Creation of the World :: essays research papers

Creation of the WorldIn the beginning there was only chaos. Then away of the void appeared Erebus, the unknowable place where death dwells, and Night All else was empty, silent, endless, darkness. Then somehow spot was born bringing a start of order. From Love came Light and daytime. formerly there was Light and Day, Gaea, the earth appeared. Then Erebus slept with Night, who gave birth to Aether, the heavenly light, and to Day the earthly light. Then Night alone produced Doom, Fate, Death, Sleep, Dreams, Nemesis, and others that come to man out of darkness. Meanwhile Gaea alone gave birth to Uranus, the heavens. Uranus became Gaeas mate covering her on all sides. Together they produced the three genus Cyclopes, the three Hecatoncheires, and twelve Titans. However, Uranus was a forged father and husband. He hated the Hecatoncheires. He imprisoned them by force them into the hidden places of the earth, Gaeas womb. This angered Gaea and she plotted against Uranus. She made a fl int sickle and tried to get her children to attack Uranus. All were too terror-stricken except, the youngest Titan, Cronus. Gaea and Cronus set up an ambush of Uranus as he do with Gaea at night. Cronus grabbed his father and castrated him, with the stone sickle, throwing the severed genital organ into the ocean. The fate of Uranus is not clear. He either died, withdrew from the earth, or exiled himself to Italy. As he departed he promised that Cronus and the Titans would be punished. From his spilt blood came the Giants, the Ash Tree Nymphs, and the Erinyes. From the ocean foam where his genitals fell came Aphrodite. Cronus became the next ruler. He imprisoned the Cyclopes and the Hecatoncheires in Tartarus. He married his sister Rhea, under his rule the Titans had umpteen scorespring. He ruled for many ages. However, Gaea and Uranus both had prophesied that he would be overthrown by a son. To avoid this Cronus swallowed each of his children as they were born. Rhea was livid at the treatment of the children and plotted against Cronus. When it came time to give birth to her sixth child, Rhea hid herself, then she left the child to be raised by nymphs. To conceal her act she wrapped a stone in swaddling cloths and passed it off as the baby to Cronus, who swallowed it. This child was Zeus.