Part 2 of my #creationmyth series! This time focusing on the story as told by the ancient Greeks. It's a story quite unfamiliar to myself and I bet to many others as well which is exactly why I am doing this series.
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In the beginning there was only chaos, a empty darkness. In this darkness the only thing that existed was Nyx. A bird with black wings born out of this chaos together with her brother Erebus. Erebus - to which the underworld belonged - impregnated his sister Nyx after which she laid an golden egg. For ages she sat upon that egg with nothing happening. Then finally life began to stir in the egg and out of the egg were born Aether, the bright upper air and Hemera, the day. Afterward, feared by everyone but Erebus Nyx fashioned herself, by herself a family of haunting forces with among those the hateful Moros (Fate), the black Ker (Doom), Thanatos (Death), Hypnos (Sleep), Oneiroi (Dreams), Geras (Old Age), Oizus (Pain), Nemesis (Revenge), Eris (Strife), Apate (Deceit), Philotes (Sexual Pleasure), Momos (Blame), and the Hesperides (the Daughters of the Evening).
From the shell of the egg the sky was fashioned and the bottom half became the Earth. Eros named the sky Uranus and the Earth he named Gaia (or Gaea) and made them fall in love.
In another version of the story it was Aether and Hemera who mated with each other and from their union Gaia was born.
The story of the egg and the shell more in tune with other European creation myths.
Uranus and Gaia conceived 3 sets of children:
The first titans with among them -
- Coeus
- Crius
- Hyperion (A Sun god)
- Lapetus
- Oceanus
- Cronos
- Mnemosyne (memory)
- Phoebe (A Moon goddess)
- Rhea
- Tethys (A Sea goddess)
- Themis
- Theia
3 cyclopes named - Brontes, Arges, and Steropes. Representing lighting, thunder and lightning bolt. These three were the first smiths used by the gods.
And three Hecatoncheires (meaning Hundred-Handed). These were also gigantic beings with fifty heads and a hundred arms each. The three were named Briareus (or Aegaeon), Cottus and Gyges and they absolutely despised their father. The story goes that Uranus was not a good father and saw his children as monsters, and as a result, he buried them deep in Gaia herself.
As you can imagine Gaia did not like that (wonder why...). Gaia grew evermore rebellious and displeased by this treatment. But since Uranus was an all powerful god she couldn't just get rid of him so she plotted revenge. She started by creating a hard flint stone within herself, chiseling it, sharpening it into a "harpe" (a great adamant sickle). After creating this weapon she turned to her children all of whom still residing in her, making her increasingly uncomfortable for help with overthrowing their father and his his reign of terror.
Unfortunately all of her children were afraid of Uranus, their father. All but one. The last born son, Cronos (Cronus/Kronos).
Together mother and son hatched a plan. Gaia hid her son Cronos in an ambush. That night, when Uranus was preparing to lay with Gaia, Cronos jumped out and castrated his father with the sickle made by his mother (gentleman, you may cringe). Uranus his severed member was thrown in the ocean creating the goddess Aphrodite (the Goddess of love and beauty) from the foam it raised. The droplets of blood from his severed member bringing forth a new creation each on the earth.
Those creations being -
- Erinyes/Furies: Terrible snaky-haired women who would punish certain crimes.
- Giants
- Meliae (Ash-Tree Nymphs) (there's the ash tree again)
- Demi-goddesses.
It is still debated as to what happened with Uranus thereafter. One version of the story says he exiled to Italy. In another version he died and in a 3rd version he withdrew from the earth entirely. This could possibly explain how he became a planet. In either case, Gaia was free and Cronos became king of the gods.
Every good king has a queen by his side so Cronos married his sister- the Titaness Rhea, together they had divine sons and daughters whom we today know as -
- Hestia (Goddess of the home and hearth)
- Hades (God of the underworld)
- Demeter (Goddess of the harvest and agriculture)
- Hera (the Goddess of women, marriage, family and childbirth)
- Poseidon (God of the worlds oceans)
- Zeus (King of the Gods God of the sky, lightning, thunder, law, order, justice)
Cronos, being his fathers son, was not proud of his children. Furthermore, he even feared one of them might try and overthrow him as prophesied by Gaia and Uranus. So as soon as one of them was born he snatched it from Rhea and swallow it whole.
On her mothers advice Rhea hid herself on the island of Crete to give birth to Zeus leaving him behind with the nymphs on the island. To conceal her act from Cronos she wrapped a stone in swaddling clothes and passed it off as a baby to Cronos who promptly swallowed it whole.
Zeus was hidden in the island of Crete where he grew up into a powerful young god guarded by warriors named the "Curetes". These Curetes would clash their weapons every time Zeus cried like a child to prevent Cronos from hearing those cries (good thinking).
When Zeus was all grown up and was at peak strength he left Crete to ask his future wife the Titaness Metis (wisdom) for advice on how to defeat his father. Metis answered by preparing a drink which was indistinguishable from Cronos his favourite wine but made him vomit for ages. Zeus disguised himself as the gods’ cupbearer and, after a while, successfully slipped Metis’ drink to Cronus. The plan worked perfectly: Cronus started vomiting and spilled out all of Zeus’ five siblings, but only after throwing up the stone. Called "Omphalos", or the Navel, the stone was later set up at Delphi by two eagles Zeus sent to meet at the center of the world. Overwhelmed with gratitude, Rhea’s children – Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades, and Poseidon – recognized Zeus as their leader.
Zeus also released the Cyclopes and the Hecatoncheires whom Cronos also had imprisoned. In gratitude, the Cyclops, being expert metal workers, gave Zeus his lightning and thunderbolt. To Poseidon they gave a powerful Trident and to Hades a helm of invisibility. Together, the brothers and uncles banded together as Olympians to overthrow the Titans in a great battle.
Zeus, as the new God king, took his sister Hera as a wife but also (famously) carried on with numerous nymphs and other beings concubines who bore him many sons and daughters also.
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