Greek Creation Myth

I am going to tell you a story… the story of the creation of the world! I am about to relate to you the Greek creation myth. It describes what Greeks believe was the reason for the universe to be born. What went into the creation of this world? Let us see.

The story begins in darkness. All was dark and empty before the world was created. The only being that existed was a bird called Nyx, a female bird with black wings. She laid a golden egg and sat atop it for years. Life began to evolve in the egg and out came Eros! Eros was the God symbolizing love. He was also known as the Protagonas. It is also said that Eurynome, the goddess of everything wanted to make order out of the chaos. By coupling with the snake Ophion she gave birth to Eros. Some believe that she coupled with the North wind and Eros was born. It is said that Eurynome separated the sky from the earth and created Nymphs, Furies, and Charites as also innumerable beasts and monsters.

Eros began to call the sky Uranus and he called Earth as Gaia. Uranus and Gaia fell in love with each other. Children born to them were called Titans. Their children were giants. They grew old and became grandparents. One of their sons Kronus swallowed his children. Kronus’s wife Rhea protected their youngest child from Kronus. He was Zeus. She raised Zeus in a place far away. He returned home when he was a man and stood against his cruel father. He wanted his siblings back. Zeus’s wife tricked Kronus to consume an emetic. Kronus vomited the children he had gulped. All of them under the leadership of Zeus battled against their father, Kronus. They were victorious.

Zeus created life on Earth with the help of his brothers and sisters. He became the king but he ill-treated his subjects. He turned a deaf ear to their complaints. He hated anything that was not beautiful.

Prometheus and Epimetheus were Zeus’s sons. Many myths say that Prometheus combined the aspects of various creatures and molded them to form a new race of the common man! Later he gave mankind the gift of fire by stealing it from the Gods. He trained man to live. Angry about this act of Prometheus, Zeus commanded that his son Prometheus be chained to a mountain and arranged for a huge bird to injure him everyday. He sent Hephaestus to torture Prometheus.

Later, a beautiful woman came into being. She was named as Pandora. She became Epimetheus’s wife. All the Gods gifted Pandora. Zeus presented her a box, which he ordered to never be opened. But curiosity kills the cat! She could not resist opening the box and out fell all the evils. Epimetheus rushed to shut the box but by then all the negativities had fallen out. They still plague the human race. That night they heard a voice saying, "Let me out, I am hope". Some say the only gift to stay in the box was hope while others believe it was released.

This brings us to the end of the Greek creation myth. World’s conception began with the creation of the God of love. In the end of the creation process, life was cursed with pain, sorrow, greed and other sins with one thing due to which, things get better. It was hope!