How the World and Mankind were created
In the beginning only Chaos existed throughout the entire universe. Chaos was followed by Gaia (mother
earth) and Eros (love). Chaos also gave birth to Erebus, who was the darkness of the underworld, and Nyx
(night).
Gaia gave birth to Uranus (heavens) and Oceanus (ocean). The story continues showing how the gods mated
with each other to complete the whole of creation. Nyx and Erebus mated, and Hemere (day) and Aether (air)
were born. Nyx also gave birth to other gods like Moros, Thanatos (death), Nemesis, Hypnos (sleep), Eris and
Keres. Uranus and Gaia became the first gods to rule. Uranus then mated with Gaia and produced Cyclopes
and the twelve Titans (a race of giants). One of the Titans was Cronus (Saturn).
Uranus was jealous of his children and condemned them to stay in the womb of Gaia; however, Gaia, with the
help of Cronus, punishes Uranus by castrating him. His genitals and his blood fell into Earth and created
another set of gods—Aphrodite, Erinyes, giants and nymphs.
Uranus and Gaia spoke a prophecy to Cronus, telling him that one of his sons would overpower him. As a
result, Cronus decided to swallow their children. Gaia was able to save baby Zeus (Jupiter), who was raised on
the Greek island Ida until he, with the help of Metis (another Titan), made Cronus to regurgitate the
swallowed children. Led by Zues, the six brothers and sisters (Demeter, Hera, Hestia, Hades and Poseidon)
rebelled against their father against whom they were victorious, throwing Cronus forever into the Tartarus
(the dark world under Earth).
After that, the rebel gods of ancient Greece divided the universe between them. Zeus was the supreme god,
ruling over all others, and all of them lived on the peak of Mount Olympus in Greece.
In the above mentioned battle, three Titans did not support Cronus: Prometheus, Epimetheus and Oceanus.
Prometheus later joined Zeus. All the Titans were sent into Tartarus (the underworld), with the exception of
Prometheus and Epimetheus.
Prometheus was the one to create man out of earth (mud), and the goddess Athena breathed life into the
man. Here we see another common pattern repeating in the creation, where the spirit is given to the body so
that it will become alive.
Epimetheus was the one to whom Prometheus assigned the duty to give all living creatures of the planet
different qualities/skills; however, Epimetheus had already given all the good skills and qualities to other
creatures, and nothing was left for man. Consequently, Prometheus made man to stand upright—as only the
gods had done—and gave him fire.
This made Zeus angry because he was not very fond of man, though man was Prometheus’s favourite
creation. Zeus thus decreed that man must present a portion of each animal they sacrificed to the gods, but
Prometheus tricked Zeus and, as a result, Zeus took fire away from man. Prometheus then stole fire back and
returned it to man. For that Zeus punished both man and Prometheus.
The punishment that Zeus inflicted to man was to create Pandora (with the help of god Hephaestus), the first
woman. He gave Pandora as a gift a box that she was not allowed to open. The box was full of misfortunes,
diseases and plagues, while at the bottom of the box there was also hope.
Prometheus was condemned to be tormented on the Caucasus Mountain where he was chained on a rock in
unbreakable chains. Every night an eagle would appear and eat his liver. During the day the liver was reborn,
and every night the eagle would return and eat it again.
