius
Cronos, the brightest, strongest and bravest of all
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.