Greek and Roman Mythology Beginning of the World

Beginning of the World • • Chaos Night & Erebus Night + Erebus Love Light & Day Earth (Gaea) Heaven (Uranus)

Genealogy 1 in Greek Mythology

Uranus and Gaea

Genealogy 2 in Greek Mythology

Family Tree of Gaea and Uranus • Gaea (Mother Earth) + Uranus (Father Heaven): • The Hecatonchires • The Cyclops • The Titans

The Hecatonchires & The Cyclops • Hekatonkheires, hundred-handed, fifty-headed giants • • Briares Cottus Gyges Cyclopes, one-eyed giants • • • Brontes Steropes Arges

Hecatoncheires • Hecatoncheires means "hundred handed. " They were gigantic and had fifty heads and one hundred arms each of great strength. There were three of them: Briareus also called Aegaeon, Cottus, and Gyges, also called Gyes. They were born to Gaea and Uranus. Their mutual hatred of Uranus caused him to force the Hecatoncheires back into Gaea's womb. This precipitated Gaea's rebellion against Uranus. When Cronus came to power he imprisoned the Cyclopes in Tartarus. They were released by Zeus and fought with him against the Titans. They were able to hurl huge boulders as many as a hundred at a time against their opponents. One of them, Briareus, served as Zeus's bodygaurd.

Cyclopes • • The Cyclopes were gigantic one eyed monsters. The most famous is Polyphemus, the Cyclops blinded by Odysseus. Hesiod mentions only three (not a race or tribe): Arges (thunderbolt), Steropes (lightning), and Brontes (thunder), obviously storm Gods. They were born to Gaea and Uranus. They were also the first smiths. When Cronus came to power he imprisoned the Cyclopes in Tartarus. They were released by Zeus and fought with him against the Titans. As a reward for their release the Cyclopes gave Zeus his weapons of lighting and thunder. They continued as his workers at Mount Olympus forging his thunderbolts.

The Titans , the elder gods • In the first generation of twelve Titans, the males were Oceanus, Hyperion, Coeus, Cronus, Crius and Iapetus and the females were Mnemosyne, Tethys, Theia, Phoebe, Rhea and Themis. The second generation of Titans consisted of Hyperion's children Eros, Helios, and Selene; Coeus's daughters Leto and Asteria; Iapetus's sons Atlas, Prometheus, Epimetheus and Menoetius; Oceanus' daughter Metis; and Crius's sons Astraeus, Pallas and Perses.

Rhea, Cronus’ sister-queen

Cronus with a sickle

Castration of Uranus by Cronus

Creatures born from Uranus’ blood -The Giants • The Giants were generated from Uranus’ blood resulting from his castration by Cronus. They became powerful enough to try to unseat Zeus and the Olympians early in their rule. When the Gods won they imprisoned the Giants in Tartarus.

Creatures born from Uranus’ blood -The Furies (Erinyes) • The Furies in Greek and Roman mythology were three daughters of Mother Earth, conceived from the blood of Uranus, when Cronus castrated him. They were powerful divinities that personified conscience and punished crimes against kindred blood, especially matricide. They were usually represented as winged women with serpent hair. Their names were Megaera [jealous], Tisiphone [blood avenger], and Alecto [unceasing in pursuit].

C a s t e r Creatures born from Uranus’ blood -The Furies (Erinyes) o f l o t s A t r o p o s ,

Creature born after Uranus’ castration -Aphrodite • Aphrodite was born from the white foam which spread around Uranus' genitals