GREECE

In the beginning there was chaos, a great big sea in which Eurynome danced. Eurynome was the Goddess of all things. Ophion, the great serpent of the waters, was enraptured by her dancing, made love to her, and impregnated her. She turned into a bird to give birth to the universal egg, which Ophion cracked open with his tail. From the egg spilled many creatures who went to live on Earth.

Ophion began to brag that he was the father of all things. His bragging displeased Eurynome, and so she banished him to the dark areas of Earth.

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Geia, Mother Earth, gave birth to her son Uranus, who was the sky. He showered his gratitude on her in the form of rain and this brought life to all Mother Earth's seeds.

Out of Chaos came Erebus (darkness), and night. From night came the upper atmosphere and day. From the earth came the sea, the great ocean, the Titans, Hyperion (the sun), Rhea, Mnesmosyne (memory), Phoebe (the moon), and Cronus. Their mother was Geia and their father was Uranus.

Uranus was jealous of the attention Geia lavished on her children, so he tried to destroy them. First he hid them in a cavern inside her. Geia began to feel pain as her children grew. Eventually, she got sick of Uranus' jealousy, and enlisted the help of her youngest child, Cronus, to take revenge on Uranus. When Mother Earth took Uranus to her bed, Cronus cut off his father's genitals and threw them into the sea. From the foam that ensued came Aphrodite, the goddess of love.

The blood that poured from Uranus covered the Earth and fathered the Furies, who deal with Justice.

Cronus became master of the Gods and married Rhea, and together they gave birth to Hestia (goddess of the hearth), Demeter (goddess of agriculture), Hera (goddess of childbirth), Ares (god of war), and Zeus.

Like Uranus, Cronus was jealous of the attention Rhea lavished on her children, so he swallowed each child as it was born, except for Zeus. When Zeus was born, Rhea fed Cronus a stone instead of the child. She hid Zeus in Crete, away from his father's jealous hands. Together, Rhea and Zeus conspired to punish Cronus. When Zeus came of age, he carried out his revenge. Cronus was fed an emetic and threw up the children he had swallowed, as well as the stone, which was then turned into the Oracle of the god Apollo. Cronus was killed, and a battle ensued between the Titans and Rhea's children, for control of the gods. In the end, the children won and Zeus became the king of the gods.

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There were five ages of man before our known human race came to populate the earth.

The first was the Golden Age, in which man was happy and knew no greed or suffering. Man did not have to work for or earn a living. This age ended when men emulated the gods' behaviour and became arrogant and contemptuous.

Second was the Silver Age, in which man first reaped harvests and began to work for their food. Men lived until they were a hundred years old and were always dependent on their mothers. They complained about everything and picked fights with one another constantly. Zeus became sick of this race of men and destroyed them.

Next came the first Bronze Age, in which man dropped from ash trees like seeds. They ate meat and bread and were much more useful than the men from the previous age. They enjoyed war greatly, however, and eventually killed each other off.

Then came the second Bronze Age, described as The Age of Heroes. These people had human mothers and their fathers were gods. Hercules lived in this age. It was also the age in which the siege of Troy occured. Men fought valiantly and lived fruitful, honourable lives. When they died, they went to the wonderful Elysian Fields.

The Iron Age is the current one which we know. Men are rude, greedy, unhappy and selfish. We know stress and problems and must work hard for a living. However, we have not been completely wiped out by any gods because there are still some virtuous people left among us.

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In early history, it is not known if perhaps it was even before the Golden Age of man, humans became more horrible and wicked as each day passed, and Zeus got angry with them all. One day he decided to demolish them, and Prometheus - the Titan who had made mankind - was warned of the flood Zeus was going to cast on the earth. Prometheus then warned his son Deucalion as well as Deucalion's wife, Pyrrha. They were put in a wooden chest in which they lived until the flood, which lasted nine days and nights, subsided. The only parts of the earth that were left untouched by the flood were Mount Parnassus and Mount Olympus.

The chest landed on Mount Parnassus, and Deucalion and Pyrrha emerged to find that their world had been destroyed. There was enough food in the trunk to last until the water went away, and when it did, the two were horrified by the dead bodies of humans and animals that now littered the earth.

Deucalion and Pyrrha thanked the Gods for having been saved, and Zeus told them to cover their heads and throw the bones of their mother behind them. Pyrrha didn't understand, saying that they had only each other and that her mother hadn't come with them in the chest. Deucalion understood, and threw some stones behind him. The stones were Mother Earth's bones. From the stones Deucalion and Pyrrha threw, the next race of people were born and these people repopulated the Earth.