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THE STORY OF CREATION

THE STORY OF CREATION

At the beginning of time, there was an endless darkness known as Chaos. From Chaos emerged the first deities, Gaea who was Earth, Tartarus who was the Underworld, Eros who was love, Erebus who was darkness and Nyx who was the night.

Together, Erebus and Nyx created Ether and Hermea (the Day), who were the products of their relations. Ether was known to be the heavenly light while Hermea represented the rising of the sun also known as the Day.

On her own, Nyx created many of her own children. There was Moros, the black Ker, Thanatos, Hypnos, Oneiroi, Geras, Oizus, Nemesis, Eris, Apate, Philotes, Momos, and the Hesperides.

Many of her children represented the darkness in the world of men.

Moros, god of Doom, was a deity who drove men to their impending doom.

The black Ker, goddess of violent fate, dealt with men and women who met their mortal ends in bloodshed.

Thanatos was known to be the god/personified spirit of non violent Death.

Momos was known as the god of Blame.

Hypnos was the god of Sleep, he was said to own half of mortal lives as he aided them to sleep during nightfall.

Oneiroi were multiple deities, they had the personification of Dreams; there was Oneiroi-Morpheus the god of Dreams who presented human images, Oneiroi-Icelos (or Phobetor) the god of Nightmares who presented animals & monsters, and Oneiroi-Phantasos the god of Fantastical Dreams who presented nature-like images.

There was also Geras, god of Old Age.

Then the rest of Nyx's daughters were Oizus god of Pain, Nemesis the goddess of Revenge, Eris the goddess of Strife and Discord, Apate the goddess of Deceit, Philotes a minor goddess of Friendship, Affection and Sexual Pleasure, and the Hesperides who were the Daughters of the Evening.

As Nyx created her own children, Gaea gave birth to Uranus, the Starry Sky. Uranus became Gaea's husband, surrounding her from all sides. Together, they produced three sets of children: the three one-eyed Cyclopes, the three Hundred-Handed Hecatoncheires, and the twelve Titans.

Uranus was an awful husband and an even worse father. His love for his children was so nonexistent, and he didn't even want them to see the light of day. He imprisoned them into the hidden places of the earth, Gaea's womb. Gaea was furious, so she plotted with her sons against Uranus. She made a harpe, a great adamant sickle, and tried to incite her children to attack Uranus. But they were all too scared; except for the youngest of the Titans, Cronus.

Gaea and Cronus set up an ambush for Uranus. As he was preparing to lay with Gaea, Cronus castrated him with the sickle, throwing his severed genitals into the ocean. It is unclear as to what happened to Uranus afterward; he either died, withdrew from the earth, or exiled himself to Italy. From the blood that was spilled on the earth due to his castration, emerged the Giants, the Meliae (the Ash Tree Nymphs), and the Erinyes (the Furies). From the sea foam that was produced when his genitals fell into the ocean, arose Aphrodite, the Goddess of Beauty.

Cronus became the next ruler. He imprisoned the Cyclopes and the Hecatoncheires in Tartarus and set the dragoness Campe to guard them. He married his sister, the Titaness Rhea, who bore him six children. However, Gaea and Uranus had both prophesied that Cronus would eventually be overthrown by one of his sons. So much like his father, Cronus maltreated his children, devouring each of them at the time of birth. Rhea was angered by the way Cronus treated their children and she, just like Gaea before him, plotted against her husband. On the word of her mother, when it was time to give birth to her sixth child, Rhea hid herself on Crete, leaving the new-born child to be raised by the nymphs of the island. To conceal her act, she wrapped a stone in swaddling clothes and passed it off as the supposed baby to Cronus. He was oblivious, and he swallowed the stone just like he'd done his many others.

The child was Zeus. Raised by the nymphs Adrasteia and Ida, and the she-goat Amalthea, he quickly grew into a handsome youth in a cave on the Cretan Mount Ida. When the time came, he left Crete to ask his future wife, the Titaness Metis (Wisdom), for an advice on how to defeat Cronus. She answered by preparing a drink indistinguishable from Cronus' favorite wine but designed to make him vomit for ages. Zeus disguised himself as the gods' cupbearer and, after a while, successfully slipped Metis' drink to Cronus. The plan worked perfectly: Cronus started vomiting and spilled out all of Zeus' five siblings, but only after throwing up the stone. Called Omphalos, or the Navel, the stone was later set up at Delphi by two eagles Zeus sent to meet at the center of the world. Overwhelmed with gratitude, Rhea's children – Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades, and Poseidon – recognized Zeus as their leader.

Unfortunately, Cronus was still in command – and yet to be defeated. He was too old to protect himself from the attacks of his progeny, but he enlisted the help of his faithful Titans, who also feared the new generation of gods. This led to a decade-long war between the Titans and the Olympians, remembered by generations hence as the Titanomachy. Atlas became the Titans' leader and led his armies to many victories. At one point, it even seemed that Zeus would be defeated. However, at the advice of Gaea, he went to Tartarus and released the Cyclopes and the Hecatoncheires. In gratitude, the Cyclopes provided Zeus with his signature thunderbolt; they also made a trident for Poseidon and a helmet of invisibility for Hades. The tables had turned.

However, as so many times before, the final victory would not be the result of brute force, but it would happen due to a cunning little trick, possibly devised by Prometheus, who deserted from the Titans' army beforehand. Armed with boulders, Hecatoncheires set an ambush for the Titans. At the right time, Zeus retreated his forces, drawing the Titans into the Hecatoncheires' trap. The Hundred-Handed ones started raining down hundreds of boulders, with such a fury that the Titans thought the mountains were falling down upon them. They ran away, and Zeus could finally consider himself the King of the Universe.

Zeus exiled the Titans who had fought against him into Tartarus. He made an exception with Atlas, though: being the leader of the opposing force, he was punished to hold the universe on his shoulders

After the glorious victory of the Olympian gods over the Titans, Gaea, the Mother Earth , became very angry with Zeus, the King of the Olympian Gods. She felt that he had treated her sons, the Titans, unfairly. In turn, she issued her forth one last child against him; the monstrous Typhon (Typhoeus). He was so fearsome that most of the gods fled the second they saw him. When Athena, the goddess of wisdom, accused Zeus for cowardness, Zeus decided to confront Typhon. He faced the monster and using the power of his lightning bolts, he was able to defeat it. Typhon was subsequently buried under Mount Etna in Sicily.

They say that you can still hear him growling under the volcano. And that someday in the distant future, he will return to challenge Zeus once again.