imagine being the mother to every single
living thing what would you do if one of
your children threatened the safety of
the others would you kill or imprison
your progeny to save the world it's an
impossible Choice one that no mother
wants to make but maybe it gets easier
after the first time Gaia would know as
Greek mythology's original Mother Earth
with the unique ability to create life
from nothing Gaia made the choice to
fight against her descendants three
separate times and in typical Greek
mythology fashion this feminine figure
doesn't get a very satisfying ending
foreign
art Gaia was often depicted as one with
the land either a woman's torso emerging
from the soil or as a woman lounging on
the very ground that she personified in
stories she was described as a beautiful
woman with a buxom motherly figure
hessie had called her wide bosomed in
his theogony but all of these terms are
just different ways to say that Mother
Earth had a lot of Curves unlike the
Olympian gods who had power over
specific domains gaia's abilities were
more General as the personification of
Earth Gaia had some control over the
land and weather she also had the power
of Prophecy and was said to share her
predictions through dreams these owneric
messages were just one of many presents
that Gaia bestowed on her followers and
so she was appropriately given the
epithet anissadora which meant spender
or Giver of gifts gaia's most important
ability however was the power to create
life even without the usual methods it
is because of this very power that the
Greek pantheon existed at all according
to Greek creation myths the universe at
first held nothing but chaos a lifeless
bulk of Darkness from which Gaia
spontaneously formed Tartarus and Eros
also sprang from chaos and together with
Gaia these three were the Proto genoi
Greek mythology's most primordial
deities with the pit of Tartarus resting
below her Gaia birthed orea to look over
the mountains and pontus to care for the
Seas and Earthly creatures sprang from
her skin in an act that would bring
about a thousand mythological years
worth of Drama Gaia also gave birth to
auronos a personification of the sky who
stretched above her in a dome Gaia and
oronos produced many powerful Offspring
in the more traditional way together
they bore 12 Titan children including
Raya and Cronus then three giant
cyclopses and three heka tonkaris who
were just as long large as their
one-eyed Brothers but each had 50 heads
and a hundred arms auronos felt
threatened by his outsized children and
hid them away so deep in gaia's own womb
that they ended up in the pit of
Tartarus the darkest part of Hades
naturally Gaia was upset with the
situation maybe oronos could have gotten
away with punishing the Giants or with
forcing Gaia to suffer painful cramps
but certainly not both Gaia conspired
with her Titan children to overthrow
their father and the death blow was
dealt by Cronus who castrated oronos
with a sickle made by gaia's own hand
and threw his genitals into the sea the
blood from this violent act produced
Giants the goddess Aphrodite and the
Furies with oronos out of the picture
Cronus took over as king of the heavens
isn't it funny how history tends to
repeat itself Gaia probably wouldn't
think so but even a powerful Earth
goddess can't outrun fate Gaia foresaw
that her son Kron bonus would one day be
overthrown by his own son when he heard
the prophecy Cronus tried to avoid it by
eating all his newborn children whom he
sired with his sister Reya at least he
learned from his father's mistake and
didn't try to imprison them within
gaia's belly but she was no more
thrilled by her son's casual cannibalism
than she was by oronos playing the
unfair Jailer so Gaia conspired with her
daughter Reya to Dethrone the cruel
Cronus the Earth Mother advised Reya to
hide her sixth born child Zeus and to
give Cronus a blanket-wrapped stone to
swallow instead Zeus was raised in
secret in a cave on Mount dicti on the
island Crete by some accounts Gaia
raised Zeus herself though others say he
was raised by nymphs when he was old
enough Zeus returned to Olympus and used
a special regurgitatory Elixir from Gaia
to free his brothers and sisters from
cronus's gut with gaia's help Zeus and
the other would-be Olympian gods
overthrew the Titans and imprisoned many
of them in Tartarus angered Again by her
children's confinement Gaia urged her
Giant children to attack the Olympians
