Ancient Greece

Creation Myth
 The Creation Myth: How it All Began

• Like all mythologies of the past, the Greek Mythology started

with the Creation Myth; the story that explains the origins of
life and of all things.
• This story is in essence an attempt to make sense of life's
mysteries; to impose structure and order in the universe and to
define the place of individuals, races and all people in that
universe. For how can we define where we are, without first
explaining where we came from?
 The Creation Myth: How it All Began

• The most detailed account of early classical Creation myths 
comes to us from Theogony, a poem composed by Hesiod, 
a Greek poet in the eighth century B.C.
•  It is worthwhile to note that the central recurring theme in
Hesiod's narration about the creation myth, is that the
driving force behind progression from generation to
generation of gods, is domination through conflict and war: 
 The Universe begins to take shape

• As the Creation Myth goes, at the beginning of everything 
there was Chaos; this does not mean "Disorder" in the 
contemporary sense, but rather "Chasm", in the sense of a 
dark, gaping space. 
• Afterwards came Gaia ("Earth") and Eros ("Sexual Love"), 
which personifies the driving principle behind all 
subsequent acts of procreation by which the cosmos became 
populated. 
 The Universe begins to take shape

• Gaia was either born of Chaos or simply rising on its own. The Earth 
surrounded and engulfed Chaos.
•  From where Chaos and Gaia came is neither explained nor elaborated. 
• Hesiod simply states that they came first­and that the Earth came into 
being to serve as a solid foundation for the home of gods. 
• From these first three (Chaos, Gaia and Eros) and the possible addition 
of Tartarus, a grim and terrifying region below the earth, there 
originated all that exists. 
From Love

came
light

and
earth

Known as
Gaea united with one of
her offspring, Uranus, the
sky.

and
Frightening offspring were born to them
 The Universe begins to take shape

• First, came the few beings that were born through 
parthenogenesis that is the creation resulting from just one 
gender: 
• Human parthenogenesis or Virgin Birth
• Chaos gave birth to Erebus ­the darkness of the Underworld­and 
Nyx ("Night").
• In her sleep, Gaia gave birth to Uranus ("Sky") and Pontus 
("Sea"). 
 Uranus=Gaia
•Uranus came first­and 
emerged as Gaia's equal.
 The Universe begins to take shape

• After the birth of Erebus, Nyx, Uranus and Pontus, 
virtually all of Creation came through mating.
•  Uranus, the sky, emerged as big as his mother Gaia, so 
that he might envelop her­which he quickly did.
 Radiant with love for his Mother Earth, the Sky 
showered her with fertile rain. 

• Gaia then gave birth to the rest of the physical 
world: the mountains, bodies of water, flora and 
fauna. 
• Nyx mated with Erebus, producing a daughter, 
Hemera ("Day") and a son Aether ("Upper Air"). 
• As the creation myth goes, Night and Day share a house, 
forever shrouded in darkness by the grim clouds of 
Tartarus. 

• Yet they never stay in the same house together. Instead, 
they take turns, each waiting for the other to depart before 
crossing the bronze threshold and entering the house. 
 The Universe begins to take shape

• Nyx also gave birth to another ominous breed of negative entities
•  Moros (Doom)
• Thanatos (Death)
• Hypnos (Sleep)
• Nemesis (a goddess of retribution)
• Eris (Strife)
• Keres (female death spirits who would be charged with collecting and carrying 
off the bodies of the dead)
 Of these, the most interesting in terms of visual imagery were the 
Fates: 

• Their names were Clotho ,Lachesis ,Atropos
•  Clotho ("the Spinner") would spin the thread of life of 
each mortal, 
• Lachesis ("the Measurer") would measure the length with a 
rod 
•  Atropos ("the Inflexible") would cut it with shears, thus 
ending it. 
 Titans and Giants
Gaia and Uranus also brought forth other divinities, the most important of which in relation to the 
development of the rest of the Creation Myth, were the Titans (the "Overreachers").

