The Creation II

The Creation II tells how the Greeks believed the world and its gods came to be, following Hesiod’s Theogony: from Chaos and Earth to the rule of Uranus, Cronus and Zeus, and then the story of Prometheus and the first mortals. It is the main ancient account of how the divine order was established.

The Beginning

Hesiod says that first of all Chaos came to be, and next Earth (Gaea), the firm seat of all the immortals who hold Olympus, then misty Tartarus in the depths of the earth, and Eros, the fairest of the deathless gods, who overpowers the mind of gods and men alike (Hesiod, Theogony 116–122). Eros is not a parent in this account but one of the first powers. From Chaos came Erebus and black Night, and from Night, who lay with Erebus in love, were born Aether and Day (Theogony 123–125).

Gaea, without a partner, bore Uranus (Heaven), equal to herself, so that he could cover her on every side and be a secure seat for the blessed gods. She also bore the high mountains, haunts of the nymphs, and the barren sea, Pontus (Theogony 126–132).

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Hesiod's Theogony

The Theogony is the earliest surviving poem to tell the whole story of the gods’ birth. Gaea then lay with Uranus and bore deep-swirling Oceanus, Coeus, Crius, Hyperion, Iapetus, Theia, Rhea, Themis, Mnemosyne, golden-crowned Phoebe and lovely Tethys. Last of them was Cronus of the crooked counsel, the most terrible of her children (Theogony 133–138). These are the twelve Titans. Gaea and Uranus also had the three Cyclopes, Brontes, Steropes and Arges, who made thunder and lightning for Zeus, and three huge sons with a hundred arms each, Cottus, Briareos and Gyges (Theogony 139–153).

A Cruel Father

Uranus hated his children from the start. As each was born he hid it away in a hollow of Earth and would not let it come up into the light, and he took pleasure in this wicked work. Gaea, crushed within, groaned and made a great sickle of grey adamant. She asked her sons to punish their father, but all of them were afraid except Cronus, who agreed to do it (Theogony 154–172).

Gaea hid him in ambush and put the sickle in his hand. When Uranus came, bringing night and spreading himself over Earth in desire, Cronus reached out with his left hand, seized his father with his right, cut off his genitals and threw them behind him into the sea (Theogony 173–182). The drops of blood that fell on Earth produced the Erinyes, the great Giants in shining armour, and the Meliai, the ash-tree nymphs (Theogony 183–187). White foam gathered round the severed flesh in the sea, and from it grew Aphrodite, who came ashore first at Cythera and then at Cyprus (Theogony 188–200).

Cronus the new leader

Cronus took his father’s place as ruler of the gods. In Hesiod the Cyclopes stay in bonds under his rule (Theogony 501–502), and the Hundred-handers dwell in pain beneath the earth (Theogony 617–623). Apollodorus says that Cronus bound them again, shut them up in Tartarus, and then married his sister Rhea (Apollodorus, Library 1.1.5).

Earth and Heaven had told Cronus that he would be overthrown by one of his own sons. Rhea bore him Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades and Poseidon, and as each child came from the womb he swallowed it, so that no other of the heavenly gods would hold the kingship (Theogony 453–467).

The Great Zeus

When Rhea was about to bear Zeus, her youngest child, she asked Earth and Heaven for a plan. They sent her to Lyktos in Crete, where Gaea took the baby and hid him in a steep cave under Mount Aigaion (Theogony 477–484). Rhea wrapped a great stone in swaddling clothes and gave it to Cronus, who swallowed it without noticing (Theogony 485–491). Apollodorus names the cave on Mount Dicte, and says the nymphs Adrasteia and Ida fed the child on the milk of the goat Amalthea while the Curetes clashed their weapons around the cave so that Cronus would not hear him cry (Apollodorus, Library 1.1.6–7).

When Zeus had grown strong, Earth’s clever advice tricked Cronus into bringing up his offspring again, and the stone came out first. Zeus set it up at Pytho, below Mount Parnassus, as a sign for mortals (Theogony 492–500). In Apollodorus it is Metis, daughter of Oceanus, who gives Cronus the drug that makes him vomit the children (Library 1.2.1).

