Greek Gods | Gaia | Greek Mythology

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In Greek mythology, Gaia (/ˈɡeɪə, ˈɡaɪə/; Ancient Greek: Γαῖα, romanized: Gaîa, a poetic form of Γῆ (Gê), meaning 'land' or 'earth'), also spelled Gaea (/ˈdʒiːə/), is the personification of Earth. Gaia is the ancestral mother—sometimes parthenogenic—of all life. She is the mother of Uranus (Sky), from whose sexual union she bore the Titans (themselves parents of many of the Olympian gods), the Cyclopes, and the Giants, as well as of Pontus (Sea), from whose union she bore the primordial sea gods. Her equivalent in the Roman pantheon was Terra.

The Greeks invoked Gaia in their oaths, and she should be aware if one broke his oath. In the Homeric poems she appears usually in forms of oath. In Iliad the sacrifice of a black lamb is offered to Gaia and she is invoked in the formula of an oath. Homer considers her a physical distinct existence not clearly conceived in anthropomorphic form. Gaia does not seem to have any personal activity. In Iliad Alpheia beats with her hands the bountiful ("polyphorbos") earth, but she calls Hades and Persephone to avenge her against her son In the poems of Hesiod she is personified. Gaia has a significant role in the evolution of the world. She is the nurse of Zeus, and she has the epithet "Kourotrophos". Kourotrophos was the name of an old goddess who was subordinate to Ge. Dieterich believed that Kourotrophos and Potnia theron construct precisely the mother goddess. Ge is also personified in the myths of Erichthonius and Pluto. Erichthonius is early mentioned in the Catalogue of ships. He is born by the Homeric earth which produces fruits and cereals (zeidoros arura). The name of Erichthonius includes chthon which is not the underground kingdom of the dead, but the Homeric earth.

[Typhon]

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