but they were defeated after the gods
enlisted Heracles for it was prophesized
that the Giants could only be thwarted
with a mortal's help when that attempt
failed Gaia lay with Tartarus to produce
a truly terrifying Offspring typhus the
father of all monsters who had a hundred
fire-breathing dragon heads typhus
almost defeated the gods but was
eventually struck down by Zeus's
lightning bolt not wanting to endanger
any more of her children Gaia accepted
Zeus's role as the ruler of Olympus when
we talk about ancient mythology now it's
tempting to treat it as a static Stone
story we see the end State and assume
that it was always that way but myths
like history evolve over time and gaia's
story is an excellent example of that
most people think of Zeus as the highest
God in Greek mythology but it was once
Cronus and before him oranos but they
all got their power and position thanks
to Gaia who never really got to rule
over the Earth that she was responsible
for and even though Gaia played a
pivotal role at the beginning of the
Greek myths she doesn't get any kind of
satisfying ending good or bad she seems
to disappear from the myths after Zeus's
wedding to Hera without even the honor
of a memorable horrific punishment like
so many of her Titan Offspring a modern
Western lens would blame that on the
patriarchy saying a culture that
worships such a male dominated Pantheon
would downplay the accomplishments of
the ultimate maternal figure there's
some truth in that but it's not the
whole story gaia's exclusion from most
myths has led some researchers to
believe that she is a much older figure
than any of the Olympian gods figurines
of motherly goddesses have been found at
many ancient shrines associated with
Gaia and they were very reminiscent of
statues from Neolithic and Bronze Age
times representing the great mother
similar statues have been found in
modern day Turkey Germany and France
folklorist Jules cashford claims that
the myth of Gaia has roots in the
ancient Indian figure Gayatri who was
brought to Europe by the Mycenaeans
about 4 000 years ago gaia's
underwhelming presence in mythology
could be a consequence of conquest or a
matter of misogyny or maybe she just
needed a break from her kids like any
overworked mom and lost track of time as
Immortals are want to do whatever the
reason for her relative absence from
later myths Gaia was worshiped at
several sites across Greece including
Athens and Delphi Eric thonius and early
king of Athens was said to be the
ill-begotten son of Gaia by Hephaestus
and so he decreed that Gaia would
receive sacrifices before any other
deity as a cathonic goddess associated
with the earth and the Underworld the
animals sacrificed to her had to be
black the Oracle at Delphi ultimately
came to be connected to the god Apollo
but Legend says it originally belonged
to Gaia in the form of a tree Gaia
breathed life into the sibylene stone
and gave it her power of Prophecy Gaia
eventually renounced her claim on the
Oracle Stone and others took over its
power Gaia was also venerated at many of
Demeter's temples and some scholars
believe that these two goddesses may
have once been worshiped as a single
Agricultural and fertility deity gaia's
Origins and her mythological fate may be
unclear to us but her influence on
today's culture is undeniable modern
wiccans and pagans Revere Gaia in her
role as Mother Earth an ecological
framework called the Gaia hypothesis
from 1979 saw the environment as a
self-sustaining system almost as if it
were Guided by a living nurturing hand
in 2013 scientists launched a telescope
into space and then ironically named it
after this primordial Earth goddess in
this latest Incarnation the Gaia Space
Telescope gave astronomers the most
accurate map of stars in our galaxy that
we've ever seen measuring the positions
and velocities of more than one billion
stars and gave me the data that I used
to get my PhD whether she's serving as
the foundation and engine of our
planet's entire ecosystem or unveiling
the mysteries of the universe Gaia has
always looked out for us humans she made
the impossible choice to dismember her
Immortal children to save the world from
their cruelty time after time until she
couldn't fight anymore and yet she's
seen as the prime antagonist of Greek
mythology that is if she's remembered it
all so remember Gaia and respect the
Earth that she represents and for all
our sakes stop putting her her children
in jail