Zeus freed the Cyclopes, his father’s brothers, who thanked him with thunder, lightning and the thunderbolt (Theogony 501–506). With his brothers and sisters, and with the Hundred-handers whom Earth advised him to bring back to the light, Zeus fought the Titans for ten years in the war called the Titanomachy (Theogony 617–638). The Titans were defeated and thrown into Tartarus, with the Hundred-handers as their guards (Theogony 717–735). Zeus and his brothers then cast lots for the three realms: Zeus took the sky, Poseidon the sea and Hades the dark underworld, while earth and Olympus remained common to all (Homer, Iliad 15.187–193). Urged on by Earth, the gods asked Zeus to be their king, and he divided the honours among them (Theogony 881–885).

The Human Race

Hesiod does not describe the making of the first humans. He says only that gods and mortal men have the same origin (Hesiod, Works and Days 108), and that when gods and men were settling their rights at Mecone, Prometheus divided an ox and tried to deceive Zeus (Theogony 535–557). In Apollodorus, Prometheus moulded men out of water and earth (Library 1.7.1). Prometheus was a son of the Titan Iapetus and Clymene, and brother of Atlas, Menoetius and Epimetheus (Theogony 507–511).

Fire and Reason

The story that Epimetheus gave out the gifts is told by Plato. In his Protagoras, the gods shaped mortal creatures out of earth and fire, and then charged Prometheus and Epimetheus with equipping them. Epimetheus asked to do the distribution himself and handed out strength, speed, fur, hooves and other protections to the animals, but used them up before he reached humans, who were left naked and unarmed. Prometheus then stole the fiery craft of Hephaestus and the skill of Athena, with fire, and gave them to humans (Plato, Protagoras 320c–322a).

In Hesiod the theft is of fire alone. Zeus had hidden fire from humans because of the trick at Mecone, and Prometheus stole it back, carrying it in a hollow fennel stalk (Theogony 563–567; Works and Days 47–50). Apollodorus says the same, adding that Prometheus did it without Zeus’ knowledge (Library 1.7.1).

Prometheus' Punishment

Zeus was angry and punished both Prometheus and mankind. In Hesiod he bound Prometheus with unbreakable chains round a pillar and sent a long-winged eagle to eat his immortal liver, which grew back as much each night as the eagle had eaten in the day. Heracles killed the eagle and freed Prometheus, with the consent of Zeus, who wanted his son’s fame on earth to grow (Theogony 521–534). Apollodorus places the chaining on Mount Caucasus and says Hephaestus nailed him there (Library 1.7.1; the release is told at 2.5.11). Hyginus says that Mercury chained him to a rock on the Caucasus and that Heracles killed the eagle after thirty years (Hyginus, Fabulae 144).

For mankind, Zeus ordered Hephaestus to mould a woman from earth and water, in the likeness of a modest maiden, and the gods gave her gifts: she was Pandora. Epimetheus accepted her, though Prometheus had told him never to take a gift from Zeus, and she took the lid off a great jar and scattered troubles among mankind; only Hope stayed inside (Theogony 570–590; Works and Days 59–105).

The Olympians

The gods who took power under Zeus are called the Olympians, because they live on Olympus. Homer describes it as the secure seat of the gods, never shaken by wind, wet by rain or touched by snow (Homer, Odyssey 6.42–46). After the defeat of the Titans, Zeus married several goddesses in turn. Hesiod lists Metis, Themis, Eurynome, Demeter, Mnemosyne, Leto and finally Hera (Theogony 886–929). From his own head he brought forth Athena, after swallowing Metis, and Hera bore Hephaestus without Zeus (Theogony 924–929). Themis bore the Seasons and the Fates (Theogony 901–906), and Eurynome bore the three Graces, Aglaea, Euphrosyne and Thalia (Theogony 907–909).

Gods like Humans

In the poems of Homer and Hesiod the gods are immortal but behave much like people: they marry, quarrel, take sides and have children, including with mortals, as Zeus did with Alcmene, who bore him Heracles (Theogony 943–944). Each god has a share of honours, and Zeus holds the highest rule (Theogony 881–885).

Hesiod also tells how the generations of people came after the gods: a golden race first, then silver, bronze, a race of heroes, and finally the present iron race (Works and Days 109–201). The Ages of Man has its own page.