It all started with oblivion, after which Mother Gaia (after
her union with Euronyme) gave birth to the sky, the oceans, the soil, the trees
and all the things around us. Welcome to the beautiful world of Greek mythology
where hospitality and honesty are at the tip of a hat, where imperfections have
no room, where even the gods make love to the mortals.
Greek mythology is one of those rare mythologies where the gods seem to have a direct connection with the mortals. They test the nature of the mortals by asking them for help in the form of a beggar, a soldier or sometimes even animals! The nature of the gods is similar to that of humans which resonates in their daily routines. They are portrayed as irascible, impatient, and irritated enough to be throwing tantrums just like humans. Whether its wars or long journeys, punishments or rewards, the Greek gods have always had a powerful relationship with the mortals since time immemorial. They themselves fall in love with humans and make advances towards them with utter seduction. However the most interesting part of it all is that, Greek mythology concentrates on neither the start of the world nor the ending of it; it is based right in the middle of all the happenings which gives us a holistic view of their deep connection with us.I’m gonna try my best to give you guys a brief version of all the major events.
TITAN ERA –
Mother Gaia and Uranus gave birth to the first era of Greek gods and goddesses – The Titans
c) PROMETHEUS
h) TEHTYS
Mother Gaia and Uranus gave birth to the first era of Greek gods and goddesses – The Titans
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| Mother Gaia |
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| Rhea |
They were mainly:
a) CRONUS
b) RHEAc) PROMETHEUS
d) EPIMETHEUS
e) ATLASh) TEHTYS
Cronus was responsible the golden age i.e. the first stage
of human existence. A stage where food and water used to be available at all
times and people lived ever so peacefully with each other. Rhea the sister-wife
of Cronus gave birth to six children. However, Cronus being power stricken and
extremely ruthless swallowed all his six children (or so he thought). This was
mainly because an oracle had told him that one of his six children would
overthrow him and take away his position for eternity.
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| Cronus |
Rhea being a considerate mother decided that she would not
let Cronus devour her sixth child (Zeus) and so she gave the baby to a foster
mother and requested her to take care of him. She, in turn gave a huge rock
wrapped in a cloth to Cronus to be swallowed. Cronus blindly trusting his wife
did so without noticing.
Cosmic war-
Years
passed by and Zeus grew up to become a young man. As he matured, he came to
know from his foster mother of who he really was and how cruel his father had
been with him, his siblings, and his mother. From that moment forth he swore to
take revenge and bring back his siblings. He cunningly sneaked into the place
where Cronus was and offered him a potion as a gift from the mortals. Not
noticing Zeus, he drank the whole thing. He ended up vomiting all his five
children out in a matter of seconds. Out came the gods- Hades and Poseidon and
goddesses – Hera, Hestia and Demeter. These six gods started a war against the
Titans called the COSMIC WAR which continued for months until Cronus finally
gave up. This marked the end of the Titan era.
OLYMPIAN ERA-
The second era of gods and goddesses who overthrew their father and began a new era in the universe.They were mainly-:
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| Hades |
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| Zeus |
a) Zeus – The ruler of the world, the skies and all the
gods.
b) Hades –
The ruler of the Underworld.
c) Poseidon
– The ruler of the oceans and the seas
d) Hera – The sister-wife of Zeus and the goddess of
childbirth and marriage.
e) Hestia– The goddess of the hearth.
f) Demeter – The goddess of agriculture.
Zeus
started the Silver age of humans- an age of the seasons, an age of evil and
turmoil, an age of crime and punishment, an age of hardships and failures, the
current age in which we are living.
The
other gods and goddesses- apart from these six gods and goddesses, there were many others who were just as important.Namely...
.jpg) |
| Ares |
a) ARES – The god of
war, son of Zeus and Hera.
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| Dionysus |
b) Hephaestus
– the god of metalworking, son of Zeus and Hera.
c) Apollo- the sun god and god of music, son of Zeus
and Leto.
d) Artemis – the goddess
of the hunt, daughter of Zeus and Leto.
e) Athena- the goddess of wisdom, ruler of Athens and
the daughter of Zeus and Metis.
f) Dionysus- the god of wine, the son of Zeus and
mortal queen, Semele.
g) Persephone- the wife of Hades, the daughter of
Demeter and Zeus.
h) Hermes- the messenger
god (the only one who could travel from underworld to the skies and
vice-versa), the immortal child of Zeus.
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| Aphrodite |
THE ORIGIN OF APHRODITE- Ouranus, the father of the Titans
was a very ruthless rules just like his son, Cronus. Ouranus was the one who
started the era of the Cyclopes, one eyed giants who were very powerful.
Fearing that someday the Cyclopes might overthrow him, Ouranus had kept all of
them locked in. Seeing his abominable ways, Mother Gaia was extremely enraged with
her husband. Hence, she went to Cronus to seek his help. Cronus, wanting to
find a way to overthrow his father, went to kill him. However, Ouranus put up a
good fight. Finally using his Sickle, Cronus castrated his father and threw his
genitals out into the sea. From there a foam was created which got collected on
a shore and gave rise to the Goddess of lust, Aphrodite. Aphrodite was born as
a pubescent, she had no childhood.
Greek gods have been the subject of interest for many
artists life Picasso and have affected our lives in ways unimaginable. Thank
you for taking out the time to read this. Have a good day GUYS‼
