Chaos
A formless void from which came Earth, Day and Night.
The Olympian version of creation involved Chaos producing Gaia (the Earth), Nyx (Night) and Erebus (Darkness). Afterward, Gaia gave birth to Uranus (Sky) and Pontus (Sea). Eros persuaded Chaos to create land animals and birds, the first identifiable creatures. Ovid, a Roman poet, said Chaos was a "lifeless matter without distinguishing features". Philosophers regarded Chaos as being the basis for all reality. The theory of prima material (formless base of all matter) was developed by Aristotle and later used by alchemists.