• The Daughters 
• Theia, who would become an early goddess of light
• Rhea, an earth goddess who would later become mother of the 
Olympian Gods
• Themis, another earth or mother goddess
• Mnemosyne, a personification of Memory 
• Phoebe, who would become an early moon goddess
• Tethys, who would become the most ancient goddess of the sea
 The sons were named:

• Oceanus, the first born of the Titans, both the god of the primordial river and 
the river itself, who flowed from the Underworld in a circular and never ending 
stream around the edge of the earth
• Coeus, who would become the father of Leto, the mother of the Olympian Gods 
Apollo and Artemis
• Crius, who would become the father of Astraeus
• Hyperion, who would become an early god of the son
• Iapetus, who would become the father of Prometheus
• Cronus, the youngest of the titans, but the craftiest and most daring.
 The 12 Titans
Males Females
• Oceanus • Tethys
• Coeus • Rhea *
• Hyperion • Themis
• Crius • Mnemosyne
• Iapetus • Phoebe
• Cronus * • Thia
 Three Giants

• Though not as well known as the Titans who came after them, 
the first children of Gaia and Uranus were three giants: 
Cortus, Briareus and Gyges. 
• Each of these brothers had 50 heads and 100 arms. 
• These Hundred­Handed giants would be the mightiest of all 
Gaia's and Uranus's offspring.
•  Their great strength and imposing presence caused even 
Titans and later Olympians to quake with fear.
 Hecatonchires
(100­handed monsters)
• Briareus the Vigorous
• Cottus the Furious
• Gyges the Big­Limbed
 Gaia also lay with her other son Pontus ("Sea").
 She gave birth to five children:

• Nereus, a sea god who would become known as the Old 
Man, was renowned for his truthfulness, gentle manner and 
fairness.
•  Phorcys, another sea god and Thaumas were the brothers 
of Nereus. 
• They also had two sisters: Ceto, a sea monster and 
Eyrybia.
• Nereus fathered fifty lovely sea nymphs in union with 
Doris, a daughter of Oceanus. 
• Thaumas had a liaison with Electra, thus bringing forth the 
wind­swift Harpies and Iris, divine messenger and goddess 
of the rainbow. 
• Phorcys lay with his sister Ceto, and they produced 
numerous monstrous creatures 
• Among them were the Graiai (women already old at birth), 
the Gorgons (one of them was Medusa) and the hideous 
Echidna, nymph above the waist and serpent below it. 
• Echidna in turn would mate with Typhoeus, to produce
Cerberus, Lerna Hydra, Orthos and Chimaira.
• Two more creatures, the Sphinx and the Nemean Lion
would be the offspring of the mating between Orthos and
Chimaira.
• Most of these creatures, play a significant role in the
heroic exploits of the greek heroes Hercules, Perseus.
 Three Cyclopes

• The next children born to Gaia and Uranus were no less

intimidating.
• They were the three Cyclopes: Brontes, Steropes and Arges.
• Each had only one eye, yet their enormous stature and mighty
limbs more than made up for their limited vision.
 The Cyclopes
 Huge beings each with only one 
eye in the middle of their 
foreheads. They were great 
builders and smiths.
  They would become the forgers of
thunder and lightning.
Uranus hated these creatures and imprisoned 
them in the center of the earth.
 Uranus oppresses his children

• In the development of the creation myth, Uranus proved to be

not such a fatherly figure.
• Because of his being immortal, he never wanted his power to be
diminished and pass the torch to the earlier generation, as is the
case in the mortal world.
• Being intimidated by an oracle stating that he would be
overthrown by one of his children, he performed some not so
fatherly acts:
• First, in order to prevent the giants from becoming a threat,
he hurled all of them (the Cyclopes and the Hundred Hand
Giants) into the deepest recesses of Tartarus, condemning
them to a life of imprisonment.
• As for the Titans, no sooner had Gaia given birth to one of
these children, than Uranus thrust the baby back into the
darkness of their mother's womb
• Forcing his own children to remain in the deepest, darkest
hollows of the Earth, Uranus refused to let them into the
light again.
 As a result, all of his children hated Uranus with a passion.

