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.

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. 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. For this purpose she gave Cronos an adamantine sickle, with which he castrated his father, and dethroned him. 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. 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 where they had been before. 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, though, 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 on his side. 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

Gaia: the great mother takes the body. "Den stora modern". Grass sculpture by Lena Lervik, Lund, Sweden 1998.

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 then 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 certain 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, 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.