The Story of the Greek Mythology: Short

The Creation

In the beginning, there was neither light nor dark, places nor things, up nor down. There was nothing. This nothingness was called Chaos; in short, it was simply the lack of either things or order. Even in Chaos, however, lay the possibilities of order, and these possibilities were like seeds from which, in time, all things grew.

The first thing to grow out of Chaos was Night, spreading its wings of darkness like a giant bird. Next to emerge was Erebus, the bottomless place where Death lives. Then Night laid a silver egg, out of which hatched Eros, or love. The beginning of Love was also the beginning of light, life and joy.

Mother Earth, or Gaia, and Father Heaven, called Uranus, then came into this universe of light and dark, and life and death. Rain fell from Heaven and lakes, oceans, and rivers were made, and green plants began to spring out of the Earth.

Uranus and Gaia had quite a large number of children. Their first three offspring were ugly monsters; each had fifty heads and a hundred hands. Uranus was so disappointed with them that he immediately shut them up inside the earth. The Cyclopes were the next three children of Gaia and Uranus. Each Cyclopes had one enormous, glassy eye in the middle of his forehead. Although they were cleverer than the three monsters and were even skilled at making weapons from metal, Uranus shut them away, too.
He thought they were ugly and perhaps even dangerous.

The Titans, six sons and six daughters, were the last of Uranus and Gaia's children. Compared with their ferocious older brothers, they were rather good-looking and well-behaved.

Because Gaia was upset about the fate of the monsters and the Cyclopes, and feared the same treatment for the Titans, she called them together. Gaia warned them that the same thing might happen to them if they didn't do something about Uranus first.

But, big and strong as they were, the Titans were afraid of their father. Each one said he couldn't possibly think of anything to do; and each suggested that one of the other Titans find a solution. Finally, Cronus, the youngest Titan, came up with a secret plan. Although it was not a very clever plan, it took his father by surprise. Uranus was so used to running things his own way that he simply did not expect any opposition.

This is what happened: Cronus got a sharp sickle from the mother and attacked Uranus with it, badly wounding him. Uranus was in too much pain to fight back, so all he could do was flee. But as he fled upwards, as high as he could go, he shouted down to Cronus, "You'll get the same treatment from one of your children someday. Beware!"

And since the exile of Uranus, the sky has never come near the earth. Some of the blood of Uranus fell to the earth, though, and turned into the Giants and the Erinyes, or Furies. These terrible creatures had live snakes for hair, and they chased wrong-doers about until they were punished.

If Gaia expected sympathy and cooperation from Cronus, she was greatly disappointed. Instead of freeing his older brothers, Cronus quicky took his father's place as ruler of the world and made his Titan brothers his generals. To Oceanus, he gave the rule of the River-Ocean that circled the world. He gave control of all light in the world to his brother Hyperion. The children of Hyperion, the Sun, the Moon, and the Dawn, rode across the sky in their chariots once each day.

Although Gaia was angry at her high-handed son Cronus, she had no say in the matter for the time being. And the Titans became known as the Elder Gods.