Gaia In Ancient Greek Mythology and History

The ancient Greeks have come to be known as the great ‘myth-makers’ of the ancient world; indeed, they gave us our word ‘myth’ which derives from the Greek ‘mythos’ or ‘mythologia’ to refer to the amazing stories of gods, heroes, men and creatures.

When one looks at world mythology, there are always striking similarities between far-flung and nearer cultures. Creation myths are very similar, with one primal deity emerging from chaos in order to start the creation process. For the ancient Greeks, Gaia was one of the very first deities to exist.

There are a few versions as to the birth of Gaia; in one version she simply emerged out of the chaos; another states that she was born from Hydros (also spelt Hydrus), the primeval god of the waters; or that she was born from Aither (light) and Hermera (day), the Protogenes (the primeval gods).

Gaia is the personification of the earth. According to Hesiod, she gave birth to Ouranos (also spelt Uranus), the sky god, to cover her and be a home for later gods. She then gave birth to the mountains who were divine personifications, and Pontus, the mythological personficiation of the sea. This then brought into existence the basic structure of the world, according to Hesiod.

Hesiod described Gaia as “broad-chested, the secure foundation of all forever”. Other poets claimed that she was the ultimate mother and the source of all fertility in nature, thus making her not only the physical embodiment of the earth, but its very essence and power.

When looking at the worship of this goddess, the archaeological record has indicated that her cult could have predated that of the Olympian gods. Before the Olympian gods were widely worshipped, there was a female earth deity known as Tellus who was worshipped in some parts of the Mediterranean who continued to be worshipped even after the establishment of a pantheon of newer gods. It has been suggested that Gaia was the eventual descendant of this early goddess.

In the mythology of ancient Greece, Gaia gave birth to Ouranos who was not only her son, but her husband as well. They had numerous children, many of whom were monstrous in appearance and in character. Their first born children were the Hecatonchires (the Hundred-Handed) - monsters with 100 arms and 50 heads each. The Cyclopes (according to some versions) were next, named Arges (Bright), Brontes (Thunder) and Steropes (Lightning).

Gaia eventually went on to produce many other children but not all were monstrous. It is said that she gave birth to the lovely nymph Daphne, who caught the attention of Apollo. Her most famous children were the twelve Titans who became the first gods of ancient Greece; Oceanus, Tethys, Hyperion, Theia, Themis, Rhea, Mnemosyne, Iapetus, Coeus, Crius, Phoebe and Cronos.

Gaia was integral in the dethronement of her husband. Ouranos had buried their children deep within Gaia’s womb, causing her considerable pain. She encouraged her youngest son, Cronos, to challenge his father when the others refused. She created a sickle from her body and told her son to lay in wait. When Ouranos lowered himself (at night) to make love to his wife, Cronos lashed out with the sickle and castrated his father and became the new ruler of the heavens.

However, Gaia did not fade away into the background like that of her husband. She featured in many myths, including the dethronement of Cronos by his son, Zeus, as well as others. She was still widely worshipped throughout Greece as well as the Near East and there is archaeological evidence of the worship of both her and Zeus together on Crete, Dodona and Sparta.

From looking at and analyzing the mythology concerning the myths and legends of this goddess, we can see that Gaia was the ‘Great Mother’ of the gods; without her there would have been no gods for the ancient Greeks to worship. She was the very foundation of the cosmos and the very foundation of the Greek religious belief system.

Bibliography:

Cotterell, Arthur & Storm, Rachel (1999) The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Mythology, Hermes House, Anness Publishing House.