From the Unborn Gods
to the Trojan War
These feelings of paranoia revolving around the gods’ desire for power led to a chain
reaction of events that started with Gaia, one of the 4 original unborn gods, and leads
all the way to the Trojan War.
& The Odyssey
Gaia created Uranus (god of sky). The two of them then joined together to
produce many children. However, as soon as each child was born Uranus would get
In the world of Greek Mythology, there were 4 original unborn gods:
Chasm (god of chaos)
Gaia (god of earth, land)
Tartara (god of the underworld)
Eros (god of love)
These gods and the ones that came along later were all anthropomorphic (this word
is used to describe any non-human thing that has the characteristics that human
beings are known for having such as the human form, behavior, and ability to feel
emotions). The fact that the gods were anthropomorphic led to the creation of
additional gods and the rest of the universe.
an overwhelming feeling of fear. Some stories say that he was frightened of their
monstrous appearance, but most believe that Uranus quite simply feared their great
power. Uranus had the children imprisoned deep inside a cave in the earth
(remember that Gaia is the earth). Gaia eventually came up with a plan to free her
children. She enlisted the help of her son Kronos, and then she created adamant (an
unbreakable, extremely hard metal). She used the adamant to make a large hook that
Kronos would use as a weapon to attack his father. Gaia hid Kronos and waited for
Uranus to make love to her. As soon as Uranus began, Kronos attacked him with the
adamant hook and cut off his genitals. Gaia knew that severing his genitals would
permanently cut the bond between the earth (Gaia) and the sky (Uranus). This made
it possible for all of her imprisoned children to be released.
Eros is generally given credit for creating additional beings. Since he was the god of
love, and he felt the need to spread love, it is widely believed that he strongly
encouraged the original gods to reproduce.
Not long after Kronos helped Gaia defeat Uranus and free himself and his
siblings, he repeated the same mistakes that his own father had made. Kronos was
warned that reproducing with Rhea (one of the siblings that he had helped free) would
The gods had the ability to create offspring with or without a partner. They sometimes
mated with one another creating new gods that had some variation of combined
powers inherited from both parents. They sometimes used their own powers to create
offspring on their own. They sometimes created monsters and other creatures less
powerful than gods to add a source of excitement and conflict in the world. And,
occasionally, the gods even mated with some of the creatures and created half
god/half monster offspring.
create an offspring more powerful than he was himself. Kronos did not want to be
dethroned by his own offspring, so each year when Rhea gave birth to a child, Kronos
would swallow the baby imprisoning each one. Rhea was so saddened by this that
she went to her mother for help. Together, Rhea and Gaia devised a plan to save
them.
As soon as Rhea gave birth to her last child (Zeus) Gaia hid him away deep in a
cave. Rhea then in Zeus’s place gave a rock wrapped in a blanket to Kronos. Kronos
was fooled by this trick and swallowed the rock instead. This left Zeus to be free. He
Most believe that it was anthropomorphic traits like jealousy, paranoia, and the need
for power that led to the gods creating offspring on their own and creating creatures.
The gods were generally so worried that another god more powerful than themselves
would come into existence that they tried to avoid mating with another god in fear that
the powers of two gods combined would create too powerful an offspring.
was in fact the offspring fated to overpower the other gods. This deceit began a war
between the Titans (Kronos and the gods fighting on his side) and the Olympians
(Zeus and the gods fighting on his side).
Zeus was eventually able to use his powers to free his siblings from Kronos’s
imprisonment. His brothers were huge giants with 100 arms and 50 heads and were
easily able to help Zeus and the Olympians defeat the Titans. As a thank you for
freeing them, Zeus’s brothers gave him the power of the thunderbolt to use as his
is the version of humans that still exists today. These humans are able to exist
own. As punishment the Olympians decided to imprison the Titans an enormous
because Zeus allows them to, and they have suffering (things like disease, war, pain,
distance below the earth. They dropped an anvil off the end of the earth and let it fall
etc.) simply because they have evil in their nature and they live in evil times.
for 9 days and 9 nights. The distance that anvil fell became the distance beneath the
Stop
earth the Titans were imprisoned.
