The Primordial Gods

As the years go by, many religions and beliefs have been forgotten due to time and change in the world. All that is left are remaining carvings in walls and artifacts.

A belief that I’m writing about is from Ancient Greece. Ancient Greece has many stories in its beliefs. Many stories involve the well known Greek gods, the Olympians. Many well known Olympians are Zeus, Athena, Aphrodite, and Apollo. Before the Olympians there were the 12 Titans and before the titans were the Primordial Gods. Many haven’t heard of the primordial deities since they get overshadowed by the Olympians, but they are the first generations of gods. The Primordial gods mentioned in this article are Chaos, Erebus, Nyx, Gaia, and Uranus.

C H A O S

The First Primordial God I will talk about is Chaos. It is said she is the first primordial god. She has many children who are Eros, Gaia, Tartarus, Erebus and Nyx. Many say that Chaos is the emptiness of the world before anything came into being. Others say she is the bottomless abyss in Tartarus, otherwise known as hell or the underworld. Though, even if she’s a primordial being, the first one at that, she too was born from something. Many say she was born from mist and darkness, others say she was born from Chronous [Time] and Ananke [Necessity] according to GreekMythology.com. Also, Chaos has many names like Haos, Khaos, Arche. 

E R E B U S

Erebus is one of the primordial beings born from Chaos. His name can be spelled two ways, as Erebus or Erebos. He is also darkness in every way since, according to Britannica.com, Erebus is the personification or has the human characteristic of darkness and shadows. Erebus is also the god of darkness and his wife or consort is the goddess of Night. He has kids with his wife, who is his sister Nyx. Their kids are Aether, Hemera, Hypnos, The Fates, Geras and Thanatos. 

N Y X

Nyx is the daughter of Chaos and the goddess of night. She indeed is another primordial god. Her husband or consort is her brother Erebus. According to World History.org, she herself is the personification or has the human characteristics of night. Something surprising about Nyx is that Zeus, the god of the sky, thunder and lightning, who is known as the king of the gods, fears angering Nyx. Nyx had many children besides the one mentioned previously, these other children are Nemesis, Eris, and Charon. 

G A I A

Gaia is the personification of Earth. Many know her as Mother Earth, or what we say “Mother Nature.” Gaia was the first child of Chaos and on her own she was able to have three kids, Uranus, Ourea, and Pontus. She then had kids with her kids, Uranus and Pontus. According to greekmythology.com, Uranus and Gaia in total have 18 kids, 12 of them are the second generations of “gods.” They are the 12 Titans. The other six were three Cyclopes and three Hecatoncheires. Gaia and Pontus kids’ are Nereus, Thaumas, Phorcys, Ceto, and Eurybia. An interesting fact about Gaia and Uranus is that they are the grandparents of the Olympians that came from two of their kids, Rhea and Cronus. Gaia was the goddess who helped Zeus take down his father from giving him advice.

U R A N U S

Uranus is the god of heaven and sky and the son of Gaia. Though being the son of Gaia or Gaea, he had about 18 kids with his mother. According to worldhistory.org, Uranus hated his kids so he would bury them underground but got betrayed by Gaia, who lent her help to her son Cronus, one of the 12 titans. Cronus ended up overpowering his dad, Uranus, which led to the birth of Aphrodite.