GREEK CREATION

Gaia the earth goddess was formed from a raging chaos, which existed before time began.

She gave birth to Uranus, the sky, who covered her completely with his starry mantle. The two of them became the first husband and wife.

They bore many children, most of which were terrible monsters; creatures with 100 arms and the Cyclops, mighty giants with one eye each.

Uranus feared these powerful creations and hid them deep in the earth. This caused Gaia great pain, as she loved her children. She became angry and plotted to destroy her husband.

Finally Gaia gave birth to several gods and goddesses who were not fearful monsters. Among them was Kronos who was strong enough to overthrow Uranus. Gaia made him a sickle fashioned from the hardest rock she knew and gave it to her son with instructions.

Kronos hid in his mother’s shadow until night fell, and Uranus the sky came to earth. When Uranus was resting at last, Kronos sprang from his hiding place and killed his father with one stroke.

Thus Kronos became king of the sky in his father’s place. He married Rhea, an earth goddess, and had many more children.

He created the first race of men, made of gold. This was called the Golden Age, when men didn’t have to work, and there was no suffering or death.

But Kronos was also cruel and feared his children. After each was born he ate it whole with the clothes and all, so he would never be overthrown.

Rhea was horrified by this and with the help of her mother Gaia, managed to give birth to her son Zeus in hiding on the island of Crete.

She gave her husband a stone wrapped in baby clothes, which he ate in one gulp.

Zeus grew quickly to be the most powerful god ever. When he had grown, he returned with an army of Gaia’s monsters and the rest of the gods to overthrow Kronos.

The war was terrible and went on for years and years and years; all the men of the golden age were killed.

Zeus freed his brothers and sisters and built the palace of Olympus, where he ruled the earth, and all gods and men. He then married his sister Hera and they had many children. Zeus had many other women in secret and they had children too; soon the world was filled with other gods.

Eventually Zeus decided to create a second race of men to worship the Olympians; these were made of silver.

The silver men were foolish and had no respect for the gods. This was the Silver Age, in which nothing was sacred- it did not last long.

The irreverent silver men angered Zeus, who hid them away deep in the far corners of the underworld.

To replace them, Zeus created a third race of men. They were made of bronze, and this began the Bronze Age.

The bronze men were aggressive and warlike. They destroyed each other with such venom that Zeus quickly hid these away in the underworld too.

Zeus then made a race of heroes, who were the subjects of most of the countless myths in the Hellenic tradition.

This was the heroic age, and there were many great men and women born of it. When a hero died, he was given a special place in the underworld, called the Blessed Isles, where it is always light and beautiful.

The men of the heroic age, too, passed away and gave rise to men of today.

The race that lives now is the iron race; which is said to be the hardest of all. Men of the Iron Age must toil all their lives and suffer and die. But the iron men are the strongest of all and will survive the Olympian gods.