The Origins of Man in Ancient Greek Mythology

Every culture has the belief that everything in the world had a beginning, including the origins of humans. The ancient Greeks, had a mythological story about human origins that related to the power of the gods that caused love, pain, and conflict.

Hesiod, a Greek poet who lived around the 8th century BC, wrote a work entitled Theogony. In his work, there is a complete story of ancient Greek mythology that deals with the origins of humans and the gods.

The Theogony is a classic literary work from Greek mythology written by the poet Hesiod. This is an epic poem that tells the origin of the gods and goddesses in Greek mythology, as well as the creation of the universe according to the beliefs of the ancient Greeks.

This work provides an in-depth understanding of the structure and hierarchy of deities in ancient Greek belief.

In this way, the Theogony is an important work that influences human understanding of Greek mythology.

creation of the Greek gods and goddesses

In his work entitled Theogony, Hesiod describes four main creatures that first appear yaitu Eros (Love), Chaos (erabus), Gaea (Earth), and Tartarus (abyss).

Gaia is not actually a god, but a depiction of Earth. Then it became a home for the gods, as gods and titans were gradually born.

Gaia then gave birth to Uranus, the god of the sky and Okeanos, the god of the sea.

Gaia married Uranus who then gave birth to the first gods who ruled, including Kronos, three Cyclopes and 12 titans (giant creatures).

In Greek mythology. The birth of Uranus was the forerunner of the civilization of the universe to revolutionary change. The one where Uranus married his own mother and became ruler of the world.

Here are the 12 main gods and goddesses who lived on Mount Olympus:

Zeus: King of the gods and goddesses, god of the sky and thunder.
Hera: Queen of the gods and goddesses, goddess of marriage and women.
Poseidon: God of the sea, earthquakes, and horses.
Demeter: Goddess of agriculture, harvests, and fertility.
Athena: Goddess of wisdom, strategy, war, and crafts.
Artemis: Goddess of the hunt, wilderness, wild animals, and childbirth.
Apollo: God of music, prophecy, poetry, light, and healing.
Ares: God of war, fighting blood, and courage.
Hephaestus: God of fire, blacksmiths, and craftsmen.
Aphrodite: Goddess of love, beauty, pleasure, and procreation.
Hermes: God of commerce, thief of information, travelers, and messengers.
Hestia: Goddess of the hearth, home and family.

Becoming king of the Titans. Kronos' rebellion against his father cannot be separated from the role of his mother, Gaia. Gaia was furious with Uranus' attitude of hiding their children under the earth and not being allowed to see the light of the sun.

With Gaia's plan, Kronos succeeded in freeing the universe from the tyranny of Uranus. After defeating and imprisoning Uranus in Tartarus (deepest hell), Kronos became king of the Titans, gods and humans.

However, when he was defeated, Uranus cursed that one day Kronos' descendants would rebel and seize power from him.

The beginning of Kronos' reign is called the golden age, where the earth was filled with prosperity and peace. Kronos then married his sister, Rhea. They had six children, namely Demeter, Hades, Hera, Hestia, Poseidon, and Zeus.