Many different religions and mythologies have different versions of a very important story: how the Earth was made. The story is told from many different cultural perspectives, and one such culture that has an opinion on how the everything came to be is the Greeks. Below you will find their story about how the world was made!
The creATION OF THE eARTH, gODS, AND hUMANS
The story of how the Greeks thought the World came to be all began with...nothing. This nothing was called Chaos. From Chaos came three new things; light, darkness, and Gaea (she was a sort of "Mother Earth"). Gaea not only represented the Earth, but she was also literally the Earth itself. After she became the earth, Gaea had a son, named Ouranos. He took after his mother in a way, becoming the Sky.
Ouranos and Gaea eventually became married and had many children together. The first group of children they had were the Cyclopes and the Hundred-Handed Ones, all big and strong creatures. Once Ouranos saw his children, he thought they looked gross and so he decided to send them back into Gaea's womb. This burdened Gaea and angered her greatly. After this, Gaea and Ouranos had more children. This group of children was known as the Titans.
There were twelve of them, and once Gaea had these children and showed them to her husband Ouranos, he was once again displeased. Furious and vengeful, Gaea created the first scythe, a crescent moon-shaped weapon, and then she gave it to her son Kronos. When Gaea was distracting Ouranos, Kronos surprised him and cut him into many pieces, thus bringing Ouranos' life to an end. After this, Gaea went into a dormant sleep and left the ruling of the World to her children.
Kronos married one of his sisters, Rhea, and they had many children together. Like his father Ouranos, Kronos did not like his children. There was a prophecy that one of Kronos' children would one day overthrow him, and so in an effort to avoid this, Kronos ate every child that Rhea bore. Kronos ate the gods and goddesses Hera, Hestia, Demeter, Hades, and Posiden. After her first five children were devoured, Rhea became angry and decided to trick her husband Kronos. When she had Zeus, her sixth child, she gave Kronos a rock instead of Zeus. Kronos ate the rock, thinking it was Zeus.
After this, Rhea sent Zeus away to be trained so he could one day return and overtake his father. Zeus, of course, did just that! Many years later, Zeus came back and defeated his father Kronos in the war of the Olympians and the Titans. During this war, all the Titans were destroyed and Gaea was put into a deep sleep, so she could not bother the new gods and goddesses again. Zeus freed his five siblings that Kronos had eaten, and then they all came down to earth, where they ruled for ages and ages.
Once the gods had defeated most of the Titans, they found that two of the Titans, Prometheus and Epimethius had been loyal to the gods and didn't fight against them during the war of the Olympians and the Titans. Because of this, the gods allowed them to stay where they were after the war instead of sending them to Tartarus with their defeated siblings. They were given one task: to create man. Prometheus began to shape the man out of mud, and then Athena breathed the breath of life into the new creation's lungs. As a gift to the man, they decided to allow him to walk upright like the gods, so that man would be the creature most like the gods. This is how man was created, and afterwards they would go on in Greek history as the greatest creation of the gods.
So, now you know some information about how the Greeks believed the World was created, and also how humans came to be according to them! It is a very long story, but also very interesting!
Ouranos and Gaea eventually became married and had many children together. The first group of children they had were the Cyclopes and the Hundred-Handed Ones, all big and strong creatures. Once Ouranos saw his children, he thought they looked gross and so he decided to send them back into Gaea's womb. This burdened Gaea and angered her greatly. After this, Gaea and Ouranos had more children. This group of children was known as the Titans.
There were twelve of them, and once Gaea had these children and showed them to her husband Ouranos, he was once again displeased. Furious and vengeful, Gaea created the first scythe, a crescent moon-shaped weapon, and then she gave it to her son Kronos. When Gaea was distracting Ouranos, Kronos surprised him and cut him into many pieces, thus bringing Ouranos' life to an end. After this, Gaea went into a dormant sleep and left the ruling of the World to her children.
Kronos married one of his sisters, Rhea, and they had many children together. Like his father Ouranos, Kronos did not like his children. There was a prophecy that one of Kronos' children would one day overthrow him, and so in an effort to avoid this, Kronos ate every child that Rhea bore. Kronos ate the gods and goddesses Hera, Hestia, Demeter, Hades, and Posiden. After her first five children were devoured, Rhea became angry and decided to trick her husband Kronos. When she had Zeus, her sixth child, she gave Kronos a rock instead of Zeus. Kronos ate the rock, thinking it was Zeus.
After this, Rhea sent Zeus away to be trained so he could one day return and overtake his father. Zeus, of course, did just that! Many years later, Zeus came back and defeated his father Kronos in the war of the Olympians and the Titans. During this war, all the Titans were destroyed and Gaea was put into a deep sleep, so she could not bother the new gods and goddesses again. Zeus freed his five siblings that Kronos had eaten, and then they all came down to earth, where they ruled for ages and ages.
Once the gods had defeated most of the Titans, they found that two of the Titans, Prometheus and Epimethius had been loyal to the gods and didn't fight against them during the war of the Olympians and the Titans. Because of this, the gods allowed them to stay where they were after the war instead of sending them to Tartarus with their defeated siblings. They were given one task: to create man. Prometheus began to shape the man out of mud, and then Athena breathed the breath of life into the new creation's lungs. As a gift to the man, they decided to allow him to walk upright like the gods, so that man would be the creature most like the gods. This is how man was created, and afterwards they would go on in Greek history as the greatest creation of the gods.
So, now you know some information about how the Greeks believed the World was created, and also how humans came to be according to them! It is a very long story, but also very interesting!