Children Of Olympus

In Orphic Greek myth, Phanes is the first-born primeval god of creation, light, and life. Hatching from a cosmic egg laid by Time, he has golden wings, a snake's coils, and was androgynous, with both a p*nis and v*gina. He created the universe, served as the first king of the gods, and was later swallowed by Zeus to renew the cosmos.

He is referred to by various names, including Erikepaios "Power" /ˌɛrɪkəˈpiːəs/ (Ancient Greek: Ἠρικαπαῖος/Ἠρικεπαῖος), Metis "Thought" and Protogonos/proʊˈtɒɡənəs/ (Πρωτογόνος'Firstborn').

According to the Athenian scholiast Damascius, Phanes was the first god "expressible and acceptable to human ears" ("πρώτης ητόν τι ἐχούσης καὶ σύμμετρον πρὸς ἀνθρώπων ἀκοάς").Another Orphic Hymn states:

“You scattered the dark mist that lay before your eyes and, flapping your wings, you whirled about, and throughout this world you brought pure light. For this I call you Phanes, I call you Lord Priapos, I call you sparkling with bright eyes.”

The Derveni papyrus refers to Phanes:

also spelled Chronus, is a personification of time in Greek mythology, who is also discussed in pre-Socratic philosophy and later literature.His consort is the goddess Ananke.

Greco-Roman mosaics depicted Chronos as a man turning the zodiac wheel.He is comparable to the deity Aion as a symbol of cyclical time.He is usually portrayed as an old, callous man with a thick grey beard, personifying the destructive and stifling aspects of time.

In the Orphic tradition, the unaging Chronos was "engendered" by "earth and water", and produced Aether, Chaos, and an egg.The egg produced the hermaphroditic god Phanes who gave birth to the first generation of gods and is the ultimate creator of the cosmos.

The primordial goddess of inevitability, compulsion, and necessity. Her name comes from the Greek word anagke, meaning force or constraint. She represents the unchangeable rules of the universe that even the gods must obey.

In Orphic mythology, Ananke is a self-formed being who emerged at the dawn of creation with an incorporeal, serpentine form, her outstretched arms encompassing the cosmos. Ananke and Chronos are mates, mingling together in serpent form as a tie around the universe. Together, they have crushed the primal egg of creation of which constituent parts became earth, heaven and sea to form the ordered universe.Ananke is the mother (or another identity) of Adrasteia, the distributor of rewards and punishments.

In the Orphic Hymns, Ananke is described as the child of Aphrodite.

She is also considered the mother of the Fates(The Moirai) hence she is thought to be the only being to overrule their decisions.

“And there were another three who sat round about at equal intervals, each one on her throne, the Moirai (Moirae, Fates), daughters of Ananke, clad in white vestments with filleted heads, Lakhesis (Lachesis), and Klotho (Clotho), and Atropos (Atropus), who sang in unison with the music of the Seirenes, Lakhesis singing the things that were, Klotho the things that are, and Atropos the things that are to be ... Lakhesis, the maiden daughter of Ananke (Necessity).” - Plato

Hemera was the primordial goddess and personification of day. Daughter of Erebus (Darkness) and Nyx (Night), she spent each morning parting her mother's mists to bring daylight to the earth before returning at evening

In Hesiod's Theogony, Hemera and her brother (husband) Aether were the offspring of Erebus and Nyx.Bacchylides apparently had Hemera as the daughter of Chronus(Time) and Nyx.In the lost epic poem the Titanomachy (late seventh century BC?),Hemera was perhaps the mother, by Aether, of Uranus (Sky). In some rare versions, Hemera was instead the daughter of Helios(the Sun) by an unknown mother.

