The Greek Genesis
-One source for the Greek creation story is form Hesiod's "Theogony" ("theos"=god; "ogony"=birth of), written c. 700 BC. Of course, there are a bunch of different variations and versions; below is just one version.
-The world developed from chaos into an ordered structure through the power of the gods.
-At first there was just chaos, and from chaos came Gaia (Mother Earth), Erebus (Darkness), and Nyx (Night).
-Inside Gaia is a huge chasm named Tartarus.
-From Erebus and Nyx we also get Aether (Air), Hemera (Day) and other primordial deities.
-Gaia produces the god Uranus (AKA Father Sky) and Pontus (Sea).
-Gaia represents the Female, Uranus represents the Male.
-Uranus would rain on Gaia and produce monsters, most notably the powerful Titans.
-Uranus was scared of these monstrous children, so he kept on forcing them back into Gaia's womb.
-This pisses off Gaia (obviously), so she enlists help from their son, the titan Chronos, to teach Uranus a lesson.
-Chronos takes a scythe/sickle and castrates Uranus while he's banging Gaia. As a result, Uranus curses Kronos by saying that his children will do the same to him.
-Anyway, from Ouranos' castrated genitals and the sea comes Aphrodite (goddess of love, sexuality, beauty, etc.). From the blood and earth come the Erinyes (AKA the Furies); giants, and the Meliae (wood nymphs).
-Chronus eventually marries his Titaness sister Rhea (considered to be the mother of all the Olympian deities).
-From them come a new generation of gods and Titans. However, Chronus is like his dad and is scared of his kids (because of the curse), so he starts eating his kids every time they're born.
-However, one day Rhea tricks Chronus and gives him a rock to eat instead of their latest kid, Zeus. Eventually, after Zeus grows up he gets in touch with a Titan named Metis whom Chronus was banging on the side. Metis is fed up with Chronus being such a brute, so she slips him an emetic that causes him to vomit out all of his devoured children- the gods Hades, Poseidon, Demeter, Hestia, and Hera.
-Anyway, then there's a war between the Olympians (Zeus and his siblings who make their home on Mount Olympus) and the Titans (although some Titans end up siding with the Olympians); it lasts for 10 years.
-Zeus also enlists help from the cyclopes and the Hecatoncheires (three super-powerful giants that each had 50 heads and 100 arms), whom had been stuck in Tartarus until Zeus rescued them. Because of his aid, the cyclopes forge thunderbolts for Zeus, a trident for Poseidon, and the "Cap of Invisibility" made out of dog skin for Hades.
-Anyway, the Olympians won, and the enemy Titans were locked up in Tartarus and guarded by the Hecatoncheires.
-However, some Titans weren't locked up, but were still punished.
-Atlas, for example, had to hold up the earth and sky on his shoulders.
-Zeus then marries his sister Hera and rules over the Olympians (which include the children of Chronus, the children of Zeus and Hera (both whom they had together and with other deities) as their king.
-However, soon there is another between the giants and the Olympians, but the Olympians eventually kill all of them.
-The Titan Prometheus was in charge of creating the people and animals of the earth (had Zeus' daughter Athena's help in creating humans)
-Gave humans the gift of intelligence (from Athena) in order to rule over the animal kingdom. He also gave them the gift of fire. However, humans are "cursed" by being unable to see the future.
-However, this gift of fire pisses off Zeus, so Zeus punishes him by chaining him up to a rock in the Caucuses Mountains and has an eagle come every day to eat his liver (since Prometheus is immortal, he always regenerates)
-Zeus then punishes mankind for using fire by creating the first woman (haha), Pandora, whom each god gave a gift/curse and was then put on earth in order to distract men.
-She was also given a jar (which was mistranslated as "box", which is why we say "Pandora's Box" instead of "Pandora's Jar"). Inside was a bunch of bad shit for mankind, but because one of Pandora's gifts/curses was "curiosity" she ended up opening it and unleashing all the "Ills of Mankind" (Arrogance, Greed, Malice, Pain, Disease, etc.).
-Anyway, Zeus hates mankind and wants to destroy it with a huge flood (sound familiar?).
-However, the son of Prometheus, Deucalion, ends up building an ark/chest with his wife Pyrrha and they shut themselves inside with a bunch of provisions and shit to survive the flood.
-It rains for nine days straight, flooding the earth, and eventually Deucalion and Pyrrha land on top of a mountain, upon which they made a sacrifice to Zeus in order to thank for him for showing them kindness by allowing them to survive.
-Zeus then tells them to repopulate the earth by throwing bones off of the mountain or something (maybe I'll come back to this part).
-Deucalion and Pyrrha also had kids as well whose descendants would go on to be heroes and/or the founders of various tribes, one of whom was Hellen, the mythical founder of the Hellenes (the Ancient Greeks).
