ancient Greek mythology
THE CREATION
First, there was chaos, and nothing else. Then Erebus (the unknowable place where death dwells) and Night came out of the void, but all else was the empty, silent, lonely, darkness. Then somehow Love was born, bringing with it a new start of order and from Love came Light and Day. After Light and Day were born, Gaea (the earth) appeared.
Then ,thanks to Erebus, Night gave birth to Ether ,the heavenly light, and Day ,the early light. Then ,alone, Night produced Doom, Fate, Death, Sleep, Dreams, Nemesis, and others that came to man out of the darkness. Meanwhile ,alone, Gaea gave birth to Uranus, the heavens, and together they had many other offspring, including the three Cyclops, the three Hecatoncheires, and twelve of the Titans.
However Uranus was a bad father and a bad husband. He hated the Hecatoncheires so he imprisoned them by pushing them into hidden parts of the earth , Gaea's womb, which angered her so and she started plotting against him. She created a flint sickle an attempted to get her children to attack him but the youngest one ,Cronus, was brave enough to do it. He set up an ambush on Uranus as he lay with Gaea that night. Gaea and Cronus set up an ambush of Uranus as he lay with Gaea at night. Cronus took hold of his daddy and attacked him, with the stone sickle, throwing his cut up pieces into the sea.
The death of Uranus is not clear. He either died, withdrew from the earth, or exiled himself to Italy. As he fled he promised that Cronus and the Titans would be in big trouble. From the blood came the giants, the ash tree nymphs, and the Erinnyes. From the ocean where his scattered pieces fell came Aphrodite. Cronus became the next ruler. He imprisoned the Cyclopes and the Hecatoncheires in Tartarus( the deepest, darkest pit of the underworld) . He married his sister Rhea, under his rule the Titans had many children.
He ruled for a lot of years. But Gaea and Uranus both had predicted that he would be out strengthened by a son. To avoid this Cronus swallowed each of his children as they were born. Rhea was angry at the treatment of the children and plotted against Cronus. When it came time to give birth to her sixth child, Rhea hid herself, then she left the child to be raised by nymphs. To conceal her act she wrapped a stone in swaddling cloths and passed it off as the baby to Cronus, who swallowed it.
This child was Zeus. He grew into a handsome dude on Crete. He consulted Metis on how to defeat Cronus once and for all. She prepared a drink for Cronus design to make him vomit up the other children. Rhea convinced Cronus to accept his son and Zeus was allowed to return to Mount Olympus as Cronus's cup bearer. This gave Zeus the opportunity to slip Cronus the specially prepared drink. This worked as planned and the other five children were vomited up. Being gods they were unharmed. They were thankful to Zeus and made him their leader.
Cronus was yet to be defeated. He and the Titans, except Prometheus, Epimetheus, and Oceanus, fought to retain their power. Atlas became their leader in battle and it looked for some time as though they would win and put the young gods down. However, Zeus was cunning. He went down to Tartarus and freed the Cyclopes and the Hecatoncheires. Prometheus joined Zeus as well. He returned to battle with his new allies. The Cyclopes provided Zeus with lighting bolts for weapons. The Hecatoncheires he set in ambush armed with boulders. With the time right, Zeus retreated drawing the Titans into the Hecatoncheires's ambush. The Hecatoncheires rained down hundreds of boulders with such a fury the Titans thought the mountains were falling on them. They broke and ran giving Zeus victory.
Zeus exiled the Titans who had fought against him into Tartarus. Except for Atlas, who was singled out for the special punishment of holding the world on his shoulders.
However, even after this victory Zeus was not safe. Gaea angry that her children had been imprisoned gave birth to a last offspring, Typhoeus. Typhoeus was so fearsome that most of the gods fled. However, Zeus faced the monster and flinging his lighting bolts was able to kill it. Typhoeus was burried under Mount Etna in Sicily.
Much later a final challenge to Zeus rule was made by the Giants. They went so far as to attempt to invade Mount Olympus, piling mountain upon mountain in an effort to reach the top. But, the gods had grown strong and with the help of Heracles the Giants were subdued or killed.
Then ,thanks to Erebus, Night gave birth to Ether ,the heavenly light, and Day ,the early light. Then ,alone, Night produced Doom, Fate, Death, Sleep, Dreams, Nemesis, and others that came to man out of the darkness. Meanwhile ,alone, Gaea gave birth to Uranus, the heavens, and together they had many other offspring, including the three Cyclops, the three Hecatoncheires, and twelve of the Titans.
