In the beginning, there was only Chaos, the gaping emptiness.

Then, either all by

themselves or out of the formless void, sprang forth three more primordial
deities: Gaea (Earth), Tartarus (the Underworld), and Eros (Love)(however, later
authors reimagined him as one of the many children of Aphrodite and Ares.).
Once Love was there, Gaea and Chaos – two female deities – were able to
procreate and shape everything known and unknown in the universe.

The Children of Chaos and Gaea

Chaos gave birth to Erebus (Darkness) and Nyx (Night). Erebus slept with his sister
Nyx, and out of this union Aether, the bright upper air, and Hemera, the Day,
emerged. Afterward, feared by everyone but her brother, Night fashioned a
family of haunting forces all by herself. Among others, her children included the
hateful Moros (Fate), the black Ker (Doom), Thanatos (Death), Hypnos (Sleep),
Oneiroi (Dreams), Geras (Old Age), Oizus (Pain), Nemesis (Revenge), Eris (Strife),
Apate (Deceit), Philotes (Sexual Pleasure), Momos (Blame), and the Hesperides
(the Daughters of the Evening).

Meanwhile, Gaea gave birth to Uranus, the Starry Sky. Uranus became Gaea's
husband, surrounding her from all sides. Together, they produced three sets of
children: the three one-eyed Cyclopes, the three Hundred-Handed
Hecatoncheires, and the twelve Titans.

The Castration of Uranus

However, Uranus was a cruel husband and an even crueler father. He hated his
children and didn’t want to allow them to see the light of day. So, he imprisoned
them into the hidden places of the earth, Gaea's womb. This angered Gaea, and
she plotted with her sons against Uranus. She made a harpe, a great adamant
sickle, and tried to incite her children to attack Uranus. All were too afraid, except
the youngest Titan, Cronus.

Gaea and Cronus set up an ambush for Uranus. As he was preparing to lay with
Gaea, Cronus castrated him with the sickle, throwing his severed genitals into the
ocean. It is unclear as to what happened to Uranus afterward; he either died,
withdrew from the earth, or exiled himself to Italy. From the blood that was
spilled on the earth due to his castration, emerged the Giants, the Meliae (the Ash
Tree Nymphs), and the Erinyes (the Furies). From the sea foam that was produced
when his genitals fell into the ocean, arose Aphrodite, the Goddess of Beauty.

Cronus Devouring His Children

Cronus became the next ruler. He imprisoned the Cyclopes and the
Hecatoncheires in Tartarus and set the dragoness Campe to guard them. He
married his sister, the Titaness Rhea, who bore him five children. However, Gaea
and Uranus had both prophesied that Cronus would eventually be overthrown by
one of his sons. So much like his father, Cronus maltreated his children, devouring
each of them at the time of birth. Rhea was distressed by Cronus’ treatment of
her children and, just like Gaea before him, plotted against her husband. On the
advice of her mother, when it was time to give birth to her sixth child, Rhea hid
herself on Crete, leaving the new-born child to be raised by the nymphs of the
island. To conceal her act, she wrapped a stone in swaddling clothes and passed it
off as the supposed baby to Cronus, who, unaware of her intentions, swallowed it
yet again.

The Return of Zeus

The child was Zeus. Raised by the nymphs Adrasteia and Ida, and the she-goat
Amalthea, he quickly grew into a handsome youth in a cave on the Cretan Mount
Ida. When the time came, he left Crete to ask his future wife, the Titaness Metis
(Wisdom), for an advice on how to defeat Cronus. She answered by preparing a
drink indistinguishable from Cronus’ favorite wine but designed to make him
vomit for ages. Zeus disguised himself as the gods’ cupbearer and, after a while,
successfully slipped Metis’ drink to Cronus. The plan worked perfectly: Cronus
started vomiting and spilled out all of Zeus’ five siblings, but only after throwing
up the stone. Called Omphalos, or the Navel, the stone was later set up at Delphi
by two eagles Zeus sent to meet at the center of the world. Overwhelmed with
gratitude, Rhea’s children – Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades, and Poseidon –
recognized Zeus as their leader.

The Titanomachy
However, Cronus was still in command – and yet to be defeated. He was too old
to protect himself from the attacks of his progeny, but he enlisted the help of the
faithful Titans, who also feared the new generation of gods. This led to a decade-
long war between the Titans and the Olympians, remembered by generations
hence as the Titanomachy. Atlas became the Titans’ leader and led his armies to
many victories. At one point, it even seemed that Zeus would be defeated.
However, at the advice of Gaea, he went to Tartarus and released the Cyclopes
and the Hecatoncheires. In gratitude, the Cyclopes provided Zeus with his
signature thunderbolt; they also made a trident for Poseidon and a helmet of
invisibility for Hades. The tables had turned.

However, as so many times before, the final victory would not be the result of
brute force, but it would happen due to a cunning little trick, possibly devised by
Prometheus, who deserted from the Titans’ army beforehand. Armed with
boulders, Hecatoncheires set an ambush for the Titans. At the right time, Zeus
retreated his forces, drawing the Titans into the Hecatoncheires’ trap. The
Hundred-Handed ones started raining down hundreds of boulders, with such a
fury that the Titans thought the mountains were falling down upon them. They
ran away, and Zeus could finally consider himself the King of the Universe.

Zeus exiled the Titans who had fought against him into Tartarus. He made an
exception with Atlas, though: being the leader of the opposing force, he was
punished to hold the universe on his shoulders.
Zeus and Typhon
Zeus’ power would be challenged on few occasions afterward. Just after the
Titanomachy, his grandmother Gaea, outraged by the imprisonment of her
children, issued forth one last child of her, the monstrous Typhon. He was so
fearsome that most of the gods fled the second they saw him; however, Zeus
didn’t hesitate. He faced the monster and using the power of his lightning bolts,
he was able to defeat it. Typhon was subsequently buried under Mount Etna in
Sicily.

They say that you can still hear him growling under the volcano. And that
someday in the distant future, he will return to challenge Zeus once again.