The Creation according to Greco-Roman mythology

Author's note: Hello and Happy New Year 2021 have everyone! How have you been on these festivities? I hope you were well, safe and sound at home. The following article was published on Spanish language in Blurt on December 20th, 2020.

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In Theogony, Hesiod narrates that Chaos reigned before the world existed; he describes it as a solid element, the origin of the Universe, the first of everything. From him or, according to Robin Hard (2009), after him arise Gaia (the Earth), Tartarus (the Depths) and Eros ( Desire); it's from Chaos that Erebus and Nyx are born, both shadowy divinities from whose union his grandchildren Hemera (the Day) and Aether (the Luminosity) are born.

As for Gaia, she gives birth to Uranus (the sky) and Pontus (the sea), with whom she begets her fruitful offspring. From her union with Uranus, the Titans and the Cyclopes are born; from her union with Pontus, the creatures of the sea and the Nereids are born.

According to Gordon Cheers (2019), this version of the myth offered by Hesiod is an authentic chiaroscuro. One of the reasons that can be inferred in this regard is that Hesiod did not specify if Chaos was a primordial deity and if there was any conflict prior to the one that Uranus (and later Cronos) maintained with his children. Nor does it mention if Gaia, Tartarus and Eros were already in the universe since the beginning of time or if they were born from Chaos by parthenogenesis.

Despite this detail, and if we read the Theogony carefully, we note that Hesiod presented the brief account of creation as an antecedent to the future events (the mutilation of Uranus, the Titanomachy), focusing mostly on the activities and social relationships of the gods.

In the next post I will address more broadly Uranus and Gaia's myth as well as the rise of Cronus.

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Cited sources (Spanish translations)

• Cheers, Gordon (editor). 2019. Mitología. España. RBA Editorial.
• Hard, Robin. 2009. El gran libro de la mitología griega. España. Editorial La Esfera de los Libros S.L.
• Hesíodo. Teogonía. España. Luarna Editorial. Consultado en: Biblioteca electrónica del Municipio de Ataun, País Vasco.