Hey everyone, welcome to Mythology Explained. In today’s video,
we’re going to discuss the Primordial Deities of Greek mythology: ancient gods, the first gods,
gods older than Zeus and the Olympians, older than the Titans, gods who do not rule the world,
though they once did in the primeval past, but who are the world, the universe, creation itself. Yes,
the Olympians rule the world, but they aren’t the world; yes, Zeus has supremacy over the sky,
but he isn’t the sky; and yes, Poseidon has sovereignty over the sea, but he isn’t the
sea. Conversely, Gaia is the earth, Uranus is the sky, and Pontus is the sea, and it
is these sorts of gods we’re going to focus on, not the later gods who came to rule these domains
First, we’re going to look at the first two generations of Gods in Greek mythology, beginning
with Chaos. Following that, we’re going to look at many third generation gods, the children of either
Gaia and Nyx. Here, because we’re now in the third generation, the term Primordial Deity loses
some of its relevance. Regardless, though, we’ll continue, first focusing on third-generation
deities who also represent fundamental constructs of the material world and, second, focusing on
third-generation deities who represent the forces and phenomena that define the human condition: our
virtues and vices, our strengths and weaknesses, and in general, what our time on earth looks like.
Let’s get into it.
In the beginning, the very beginning, before anything or anyone existed, before time,
even, there wasn’t even empty space, the unfathomable expanse of dark nothingness
that envelops the specks of rock and fire we call planets and stars.
The first being to emerge was Chaos. Self-engendered,
he personified the great void, the empty space that necessarily had to exist
to allow subsequent entities to emerge. Thought of another way, if you want to furnish a room,
you first need a room to exist so that there’s space for the furniture to be placed in.
The second, third, and fourth beings to emerge, all self-engendered, as well,
were Gaia, Tartarus, and Eros. Gaia was the personification of the earth; Tartarus was the
great abyss that existed beneath the earth, its depths existing as a sort of opposite of the sky,
and Eros, he who personified the power of procreation, the elemental force indispensable
to the genesis of future gods, as the suffusion of the generative power throughout creation
enabled offspring to be made. As we’ll see, both Chaos and Gaia independently produce
children. Eros, though, never has kids, and Tartarus only sires a son much later.
These four, Chaos, Gaia, Tartarus and Eros could be called the four
first-generation primordial deities, each of them self-engendered.
Here’s the passage from Hesiod’s Theogony that explains what we’ve covered thus far:
“First came the Chasm; and then broad-breasted Earth, secure seat for ever of all the immortals
who occupy the peak of snowy Olympus; the misty Tartara in a remote recess
of the broad-pathed earth; and Eros, the most handsome among the immortal gods,
dissolver of flesh, who overcomes the reason and purpose in the breasts of all gods and all men.”
From here we have the second generation Primordial Deities, deities that were independently produced
by either Chaos or Gaia. From Chaos came Erebus, a son, the personification of darkness, and Nyx,
a daughter, the personification of night, and from Gaia came three sons: Uranus, the personification
of the sky, who would become Gaia’s consort, Ourea, the personification of mountains,
and Pontus, the personification of the sea; basically, Gaia created solid and liquid features
of her own constitution, as well as the sky, which she wove about her as a sort of celestial cloak.
This is also explained in Hesiod’s Theogony. Here’s the passage:
“Out of the Chasm came Erebos and dark Night, and from Night in turn came Bright air and Day, whom
she bore in shared intimacy with Erebos. Earth bore first of all one equal to herself, starry
Heaven, so that he should cover her all about, to be a secure seat for ever for the blessed gods;
and she bore the long Mountains, pleasant haunts of the goddesses, the Nymphs who dwell in mountain
glens; and she bore also the undraining Sea and its furious swell, not in union of love.
From here, we move on to the third-generation. Born to Erebus and Nyx were Aether,
who personified the bright upper atmosphere, and Hemera, the personification of day. Born
to Gaia were the 12 first generation titans, the trio of Uranian Cyclopes,
and the trio of Hecatonchires - these latter two trios of no consequence to the topic at hand.
Here, the classification of Primordial deity loses much of its relevance, for this third generation
isn’t as ancient as the first two, obviously; yet there are still parallels to be drawn,
for many of the deities from this generation play a similar role, just to a lesser degree,
personifying material constructs and an array of phenomena germane to this video.
In short, while not as ancient, the world nor mind nor human life would be wholly accounted for
in the absence of what many of these third-generation deities personify.
