Greek Mythology: Creation and the Olympian Gods

Flashcards generated from lecture notes on Greek Mythology, focusing on the creation myths and the Olympian gods.

Hesiod's __, composed around 700 BCE, is considered the standard mythical account of the earliest history of the world by the Greeks.

Theogony

According to Hesiod, __ came first, representing a 'gaping void' and a primal feature of the universe.

Chaos

Besides Chaos, the other three primal entities that came into existence independently were __, __, and _.

Gaea, Tartarus, Eros

__ is the motor that drives the process of mating and procreation, bringing everything else into being.

Eros

__ is the nethermost region of the completed universe, serving as a remote prison for banished deities.

Tartarus

__ produced Erebus and Nyx without a male partner.

Chaos

Nyx is important because she founded the main branch of the family of Chaos by generating a dismal brood of children that mostly represent __, __, and __ forces.

dark, destructive, negative

__ is the personification of darkness, especially of the darkness of the Underworld.

Erebus

Gaea will be the progenitor of all that is and in the world.

positive, substantial

Gaea's first self-generated child was __, equal to herself, to cover her over on every side.

starry Uranus

The two great families were founded by Gaea through her unions with and .

Uranus, Pontus

and are the primordial couple in Hesiod’s account of the earliest history of the world.

Uranus, Gaea

Gaea bore three sets of children to Uranus: the __, the one-eyed __, and the hundred-armed __.

Titans, Cyclopes, Hecatoncheires

__ armed with a sickle, castrated Uranus, bringing their union to a violent end.

Cronus

Cronus hurled Uranus' severed genitals into the sea, where sea-foam gathered around them to generate the goddess __.

Aphrodite

The initial story of the mutilation and displacement of Uranus thus forms part of an overarching __ which will show how the divine order came to be established under Zeus.

succession myth