However Uranus was a bad father and a bad husband. He hated the Hecatoncheires so he imprisoned them by pushing them into hidden parts of the earth , Gaea's womb, which angered her so and she started plotting against him. She created a flint sickle an attempted to get her children to attack him but the youngest one ,Cronus, was brave enough to do it. He set up an ambush on Uranus as he lay with Gaea that night. Gaea and Cronus set up an ambush of Uranus as he lay with Gaea at night. Cronus took hold of his daddy and attacked him, with the stone sickle, throwing his cut up pieces into the sea.
The death of Uranus is not clear. He either died, withdrew from the earth, or exiled himself to Italy. As he fled he promised that Cronus and the Titans would be in big trouble. From the blood came the giants, the ash tree nymphs, and the Erinnyes. From the ocean where his scattered pieces fell came Aphrodite. Cronus became the next ruler. He imprisoned the Cyclopes and the Hecatoncheires in Tartarus( the deepest, darkest pit of the underworld) . He married his sister Rhea, under his rule the Titans had many children.
He ruled for a lot of years. But Gaea and Uranus both had predicted that he would be out strengthened by a son. To avoid this Cronus swallowed each of his children as they were born. Rhea was angry at the treatment of the children and plotted against Cronus. When it came time to give birth to her sixth child, Rhea hid herself, then she left the child to be raised by nymphs. To conceal her act she wrapped a stone in swaddling cloths and passed it off as the baby to Cronus, who swallowed it.
This child was Zeus. He grew into a handsome dude on Crete. He consulted Metis on how to defeat Cronus once and for all. She prepared a drink for Cronus design to make him vomit up the other children. Rhea convinced Cronus to accept his son and Zeus was allowed to return to Mount Olympus as Cronus's cup bearer. This gave Zeus the opportunity to slip Cronus the specially prepared drink. This worked as planned and the other five children were vomited up. Being gods they were unharmed. They were thankful to Zeus and made him their leader.
Cronus was yet to be defeated. He and the Titans, except Prometheus, Epimetheus, and Oceanus, fought to retain their power. Atlas became their leader in battle and it looked for some time as though they would win and put the young gods down. However, Zeus was cunning. He went down to Tartarus and freed the Cyclopes and the Hecatoncheires. Prometheus joined Zeus as well. He returned to battle with his new allies. The Cyclopes provided Zeus with lighting bolts for weapons. The Hecatoncheires he set in ambush armed with boulders. With the time right, Zeus retreated drawing the Titans into the Hecatoncheires's ambush. The Hecatoncheires rained down hundreds of boulders with such a fury the Titans thought the mountains were falling on them. They broke and ran giving Zeus victory.
Zeus exiled the Titans who had fought against him into Tartarus. Except for Atlas, who was singled out for the special punishment of holding the world on his shoulders.
However, even after this victory Zeus was not safe. Gaea angry that her children had been imprisoned gave birth to a last offspring, Typhoeus. Typhoeus was so fearsome that most of the gods fled. However, Zeus faced the monster and flinging his lighting bolts was able to kill it. Typhoeus was burried under Mount Etna in Sicily.
Much later a final challenge to Zeus rule was made by the Giants. They went so far as to attempt to invade Mount Olympus, piling mountain upon mountain in an effort to reach the top. But, the gods had grown strong and with the help of Heracles the Giants were subdued or killed.
the creation ii
Maybe the most puzzling part of this myth is the continuos use of names that seem hard for people that are not from Greese to pronounce. This can sometimes make maddness and loss of track when attempting to establish the everlasting relationship between these people in the birth of the world. So try to be patient and associate these names with the people and events that happened. It all started when Chaos, Gaia (the Earth) and Eros started to mix with each other making the Gods. So In Greek mythology, the start of the world begins with the making of the different types of Gods. In this case, Gods means the immortal people that ruled the Earth (without necessarily having any divine attributes) until the "actual" Gods, the Olympians came. So after this brief starting point, the next step to look at in the creation of the world is the making of the Gods. Which really is the same thing, it's just that when you are interested in the creation of the world, you look at the very beginning of the creation of the Gods, while, to examine the creation of the Gods, you have to look a little deeper.
Hesiod's written words is one of the best introduction we have on the making of the world. According to Hesiod, three important things took part in the beginning of creation. Chaos, Gaia, and Eros, her son and husband. It is said that Chaos gave birth to Erebos and Night while Ouranos and Okeanos came from Gaia. Each child had a specific role, and Ouranos's duty was to protect Gaia. Later on, the two became a couple and were the first gods to rule the world. They had twelve children who where called as the Titans. Three others known as the Cyclopes, and the three hundred handed Giants.