The 12 first-generation Titans were the oldest children produced by the union of Gaia
and Uranus. Of their number, there were six men and six women, and the ones we’re going
to discuss are those who personify, as every deity discussed hitherto personifies, the
fundamental constructs of the material world; and to this end, three stand above the rest: Oceanus,
Tethys, and Hyperion. Oceanus, the first born son and the eldest of the Titans, personified the
great river that encircles the earth; Tethys, the consort of Oceanus, personified the font of fresh
water that was the ultimate source from which all the rivers of the world flowed; and Hyperion,
another son of Gaia and Uranus was a solar deity; he was called “The One on High” and “He Who Walks
Above, and though he was the first sun god in Greek mythology, how he was conceptualized in
relation to the sun itself is ambiguous; however, his children are mainly why he was included.
They are: Helios, the personification of the sun, Selene, the personification of the moon,
and Eos, the personification of the dawn. Three very important features.
There are also the many children Nyx independently produced to consider. While none of them account
for any fundamental construct of the material world, they do account for a great number of
the forces and phenomena that define what it is to be human - what the experience of our short
time on earth is like, the good and the bad. These children include: Moros, impending doom,
the inexorable force that led people to their inevitable ends, Thanatos, death itself, Hypnos,
sleep, the Oneiroi, dreams, Momus, mockery and blame, Geras, old age, Oizys, misery, distress,
suffering, and woe, Nemesis, retribution, Philotes, affection, Apate, guile, deceit,
and deception, Eris, discord and strife, and the Moirai, goddesses of fate. As well, since we’re
now discussing deities that don't represent fundamental constructs of the material world,
there are other first-generation Titans who should be mentioned: Themis, the personification of
custom and law as established by gods and nature, and Mnemosyne, the personification of memory.
We’re going to wrap up this video with some key events in Greek mythology
in which certain primordial deities are integral to.
Undoubtedly the most important primordial deities to the mosaic of Greek mythology are Uranus and
Gaia because of their prominent roles in the creation myth. Uranus found his younger children,
the three cyclopes and the three Hecatonchires, to be abominations, so he kept them trapped within
Gaia. Having her children stuck inside of her was a source of anguish, emotional and physical, so
Gaia went to the titans for help. Cronus answered his mother’s call, and he ambushed his father,
castrating him, an act that ushered in two changes of incredible significance;
the permanent separation of earth and sky and the usurpation of father by son, the beginning of a
new age under a new king. The blood that fell from Uranus’ severed genitals impregnated the earth,
producing the Erinyes, the Furies, and the race of giants. Later, Gaia and Uranus informed Cronus
that he was destined to be supplanted by his son the same way he supplanted his own father.
Beginning with Cronus swallowing his children as soon as they were born,
this information precipitated a chain of events that led to the Titan war. Per the account
of Apollodorus, the defeat of the Titans, especially their imprisonment in Tartarus,
angered Gaia, so it was then, when the victory of Zeus was still fresh,
that she brought the race of giants into the world, setting the stage for the next trial
Zeus and the gods would face. The giants, as the titans before them, were defeated, though they,
because they weren’t immortal like the titans, were destroyed, not imprisoned. This second
defeat of her children infuriated Gaia, serving as the impetus for Gaia’s copulation with Tartarus,
the result of which was Typhon, the most powerful monster in Greek mythology.
Another myth, this one not nearly as important, centers on Nyx and is recounted in the Iliad.
Zeus, as is so often the case, was at odds with Hera. He favored the Trojans, and she, the Greeks.
Because of this, Hera wanted Hypnos to put Zeus to sleep, thus preempting him from intervening
and lending support to the Trojans. In response to this, Hypnos relates what happened the last time,
which was when Hercules was sailing home after he sacked Troy. With Zeus’ mind ensnared by soft,
subtle sleep, Hera stirred up the weather and unleashed a storm upon Hercules.
When Zeus awoke, he was incensed and would have savaged Hypnos had he not found succor with his
mother, taking refuge behind the swarthy weaves of her skirts. Here’s the passage from the Iliad:
“I was the culprit, the worst of all - and out of the skies he would have sunk me in the sea,
wiped me from sight, if the Night had failed to save me,
Old Night that can overpower all gods and mortal men. I reached her in flight and…[Zeus] called
it quits despite his towering anger. True, Zeus Shrank from doing a thing to outrage
rushing Night. But now you are back, Hera - you ask me to do the impossible once again.”
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