GAIA
Gaia, or Ge, means 'the Earth'. In Hesiod's Theogony Gaia was one of the first beings along with Chaos, Tartaros and Eros. Alone, she gave birth to Ouranos, the sky, and then with his help she produced the twelve Titans, including Kronos and Rhea, as well as the Kyklopes and the three Hundred Handed Giants. She also gave birth to Typhoeus, whose father was Tartaros.
Apollodoros, Bibliotheca, 1.6 continues the story, telling how Gaia, angry at Zeus' treatment of the Titans gave birth to the Giants who fought the Olympian gods in their turn in the Gigantomachy, a sequel to the Titanomachy. When they were defeated she gave birth to Typhon (equivalent to Hesiod's Typhoeus) by Tartaros. Zeus eventually defeated him and trapped him under Mount Aetna in Sicily, the volcano's flames are explained as the effect of Zeus' thunderbolt. Apollo, in his speech at the beginning of Aeschylus' Eumenides, refers to Gaia as the first owner of the oracle at Delphi, which was also, appropriately, the site of the omphalos or navel (i.e. the center) of the earth.
Gaia is rarely represented in art, but she is sometimes shown handing the infant Erichthonios to Athena.
The goddess of the earth, also known as Ge or Gaea. Mother of the Titans, Cyclopes and Giants. The one-eyed Cyclopes built the heavenly palace on Mount Olympus for the gods after Zeus overthrew his father Cronus and the other Titans who had ruled the cosmos previously. Perhaps in revenge for this overthrow, Zeus and the other gods were attacked on Mount Olympus by the Giants, Earth's other sons. So formidable was this assault that the gods would never have prevailed without the intervention of Heracles, since it had been foretold that a mortal must come to their aid.
Giants
Monstrous children of the goddess Earth; siblings of the Cyclopes and Titans. Some say that it was Zeus's overthrow of his father Cronus and the other Titans that caused the Giants to meditate revenge. They stormed Mount Olympus, hurling boulders and burning tree trunks. The Olympians were advised that they would go down in defeat unless aided by a mortal, so they called in Heracles and prevailed with the hero's aid.
Hecate
Hecate is the Third and final one of the Triple Goddess. She is the Goddess of the New Moon. She was also the Goddess of the Crossroads and the Witch Goddess. She was Thracian in origin, and she dwelt in the Underworld with Hades and Persephone. She was the daughter of the Titans Perses and Asteria(daughter of Phoebe and Coeus), both were symbols of shining light. Later she was said to be of Zeus and Hera. She was the Dark Link between the Underworld and Earth. Her children were Medea, Apsyrtus (a ghost), and one of the daughter by Aeetes.
Hecate brings good luck to sailors and hunters or can withhold these blessings if undeserved, so fear became a motivating factor in her worship. When Persephone was found with Hades, Hecate remained with her as attendant and companion and as a result has a share in the ruling over the
souls in the underworld. Because of her unearthly aspect she is regarded as a kind of queen of witches. She is the goddess of darkness, and the daughter of the Titans Perses and Asteria.
Hecate represented the darkness and the terrors of the night. On moonless nights she was believed to roam the earth with a pack of ghostly, howling dogs. She was the goddess of sorcery and witchcraft and was especially worshiped by magicians and witches, who sacrificed black lambs
and black dogs to her. As goddess of the crossroads, Hecate and her pack of dogs were believed to haunt these remote spots, which seemed evil and ghostly places to travelers. In art Hecate is often represented with either three bodies (since she combined the attributes of Selene, Artemis, and Persephone) or three heads, and with serpents entwined about her neck.
OURANOS (Uranus)
Ouranos means the 'sky' or 'heavens',. The son and consort of Gaia, Ouranos fathered the Titans, among others. Hesiod tells how he hated his children and shut them up inside Gaia until Kronos, the youngest child, castrated his father at his mother's request. From the drops of blood which fell onto Gaia/the earth were born the Furies and the Giants. Ouranos' genitals were cast into the sea and from the foam Aphrodite was born.
Apollodorus, Bibliotheca, 1,1 gives a slightly different version: Ouranos threw the Cyclopes, his first children by Gaia, into Tartarus and it was because of this that Gaia incited Kronos against his father. The Furies are the only offspring produced by this event in Apollodorus.
In Hittite mythology, the sky-god, Anu was also castrated by Kumarbi who then swallowed the genitals from which new gods were created.
Persephone
She was the goddess of springtime and, after her abduction by Hades, she became the queen of the
underworld for six months of each year. The mint and pomegranate is sacred to her. Persephone raised Aphrodite's child Adonis. She was also known as Kore, "the Maiden". She symbolized the sprouting seeds of springtime.
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