According to Hesiod's Theogony, Hemera left Tartarus just as Nyx (Night) entered it; when Hemera returned, Nyx left:

“Night and Day passing near greet one another as they cross the great bronze threshold. The one is about to go in and the other is going out the door, and never does the house hold them both inside, but always the one goes out from the house and passes over the earth, while the other in turn remaining inside the house waits for the time of her own departure, until it comes. The one holds much-seeing light for those on the earth, but the other holds Sleep in her hands, the brother of Death—deadly Night, shrouded in murky cloud.”

primordial god and the personification of the bright, pure upper sky and light. He represented the unbreathable, luminous air that the gods lived in and breathed, sitting high above the common air of mortals.

According to Hesiod's Theogony, Aether was the offspring of Erebus and Nyx, and the brother and husband of Hemera.

Erebus is the primordial Greek god of darkness and the personification of shadow and gloom. Born from Chaos, he is both the brother and husband of Nyx (Night), and his dark mists fill the deep parts of the earth and the underworld.

The name "Erebus" is also used to refer either to the darkness of the underworld, the underworld itself, or the region through which souls pass to reach the underworld, and can sometimes be used as a synonym for Tartarus or Hades.

In a number of Greek cosmogonies, Erebus is described as one of the first beings to exist. In Hesiod's Theogony, he is the offspring of Chaos, and the father of Aether and Hemera (Day) by Nyx (Night).

The philosopher Philodemus records that in the work On the Gods by one "Satyros", Erebus is the first of five rulers of the gods, and is succeeded as sovereign by Chaos .According to a hymn by the poet Antagoras (3rd century BC), one of the possible parentages of Eros is Erebus and Night.

She is the goddess of Night.

She is one of the most primordial beings and, in some traditions, even Zeus treats her with special respect.

Nyx is not merely a goddess who happens to rule over night. She is Night personified. She came from Chaos, alongside Erebus (Darkness).

Nyx and Erebus then became partners and have children, Aether (the bright upper) and Hemera (Day).

According to Hesiod, Nyx is the mother of a remarkable collection of personifications—many of which represent frightening or unavoidable aspects of existence.

Some she has without a male partner, which emphasizes her primordial and independent nature.

Nyx produces Moros(Doom, Destiny), Ker (Destruction, Death), Thanatos(Death), Hypnos (Sleep), the Oneiroi (Dreams), Momus(Blame), Oizys (Pain, Distress), the Hesperides, the Moirai (Fates), the Keres, Nemesis (Indignation, Retribution), Apate (Deceit), Philotes (Love), Geras (Old Age), and Eris (Strife).

Legends:

One of the most famous stories involving Nyx comes from Homer's Iliad. Hypnos had once helped Hera deceive Zeus by putting Zeus to sleep. When Zeus discovered what had happened, he became furious and pursued Hypnos. Hypnos fled to Nyx and Zeus, despite his anger, was "in awe of doing anything to swift Night's displeasure"

Hesiod locates the home of Nyx at the far western end of the Earth,though it is unclear whether or not he considered it to be beyond Oceanus, the river which encircles the world.In a (somewhat confused) section of the Theogony, Hesiod seems to locate her home near the entrance to the underworld, and describes it as being "wrapped in dark clouds". He reports that the Titan Atlas, who is holding up the sky, stands outside of the house, and that the homes of two of her children, Hypnos and Thanatos, are situated nearby.He relates that Nyx and her daughter Hemera live in the same dwelling, and that each day they pass one another at the entrance to the house, with one of them leaving and the other one entering; throughout the day, one passes across the Earth, while the other stays inside, waiting for their turn to leave. In her journey over the world, Hesiod describes Nyx as "wrapped in a vaporous cloud", and as holding her son Hypnos in her arms.

Among descriptions of Nyx in 5th century BC tragedy, Euripides, in his play Ion, represents her as being "robed in black", and her chariot as being pulled by two horses.He reports that she prepares her chariot as Heliosfinishes his journey across the sky at the end of the day, and that the stars are her companions in her course through the sky. In a fragment from his Andromeda, he refers to her driving her chariot through Olympus,and in his Orestes, he describes her as having wings,while according to Aeschylus she wears a black robe which is "studded with colourful stars".

