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| Welcome to our walk through on
Greek mythology. Read the chapters and learn more about this island
and it's beginnings. |
The Creation
of the World.
Theogony.
Around 700 B.C.a farmer come poet named Hesiod wrote the Theogony
which is the most comprehensive work on the creation of the world
and the genesis of the Gods.The first to be created were Chaos,
Earth and love. Chaos produced Erebos and Night who then gave birth
to Aethera, Day and Celestial light. Earth produced Sky, the mountains
and the sea. Once Earth had given birth to the Sky, they united
and gave birth to the twelve Titans. Six boys and six girls,The
boys were called Krios, Hyperion, Kronos, Lapetos, Koios and Okeanos.
The girls were Rhea, Theia, Mnemonsyne, Themis, Phoebe, the Cyclops
Brontesi, Steropes and Arges and the Hundred Armed Ones- Briareos,
Gyges and Kottos, each of whom had fifty heads and one hundred eyes.
Uranos ( sky) fearing that his children would grow up and take his
throne from him locked them away on the depths of the Earth.His
wife was unable to accept this and plotted with the youngest of
the Titans Kronos and this resulted in Kronos cotting off his fathers
genitals as he lay locked in carefree embrace with the Earth. From
the blood that spouted forth were born the Giants, the Furies and
the Meliai- nymphs of the ash trees. Kronos threw his fathers genitals
into the sea from which Aphrodite was born. He then took power,
freed his brothers and sisters, imprisoned the Cyclopes and the
Hundred Armed Ones and married his sister Rhea. Kronos was not the
only brother to marry a sister .Okeanos united with Tethys and produced
the rivers and the Okeanides. Theia and Koios produced Leto and
Asteria. Kronos and Rhea produced the three great goddesses Hera,
Demeter and Hestia and the three gods Zeus, Poseidon and Hades.Kronos
fearing that one of his off spring would seize power from him when
they grew up decided to eat each one as it was born.His wife Rhea
was not at all happy with this and when she gave birth to her last
child Zeus she hid him on Mount Ida in Crete and gave Kronos a stone
to swallow instead. Zeus was brought up b
y the Nymphs, Amaltheia and the Curetes. Once grown he dethroned
his father, forcing him to vomit up his brothers and sisters. He
then married his sister Hera . He then shared his fathers power
with his brothers . He became lord of the universe, Poseidon lord
of the sea and Hades lord of the underworld.
The War of the Titans.
After establishing power Zeus, with the support of his siblings
decided to wage war on his father Kronos and the Titans. Zeus and
his siblings were based on Olympos and the Titans on Mount Othrys.
With no end in sight after ten years, Gaia advised Zeus to bring
on his side his uncles the Cyclopes and the Hundred Armed Ones who
were still imprisoned by Kronos in the depths of the earth. He did
this and the Cyclopes now free gave Zeus thunderbolts consisting
of lightning and thunder, while the Hundred Armed Ones raised up
huge boulders and crushed the Titans. The Titans were then hurled
into Tartaros. Atlas who was the son of Lapetos the Titan was then
condemned by Zeus to hold up the earth and sky on his shoulders
forever as punishment for fighting on the side of the Titans.
The War of the Giants.
The Giants, who were born out of the blood from the mutilation of
Uranos by Kronos. were huge wild anthropomorphic beings that resembled
twin snakes from the waist down.Gaia who was very angry at the harsh
behavior of the gods towards the Titans inticed the Giants to hurl
rocks and tree trunks at the Olympians. The children of Zeus namely
Athena, Apollo and Hephaestos with the help of the mortal Herakles
took part in the war that followed. Gaia who wanted to help the
Giants as much as she could, tried to find a herb that would ensure
the Giants victory. Zeus on hearing this forbade the Sun, The moon
and the Dawn from appearing so that he himself could find the magic
plant himself. This he did and as soon as he had found it his opponents
began to fall.
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