-Hellen's kids:
-Aeolous (progenitor of the Aeolians)
-Xuthus (progenitor of the Achaeans and the Ionians)
-Dorus (progenitor of the Dorians)
-The world developed from chaos into an ordered structure through the power of the gods.
-At first there was just chaos, and from chaos came Gaia (Mother Earth), Erebus (Darkness), and Nyx (Night).
-Inside Gaia is a huge chasm named Tartarus.
-From Erebus and Nyx we also get Aether (Air), Hemera (Day) and other primordial deities.
-Gaia produces the god Uranus (AKA Father Sky) and Pontus (Sea).
-Gaia represents the Female, Uranus represents the Male.
-Uranus would rain on Gaia and produce monsters, most notably the powerful Titans.
-Uranus was scared of these monstrous children, so he kept on forcing them back into Gaia's womb.
-This pisses off Gaia (obviously), so she enlists help from their son, the titan Chronos, to teach Uranus a lesson.
-Chronos takes a scythe/sickle and castrates Uranus while he's banging Gaia. As a result, Uranus curses Kronos by saying that his children will do the same to him.
-Anyway, from Ouranos' castrated genitals and the sea comes Aphrodite (goddess of love, sexuality, beauty, etc.). From the blood and earth come the Erinyes (AKA the Furies); giants, and the Meliae (wood nymphs).
-Chronus eventually marries his Titaness sister Rhea (considered to be the mother of all the Olympian deities).
-From them come a new generation of gods and Titans. However, Chronus is like his dad and is scared of his kids (because of the curse), so he starts eating his kids every time they're born.
-However, one day Rhea tricks Chronus and gives him a rock to eat instead of their latest kid, Zeus. Eventually, after Zeus grows up he gets in touch with a Titan named Metis whom Chronus was banging on the side. Metis is fed up with Chronus being such a brute, so she slips him an emetic that causes him to vomit out all of his devoured children- the gods Hades, Poseidon, Demeter, Hestia, and Hera.
-Anyway, then there's a war between the Olympians (Zeus and his siblings who make their home on Mount Olympus) and the Titans (although some Titans end up siding with the Olympians); it lasts for 10 years.
-Zeus also enlists help from the cyclopes and the Hecatoncheires (three super-powerful giants that each had 50 heads and 100 arms), whom had been stuck in Tartarus until Zeus rescued them. Because of his aid, the cyclopes forge thunderbolts for Zeus, a trident for Poseidon, and the "Cap of Invisibility" made out of dog skin for Hades.
-Anyway, the Olympians won, and the enemy Titans were locked up in Tartarus and guarded by the Hecatoncheires.
-However, some Titans weren't locked up, but were still punished.
-Atlas, for example, had to hold up the earth and sky on his shoulders.
-Zeus then marries his sister Hera and rules over the Olympians (which include the children of Chronus, the children of Zeus and Hera (both whom they had together and with other deities) as their king.
-However, soon there is another between the giants and the Olympians, but the Olympians eventually kill all of them.
-The Titan Prometheus was in charge of creating the people and animals of the earth (had Zeus' daughter Athena's help in creating humans)
-Gave humans the gift of intelligence (from Athena) in order to rule over the animal kingdom. He also gave them the gift of fire. However, humans are "cursed" by being unable to see the future.
-However, this gift of fire pisses off Zeus, so Zeus punishes him by chaining him up to a rock in the Caucuses Mountains and has an eagle come every day to eat his liver (since Prometheus is immortal, he always regenerates)
-Zeus then punishes mankind for using fire by creating the first woman (haha), Pandora, whom each god gave a gift/curse and was then put on earth in order to distract men.
-She was also given a jar (which was mistranslated as "box", which is why we say "Pandora's Box" instead of "Pandora's Jar"). Inside was a bunch of bad shit for mankind, but because one of Pandora's gifts/curses was "curiosity" she ended up opening it and unleashing all the "Ills of Mankind" (Arrogance, Greed, Malice, Pain, Disease, etc.).
-Anyway, Zeus hates mankind and wants to destroy it with a huge flood (sound familiar?).
-However, the son of Prometheus, Deucalion, ends up building an ark/chest with his wife Pyrrha and they shut themselves inside with a bunch of provisions and shit to survive the flood.
-It rains for nine days straight, flooding the earth, and eventually Deucalion and Pyrrha land on top of a mountain, upon which they made a sacrifice to Zeus in order to thank for him for showing them kindness by allowing them to survive.
-Zeus then tells them to repopulate the earth by throwing bones off of the mountain or something (maybe I'll come back to this part).
-Deucalion and Pyrrha also had kids as well whose descendants would go on to be heroes and/or the founders of various tribes, one of whom was Hellen, the mythical founder of the Hellenes (the Ancient Greeks).
-Hellen's kids:
-Aeolous (progenitor of the Aeolians)
-Xuthus (progenitor of the Achaeans and the Ionians)
-Dorus (progenitor of the Dorians)
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