GREECE -- GEIA (MOTHER EARTH)

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.