Big Bang
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Part 1: The Universe Begins
As I said before, I am Metis
and I am here to tell you my story, but I must start at the beginning.
Before, there was nothing. No void. No open space. Just nothing. Then, in an instance the universe came into being. There was no creator. There was no driving force. Things just became.
In this new universe four deities came into being as well. First there was Chaos. Now heaven help him (as you mortals would say), Chaos is so misunderstood. Chaos was not the embodiment of disorder or even disorder itself. Chaos was the gap. I suppose you might say that he is open space. Yes, you read that correctly. He IS open space. He IS the gap. I think that in the first portion of the story you'll find several of the gods are actually something as opposed to someone. Well, now that I've cleared that up, it's on to the next gods.
After Chaos, and in fact out of Chaos, sprang forth Gaia. Gaia is what you humans commonly refer to as the earth. Yes, again Gaia IS the earth. She's not the soul of it or something that inhabits it. She simply is the earth. At the start, Gaia was quite plain. One might think of her as just a flat disk. No hills. No mountains, oceans, rivers, etc. Just a flat disk. Those things would come later.
Well below Gaia, almost an infinite distance as far as mortals are concerned, sprang forth Tartarus. Tartarus is the underworld. Tartarus would become the dwelling place of all mortal beings once they died. I'll explain that later though.
And finally comes one you might not expect. He is Eros. Eros is passion or desire. Eros would play an important role in the early world and still plays an important role today. Without Eros, no gods would have ever mated to give birth to new gods. Without Eros, I would not be here.
And thus this was the first generation of gods. Some might even call them the Primordial Deities. But they are gods just as I, Metis, am a god.
I would normally pause here. However, I suppose I can tell you a bit more.
Though this would not be a common thing for gods to do, Gaia, gave birth the three other gods, having never taken a mate. It is these three Gods who would spell the beginning of conflict in the universe.
First, Gaia gave birth to Ourea, who are the mountains. And thus Gaia began to take shape. After Ourea, she gave birth to Ouranos, who is the sky. It would be Ournos who would begin the first struggle for power in the universe. Ouranos took up much space, much more than he does today. He pressed hard upon Gaia and there was no space between them. And last, Gaia gave birth to Pontos, the sea. And Pontos spread far and wide. He had no end.
And so Gaia had her children, as did Chaos, who gave birth Nyx (the night) and Erebos (darkness). And so the universe began to take on a more familiar form to what you humans see now.
Much is still to come, for the story is not over. In fact, two great struggles for power will take place. And it is these struggles for power that will lead me into the belly of my former lover Zeus. So, with the next part of the tale I will tell of these great struggles and how I ended up in the belly of Zeus.
Author's Note: The story I have told is roughly the same as the tale portrayed in the Theogony. However, there are a few notable differences. First and most obvious, the story is not told from the perspective of a god in the original story. Also, it is written in poetic form whereas this story is prose. Second, I chose to use the character of Metis to correct some common misconceptions about the Greek gods. People often think that the Greek gods were all anthropomorphic. Truth be told, it was the Olympian deities that were anthropomorphic, whereas the other gods tended not to be. However, telling the tale of their creation reveals a growing trend towards anthropomorphic gods as time goes on. This fact will become a bit clearer in the next part of the story. In the beginning, as is demonstrated in the story above, the gods are very concrete things (well, excluding Eros). They are the major constituents of nature itself. One other interesting fact is that this story never alludes to the universe having a driving force behind its coming into being, something which is different from the creation story in the Judeo-Christian creation story. However, later writers posed the idea of a creator god. Though, no great consensus on the subject was ever reached.
If you would like to listen to a series of lectures about classical mythology, which includes both Greek and Roman myths, I would recommends the course on the subject by the Teaching Company. The lectures of all of their courses are done by university level professors. It should be noted that while the professors are certainly knowledgeable on their given subject, their opinions represent only one view among many in the academic world. So, take what they say with a grain of salt.
For anyone who is curious about the Teaching Company and its courses, its website can be found here.
