Gaia (mythology)
In Greek mythology, Gaia was the personification
of the Earth, one of the Greek primordial
deities. Gaia was the great mother of all:
the primal Greek Mother Goddess; creator and
giver of birth to the Earth and all the Universe;
the heavenly gods, the Titans, and the Giants
were born to her. The gods reigning over their
classical pantheon were born from her union
with Uranus , while the sea-gods were born
from her union with Pontus . Her equivalent
in the Roman pantheon was Terra.
Etymology
The Greek word "γαῖα" (trans. as gaia
or gaea pronounced: Geea) is a collateral
form of "γῆ" (gē, Doric "γά" - ga and
probably "δᾶ" da) meaning Earth, a word
of unknown origin. In Mycenean Greek Ma-ka
(trans. as Ma-ga: Mother Gaia) also contains
the root ga-.
Greek mythology
Hesiod
Hesiod's Theogony tells how, after Chaos,
"wide-bosomed" Gaia (Earth) arose to be the
everlasting seat of the immortals who possess
Olympus above, and the depths of Tartarus
below (as some scholars interpret it). He
then tells that Gaia brought forth her equal
Uranus (or Ouranos in Ancient Greek) (Heaven,
Sky) to "cover her on every side" and to be
the abode of the gods. Gaia also bore the
hills (ourea), and Pontus (Sea), "without
sweet union of love" (i.e., with no father)
Afterwards with Uranus, she gave birth to
the Titans, as Hesiod tells it:
According to Hesiod, Gaia conceived further
offspring with Uranus (Ouranos), first the
giant one-eyed Cyclopes: Brontes ("Thunder"),
Steropes ("Lightning") and Arges ("Bright");
then the Hecatonchires: Cottus, Briareos and
Gyges, each with a hundred arms and fifty
heads. As each of the Cyclopes and Hecatonchires
were born, Uranus hid them in a secret place
within Gaia, causing her great pain. So Gaia
devised a plan. She created a grey flint (or
adamantine) sickle. And Cronus used the sickle
to castrate his father Uranus as he approached
Gaia to have intercourse with her. From Uranus'
spilled blood, Gaia produced the Erinyes,
the Giants and the Meliae (ash-tree nymphs).
From the testicles of Uranus in the sea came
forth Aphrodite.
By her son Pontus, Gaia bore the sea-deities
Nereus, Thaumas, Phorcys, Ceto, and Eurybia.
Because Cronus had learned from Gaia and Uranus,
that he was destined to be overthrown by his
own child, Cronus swallowed each of the children
born to him by his Titan sister Rhea. But
when Rhea was pregnant with her youngest child
Zeus, she sought help from Gaia and Uranus.
And when Zeus was born Gaia took the child
into her care, and in place of Zeus, Rhea
gave Cronus a stone wrapped in swaddling-clothes,
which he swallowed.
With Gaia's advice Zeus defeated the Titans.
But afterwards Gaia, in union with Tartarus,
bore the youngest of her sons Typhon, who
would be the last challenge to the authority
of Zeus.
Other sources
According to Hyginus, Earth (Gaia), along
with Heaven and Sea were the children of Aether
and Day (Hemera). According to Apollodorus,
Gaia and Tartarus were the parents of Echidna.
Zeus hid Elara, one of his lovers, from Hera
by hiding her under the earth. His son by
Elara, the giant Tityos, is therefore sometimes
said to be a son of Gaia, the earth goddess.
Gaia is believed by some sources to be the
original deity behind the Oracle at Delphi.
Depending on the source, Gaia passed her powers
on to Poseidon, Apollo, or Themis. Apollo
is the best-known as the oracle power behind
Delphi, long established by the time of Homer,
having killed Gaia's child Python there and
usurped the chthonic power. Hera punished
Apollo for this by sending him to King Admetus
as a shepherd for nine years.
In classical art Gaia was represented in one
of two ways. In Athenian vase painting she
was shown as a matronly woman only half risen
from the earth, often in the act of handing
the baby Erichthonius (a future king of Athens)
to Athena to foster (see example below). In
mosaic representations, she appears as a woman
reclining upon the earth surrounded by a host
of Carpi, infant gods of the fruits of the
earth (see example below).
Gaia also made Aristaeus immortal.
Oaths sworn in the name of Gaia, in ancient
Greece, were considered the most binding of
all.
Children
Gaia is the personification of the Earth and
these are her offspring as related in various
myths. Some are related consistently, some
are mentioned only in minor variants of myths,
and others are related in variants that are
considered to reflect a confusion of the subject
or association.
By herself
Uranus
Pontus
Ourea
With Uranus
Cyclopes
Arges
Brontes
Steropes
Arges
Brontes
Steropes
Hecatonchires
Briareus
Cottus
Gyes
Briareus
Cottus
Gyes
Titans
Coeus
Crius
Cronus
Hyperion
Iapetus
Mnemosyne
Oceanus
Phoebe
Rhea
Tethys
Theia
Themis
Coeus
Crius
Cronus
Hyperion
Iapetus
Mnemosyne
Oceanus
Phoebe
Rhea
Tethys
Theia
Themis
Other
Mneme
Melete
Aoide
Gigantes*
Erinyes*
Meliae*
Elder Muses
Mneme
Melete
Aoide
Gigantes*
Erinyes*
Meliae*
Elder Muses
With Pontus
Ceto
Phorcys
Eurybia
Nereus
Thaumas
With Poseidon
Antaeus
Charybdis
Laistrygon
With Oceanus
Kreousa
Triptolemos
With Tartarus
Typhon
Echidna (more commonly held to be child of
Phorcys and Ceto)
Campe (presumably)
With Zeus
Manes
With Hephaestus
Erichthonius of Athens
With Aether
Uranus (more commonly held to be child of
Gaia alone)
Aergia
Unknown father or through parthenogenesis
Pheme
Cecrops
Python
Interpretations
Some modern sources, such as James Mellaart,
Marija Gimbutas and Barbara Walker, claim
that Gaia as Mother Earth is a later form
of a pre-Indo-European Great Mother, venerated
in Neolithic times. Her existence is a speculation,
and controversial in the academic community.
Some modern mythographers, including Karl
Kerenyi, Carl A. P. Ruck and Danny Staples
interpret the goddesses Demeter the "mother,"
Persephone the "daughter" and Hecate the "crone,"
as aspects of a former Great goddess identified
by some as Rhea or as Gaia herself. In Crete,
a goddess was worshiped as Potnia Theron (the
"Mistress of the Animals") or simply Potnia
("Mistress"), speculated as Rhea or Gaia;
the title was later applied in Greek texts
to Demeter, Artemis or Athena. The mother-goddess
Cybele from Anatolia (modern Turkey) was partly
identified by the Greeks with Gaia, but more
so with Rhea and Demeter.
Neopaganism
Many Neopagans worship Gaia. Beliefs regarding
Gaia vary, ranging from the belief that Gaia
is the Earth to the belief that she is the
spiritual embodiment of the earth, or the
Goddess of the Earth.
Modern ecological theory
The mythological name was revived in 1979
by James Lovelock, in Gaia: A New Look at
Life on Earth; his Gaia hypothesis was supported
by Lynn Margulis. The hypothesis proposes
that living organisms and inorganic material
are part of a dynamic system that shapes the
Earth's biosphere, and maintains the Earth
as a fit environment for life. In some Gaia
theory approaches, the Earth itself is viewed
as an organism with self-regulatory functions.
Further books by Lovelock and others popularized
the Gaia Hypothesis, which was widely embraced
and passed into common usage as part of the
heightened awareness of environmental concerns
of the 1990s.
