Chaos

The Beginning of Everything

Before Zeus, before the Titans and before anyone had even thought about Mount Olympus, there was Chaos! But this was not ‘chaos’ like a bedroom with toys everywhere. In Hesiod’s ancient Greek creation story, Chaos was more like an enormous gap or opening at the very beginning of everything. After Chaos came other ancient powers, including Gaia, Tartarus and Eros. Chaos itself produced Erebus, the darkness, and Nyx, the night. It is one of the strangest beings in Greek mythology because it can be thought of as both a place and a divine power. This is where the whole Greek universe begins!

Gaia

Mother Earth

Meet Gaia, the ancient goddess who actually IS the Earth! Gaia appears near the very beginning of Greek mythology and becomes mother to an enormous collection of gods and strange beings. She produces Uranus, the starry sky, the Mountains and Pontus, the sea. With Uranus, she then becomes mother of the Titans, Cyclopes and Hundred-Handers. Gaia is caring when her children need protection, but she can also be incredibly fierce when she thinks someone has behaved badly. I think she is one of the most important characters in the whole Greek family tree. Every adventure happens on the world that Gaia herself represents!

Tartarus

The Primordial Abyss

Welcome to Tartarus, although you definitely would not want to visit! Tartarus was both an ancient divine power and an enormous pit far beneath the Earth. It was even deeper than the Underworld ruled by Hades. After Zeus defeated the Titans, many of them were imprisoned there behind powerful defences, with the Hundred-Handers guarding them. Hesiod described Tartarus as unbelievably far away, surrounded by darkness and almost impossible to escape. It also became the home of terrible punishments in later stories. I think of Tartarus as the maximum-security prison of Greek mythology, except this prison is buried at the very bottom of the universe!

Nyx

The Mysterious Goddess of Night

Meet Nyx, the ancient goddess who was night itself! Nyx came from Chaos near the beginning of the Greek universe and became mother to some seriously mysterious characters, including Sleep, Dreams, Death, Doom and Strife. She was not an Olympian and did not need thunderbolts or giant armies to be powerful. In one story, even Zeus decides not to upset her! Ancient artists sometimes showed Nyx with wings or travelling across the sky in a chariot. I think she is brilliantly spooky without being evil. Night brings darkness, but it also brings sleep, rest and dreams. Even Greek gods needed bedtime eventually!

Uranus

The Living Sky

Meet Uranus, one of the oldest gods in Greek mythology and the starry sky itself! Uranus was produced by Gaia, the Earth, and together they became parents of the Titans, Cyclopes and Hundred-Handers. Unfortunately, Uranus was a terrible father to some of his children and imprisoned them inside Gaia. She eventually helped their son Cronus overthrow him. That began a huge pattern in Greek mythology where powerful fathers keep worrying that their children will replace them. Spoiler: they usually do! Uranus disappears from most later adventures, but he never really goes anywhere. As the sky itself, he is still stretching above the entire mythical world.