Here is a link to Hesiod's Theogony.: translated by Hugh G. Evelyn-White (1914).
Before, there was nothing. No void. No open space. Just nothing. Then, in an instance the universe came into being. There was no creator. There was no driving force. Things just became.
In this new universe four deities came into being as well. First there was Chaos. Now heaven help him (as you mortals would say), Chaos is so misunderstood. Chaos was not the embodiment of disorder or even disorder itself. Chaos was the gap. I suppose you might say that he is open space. Yes, you read that correctly. He IS open space. He IS the gap. I think that in the first portion of the story you'll find several of the gods are actually something as opposed to someone. Well, now that I've cleared that up, it's on to the next gods.
After Chaos, and in fact out of Chaos, sprang forth Gaia. Gaia is what you humans commonly refer to as the earth. Yes, again Gaia IS the earth. She's not the soul of it or something that inhabits it. She simply is the earth. At the start, Gaia was quite plain. One might think of her as just a flat disk. No hills. No mountains, oceans, rivers, etc. Just a flat disk. Those things would come later.
Well below Gaia, almost an infinite distance as far as mortals are concerned, sprang forth Tartarus. Tartarus is the underworld. Tartarus would become the dwelling place of all mortal beings once they died. I'll explain that later though.
And finally comes one you might not expect. He is Eros. Eros is passion or desire. Eros would play an important role in the early world and still plays an important role today. Without Eros, no gods would have ever mated to give birth to new gods. Without Eros, I would not be here.
And thus this was the first generation of gods. Some might even call them the Primordial Deities. But they are gods just as I, Metis, am a god.
I would normally pause here. However, I suppose I can tell you a bit more.
Though this would not be a common thing for gods to do, Gaia, gave birth the three other gods, having never taken a mate. It is these three Gods who would spell the beginning of conflict in the universe.
First, Gaia gave birth to Ourea, who are the mountains. And thus Gaia began to take shape. After Ourea, she gave birth to Ouranos, who is the sky. It would be Ournos who would begin the first struggle for power in the universe. Ouranos took up much space, much more than he does today. He pressed hard upon Gaia and there was no space between them. And last, Gaia gave birth to Pontos, the sea. And Pontos spread far and wide. He had no end.
And so Gaia had her children, as did Chaos, who gave birth Nyx (the night) and Erebos (darkness). And so the universe began to take on a more familiar form to what you humans see now.
Much is still to come, for the story is not over. In fact, two great struggles for power will take place. And it is these struggles for power that will lead me into the belly of my former lover Zeus. So, with the next part of the tale I will tell of these great struggles and how I ended up in the belly of Zeus.
Author's Note: The story I have told is roughly the same as the tale portrayed in the Theogony. However, there are a few notable differences. First and most obvious, the story is not told from the perspective of a god in the original story. Also, it is written in poetic form whereas this story is prose. Second, I chose to use the character of Metis to correct some common misconceptions about the Greek gods. People often think that the Greek gods were all anthropomorphic. Truth be told, it was the Olympian deities that were anthropomorphic, whereas the other gods tended not to be. However, telling the tale of their creation reveals a growing trend towards anthropomorphic gods as time goes on. This fact will become a bit clearer in the next part of the story. In the beginning, as is demonstrated in the story above, the gods are very concrete things (well, excluding Eros). They are the major constituents of nature itself. One other interesting fact is that this story never alludes to the universe having a driving force behind its coming into being, something which is different from the creation story in the Judeo-Christian creation story. However, later writers posed the idea of a creator god. Though, no great consensus on the subject was ever reached.
If you would like to listen to a series of lectures about classical mythology, which includes both Greek and Roman myths, I would recommends the course on the subject by the Teaching Company. The lectures of all of their courses are done by university level professors. It should be noted that while the professors are certainly knowledgeable on their given subject, their opinions represent only one view among many in the academic world. So, take what they say with a grain of salt.
For anyone who is curious about the Teaching Company and its courses, its website can be found here.
Here is a link to Hesiod's Theogony.: translated by Hugh G. Evelyn-White (1914).