Mythology always consists of stories, and Greek mythology is no different. The tales told are convoluted, intricate, and rich with detail. You may think that these stories begin with the Olympians, Lord Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades, but the true start is eons before them.
The first being was Chaos, a primordial goddess. She was described by the ancient Greeks as a dark, swirling mass and the beginning of all creation. From Chaos came Gaea, the Earth. Her Roman name, Terra, is where we get the word ‘terrain’. Gaea was also a primordial being, and the Earth was her body. However, she could walk across it in the form of a beautiful woman. For eons, she was content this way, but she began to get lonely. She wished for a companion, and soon, others were born. Pontus, Tartarus, and Ouranos were the last of the primordial beings.
Pontus was the water, and he filled the deep craters in Gaea’s surface, becoming the oceans and seas. Tartarus became a dome under Earth’s surface, and in that dome were horrors and suffering beyond imagination. His name came to mean The Pit of Evil. Ouranos, like Tartarus, formed a dome, but a protective one over the Earth. He became the sky. His Roman name is where we got our name for the planet Uranus.
It was Ouranos with whom Gaea fell in love. They got married, but their relationship was always detested by Pontus and Tartarus, who had come to admire Gaea’s beauty and wisdom. Despite that, Gaea and Ouranos had a happy relationship. However, problems soon arose.
When Gaea had her first children, the Hundred-Handed Ones, Ouranos was disgusted by how ugly they were. He cast them into Tartarus, the only place where he wouldn’t have to see them. Gaea wept and screamed, but she eventually forgave Ouranos. When Gaea had her second set of children, the Elder Cyclopes, Ouranos was again horrified by their appearance, by the single eye in the center of their heads, that he again trapped them in the Pit of Evil. This time, Gaea was furious, but she bided her time, waiting until she could get her revenge. Centuries later, Gaea gave birth to her final batch of children with Ouranos, the 12 Titans. These children were unlike all the others, beautiful and powerful. However, by now, Ouranos had grown cold and distant. Gaea raised her new children to hate the father they so rarely saw and trained them to one day overthrow his rule over the world.
