Greek Goddess of the Earth
The Greek goddess of the Earth was known by the Greeks as Mother earth (also known as Gaea, Ge, Gaia, and just Earth). Gaea was created by Chaos, according to Greek mythology. Chaos was the only thing in existence in the beginning. Chaos created Gaea and Eros (Desire). Gaea then gave birth to Uranus (also known as the Sky, Father Heaven, or Ouranos), Pontus (the Sea), and Ourea (the Mountains).
Gaea then married Uranus and together they produced the first 12 Titans, 3 Cyclopes, and 3 Hecatonchires. The Cyclopes were giants with one eye in the middle of their foreheads. They were very mean but they also had a lot of talent in working with metals. The Hecatonchires were giant creatures with 50 heads and 100 arms. Both the Cyclopes and the Hecatonchires helped Zeus in conquering Cronus and the Titans and became the ruler of the gods. The Titans were, Cronus, Rhea, Oceanus, Tethys, Theia, Hyperion, Coeus, Phoebe, Crius, Mnemosyne, Themis, and Lapetus. The children of these Titans became the first generation of Olympians.
Let’s back up a little and get to the cause of all of the bad blood among Cronus and Uranus. It seems that Gaea was getting tired of Uranus coming down every night to lay with her. She also feared for the lives of her children because Uranus thought they were ugly and he also feared them because of their size and strength. There are two stories after that. One says that Uranus put the children in the deep pit in the Underworld, called Tartarus. Another story says that Gaea hid her children inside herself to protect them. Anyway, no matter what the real story here is, Uranus begged her children to help her castrate Uranus, which would separate the Earth from the Sky. It seems that Cronus wanted to be the ruler of the gods so he volunteered to help his mother. Gaea made a sickle for Cronus and when Uranus came down to lay with Gaea, Cronus cut off his testicles and threw them into the sea. When the blood hit the earth, nymphs, and other monsters were born. When the testicles hit the water in the sea, a great foam appeared on the surface of the water and from this Aphrodite was born. After that Cronus became the ruler of the gods and goddesses.
Cronus received word that one of his children would overthrow him and become the ruler of the gods so when each of Cronus and Rhea’s children were born, Cronus swallowed them whole. Thart was all but Zeus. When Rhea was about to have Zeus, she went to the Island of Crete and gave birth to Zeus, then with the help of Gaea, hid Zeus in a cave near Crete. She then went back to Cronus with a rock wrapped in baby clothes. Cronus immediately swallowed the rock thinking it was Zeus. Later, Rhea brought Cronus an herb which she told Cronus to drink so he would become invincible. He drank it and immediately regurgitated. When this happened, up came the rock and his children. When the children were grown, they over threw Cronus and Zeus became the new ruler of the gods.
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