Hesiod · Theogony Θεογονία

Hesiod, Theogony 130–174: Gaia 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.

Lines 130–174 · 422 words · click a number to copy its link
130Νυμφέων, αἳ ναίουσιν ἀνʼ οὔρεα βησσήεντα. ἣ δὲ καὶ ἀτρύγετον πέλαγος τέκεν, οἴδματι θυῖον, Πόντον, ἄτερ φιλότητος ἐφιμέρου· αὐτὰρ ἔπειτα Οὐρανῷ εὐνηθεῖσα τέκʼ Ὠκεανὸν βαθυδίνην, Κοῖόν τε Κρῖόν θʼ Ὑπερίονά τʼ Ἰαπετόν τε

She bore also the fruitless deep with his raging swell, Pontus, without sweet union of love. But afterwards she lay with Heaven and bore deep-swirling Oceanus, Coeus and Crius and Hyperion and Iapetus,

135Θείαν τε Ῥείαν τε Θέμιν τε Μνημοσύνην τε Φοίβην τε χρυσοστέφανον Τηθύν τʼ ἐρατεινήν. τοὺς δὲ μέθʼ ὁπλότατος γένετο Κρόνος ἀγκυλομήτης, δεινότατος παίδων· θαλερὸν δʼ ἤχθηρε τοκῆα. γείνατο δʼ αὖ Κύκλωπας ὑπέρβιον ἦτορ ἔχοντας, 140Βρόντην τε Στερόπην τε καὶ Ἄργην ὀβριμόθυμον, οἳ Ζηνὶ βροντήν τε δόσαν τεῦξάν τε κεραυνόν. οἳ δή τοι τὰ μὲν ἄλλα θεοῖς ἐναλίγκιοι ἦσαν, μοῦνος δʼ ὀφθαλμὸς μέσσῳ ἐνέκειτο μετώπῳ. Κύκλωπες δʼ ὄνομʼ ἦσαν ἐπώνυμον, οὕνεκʼ ἄρα σφέων 145κυκλοτερὴς ὀφθαλμὸς ἕεις ἐνέκειτο μετώπῳ· ἰσχὺς δʼ ἠδὲ βίη καὶ μηχαναὶ ἦσαν ἐπʼ ἔργοις. ἄλλοι δʼ αὖ Γαίης τε καὶ Οὐρανοῦ ἐξεγένοντο τρεῖς παῖδες μεγάλοι τε καὶ ὄβριμοι, οὐκ ὀνομαστοί, Κόττος τε Βριάρεώς τε Γύης θʼ, ὑπερήφανα τέκνα. 150τῶν ἑκατὸν μὲν χεῖρες ἀπʼ ὤμων ἀίσσοντο, ἄπλαστοι, κεφαλαὶ δὲ ἑκάστῳ πεντήκοντα ἐξ ὤμων ἐπέφυκον ἐπὶ στιβαροῖσι μέλεσσιν· ἰσχὺς δʼ ἄπλητος κρατερὴ μεγάλῳ ἐπὶ εἴδει. ὅσσοι γὰρ Γαίης τε καὶ Οὐρανοῦ ἐξεγένοντο, 155δεινότατοι παίδων, σφετέρῳ δʼ ἤχθοντο τοκῆι ἐξ ἀρχῆς· καὶ τῶν μὲν ὅπως τις πρῶτα γένοιτο, πάντας ἀποκρύπτασκε, καὶ ἐς φάος οὐκ ἀνίεσκε, Γαίης ἐν κευθμῶνι, κακῷ δʼ ἐπετέρπετο ἔργῳ Οὐρανός. ἣ δʼ ἐντὸς στοναχίζετο Γαῖα πελώρη 160στεινομένη· δολίην δὲ κακήν τʼ ἐφράσσατο τέχνην. αἶψα δὲ ποιήσασα γένος πολιοῦ ἀδάμαντος τεῦξε μέγα δρέπανον καὶ ἐπέφραδε παισὶ φίλοισιν· εἶπε δὲ θαρσύνουσα, φίλον τετιημένη ἦτορ· παῖδες ἐμοὶ καὶ πατρὸς ἀτασθάλου, αἴ κʼ ἐθέλητε 165πείθεσθαι, πατρός κε κακὴν τισαίμεθα λώβην ὑμετέρου· πρότερος γὰρ ἀεικέα μήσατο ἔργα. ὣς φάτο· τοὺς δʼ ἄρα πάντας ἕλεν δέος, οὐδέ τις αὐτῶν φθέγξατο. θαρσήσας δὲ μέγας Κρόνος ἀγκυλομήτης ἂψ αὖτις μύθοισι προσηύδα μητέρα κεδνήν·

Theia and Rhea, Themis and Mnemosyne and gold-crowned Phoebe and lovely Tethys. After them was born Cronos the wily, youngest and most terrible of her children, and he hated his lusty sire. And again, she bore the Cyclopes, overbearing in spirit, Brontes, and Steropes and stubborn-hearted Arges, who gave Zeus the thunder and made the thunderbolt: in all else they were like the gods, but one eye only was set in the midst of their foreheads. And they were surnamed Cyclopes (Orb-eyed) because one orbed eye was set in their foreheads. Strength and might and craft were in their works. And again, three other sons were born of Earth and Heaven, great and doughty beyond telling, Cottus and Briareos and Gyes, presumptuous children. From their shoulders sprang a hundred arms, not to be approached, and fifty heads grew from the shoulders upon the strong limbs of each, and irresistible was the stubborn strength that was in their great forms. For of all the children that were born of Earth and Heaven, these were the most terrible, and they were hated by their own father from the first. And he used to hide them all away in a secret place of Earth so soon as each was born, and would not suffer them to come up into the light: and Heaven rejoiced in his evil doing. But vast Earth groaned within, being straitened, and she thought a crafty and an evil wile. Forthwith she made the element of grey flint and shaped a great sickle, and told her plan to her dear sons. And she spoke, cheering them, while she was vexed in her dear heart: “My children, gotten of a sinful father, if you will obey me, we should punish the vile outrage of your father; for he first thought of doing shameful things.” So she said; but fear seized them all, and none of them uttered a word. But great Cronos the wily took courage and answered his dear mother:

170μῆτερ, ἐγώ κεν τοῦτό γʼ ὑποσχόμενος τελέσαιμι ἔργον, ἐπεὶ πατρός γε δυσωνύμου οὐκ ἀλεγίζω ἡμετέρου· πρότερος γὰρ ἀεικέα μήσατο ἔργα. ὣς φάτο· γήθησεν δὲ μέγα φρεσὶ Γαῖα πελώρη· εἷσε δέ μιν κρύψασα λόχῳ· ἐνέθηκε δὲ χερσὶν

“Mother, I will undertake to do this deed, for I reverence not our father of evil name, for he first thought of doing shameful things.” So he said: and vast Earth rejoiced greatly in spirit, and set and hid him in an ambush, and put in his hands a jagged sickle, and revealed to him the whole plot.

People and places in this passage

English translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White (1914). Original text: Hugh G. Evelyn-White (ed.), Hesiod, The Homeric Hymns and Homerica, Loeb Classical Library, London: Heinemann; New York: Macmillan, 1914 (Greek text as digitised by Perseus).

Greek text and translation from the Perseus Digital Library, Tufts University, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Perseus Digital Library); translation public domain. Introductions, summaries and notes © GreekMythology.com.

Theogony 130–174: Gaia and Uranus | Hesiod