The problem that came from this place however, wasn't too good. Ouranos wasn't verry pleased at all with this because he saw them as a threat to his throne. After all, there would be a time when they would get older, and maybe even challenge his command. Ouranos finally decided that his kids belonged deep inside the earth (Gaea), hidden from himself and his kingdom. Gaea who wasn't too happy with this, agreed at first, but, later chose to give her solidarity to her children. She devised a plan to rid her kids from their tyrant father, and gave her youngest child Kronos a sickle. She then made a meeting Each of them, in which Kronos cut off his father's genitals. The seed of Ouranos ,which fell into the sea gave birth to Aphrodite, created the Fates, the Giants, and the Meliai nymphs.
Kronos exceeded his father's expectations in taking over the throne and got married to his sister Rhea. He also freed his siblings and shared his kingdom with them.Okeanos was given the leadership in ruling over the sea and rivers, while Hyperion ruled over the Sun and the Stars. And time went by. Sooner than later Kronos had his own children, and the very same fears that haunted his father came back to torment him as well.
Kronos eventually decided that the best way to deal with this issue was to swallow his kids whole. But once again the mom concluded it was time to free her children. Rhea, Kronos's wife, managed to save her youngest child, Zeus by tricking Kronos into eating a stone wrapped in clothes instead of Zeus himself.
The great Zeus was then brought up by the Nymphs in Mount Dikte in the island of Crete. In order to cover the sound of his crying, the Kouretes danced and clashed their shields. As Zeus entered manhood, he had the strength few dare dream of. He dethroned his father, and freed his siblings from his father's entrails. It was now Zeus's turn to rule the world...
THE HUMAN RACE
According to the myths, the immortal Gods thought that it would be interesting to create beings like them, but that were mortal. They would allow these beings to inhabit the earth. As soon as the mortals were created, Zeus, the leader of the Gods, ordered the two sons of the Titan Iapetus, Prometheus and Epimetheus, to give these beings various gifts in the hope that the mortals would evolve into interesting beings, able to amuse the Gods.
So the two brothers started to divide the gifts among themselves in order to give them to the earth's inhabitants. Epimetheus asked his brother to give out the gifts first, and was granted his wish. He gave the gift of beauty to some animals, agility on other animals, strength in others, and agility and speed to some. However, he left the human race defenseless, with no natural weapons in this new kingdom. Prometheus, who liked the human race, upon realizing what had happened, promptly distributed his own gifts to mankind. He stole reason from Athena, and thus gave reason to man. He then stole fire from the gates of Hephaestus, and gave mankind this new gift, which would keep them warm. Prometheus then became the protector of the human race, and shared with it all the knowledge he had.
This new situation angered Zeus, for fire until know had been a gift only reserved for the Gods.Zeus did not want the human race to resemble the Gods. Zeus's next step was to punish Prometheus. And a heavy punishment it was. Zeus chained Prometheus to a peak in the caucasus which was believed to be at the end of the world. He had an eagle eat his liver every single day for thirty years. At the end of each day, Prometheus' liver would grow back again, so he would have to suffer all over again. After thirty years, Heracles (Hercules) released Prometheus from his nightmare.
Hesiod's written words is one of the best introduction we have on the making of the world. According to Hesiod, three important things took part in the beginning of creation. Chaos, Gaia, and Eros, her son and husband. It is said that Chaos gave birth to Erebos and Night while Ouranos and Okeanos came from Gaia. Each child had a specific role, and Ouranos's duty was to protect Gaia. Later on, the two became a couple and were the first gods to rule the world. They had twelve children who where called as the Titans. Three others known as the Cyclopes, and the three hundred handed Giants.
The problem that came from this place however, wasn't too good. Ouranos wasn't verry pleased at all with this because he saw them as a threat to his throne. After all, there would be a time when they would get older, and maybe even challenge his command. Ouranos finally decided that his kids belonged deep inside the earth (Gaea), hidden from himself and his kingdom. Gaea who wasn't too happy with this, agreed at first, but, later chose to give her solidarity to her children. She devised a plan to rid her kids from their tyrant father, and gave her youngest child Kronos a sickle. She then made a meeting Each of them, in which Kronos cut off his father's genitals. The seed of Ouranos ,which fell into the sea gave birth to Aphrodite, created the Fates, the Giants, and the Meliai nymphs.
Kronos exceeded his father's expectations in taking over the throne and got married to his sister Rhea. He also freed his siblings and shared his kingdom with them.Okeanos was given the leadership in ruling over the sea and rivers, while Hyperion ruled over the Sun and the Stars. And time went by. Sooner than later Kronos had his own children, and the very same fears that haunted his father came back to torment him as well.
