Greek Gods

There are several stories about the Greek gods fighting. The first battle written about may be the one about Uranus and his son Cronus. Uranus (the Sky, Ouranos, or the Heavens), and Gaea (Earth, Mother earth, Ge, or Gaia), were married and gave birth to the original 12 Titans, the 3 Cyclopes (giants with one eye in the middle of their foreheads), and 3 Hecatonchires (giant creatures with 50 heads and 100 arms). As the story goes, Gaea was getting tired of Uranus coming down every night to lay with her. She begged her children to help her separate Uranus from her and the only way she could do it was to castrate him. Cronus was jealous of his father’s power and wanted to be the ruler of gods so he volunteered to help his mother. Gaea made him a sickle and when Uranus came to lay with Gaea, Cronus castrated him. When his blood hit the earth, the monsters were conceived. When Cronus cast his testicles into the sea, a foam appeared on the sea where the testicles were cast, and from the foam Aphrodite was born.

There was also the War of the Titans which involved the famous Trojan Horse. As the story went, Cronus and Rhea gave birth to Zeus, Hera, Hades, Hestia, Demeter, and Poseidon. Cronus was very jealous and feared his children because he had heard that one of his children would overthrow him and take his place as ruler of the gods. In order to prevent this, Cronus would swallow his children as soon as they were born. When it came time for Zeus to be born, his mother Rhea went to the island of Crete and gave birth to Zeus and then hid him in a cave on Mount Ida. Rhea then went back to Cronus and gave him a rock dressed in baby clothes and Cronus swallowed it. Rhea then gave Cronus an herb and told him to drink it and it would make him invincible. He drank it and it instantly made him regurgitate and up came the rock and the children, in the reverse order he had swallowed them. When the children were grown they plotted to overthrow Cronus for what he had done to them. Zeus was their leader and with the help of the Cyclopes and the Hecatonchires, they waged war against Cronus and most of the other Titans and won the battle.

Another war which involved the Greek gods was the war of the giants against the Olympian gods. These giants were large frightful monsters which were born to Gaea when the castration of Uranus took place. It seems that when the blood from Uranus hit Gaea (Earth), these monsters were conceived. These ugly creatures had snakes for heads and had tails like a dragon. They were also as big as the mountains. These creatures tried to attack the Olympian gods after the gods conquered the Titans. The monsters were driven by Gaea. This battle was known as Gigantomachy. It seems that the Giants were throwing stones and fire at the Olympian gods, and also moving mountains, changing the flow of the rivers, drowning islands, and making the ground tremble. The Olympian gods won the battle.