Guest Author - Chris E. Barrett

In this series we will be discussing the myths of the Greeks. Each article will highlight a God or Goddess, their family tree, and one or two myths associated with that person. Once we have covered the majority of the Gods, we will expand to include the children of the gods (the ones with one mortal parent and one immortal).

To start off we will begin with the birth of the Gods. You are forewarned; the Greek myths involve a great deal of what we would consider to be incest. The simplest account of the birth of the Gods is in Hesiod’s Theogony. It begins with the statement “First of all Chaos came into being”. From Chaos came many children: Gaia (the earth), Tartaros (the underworld), Eros (desire), Erebos (the gloom of the underworld), and Night. Night and Erebos had a child together, Day.

Gaia spontaneously gave birth to Uranos (the sky). She coupled with Uranos and gave birth to the twelve Titans. They were monstrous creatures, three were Cyclopes, and three were Hekatonchires (monsters with one hundred hands each). Uranos was disgusted with his offspring, and proceeded to cage them in the earth. Gaia, in desperation, convinced her baby, Kronos, to seize power. Kronos did so by castrating Uranos. The blood of Uranos created giants, nymphs, and the Furies. His genitals fell into the ocean were they turned to white foam. From the foam came the Goddess Aphrodite (goddess of love, desire, and sexuality).

The Titans ruled the world, and had many children. Among them were the moon and sun (Helios and Selene) and the dawn (Eos). Kronos married his sister Rhea, and had many children. In fear of being overthrown, like his father was, he swallowed each child as it was born. To protect her last child, she tricked Kronos into swallowing a stone, instead of the baby. This child was Zues, and he planned to defeat the Titans when he grew up.

Zeus had Metis (the daughter of the Titan Ocean) deceive Kronos into drinking an elixir that caused him to regurgitate his children. They rose up and joined Zeus in his campaign against the Titans. The Cyclopes and the Hekatonchires also joined him, because Kronos had chosen to keep them imprisoned. Zeus freed them and thus gained their trust.

In the ensuing battle Zeus and his siblings defeated the Titans, and the Giants. He was declared lord of the Gods, and made Mount Olympus his home. He and his siblings are referred to as “the Olympians” for this reason.

That is creation and the birth of the Gods in a nutshell. Join me next week when we continue our study of the Greek Gods.