Kronos eventually decided that the best way to deal with this issue was to swallow his kids whole. But once again the mom concluded it was time to free her children. Rhea, Kronos's wife, managed to save her youngest child, Zeus by tricking Kronos into eating a stone wrapped in clothes instead of Zeus himself.
The great Zeus was then brought up by the Nymphs in Mount Dikte in the island of Crete. In order to cover the sound of his crying, the Kouretes danced and clashed their shields. As Zeus entered manhood, he had the strength few dare dream of. He dethroned his father, and freed his siblings from his father's entrails. It was now Zeus's turn to rule the world...
THE HUMAN RACE
According to the myths, the immortal Gods thought that it would be interesting to create beings like them, but that were mortal. They would allow these beings to inhabit the earth. As soon as the mortals were created, Zeus, the leader of the Gods, ordered the two sons of the Titan Iapetus, Prometheus and Epimetheus, to give these beings various gifts in the hope that the mortals would evolve into interesting beings, able to amuse the Gods.
So the two brothers started to divide the gifts among themselves in order to give them to the earth's inhabitants. Epimetheus asked his brother to give out the gifts first, and was granted his wish. He gave the gift of beauty to some animals, agility on other animals, strength in others, and agility and speed to some. However, he left the human race defenseless, with no natural weapons in this new kingdom. Prometheus, who liked the human race, upon realizing what had happened, promptly distributed his own gifts to mankind. He stole reason from Athena, and thus gave reason to man. He then stole fire from the gates of Hephaestus, and gave mankind this new gift, which would keep them warm. Prometheus then became the protector of the human race, and shared with it all the knowledge he had.
This new situation angered Zeus, for fire until know had been a gift only reserved for the Gods.Zeus did not want the human race to resemble the Gods. Zeus's next step was to punish Prometheus. And a heavy punishment it was. Zeus chained Prometheus to a peak in the caucasus which was believed to be at the end of the world. He had an eagle eat his liver every single day for thirty years. At the end of each day, Prometheus' liver would grow back again, so he would have to suffer all over again. After thirty years, Heracles (Hercules) released Prometheus from his nightmare.
the creation of man by prometheus
Prometheus and Epimetheus were not scentenced to Tartarus because they had not fought with the Titans in the war. They were assigned the project of creating man. Prometheus shaped man out of mud, and Athena breathed life into his clay object.
Prometheus had assigned Epimetheus the task of giving the creatures of the earth personalities, such as swiftness, cunning, strength, fur, wings. Unfortunately, by the time he got to man Epimetheus had given all the good qualities out and there were none left for man. So Prometheus decided to make man stand upright as the gods did and to give them fire.
Prometheus loved man more then the Olympians, who had banned most of his family to Tartarus. So when Zeus decided that man needed to show them part of each animal they scarified to the gods Prometheus decided to trick Zeus. He created two piles, one with the bones wrapped in juicy fat, the other with the good meat hidden in the hide. He then bade Zeus to pick. Zeus picked the bones. Since he had given his word Zeus had to accept that as his share for future sacrifices. In his anger over the trick he took fire away from man. However, Prometheus lit a torch from the sun and brought it back again to man. Zeus was enraged that man again had fire. He decided to inflict a terrible punishment on both man and Prometheus.
To penalize man, Zeus had Hephaestus created a mortal of stunning beauty. The gods gave the mortal many gifts of wealth. He then had Hermes give the mortal a deceptive heart and a lying tongue. This creation was Pandora, the first women. A final gift was a jar which Pandora was forbidden to open. Thus, completed Zeus sent Pandora down to Epimetheus who was staying amongst the men.
Prometheus had advised Epimetheus not to take in gifts from Zeus, however, Pandora's beauty was too great and he let her stay. Eventually, Pandora's curiosity about the jar she was forbidden to open became to great. She opened the jar and out flew all manor of evils, sorrows, plagues, and misfortunes. However, the bottom of the jar held one good thing - hope.
Zeus was angry at Prometheus for three things: being tricked on scarifices, stealing fire for man, and for refusing to tell Zeus which of Zeus's children would dethrone him. Zeus had his servants, Force and Violence, seize Prometheus, take him to the Caucasus Mountains, and chain him to a rock with unbreakable adamanite chains. Here he was tormented day and night by a giant eagle tearing at his liver. Zeus gave Prometheus two ways out of this torment. He could tell Zeus who the mother of the child that would dethrone him was. Or meet two conditions: First, that an immortal must volunteer to die for Prometheus. Second, that a mortal must kill the eagle and unchain him. Eventually, Chiron the Centaur agreed to die for him and Heracles killed the eagle and let him go.