Eros (Ἔρως) was the Greek personification and god of love, se*ual desire, attraction, and passionate longing. His name is the origin of the English word “erotic.”

In the oldest Greek traditions, he represents the powerful force of desire that draws beings together.

In Hesiod's Theogony, Eros is one of the primordial beings who exists near the beginning of the cosmos. He isn't presented as Aphrodite's little son. Instead, he is an ancient cosmic power associated with attraction and generation.

In this conception, Eros helps make reproduction and the continuation of life possible.

In later Greek mythology, Eros becomes a much more recognizable young god. He is commonly described as the son of Aphrodite, goddess of love and beauty. His father varies among traditions, with Ares being one of the best-known possibilities.

This Eros is the winged archer who makes gods and mortals fall in love.

His arrows are the most famous symbol of this power. In later artistic tradition, he has different kinds of arrows:

* Golden arrows → inspire love or desire.

* Lead arrows → cause rejection or make someone avoid love.

Even gods can be vulnerable to Eros. Desire isn't something people necessarily choose rationally—it can seize someone unexpectedly.

[Eros and Psyche]

His most famous story is his relationship with Psyche.

This story comes from the Roman writer Apuleius, rather than from the earliest Greek myths.

Psyche was an extraordinarily beautiful mortal woman. Her beauty became so famous that people began admiring her almost like a goddess. This angered Aphrodite, who became jealous.

Aphrodite ordered Eros to make Psyche fall in love with someone terrible. But when Eros approached her, he accidentally fell in love with Psyche himself.

He secretly became her husband, but there was a condition: Psyche was not allowed to look at his face. Eventually, Psyche became curious and secretly looked at him while he slept.

Eros discovered what she had done and left.

Psyche then had to undergo a series of extremely difficult trials imposed by Aphrodite. Eventually, after suffering and demonstrating her devotion, Psyche was transformed into a goddess.

She and Eros were reunited and had a daughter Hedone (pleasure).

[Eros and Dionysus]

The Dionysiaca is a huge Greek epic by Nonnus, probably written in the 5th century CE. Its central subject is Dionysus, his birth, adventures, battles, and eventual triumph.

Eros appears within this world of gods, desire, rivalry, and transformation.

The epic includes stories involving Dionysus's relationships and attractions, and Nonnus is particularly interested in beautiful young men.

One famous example is Ampelus, a beautiful young male companion of Dionysus.

Dionysus becomes deeply attached to Ampelus, and his death causes enormous grief. The story ultimately connects Ampelus with the origin of the grapevine, fitting the transformation-heavy world of Dionysus.

One particularly important feature is that Nonnus treats Eros as a divine force who can manipulate desire.

Ancient Greek writers sometimes described Eros as the force behind male–male love. Philosophers also discussed different forms of love and desire.

For example, Plato's Symposium explores Eros extensively. The speakers discuss different kinds of love, including relationships between men.

Legends:

Eros made two chaste hunting companions of Artemis, Rhodopis and Euthynicus, to fall in love with each other at the behest of his mother Aphrodite, who took offence at them rejecting her domain of love and marriage. Artemis then punished Rhodopis by turning her into a fountain.

Eros and Aphrodite played in a meadow, and had a light competition about which would gather the most flowers. Eros was in the lead thanks to his swift wings, but then a nymph named Peristera ("dove") gathered some flowers herself and handed them over to Aphrodite, making her victorious. Eros turned Peristera into a dove.

Tartarus is one of the earliest beings to exist, alongside Chaos, Gaia and Eros.

Tartarus is both a deity and a place in the underworld but unlike Zeus or Poseidon, Tartarus isn't usually portrayed as a human-like god who interacts with other gods. Instead, he represents the deepest, darkest region of the cosmos itself.

