Research+Paper

Approximately 4-5 millennium ago the ancient civilizations in Greece were well known for their stories of the supernatural beings that controlled the very fabric of reality and controlled different parts of nature. Many people are familiar with some of these stories like Perseus and the Gorgons Head, The Twelve Labors of Heracles, Pandora's Box (although technically it was a pithos, a Greek jar used for storing items), Jason and the Argonauts, and the Fall of Troy, but how many truly know the stories that existed. How was the world created? How did it shape their beliefs in ancient times? How did these stories tell people how to live and survive? Well all these questions will be answered in the following paragraphs.

According to an ancient Greek poet Hesiod, it all begins with the wide void that is Chaos and from him came Gaia known to us today as the Earth, Eros who was the god of love, Tartarus who lived in the bowels of the earth, and Erebus who was the god of darkness. Gaia then without any male assistance then gave birth to Ouranos (Uranus in Roman myth) who was the god of the skies. Gaia, with the help of Ouranos, first gave birth to six powerful beings. The first three were known as Hecatonchires, they supposedly were giants of immense strength who had 50 heads, a hundred arms. The next three were the Cyclopes, who were immune to fire and were great craftsmen and blacksmiths. Then Gaia gave birth to the Titans. The six males were as follows: Coeus, Crius, Cronus (Titan of Time), Hyperion (Lord of Light), Iapetus, and Oceanus (known to Greeks as the world-ocean). Gaia also gave birth to six female titans: Mnemosyne (Titaness of Memory), Phoebe (Titaness of the Moon), Rhea, Theia, Themis (represented divine law), and Tethys. Ouranos was afraid of Hecatonchires and the Cyclopes power so he locked them within Tartarus. This then caused Gaia great pain, so she created a plan to over throw Ouranos. She called all of her children, the Titans, to her and told them of her plan, but none of them were brave enough to overthrow their father till Cronus stood forward and said that he would be willing to overthrow his father. Gaia then gave Cronus an adamantine scythe and told him to lay in wait for Ouranos. That night as Ouranos lay with Gaia, Cronus jumped out and castrated his father with the scythe and threw them into the sea. From Ouranos's blood came the giants, the ash nymphs and the Erinyes who had snakes for hair and had blood pouring from their eyes (these creatures were mainly used to punish mortals with vengeance of their past evil deeds) and from the sea it was said that Aphrodite (goddess of love, desire and beauty) was born. After that Ouranos separated himself from Gaia and Cronus then became the ruler of the universe, but Cronus was just as bad as his father. He never freed the Hecatonchires or the Cyclopes from there prison in Tartarus. He then married his sister Rhea, and she gave birth to from oldest to youngest: Hestia, Hades, Demeter, Poseidon, Hera and Zeus, but he was afraid of being overthrown just like his father so he ate each of his children after they were born. Rhea didn't like seeing each of her children getting eaten so when Zeus was born she gave Cronus a rock wrapped in baby clothing thus one of his children lived. Rhea then gave the infant Zeus to Gaia so she could protect him within a cave. There are 2 stories of how Zeus was raised. One is that he survived on the milk of an immortal goat named Amalthea and wood nymphs pounding on their armor to cover his cries. The second story was that he was raised by a nymph named Adamanthea. Since Cronus ruled over the Earth, the heavens and the sea, she hid him by dangling him on a rope from a tree so he was suspended between earth, sea and sky and thus, invisible to his father. When Zeus was old enough Gaia told him what happened to his siblings and that he was destined to overthrow his father. Gaia then sent him to Cronus's palace telling Zeus that he must pose as a cup bearer for the Titans. With the help of the Titaness Metis, Zeus gave Cronus a drink that cause him to regurgitate his older siblings who had grown to their full height within the Titans stomach. Thus began the Titanomachy. The war between the Titans and the Olympians was said to last ten years. Almost all the Titans were against the Olympians. Prometheus (forethought) who was the the son of Iapetus and Themis sided with the Olympians and Oceanus was a neutral party.