Chaos and Earth

In the beginning there was Chaos, an endless, deep, silent darkness. Then there was the Earth, solid and immortal mother of gods and men.

Earth and Sky

The Earth gave birth tUranus (Sky) , to cover her with his starry dome.The Earth and Heaven were the first Gods of the world.

From these two gods were born immortal children, the Titans, the Cyclopes and the Hekatogeras.

Uranus knew that his children would take the throne from him. That is why every child that the Earth gave birth to, Uranus would hide it again deep in its bowels (in the bowels of the Earth).

Earth felt sorry for her children and decided to take revenge on Uranus. One night, when Uranus was lowered and covered the Earth with its starry dome, the Earth pulled Saturn out of its bowels and gave him a sharp scythe to wound Uranus.

The bold Titan Saturn struck Uranus with his scythe and wounded him. From his wound much blood was shed and Uranus lost his power.Thus Saturn became a god and ruler of the world. "The same shall befall thee from thy child," said Uranus to Cronus, and he went up high and never came down low to the earth again.

Birth of Aphrodite

From the blood of Uranus, spilled on land, the Furies, Giants and Nymphs were born. And a drop fell on the foam of the sea; from it was born the white-robed and five-headed goddess Aphrodite.

Saturn - Rhea

Cronus took the Titaness Rhea as his wife, set up his throne on Mount Othri and ruled the world. But because he feared his children would take his throne away from him, he swallowed every child that Rhea gave birth to. So he swallowed Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades and Poseidon.

Birth of Zeus

Rhea felt sorry for her children and therefore, her last child, Zeus, went in secret and gave birth to him in a cave in Crete, in "Diktaio Andro". She then carved a long stone for a child and returned to Othri. As soon as Cronus saw it, he took it from her and swallowed it. Rhea pretended to cry.

The upbringing of Zeus

Zeus was quickly raised by the Nymphs. A goat, Amalthea, gave him her milk, bees brought him honey, doves brought him ambrosia from the ends of the earth and an eagle brought him nectar. So Zeus became very strong.

The horn of Amalthea

When Zeus was still young, playing with Amalthea one day, without meaning to, he broke one of her horns. Amalthea was very distressed and, to console her, Zeus blessed the horn and made it a 'horn of plenty'. Out of it came everything one could desire: vegetables and fruits, honey, oil and wine, all the fruits of the earth and everything else one could ask for..

Aegis

When Amalthea died, Jupiter made her a star. With her skin he clothed his shield, called the aegis, and protected whoever held it. That is why today we say the phrase "under someone's aegis...", which means under someone's protection.

Saturn - Zeus

When he grew up, his grandmother, Earth, gave him a herb to give to his father, Saturn. Zeus then ascended to Othri, gave the herb to Cronus and he vomited up his five children. First he took out the sparrow stone.

Duel of Titans

Then Zeus and his brothers went up Mount Olympus and decided to fight Cronus and take his kingdom from him. Three Titans went with them, while the others stayed with Saturn in Othri.Thus began a war that lasted for ten long years. They were throwing huge rocks from one mountain to another, and the earth shook and the whole world fought back. In the end, Zeus defeated Saturn and the Titans, for he smote them and threw them into Tartarus. This war was called the Titan battle.

Atlas

After the Titanic War the titan Atlas was harshly punished by Zeus. He made him stand at the edge of the earth and hold the sky on his back forever.

Gigantomachy

Later, the Earth became angry with Zeus and sent the Giants against him, but in this war, the Battle of the Giants, Zeus won again and threw the Giants into Tartarus.Thus Zeus remained ruler of the world, along with eleven other gods.

Athena - Enceladus

At the time of the Giant's War, Athena chased the giant Enceladus over the Mediterranean. She threw a large island, Sicily, at him and buried him underneath.

Enceladus

Enceladus roared and breathed fire from his mouth. Then the earth shook, there was an earthquake and the great volcano of Sicily, Mount Etna, trembled and emitted lava and smoke that covered the sun.