Tartarus was believed to lie far below Hades. It served as a place of imprisonment and punishment.

The Titans defeated by Zeus and the Olympian gods were eventually imprisoned there. Cronus, depending on the mythological tradition, is also associated with imprisonment in Tartarus.

Hesiod describes Gaia and Tartarus as the parents of Typhon.

Typhon was an enormous, serpentine monster who challenged Zeus for control of the cosmos. Zeus eventually defeated him and, in some traditions, buried him beneath Mount Etna.

Virgil describes Tartarus in great detail in the Aeneid, Book VI. He described it as expansive. It is surrounded by three perimeter walls, beyond which flows a flaming river named the Phlegethon. Drinking from the Phlegethon will not kill a mortal and it will heal while causing great pain. To further prevent escape, a hydra with fifty black, gaping jaws sits atop a gate that screeches when opened. They are flanked by adamantine columns, a substance that, like diamond, was believed to be so hard that nothing can cut through it. Inside the walls of Tartarus sits a wide-walled castle with a tall, iron turret. Tisiphone, one of the Erinyes, who represents vengeance, stands sleepless guard at the top of the turret lashing her whip. Roman mythology describes a pit inside extending down into the earth twice as far as the distance from the lands of the living to Olympus. The twin sons of the Titan Aloeus were said to be imprisoned at the bottom of this pit.

Legends:

King Salmoneus was also mentioned to have been imprisoned in Tartarus after passing himself off as Zeus, causing the real Zeus to smite him with a thunderbolt.

Arke is the sister of Iris who sided with the Titans as their messenger goddess. Zeus removed her wings following the gods' victory over the Titans and she was thrown into Tartarus with the Titans.

Gaia emerges after Chaos and represents the Earth. She isn't merely living on Earth—the Earth itself is her divine body or identity.

Hesiod describes Gaia as the broad Earth and says that she becomes the enduring foundation for the gods.

Gaia produces Uranus (Ouranos), the Sky, essentially creating the heavens to surround and cover herself.

She also produces:

* Ourea — the Mountains

* Pontus — the Sea

Afterward, with Uranus,her son, she gave birth to the Titans.

“She lay with Heaven and bore deep-swirling Oceanus, Coeus and Crius and Hyperion and Iapetus, Theia and Rhea, Themis, and Mnemosyneand gold-crowned Phoebe and lovely Tethys. After them was born Cronos (Cronus) the wily, youngest, and most terrible of her children, and he hated his lusty sire.” - Hesiod

Gaia and Uranus also produce the Cyclopes:

* Brontes

* Steropes

* Arges

And the terrifying Hecatoncheires:

* Cottus

* Briareus

* Gyges

The Hecatoncheires are enormous beings with one hundred arms and fifty heads each.

Uranus becomes afraid of some of his children—particularly the Cyclopes and Hecatoncheires—and prevents them from freely existing, keeping them confined within Gaia.

Gaia is furious.

She wants her children freed.

So she devises a plan.

She creates a great sickle and asks her children to rebel against Uranus.

Most are afraid.

But her youngest Titan son, Cronus, agrees.

Gaia gives Cronus the sickle.

When Uranus comes to Gaia, Cronus attacks him and castrates him.

This act causes a massive transformation in the cosmos.

From Uranus's blood that falls upon Gaia arise various beings, including the Erinyes (Furies), Giants, and Meliae in Hesiod's account.

The severed genitals of Uranus are thrown into the sea, and from the resulting foam Aphrodite emerges in Hesiod's famous version.

[Legends]

Diodorus Siculus recounts a legend that Gaia was a human woman named Titaea, one of the wives of Uranus, who in this telling was also originally a human and the first king of Atlantis. According to this story, Titaea was deified after her death and her name changed to "Gê."

According to little-known myth, Elaea was an accomplished athlete from Attica who was killed by her fellow athletes, because they had grown envious of her and her skills; but Gaia turned her into an olive tree as a reward, for Athena's sake. Gaia also turned the young Libanus into rosemary when he was killed by impious people.

