Mother Earth Gaia
Mother Earth Gaia (or Gaea, or Ge), for the Ancient Greeks, was the goddess of the Earth. More than a goddess, she represented an element or a primordial power.
She was the second being to emerge, after Chaos and right before Eros.
By parthenogenesis, she generated Uranus (Sky, or Heaven, Universe), who was her equal, Pontus (the dead part of the sea) and Ourea.
Uranus then became her husband and together they had many children:
- six Titans: Oceanus, Coeus, Crius, Hyperion, Iapetus, Cronus
- and their six sisters, the Titanids: Mnemosyne, Phoebe, Rhea, Tethys, Theia, Themis
- the Cyclopes (giant, one-eyed creatures): Brontes, Steropes, Arges
- the Hecatonchires (who had a hundred hands and fifty heads each): Cottus, Briareus, Gyges.
But Uranus just could't stand seeing all these monstruous sons, so he forced them to remain hidden in their mother's womb (that is, hidden under earth) or, some say, in the Tartarus.
The goddess Gaia was very sad for the fate of her sons, and the fact she had to carry them all inside her was also a big pain for her. So she gathered the Titans and tried to convince them to help her get rid of their father. Only Cronus agreed, so mother earth Gaia gave him a flint sickle. With it, Cronus mutilated his father, by castrating him.
From the drops of blood fallen on the earth, Gaia became impregnated again and gave birth to the Erinyes (goddesses of vengeance), the Gigantes and the Meliads (nymphs of the ash-trees).
