Deities, also known as Gods are a species in Hesiod and Homer's Greek Mythology. They make their début in around 700 BCE and have made their most recent appearance in Rick Riordan's latest Greek Mythology book, The Trials of Apollo: The Hidden Oracle.
History
Deities are a species in Greek Mythology. They are better known and frequently called Gods and Goddesses. At first their was only Chaos, the first god if you say. It was a dark and meaningless and endless void. Then arose Mother Earth, better known as Gaia. She was the personification of the Earth. Then when Gaia mated with Chaos, Ouranos (or Uranus) came to be, the personification of the heavens and skies. Ouranos and Gaia got married and had the Titans.
The smallest of them was Cronus (also Kronos). He was the youngest and shortest of the 12 or so titans there. When Ouranos became ruler of the Cosmos, Gaia had to raise all her children alone and Ouranos never came around often. Then Gaia told the titans to come up with a plan to defeat Ouranos. No one volunteered except Cronus. Then he made his own weapon, the Scythe. Once Ouranos was dying, his last words told Cronus that someday his own children will destroy and overtake him just like he did Ouranos. At that time he just shrugged.
Once all the titans were older, Cronus continued to be ruler of the Cosmos and got married to his sister, Rhea. When she announced the news that he was going to be a father, Cronus freaked. The children were not titan-like, they were smaller and all. So he ate the first child and everything was fine until one by one, more started to appear. The second child, then the third, then baby number 4, number 5 and eventually number six. Cronus swallowed all five babies. Before the birth of baby number 6, Rhea got her act together and took Zeus to the nymphs who passed it on to an immortal goat named Amalthea. She gathered rocks and put them in a blanket and gave that to Cronus instead. Until Zeus reached manhood.
It was time to face and destroy his father. He went to Cronus and became his cup-bearer and put a little something in his drink and he swallowed out all five babies who were now adult deities. Then the titanomachy began. It was a ten year battle from titans vs. Gods. Some of the titans were smart and teamed up with the Gods, like Prometheus, Epimetheus, Helios etc. Zeus and his brothers and sisters released the one hundred handed ones and cyclopes from Tartarus. Who Ouranos locked up in Tartarus but for the war against him, Cronus had brang them out for help. Then banished them to Tartarus again. They offered to help in a heartbeat. They made Zeus, a Lightning Bolt, that could control all lightning, Poseidon got a Trident that could control seas and earthquakes and Hades got a helmet of invisibility that could also give fear to anyone around him.
Some (most accounts) say the Titanomachy went on for 10 whole years. But eventually, you can guess who won, the gods. They got Mount Olympus and all was fine. Then the three brothers took straws. Zeus (obviously) got the heavens and skies and lightning. Poseidon got the seas and earthquakes. Hades got the terrible and dark Underworld and Tartarus. Well, they had children as well, no surprise but I won't name them all. Let's just say that's a happy ending (not really).
Known Deities (Main)
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Trivia
On-Screen Notes
- Deities are known to be immortal.[1]
- However, Zeus' lightning bolt has the power to destroy them by erasing them from existence. ("Wrath of the Titans", "Once Upon a Time", "Greek Mythology")
- Religion in Greek Mythology is majorly polytheistic, with people such as Ixion, King Midas, Rhadamanthus, Nymphs, King Minos and other existing humans and animals calling upon "the gods".
- However, a king somewhere in Greece, refused to believe there was more than one god and believed there was only one.
References
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