Gaia made Aristaeus immortal for the benefits he bestowed upon humanity.

The god Hephaestus once attempted to r*pe Athena, but she pushed him away, causing him to ejaculate on her thigh. Athena wiped off the semen and threw it on the ground, which impregnated Gaia. Gaia then gave birth to Erichthonius of Athens, whom Athena adopted as her own child.

Nonnus describes a similar myth, in which Aphrodite fled from her lustful father Zeus, who was infatuated with her. As Zeus was unable to catch Aphrodite, he gave up and dropped his semen on the ground, which impregnated Gaia. This resulted in the birth of the Cyprian Centaurs.

According to Hesiod, in his lost poem Astronomia, Orion, while hunting with Artemis and her mother Leto, claimed that he would kill every animal on earth. Gaia, angered by his boasting, sent a giant scorpion to kill him, and after his death, he and the scorpion were placed among the stars by Zeus.According to Ovid, Gaia for some reason sent the scorpion to kill Leto instead, and Orion was killed trying to protect her.

When Boreas, the god of the north wind, killed Pitys, an Oread nymph, for rejecting his advances and preferring Pan over him, Gaia pitied the dead girl and transformed her into a pine tree.

Zeus hid Elara, one of his lovers, from Hera by stowing her under the earth. His son by Elara, the giant Tityos, is therefore sometimes said to be a son of Gaia, the earth goddess.

[Gaia and Zeus]

The ancient Greek Χάος (Khaos) meant something closer to a gap, chasm, or yawning space.

In Hesiod's Theogony, Chaos was the first thing to exist: "at first Chaos came to be" ,but next came Gaia, Tartarus, and Eros.

Nyx (Night) and Erebus (Darkness) were born from Chaos.

Hesiod doesn't describe Chaos as a person sitting on a throne.

Instead, Chaos is the primordial opening or chasm from which the ordered cosmos begins to emerge.

There is very little ancient Greek visual art that gives Chaos a standardized human form.

That's partly because Chaos is fundamentally abstract.

Chaos is also mentioned in Aristophanes' comedy Birds (Ornithes), performed in Athens around 414 BCE.

“At the beginning there was only Chaos, Night, dark Erebus, and deep Tartarus. Earth, the air and heaven had no existence. Firstly, blackwinged Night laid a germless egg in the bosom of the infinite deeps of Erebus, and from this, after the revolution of long ages, sprang the graceful Eros with his glittering golden wings, swift as the whirlwinds of the tempest. He mated in deep Tartarus with dark Chaos, winged like himself, and thus hatched forth our race, which was the first to see the light. That of the Immortals did not exist until Eros had brought together all the ingredients of the world, and from their marriage Heaven, Ocean, Earth, and the imperishable race of blessed gods sprang into being. Thus our origin is very much older than that of the dwellers in Olympus. We [birds] are the offspring of Eros; there are a thousand proofs to show it. We have wings and we lend assistance to lovers. How many handsome youths, who had sworn to remain insensible, have opened their thighs because of our power and have yielded themselves to their lovers when almost at the end of their youth, being led away by the gift of a quail, a waterfowl, a goose, or a cock.”

Aristotle, problematizes the interpretation of Hesiod's chaos as 'void' or 'place without anything in it'. Aristotle understands chaos as something that exists independently of bodies and without which no perceptible bodies can exist.

For Ovid, (43 BC – 17/18 AD), in his Metamorphoses, Chaos was an unformed mass, where all the elements were jumbled up together in a "shapeless heap".

“Before the ocean and the earth appeared—before the skies had overspread them all—
the face of Nature in a vast expanse was naught but Chaos uniformly waste.
It was a rude and undeveloped mass, that nothing made except a ponderous weight;
and all discordant elements confused, were there congested in a shapeless heap.”

