Gaia and Uranus

The Story

Once Gaia, the Earth, had emerged, she began to generate the great structures of the world.

Among those she brought forth was Uranus, the starry Sky. He stretched over Gaia and became both her counterpart and her consort. Their union produced one of the most important generations in Greek mythology.

Gaia and Uranus became parents of the Titans. Among them were Oceanus and Tethys, Hyperion and Theia, Coeus and Phoebe, Crius, Iapetus, Themis, Mnemosyne, and finally Cronus and Rhea.

Their descendants would eventually include the Sun, Moon and Dawn, Prometheus, Atlas, and ultimately the Olympian gods themselves.

But Gaia and Uranus also produced other formidable children. Ancient tradition includes the Cyclopes and the hundred-handed beings usually called the Hecatoncheires among their offspring.

Uranus feared or hated some of these children and prevented them from freely emerging into the world. Gaia suffered beneath the weight of this confinement and began to resent Uranus.

The first divine family had therefore already become a source of conflict.

The pattern would repeat throughout Greek mythology: one generation rules, fears its descendants, attempts to prevent its own overthrow, and ultimately creates the very rebellion it fears.

Gaia would soon turn to her children for help, and one of the youngest Titans, Cronus, would answer her call.