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Figures in the ancient sources

Gaea in the ancient sources

Ancient Sources / Figures / Gaea

14 passages from 3 ancient authors that tell of Gaea, in the original with English translation, author by author in the order the Greeks read them. Gaea was a primal Greek goddess, one of the deities that governed the universe before the Titans. She symbolised the Earth, and was the mother of ever... For the story in one place, read our article on Gaea.

Hesiod (10)

  1. Hesiod, Theogony 100–129Invocation of the Muses; Chaos, Gaia and the first gods (100-129)The proem closes with an invocation: the Muses are asked to tell how the gods and the world first came to be. The cosmogony begins with Chaos, broad-breasted Gaia (Earth), murky Tartarus and Eros, fairest of the gods. Erebus and Night come from Chaos and bear Aether and Day, and Gaia bears Uranus (Heaven) and the hills.
  2. Hesiod, Theogony 130–174Gaia and Uranus: the Titans, Cyclopes and Hundred-Handers (130-174)Gaia bears Pontus, the sea, and then lies with Uranus and bears the twelve Titans, among them Oceanus and Cronus, followed by the three Cyclopes and the three Hundred-Handers. Uranus hates his children and hides them in Gaia's depths, so she groans, plots against him and makes a sickle of grey flint. Only Cronus has the courage to answer her, and she sets him in ambush with the sickle.
  3. Hesiod, Theogony 450–479Rhea and Cronus; the birth of Zeus (450-479)Hecate is made a nurse of the young. Rhea bears Cronus Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades, Poseidon and Zeus, and Cronus swallows each child as it is born, because Gaia and Uranus have told him his own son will overcome him. When she is about to bear Zeus, Rhea asks her parents for a plan, and they send her to Lyctus in Crete, where Gaia receives the child.
  4. Hesiod, Theogony 480–504Zeus hidden in Crete; Cronus vomits up his children (480-504)Gaia takes the infant Zeus to a hidden cave on Mount Aegeum and gives Cronus a great stone wrapped in swaddling clothes, which he swallows. When Zeus is grown, Gaia's counsel tricks Cronus into vomiting up his children, the stone first, which Zeus sets up at Pytho. Zeus also frees his father's brothers, the Cyclopes, who give him thunder and the lightning bolt.
  5. Hesiod, Theogony 175–209Cronus castrates Uranus; the birth of Aphrodite (175-209)Uranus comes to lie with Gaia, and Cronus, waiting in ambush, cuts off his father's genitals with the sickle. From the drops of blood come the Erinyes, the Giants and the ash-tree nymphs, and from the foam round the severed flesh Aphrodite rises and is carried to Cythera and Cyprus, with Eros and Desire as her companions. Uranus calls his sons Titans, because they strained and acted presumptuously.
  6. Hesiod, Theogony 615–649Zeus releases the Hundred-Handers (615-649)Zeus and the gods, at Gaia's advice, bring the Hundred-Handers, Obriareus, Cottus and Gyes, up from the gloom beneath the earth where their father Uranus had bound them. The ten-year war between the Titans on Othrys and the gods on Olympus is evenly balanced, and Zeus feeds the three nectar and ambrosia and asks them to stand with the younger gods against the Titans.
  7. Hesiod, Theogony 700–739The Titans buried; the approach to Tartarus (700-739)The heat of battle seems to bring heaven and earth together, and the Hundred-Handers hurl three hundred rocks at a time at the Titans, overwhelm them and bind them beneath the earth. Hesiod then describes Tartarus, as far beneath the earth as heaven is above it, with its bronze fence and gates, where the Titans lie hidden and the Hundred-Handers stand guard.
  8. Hesiod, Theogony 820–869Zeus and Typhoeus (820-869)Gaia bears her youngest child, Typhoeus, with a hundred snake heads and every kind of voice, and he would have come to rule gods and men had Zeus not noticed. Zeus's thunder shakes heaven and earth, and he strikes the monster down and burns his heads; earth melts in the heat. Typhoeus is hurled to Tartarus, and from him come the harmful winds, except Notus, Boreas and Zephyrus.
  9. Hesiod, Theogony 870–899The winds of Typhoeus; Zeus becomes king and swallows Metis (870-899)Hesiod describes the destructive winds that spring from Typhoeus and wreck ships and fields. When the gods have settled their struggle with the Titans, they press Zeus to reign, and he divides their honours. Zeus's first wife is Metis, the wisest of gods and men; to prevent her bearing a son who would rule over him, he deceives her and puts her inside his own belly.
  10. Hesiod, Works and Days 445–534Ploughing, sowing and the approach of winter (445-534)When the crane cries it is time to plough: Hesiod tells his brother to ready his wagon and oxen, plough in season, pray to Zeus of the Earth and Demeter, and have a slave follow with a mattock to cover the seed. Ploughing at the solstice brings a poor crop, though a late ploughman may still catch up if rain falls after the cuckoo's first call, and the idle man waiting on empty hope is told to build barns while it is summer. The section ends with Boreas, who blows over Thrace, splits oaks and pines and pierces every hide but the fleece of sheep.

Homer (3)

  1. Homer, The Homeric Hymns 3.300–439Hymn 3 to Apollo (4): the she-dragon and the Cretan shipAt Crisa, under Mount Parnassus, Apollo shoots the monstrous she-dragon that has been a plague to men and flocks, and punishes the spring of Telphusa for deceiving him. He then looks for men to serve his temple, sees a ship of Cretans from Cnossos sailing to Pylos, and leaps aboard in the form of a dolphin to steer it to Crisa.
  2. Homer, The Homeric Hymns 20.1–25.7Hymns 20 to 25: Hephaestus, Apollo, Poseidon, Zeus, Hestia and the MusesSix short hymns. Hephaestus taught men crafts, so that they no longer lived in caves like beasts; the swan and the minstrel sing of Apollo; Poseidon tames horses and saves ships; Zeus is the chief of gods; Hestia tends the house of Apollo at Pytho; and the Muses and Apollo are the source of singers, while kings come from Zeus.
  3. Homer, The Homeric Hymns 30.1–33.19Hymns 30 to 33: Earth, Helios, Selene and the DioscuriFour hymns to cosmic and heroic figures. Earth, mother of all, feeds every creature and gives or takes away the means of life, and Helios drives his chariot, the son of Hyperion and Euryphaessa. Selene, the Moon, rides with a radiance that fills the sky, and the Dioscuri, Castor and Polydeuces, are saviours of ships in storms.

Pindar (1)

  1. Pindar, Pythian Odes 9.1–125Pythian 9: for Telesicrates — Cyrene and ApolloPindar praises Telesicrates of Cyrene, victor in the race in armour, and tells how Apollo fell in love with the nymph Cyrene, daughter of Hypseus, who wrestled with lions, and asked Cheiron whether he might take her. Cheiron foretells that Apollo will bring her to Libya, where she will bear Aristaeus, whom Hermes will entrust to Gaia and the Horae. The ode ends with the victories of Telesicrates' family and the stories of Danaüs, who married off his daughters by a race, and of the Libyan bride, the daughter of Antaeus, won in a race.