Before there were the famous Olympic deities and even long before the 12 Titans, there was nothing. The dark empty void was Chaos. Many things began to mysteriously happen. Other entities were born from this void: Night and Erebus. Aristophanes described the next bit as Night being a dark-winged being flying down and laying a wind-born egg in the bosom of Erebus. From this egg Love was born and created Light. Side note about Erebus is that it can be used synonymously with Tartarus but some also believe that it is an entirely separate region in the underworld.
The creation of the Earth and Heavens is disputed by many and at this point my fellow deities are so scattered about that there is no one to ask. But, some believe it was just part of Love and Light coming into being. But it is said that the beautiful earth rose up and the blue heavens formed and closed in all around it. Mother Earth is Gaia. Father Heaven is Uranus. Despite being the first “inhabitants” with life-like personalities, the ancients who told the first stories described them as monsters. Not like monsters we think of in the 21st century but monsters that were like man but also not man-like. We will learn more about how monsters are described a bit later but for now, trust me, they don’t look like Godzilla.
Gaia and Uranus made love and gave birth to the first inhabitants of Earth. Monsters. Cyclops, three of them. I don’t believe I need to describe them but, guess what? Cyclopes had one huge eye in the middle of their forehead and they were larger than mountains. There were also three Hecatonchires born and they were creatures with 50 heads and 100 hands. Uranus despised the children with 50 heads and so banished them to the underworld.
The final children of Gaia, Mother Earth, and Uranus, Father Heaven, would be the end of their reign over the universe. The 12 Greek Titans were born and would start a chain of events that would bring the world the epic stories of mythology we are most familiar with (including those of myself).
Six male Titans (Oceanus, Coeus, Crius, Hyperion, Iapetus and Cronus) and six female Titanesses (Thea, Rhea, Themis, Mnemosyne, Phoebe and Tethys). Most married within the family, as most Greek deities have done to the horror of those who worshiped them. Despite worshiping these incestuous idols, Ancient Greeks did not condone “loving” one’s family member in such a manner.
Oceanus, God of the Great River, married his sister Tethys, Mother of the River gods. Oceanus is described as being the enormous river that encircled the Earth and that all water, salt or fresh, came from this one single source.Oceanus also controlled the heavenly bodies that would rise and set from his waters. Tethys’ influence is restricted to freshwater and underground wells and springs but is often compared with a sea goddess. Together the two would produce numerous water deities, sea nymphs and cloud nymphs. They are also known as having stayed out of the conflict between the Titans and Olympians but some say that they may have even been sympathetic to the Olympians' plight.
Coeus, God of Intelligence and Inquiry, married his sister, Phoebe, Goddess of Shining Intellect. Coeus supported the Northern Pillar of the Heavens. Quick side note: the Pillars of the Heavens are what keeps the sky from crushing us. He also helped three of his brothers hold down their father while he was castrated by Cronus. Phoebe was notable as a prophet and stayed out of the war which spared her from a life in Tartarus with her brother husband.
Crius, God of Heavenly Constellations, married his half-sister, Eurybia, Goddess of the Billowing Winds. Little is known of Crius but that he supported the Southern Pillar of the Heavens and also helped hold Uranus down. Eurybia was an important deity to sailors due to her ability to control the winds and the seas. Their offspring were Crius’ legacy: Astraeus was god of dusk and wind, Pallas was god of war and warcraft, Perses was god of destruction. Pallas and Perses both had a penchant for violence and were quite strong. Neither Crius or Eurybia are mentioned much aside from connecting the family tree branches - which we will not do.
Hyperion, God of Heavenly Light and, married his sister Thea, Goddess of Sight and the Shining Atmosphere. The pair's offspring include Helios, the sun god, Selene, the moon goddess and Eos, Goddess of Dawn. Hyperion is believed to support the Eastern Pillar. Thea is remembered as having a gentle temper, which was a trait valued in ancient Greece. She is also believed as being how precious metals and gems their attractive shine. Their participation in the war is not mentioned.
Iapetus, God of the Moral Life Cycle, did not marry a sister but she was his niece, Oceanid Clymene. They had five children including Atlas, Prometheus and Epimetheus. Iapetus supported the Western Pillar and was very loyal to Cronus, so much so that two of his sons, Atlas being one of them, also sided with Cronus during the war. THIS (because there are honestly too many) Clymene really has no claim to fame other than her foolhardy children.
Cronus, God of Destructive Time, married his sister, Rhea, Goddess of Healing and Childbirth. The two had many children who would be his undoing, including Poseidon, Zeus and Hades. Cronus is the one you are probably most familiar with as a result of his seriously awful reputation. He ruled the universe after he castrated and deposed his old man, with the help of his brothers and mother. Rhea was known to ease labor pains and other illnesses and… for deceiving her husband.
Cronus is most famously known for eating his children after becoming paranoid that they would usurp him after a prophet foretold of his future. In order to prevent her youngest, Zeus, from being eaten, Rhea disguised a stone, known as the Omphalos stone, in swaddling and handed that to Cronus instead. Trusting his wife as she had yet to deceive him, he ate it. She then harbored Zeus in a cave in Crete until he reached young adulthood.
In case we’ve lost count, we have two Titanesses left to discuss. Themis, Goddess of Justice and Counsel is better known to you as Lady Justice. She interpreted the will of the gods and her word and wisdom went unquestioned. As with many of the other Titanesses, she was also known as a prophet. She was also Zeus’ aunt and second wife after he ate his first wife.
Finally, we come to Mnemosyne, Goddess of Memory. Her and Zeus (horny old goat) produced the 9 muses, who we will discuss later. As the goddess of memory she is quite powerful. Those awesome ideas you forget before writing them down? Her fault. It is also said that she oversaw a pool in the Underworld within the river Lethe that the dead would drink from to forget their past lives before returning to earth again.
Incest aside, the Titans were enormous and incredibly strong and powerful and their numerous offspring posed a threat. Grown up Zeus returns, infiltrates Cronus’ inner circle and poisoned him to free his siblings. The Omphalos stone sits in Delphi where they believe Cronus threw it up with his children and is considered to be the center of the universe. He also freed his uncles, the Cyclopes, and the Hecatonchires and started a 10 year war that would end up changing the way things are run around the universe.
The war between the Titans and the soon to be Olympic deities was called the Titanomachy (which is really not important but now you know). We know the Cyclopes, Hecatonchires and a few Titans and their offspring sided with Zeus. The long war ended with Zeus chopping up Cronus, his own father, and then throwing him and the other Titans who participated in favor of Cronus into the depths of Tartarus. The others were reduced to lesser roles and Rhea was allowed to live free.
That is a lot to take in: cannibalism, incest, dismemberment. All just to bring us to our 12 Olympians, not to mention the untold number of lesser deities and epic Heroes.. We are going to forget about keeping track of family trees because they get really messy. In the next chapter, we will close a few holes regarding some of the things we learned about and then we will move on to the creation of humanity.