Gaia is the Earth. She is the offspring of Chaos or comes into being
after it.
Gaia appears
The first to exist was Chaos, a void of
unexplained origin. After Chaos, Gaia appeared,
whether she was the offspring of Chaos or not, and also Eros, through whom the
whole Cosmos came to be; for the world is not
created, but procreated through Love and intercourse.
Birth of Uranus
Then Gaia bore Uranus (Sky, or Heaven), as an equal to herself; for as
the gods have in her a sure standing-place, they
have, in Uranus, a secure
resting place. This is why Heaven and Earth, though
being different, are equal.
And after Uranus, she
brought forth, by herself, the MOUNTAINS and
Pontus, the sea.
Her mate
But she gave birth to Uranus, so that he would
cover her all over; so laying with him, she bore
the TITANS, the CYCLOPES, and the HECATONCHEIRES.
However, Uranus,
hating his offspring, hid some or many of them away
in a secret place on earth, or as some say, cast
them into Tartarus, which is a gloomy place in the Underworld as far
from Earth as Earth is from Heaven.
Gaia behind Cronos'
coup d'état
And since it seems to be written in the fate of
stern tyrants that they will be conspired against, Gaia, grieved at the
destruction of her children, and being strained and
stretched inside her (where the children were
hidden), addressed the TITANS, persuading them
to attack their father. To help this purpose, she
gave Cronos an adamantine
sickle, with which he castrated his father, and
dethroned him.
Cronos new ruler
When the TITANS had
deposed Uranus, the
latter prophesied that vengeance for the terrible
deed they had performed would come afterwards. The TITANS then liberated
their brethren, who had been hurled down to Tartarus, and Cronos became the second
ruler of the universe.
Cronos' rule as good
as his father's
Being in power, however, Cronos started seeing
things much as his predecessor, and soon he again
bound and shut the CYCLOPES and the HECATONCHEIRES up
in the same dark depth. And since both Gaia and Uranus foretold to their
son that he would dethroned by his own son, Cronos began to swallow
his offspring at birth, in an attempt to escape
fate.
Gaia foretells victory to Zeus
Such attempts are vain; and Rhea 1 (Cronos' wife), tired of
being so often pregnant yet never a mother,
deceived her husband by wrapping a stone in
clothes, and giving it to him to swallow, as if it
were the newborn child Zeus.
When Zeus grew up, he
and the gods waged war against the TITANS for ten years. It
was then that Gaia prophesied victory to Zeus if he would have the CYCLOPES and the HECATONCHEIRES to
help him. And he, taking them as allies, dethroned Cronos, and shut the TITANS up in Tartarus,
appointing the HECATONCHEIRES as
their guards.
Gaia angry at the gods
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Gaia: the
great mother takes the body
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Yet some have said that Gaia was vexed because
the OLYMPIANS had
defeated the TITANS, and
that this was the reason why she gave birth to GIANTS who attacked
heaven [see also Gigantomachy]. They
add that when the OLYMPIANS had overcome
the GIANTS, Gaia, still
more enraged, had intercourse with Tartarus, giving
birth to Typhon 1; this was a hybrid creature,
between man and beast, who in size and strength
surpassed all her offspring [for the attack of
Typhon 1 against heaven see Zeus].
The gods can cope with such beasts. But when Orion boasted that he was
able to kill anything the earth produced, Gaia,
angered at this boast, sent the Scorpion (now among
the CONSTELLATIONS)
that killed him.
Prophetic powers
According to a Pythian priestess, the first to
have prophetic powers was Gaia, who appointed
Daphnis 4, a Mountain Nymph (Oread), as prophetess
at Delphi. It is said
that Gaia was succeeded at this oracle by Themis, and the latter by
the Titaness Phoebe 1, who finally ceded her seat
to Phoebus Apollo, who
was surnamed after her.
It was Gaia (along with Uranus) who told Zeus that Metis 1, after
giving birth to the maiden who was in her womb,
would bear a son fated to become the lord of
heaven. The god then, listening to that prophetic
warning, swallowed the goddess with whom he had
intercourse so that, having her in his belly, she
should advise him in good and evil plans.
Zeus takes the soul of
man and Gaia his body
Concerning the soul and body of man, this has
been told:
Cura fashioned a man out of mud, and asked Zeus to give him life. The
god granted his request, but forbade her to call
man after herself, as she wished. When Zeus wanted to call him
after himself, however, Gaia said it should have
hers, since it was made out of her own body. Cronos then decided the
dispute, letting Zeus take
the soul, and Gaia the body, after death. Cura,
since she first fashioned him, would possess him as
long as he lived. His name would be Homo, since he
was made from humus.
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