Hesiod's Theogony, a poem describing the origins and genealogy of the Gods.

We will go back to the beginning and follow the divine generations step by step.

In Hesiod's Theogony, the beginning is not described as the creation of a universe by a single creator God.

Instead, the first primordial beings emerge.

The first is Chaos.

The ancient Greek word khaos is associated with a gaping opening, a void, or a primordial separation.

From this beginning, other primordial powers appear.

Among the earliest are:

* Gaia — Earth

* Tartarus — the deep region beneath the world

* Eros — a primordial power of attraction and generation

Then other primordial beings emerge, including Nyx, Night, and Erebus, Darkness.

The divine world is beginning to take shape.

One of the most important primordial beings is Gaia.

Gaia is not merely a planet floating through space.

She is Earth itself, understood as a divine primordial power.

She brings forth Uranus, the Sky, who becomes her divine counterpart.

Together, Earth and Sky become the parents of an important generation of Gods.

And this is where the story of the Titans begins.

Uranus (Ouranos) represents the Sky.

Gaia and Uranus become parents to several groups of powerful beings.

Among their children are:

The Titans

The twelve great Titans traditionally named are:

Oceanus
Coeus
Crius
Hyperion
Iapetus
Cronus
Theia
Rhea
Themis
Mnemosyne
Phoebe
Tethys

These are not yet the Olympian Gods we usually picture when we hear "Greek Gods."

They belong to an earlier divine generation.

But one of them will eventually change the entire order of the cosmos.

His name is Cronus.

Uranus fears his children and keeps some of them imprisoned within Gaia.

Gaia becomes angry.

She creates a great sickle and asks her children to oppose Uranus.

Cronus accepts.

When Uranus comes to Gaia, Cronus attacks him and overthrows him.

The old divine order falls.

Cronus becomes the ruling power of the cosmos.

But there is a problem.

Cronus learns of a prophecy:

One day, one of his own children will overthrow him.

And Cronus becomes determined to prevent that future.

Cronus marries his sister Rhea.

Together they have several children:

Hestia
Demeter
Hera
Hades
Poseidon
Zeus

But Cronus fears the prophecy.

So whenever Rhea gives birth, Cronus swallows the child.

One by one, his children disappear into him.

Rhea is devastated.

When Zeus is born, however, she decides to save him.

She hides Zeus and gives Cronus a stone wrapped in cloth instead.

Cronus swallows the stone, believing it is the newborn Zeus.

Meanwhile, Zeus is hidden away and raised in secret.

Zeus eventually grows powerful enough to challenge Cronus.

With the help of divine allies, Zeus forces Cronus to release the children he swallowed.

Hestia.

Demeter.

Hera.

Hades.

Poseidon.

The divine family is reunited.

But the struggle is not finished.

The younger Gods now face the Titans.

The great war between the Titans and the younger Gods becomes known as the Titanomachy.

Zeus and his allies fight against Cronus and the Titans for control of the cosmos.

After a tremendous struggle, Zeus and the younger generation prevail.

The old order falls.

The Olympian order begins.

After the victory, Zeus, Poseidon and Hades divide the realms of the cosmos.

Zeus receives the sky.

Poseidon receives the sea.

Hesiod: The Man Who Gave Us One of the Great Genealogies of the Greek Gods

Hesiod lived around 700 BCE, during the Greek Archaic period.

His two most important works are Theogony and Works and Days.

Theogony, The Greek title Theogonia essentially means “generation/birth of the Gods.” The poem describes the divine genealogy beginning with primordial beings and continuing through Gaia, Uranus, the Titans, Cronus, Zeus and the Olympian order. It contains about 1,000 lines of dactylic hexameter.

Works and Days, deals with justice, work, farming, family conflict, morality, religion, the seasons, and appropriate days for activities. Hesiod addresses his brother Perses and gives advice about how to live and work. It also contains famous stories such as Prometheus and Pandora.