• This was especially true in the case of Cronus, who could

not wait for an opportunity to seize the power from his
cruel father.
Gaea, wishing to free her
children and vent her wrath
upon Uranus for his
treatment of her offspring,
enlisted the aid of Cronus,
her Titan son. With a
weapon similar to a sickle,
Cronus wounded his father.
From the blood and wounded
parts sprang up a strange
collection of beings:
Gaia grew very uncomfortable,
with all her mighty children in her
womb, condemned by Uranus. She
thus devised a scheme to avenge
her cruel husband:
• She crafted an enormous and very sharp sickle of iron.
• She then pleaded her children to take action to punish their
father, but everyone was reluctant, except Cronus who
volunteered to perform the horrible deed.
• When given the chance when Uranus was in a
compromising position, Cronus severed his genitals with
the iron and then hurled the castrated organ into the sea.
In the sea, the organ bobbed on the water, giving rise to foam.

• As the myth goes, from this foam emerged the fully formed
goddess of love: Aphrodite (whose name in Greek just
means that, "emerging out of foam").
• Naked and riding on a scallop shell, Aphrodite first touched
land on the island of Cythera, but found the place too small
for her comfort.
• Instead she stepped ashore on Cyprus.
• From Uranus's severed manhood, fell countless drops of
blood, which spattered all over Gaia.
• From this strange conception, Gaia bore many children,
including
Gigantes

Erinyes

Aphrodite
 Alecto, Tisiphone and Megara


The Erinyes (Furies) - Alecto, Tisiphone and Megara,
who avenge perjury crimes against one's own family (such
as patricide)

The race of Giants, who were born in full armor, with
spears in their arms

The ash tree nymphs, who would soon come to inhabit all
forests of Greece.
 The New Generation of Gods

• After gaining their own freedom, the Titans made Cronus

their king and freed the Cyclopes and their Hundred
Handed brothers from Tartarus.
• However, due to their arrogant nature and their resistance
to authority, the latter (Cyclopes and Giants) were soon
thrown back to Tartarus by Cronus.
• As for the twelve titans, they retained their freedom and
began pairing off, breeding a new generation of gods.
• Of the dozen, at least eight - four brothers and four sisters -
married and had children:

Theia and Hyperion - both associated with the sun - gave
birth to Helius ("Sun"), and two daughters: Selene
("Moon") and Eos ("Dawn")

Phoebe and Coeus - had two daughters: Leto, the future
mother of Apollo and Artemis, and Asteria

Oceanus and Tethys - their union was the most prolific of
all:

Their offspring included all the 3,000 rivers - each with its
own (usually male) god - and the 3,000 female Oceanids

Cronus and Rhea - this was by far the most glamorous
union of all, since it produced six divine children, who
would later inhabit Mount Olympus and thus become
known as the Olympians.

These were three daughters and three sons: Hera, Demeter,
Hestia, Hades, Poseidon and finally Zeus.
Cronus, the new Lord of the Universe,
took his sister Rhea for his bride.
When Cronus defeated Uranus, 
becoming lord of the universe, Uranus 
prophesied that Cronus’ children would 
in turn overthrow him.

  Thus, Cronus 
swallowed each of his 
children as soon as 
they were born.
Rhea tricked Cronus. She hid her last baby and 
gave Cronus a rock to swallow instead.

Zeus grew up in the 
care of nymphs on 
Mt. Ida.  The goat 
Amalthea provided 
him with milk, and 
one of her horns 
was later presented 
by Zeus to the 
nymphs.
When the time was right, 
Zeus came back.  He gave his 
father a poison drink which 
made Cronus violently ill.

He vomited up his 
children, who were now 
fully grown . . .

. . . AND ANGRY!
 Children  of Cronus and Rhea

Hades

Poseidon
Zeus
 Children  of Cronus and Rhea

Hestia
Demeter

Hera
Artemis Aphrodite

Athena
WAR BETWEEN THE TTITANS AND GODS
 Zeus ­ Supreme God;  God of the 
Sky

Poseidon ­ God of the Sea

Hades ­ God of the Underworld

 
ALL HAVE POWER ON EARTH
 The Metals Theory
_Golden 
Race_______________________________
The Silver Race_____________________________
The Bronze Race____________________________
The Age of 
Heroes___________________________
The Iron Race______________________________