***Gaia: The Earth Mother***"First in my prayer, before all other deities, I call upon Gaia, Primeval Prophetess . . . The Greek great earth mother." ~Aeschylus~
Gaia, more frequently spelled Ge, was the Earth. She is rarely even referred to as a deity, she is more a power. What is. She was one of the firsts. Well, one of the firsts in some versions. There are actually a couple of different Creation myths, and not all of them include Gaia (I know, it shocked me, too). The original Greek Mythology (ie, pre-Classical) was was Pelasgian myth (the Pelasgians came to Greece from the Asia Minor 3,000 years before Hesiod). The Pelasgian creation story focuses on Eurynome, the Goddess of All Things. But you can go to the Myth Page on Eurynome's Creation Story if you want to learn more about that. Here, we will focus on Gaia. There are two parts: Creation of Her and Creation by Her.
Creation of Her
There are two accepted versions of Classical creation: Hesiod's and Ovid's. Both versions begin with Gaia's emergence from Chaos. She has a parthenogenic birth (ie, only one parent needed). According to Ovid, Gaia pretty much just appeared (similar to the Judeo-Christian creation story). After her birth, Ovid continued to see the hand of a Creator at work (an un-named Creator), who populated Gaia with the necessary mountains, seas, flora, and fauna. I much prefer Hesiod's version. Before I tell you about what Hesiod had to say, I'm going to give you this wonderful quote from his creation story:
Gaia, the beautiful, rose up, Broad blossomed,
she that is the steadfast base Of all things. And fair Gaia first bore The starry Heaven,
equal to herself, To cover her on all sides and to be
A home forever for the blessed Gods.
Gaia, by Oberon Zell
And now back to the story. According to Hesiod, the first beings sprang into existance without cause or explanation. After Gaia came Tartarus (the lowest level of the Underworld, also viewed as a sort of huge cave or pit) and then came Eros: Erotic Love. Chaos continues her parthenogenic streak, giving birth to Erebus and Nyx. In her sleep, Gaia gives parthenogenic birth to Uranus (the Universe, who emerges as big and powerful as Gaia) and Pontus (the Sea, and the God of the Sea). Uranus, bursting (literally) with love for Gaia (possible only by the creation of Eros, you see), showers her with fertile rain and this is how Gaia gives birth to the rest of creation (you remember, seas, mountains, etc. - we already covered this with Ovid). Gaia and Uranus also gave birth to the Titans, the three Cyclopes and the three Hundred-Armed Giants.
Creation by Gaia,
by Sandra M. Stanton
There aren't tons of stories about Gaia. She's important, yes, and she shows up a lot, but not so much as an active participant in the story so much as a default womb and mother. She has LOTS of kids. And what really makes her special is that she can have these kids without active participation by a father. In many ways the Universe was created by her alone (okay, not really - but she did give birth to her son Uranus who then became her partner in the whole populating space thing). Once, Zeus had a wet dream at night that got Gaia pregnant, too (the child of that union was Agdistis).
There's a lot of times when Gaia gets pregnant and has children. That's really what she does. The only time one really hear's her voice is during the early years for the Olympians. Gaia helps Cronos cut Uranus' genitals off and take over as Big God (because she didn't like how Uranus wasn't letting her give birth), and then she helped Zeus overthrow Cronos (cuz she didn't like how Cronos was keeping her other sons captive (again, in Tartarus, inside Earth). There's a bunch of other mentions of her giving birth to people (especially men) - one of the most important was Erichthonius, who founded Athens.
Gaia's Children Include:
* Uranus (yes I know he was her "husband" - but he was also her son - very Oedipal isn't it?...)
* 50-Headed, 100-Armed Giants: Cottus, Briareus, and Gyges
* The Cyclopes: Brontes, Steropes, and Arges (Cyclope means Wheel-Eyed
* The Titans: Oceanus, Coeus, Crius, Hyperion, Iapetus,
Cronus, Theia, Rhea, Themis, Mnemosyne, Phoebe, and Tethys
* The Erinyes: Alecto, Tisiphone, and Megara
* Giants: born full-grown with armor and spears, ouchies for Gaia
* Meliads: otherwise known as the Ash Tree Nymphs
* Aetna, Eurybia, Nereus, Phorcys, Ceto, Thaumas, Atlas, Acheron, Antaeus,
Agdistis, Erichthonius, Hyllus, Dreams, Python, the list goes on.
Don't know who your mama is? That's okay, Gaia's the default, and you can always accurately claim her. A good mythical example of this is when Pyrrha and Deucalion had to throw their mothers' bones over their shoulders! Yay Ge!
Oh Goddess, Source of Gods and Mortals,
All-Fertile, All-Destroying Gaia,
Mother of All, Who brings forth the bounteous fruits and flowers,
All variety, Maiden who anchors the eternal world in our own,
Immortal, Blessed, crowned with every grace,
Deep bosomed Earth, sweet plains and fields fragrant grasses in the nurturing rains,
Around you fly the beauteous stars, eternal and divine,
Come, Blessed Goddess, and hear the prayers of Your children,
And make the increase of the fruits and grains your constant care, with the fertile seasons Your handmaidens,
Draw near, and bless your supplicants.
Here are some more beautiful paintings that represent Gaia! Enjoy them!
~
