Written by: Remoon Gorkhali - 2023008, Grade IX
Posted on: 21 February, 2021
The gods and goddesses have different parts to play in greek mythology. For instance, Zeus is the god of the skies, Poseidon is the god of the sea and Hephaestus is the god of metalwork, forging, and fire. Altogether there were twelve main gods and goddesses in Greek mythology they were Zeus, Poseidon, Hera, Hephaestus, Dionysus, Athena, Artemis, Apollo, Ares, Demeter, Aphrodite, and Hermes.
It is said that the world was once in a state of nothingness which the Greeks called chaos. Then one day from a light came Gala (The greek personation of mother earth) then came Uranus the god of the sky and other old gods (also known as primordials) Uranus and Gala had 12 children they were the titans the most important of the titans were Kronos and Rhea. Gala also gave birth to some monsters called some cyclopes and some monsters called the hundred-handed ones. Uranus, disgusted by the monsters, imprisoned them in Tartarus. Enraged by this act of Uranus, Gala used her son Kronos to cut off Uranus’s testicles and threw them into the ocean and by Uranus’s testicles blood, it gave birth to the goddess of love and beauty Aphrodite. Kronos then married his sister Rhea.
Kronos was told a prophecy that said that one of his children would dethrone him. Scared of this prophecy Kronos ate all of his children after birth angered by this Rhea hid her youngest son in a cave with a nymph named Amaltheia who raised him by giving him goat milk. After Zeus was old enough he tricked Kronos into drinking wine spiked with mustard. After he drank the wine spiked with mustard he vomited all the god’s out since the gods were immortal; they were unharmed by the digestive acids in Kronos’s stomach. After the return of all the gods, Zeus started a war against Kronos and the titans in order to control the heavens. The war continued for ten years and at last Zeus and his army had won; angered by his father’s past doings Zeus cut Kronos into pieces and threw them into Tartarus. After that Zeus became the leader of the gods (also called the god of all gods) and the god of the skies, Poseidon became the god of the oceans and Hades became the god of the underworld Zeus had also married his sister Hera and named her the queen of the gods.
(Note: The ancient Greeks had a very liberal attitude in life. Family unions were not applicable to them, that is why brothers could marry their sisters and have children or a son could kill his parents)
