From the ancient Greek language, Gaia is the "land".She is considered the daughter of Ether and Hemera, the mother of everything living and growing on her. Sometimes this ancient Greek goddess is called Chthonia. She spawned many creatures, among which were the titans, giants and other monsters.
Gaia in mythology
Gaia is the mighty goddess in ancient Greekmythology, which personified the earth. It arose after Chaos and gave birth to everything - the sky, mountains, seas, gods, people. At the same time, she was the sister of Uranus (Heaven) and Tartarus (lord of the abyss in the underworld). Together with them, she gave birth to many children, which will be discussed later. According to another version, Gaia gave birth to Uranus, and after his accession to the world, she became a companion and created for him twelve descendants: the titans, three giants with one eye, three giants with five heads and a hundred hands.
Mother loved her children very much, unlike Uranus.Once, Gaia called on the titans to rebel against their father and deprive him of their power. So they could become free and come out of the abyss. This was decided by Kronos, who declared himself the ruler of the world.
Воспользовавшись кровью изувеченного Урана, the goddess gave birth to powerful giants who are known for their war with the Olympic gods. After the defeat of the giants Zeus sharpened them in Tartarus. There is a myth that Heracles helped the Olympic gods to defeat the giants.
Gaia converged with Tartarus to spawn Typhon, a terrible monster with dragon heads who was supposed to defeat Zeus. But Typhon was overthrown and sent to Tartarus.
All ideas about the goddess are drawn mainly from the works of Homer "Iliad", "Odyssey" and "Theogony" by Hesiod.
Goddess appearance
What did the goddess of earth, Gaia, look like?the ancient Greeks? Images of the goddess is not known much. This is due to the fact that churches were not erected in her honor, only in rare cases did altars be created. She was portrayed as a woman with a majestic look.
Similar to other cultures
In Roman mythology, which is very similar toancient Greek, existed its own Gaia - this is Tellus. She represented the earth giving life. At the same time, Tellus was also the grave for all that lost life. It can also be compared with the ancient Greek Demeter, which was responsible for fertility and agriculture.
In Slavic mythology, it was Mother - Cheese Land. It is believed that she was the wife of Heaven (the God of Thunder), who covered the earth with moisture (rain), as a result of which she gave a harvest.
Goddess satellites
Since its inception, the Greek goddess of earth, Gaea, has given birth to all life. She had many sons from different gods.
Satellites Gays who became fathers of her children:
- Ether is the deity of the upper layer of the sky, in whichother gods lived. He is considered the son of underground darkness and night darkness. The partners created Pont, who in mythology personified the inland sea. Some sources indicated that Gaia created Pont herself.
- Понт – божество предолимпийского периода.With him, the goddess gave birth to Tavmanta (god of sea monsters), Forkis (god of wonders and stormy sea), Keto (goddess of the sea depths), Nerea (god of the water element), Evribia (goddess of sea power).
- Uranus is the personification of the sky.
- Tartar - the deepest abyss, which is locatedunder the world of Hades. Together with the goddess, they created the giants Typhon (the giant personifying the fiery force of the earth), Python (the dragon), Dolphin (half-woman-half-beast).
- Hephaestus - the personification of fire, the patron saint of blacksmiths.
- Посейдон – бог, который управлял морями, earthquakes and engaged in horse breeding. Together with Zeus and Hades is considered one of the main Olympians. Together with Gaia, he became the father of Antheus, a giant who replenished his strength from contact with the earth. He was a king, and all foreigners offered a battle, at the end of which he killed the loser. Of the skulls of the defeated, he built the temple to his father. Once he was defeated and killed by Hercules, who in a struggle raised Anthea above the ground and broke his back.
Different sources interpret the marital relationship between these characters in different ways, therefore other variants of their relationship are possible.
Descendants of Gay and Uranus
Gaia is not just the goddess of the earth, she became the mother of everything. She had many children, some of whom she gave birth to with Uranus.
Joint children:
- Hekatonheira - brothers-giants, who had a hundred hands. Their names were Briarey, Cott, Gyes. It was their father who was afraid of them, and therefore he chained them soon after birth in the bowels of the earth.
- The Cyclopes are the one-eyed giant brothers with the names Arg (Shining), Bront (Thunder), Sterop (Shining). Initially, they were bound and thrown into Tartarus by their father, and later Kronos did the same to them.
- Titans are twelve gods, six feminine andmale. They married each other and created a new generation of gods, such as Prometheus, Leto and others. The youngest of the sons, Kronos, overthrew his father, and later, along with his sister Rhea, fathered Zeus.
- Erinias were generated by the earth from the blood of Uranus, were the goddesses of vengeance. Their number varies depending on the source. They pursued the criminals, plunging them into insanity.
Descendants of Gay and Hephaestus
The sons of the goddess Gay and Hephaestus:
- Kekrops is the hero and founder of Attica. He was represented as a man with a serpentine torso without legs. It is believed that he established a marriage between men and women.
- Erihtoni is the king of Athens (the son of the goddess of earth, Gaia), who was born when Hephaestus shed his seed, and it fell into the earth. Like Kekrops, he had the body of a snake. He was raised by Athena in her temple.
There are in mythology and children of Gaia, which she created independently, for example, the giant Argus.
