Author
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Topic: Mythology Series Part I - Gaia and the Titans
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NickiG Moderator Posts: 3712 From: Pluto, next to Ami Ann Registered: Jul 2010
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posted June 19, 2011 05:12 PM
Gaia was the mother of the titans, she was also known as mother earth and mother gaia. Her roman counterpart is Terra.Gaia mated with her son, Uranus, to create the other titans such as Cronus, Oceanus, Phoebe, and Theia, to name a few. She was also the mother of the cyclops, Brontes "thunder", Steropes "lightening" and Arges "bright", and the muses Mneme, Melete, and Aoide quote: Hesiod's Theogony (116ff) tells how, after Chaos, arose broad-breasted Gaia, the everlasting foundation of the gods of Olympus. She brought forth Uranus, the starry sky, her equal, to cover her, the hills (Ourea), and the fruitless deep of the Sea, Pontus, "without sweet union of love," out of her own self through parthenogenesis. But afterwards, as Hesiod tells it, she lay with her son, Uranus, and bore the world-ocean god Oceanus, Coeus and Crius and the Titans Hyperion and Iapetus, Theia and Rhea, Themis, Mnemosyne, and Phoebe of the golden crown, and lovely Tethys. After them was born Cronus the wily, youngest and most terrible of her children, and he hated his lusty sire. Hesiod mentions Gaia's further offspring conceived with Uranus: first the giant one-eyed Cyclopes: Brontes ("thunderer"), Steropes ("lightning") and the "bright" Arges: "Strength and might and craft were in their works." Then he adds the three terrible hundred-handed sons of Earth and Heaven, the Hecatonchires: Cottus, Briareos and Gyges, each with fifty heads. Uranus hid the Hecatonchires and the Cyclopes in Tartarus so that they would not see the light, rejoicing in this evil doing. This caused pain to Gaia (Tartarus was her bowels) so she created grey flint (or adamantine) and shaped a great flint sickle, gathering together Cronus and his brothers to ask them to obey her. Only Cronus, the youngest, had the daring to take the flint sickle she made, and castrate his father as he approached Gaia to have intercourse with her. And from the drops of blood and semen, Gaia brought forth still more progeny, the strong Erinyes and the armoured Gigantes and the ash-tree Nymphs called the Meliae. From the testicles of Uranus in the sea came forth Aphrodite. After Uranus's castration, Gaia, by Tartarus, gave birth to Echidna (by some accounts) and Typhon. By her son Pontus (god of the sea), Gaia birthed the sea-deities Nereus, Thaumas, Phorcys, Ceto, and Eurybia. Aergia, a goddess of sloth and laziness, is the daughter of Aether and Gaia. Tellus Mater, a Roman counterpart of Gaia, steps out of her chariot - detail of a sarcophagus in the Glyptothek, Munich Zeus hid Elara, one of his lovers, from Hera by hiding 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 is believed by some sources[20] to be the original deity behind the Oracle at Delphi. Depending on the source, Gaia passed her powers on to Poseidon, Apollo or Themis. Apollo is the best-known as the oracle power behind Delphi, long established by the time of Homer, having killed Gaia's child Python there and usurped the chthonic power. Hera punished Apollo for this by sending him to King Admetus as a shepherd for nine years. In classical art Gaia was represented in one of two ways. In Athenian vase painting she was shown as a matronly woman only half risen from the earth, often in the act of handing the baby Erichthonius (a future king of Athens) to Athena to foster (see example below). In mosaic representations, she appears as a woman reclining upon the earth surrounded by a host of Carpi, infant gods of the fruits of the earth (see example below under Interpretations). Gaia also made Aristaeus immortal. Oaths sworn in the name of Gaia, in ancient Greece, were considered the most binding of all.
In a nutshell, Gaia is our mother, our creator, and for those who believe in both a mother and a father, she is the female counterpart to God ------------------ What happens on Venus stays on Venus -Nasa IP: Logged |
sunshine9 Moderator Posts: 358 From: Durham, NC, US Registered: Apr 2009
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posted June 21, 2011 12:59 AM
Thank you for the information, NickiG! It's strange though, about Gaia & her son.. I never knew! What do you think she would represent in a chart? IP: Logged |
Venus Moderator Posts: 253 From: Beirut Registered: Mar 2011
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posted June 21, 2011 02:39 AM
it is weird about Gaia and Uranus, especially since the Greek gods hated incest and punished those who did it, like Oedipus who's incest had cast a curse over the whole city..IP: Logged | |