11
Zeus was now the leader of all of the gods; however, he was not
immune from falling victim to that same crime of paranoia and need for
The second version of the creation of human beings is the more popular and
power. To celebrate defeating the Titans and gaining his new position as god of all of
believed version among the followers and believers of Greek Mythology. This version
the Olympian gods, Zeus decided to choose a bunch of wives. The first of his seven
is essential to many other stories in Greek Mythology including the Trojan War. As
wives was Metis (a goddess of wisdom). Zeus’s parents soon warned him that an
part of his celebration after defeating the Titans, Zeus decided to make the world
offspring created by the union of himself and Metis would be too clever and would
more interesting by creating a lesser form of beings. This task landed initially in the
dethrone him. To prevent this from happening, he ate Metis before she could give
hands Epimetheus (god of afterthought) who had to turn to his brother Prometheus
birth to their child. By doing this, Zeus gained Metis’s powers (resource and cunning).
(god of forethought) for help. The two brothers worked together to create mortals,
The baby she was carrying grew inside of Zeus and eventually popped out of his
both animal and human.
forehead. Zeus ignored the fact that he had swallowed the child’s mother and truly
Epimetheus, being a god of afterthought, did not think things through when he
believed that he alone was the parent and creator of the child. For this reason, his
went to create mortals. He was so excited that he just started creating. He ended up
first born child would always remain his favorite offspring. The child was Athena
giving all of the best survival features such as claws, sharp teeth, and strength to the
(goddess of battles and protectoress of cities), Zeus loved her so much that he
animals he created. He then turned to Prometheus for help. Prometheus, being a god
sometimes let her use his own tools (the aegis shield and the thunderbolt).
of forethought, was very wise and always gave great thought to what would be
In addition to his many marriages and creation of many offspring, Zeus chose to
needed to prepare for the future. Prometheus very thoughtfully created human
celebrate his new-found power by expanding the universe. He wanted to create
beings. He decided to liken them in the image of the gods and allowed them to walk
inferior beings that would inhabit the earth and provide a source of entertainment for
upright like gods rather than on all fours like the animals. Prometheus was very proud
the gods. There is an argument among the followers and believers of Greek
and very attached to his creation. He even gave the humans the gift of fire to have as
mythology as to exactly how human beings were created; however, no matter what
a survival tool on earth.
version is accurate the end result is that humans are meant to have suffering.
A lesser known version of the creation of human beings (version 1) has the gods
Zeus had already been angry with Prometheus for withholding information. Since
Prometheus was a god of foresight, he was able to make certain prophecies and
working together under Zeus’s orders trying and failing four times to create humans
occasionally foretell the future. Zeus knew that Prometheus knew whom Zeus should
before a fifth attempt actually comes out right. In this version the gods first created the
avoid mating with if he wanted to prevent creating an offspring more powerful than
Golden Race which died off because they were too pure. The second attempt was the
Zeus was himself. Prometheus, however, refused to reveal this information to Zeus,
Silver Race which died off because the humans were too stupid and kept injuring
and then he went and gave humans the ability and knowledge to create fire, which
each other. The third attempt was the Brass Race which died off because they were
was something special to the gods. These two things made Zeus very angry with
too vicious and war-loving and killed one another. The fourth attempt led to the Heroic
Prometheus, and to make matters worse Prometheus went and angered Zeus for a
Race which were too perfect and eventually died but their spirits went on to live
third time.
forever on the Island of the Blessed. The fifth and final try led to the Iron Race which
Zeus wanted to hold a ceremony giving humans the opportunity to thank the
(goddess of love) , Hera (goddess of marriage and childbirth) , and Athena (goddess
gods for their creation and to acknowledge the power the gods had over the universe.
of battle and protectoress of cities). Ordinarily Zeus would be the judge and make the
To do this the concept of animal sacrifice was introduced. The finest bull was to be
decision, but he did not want to choose between his favorite daughter, his wife, and
sacrificed to the gods as a gift from the humans. Under Prometheus’s advisory the
his sister.
sacrificial bull was divided into two piles. One pile was made up of all the meat
Zeus assigned the task of deciding which goddess was in fact the fairest to a
covered with the stomach and entrails. The second pile was made up of the bones
human named Paris. He was the Prince of Troy and known to be an excellent judge
covered in the fat. Both piles were presented to Zeus at the ceremony. Zeus chose
of beauty. The ladies each went to Paris offering him gifts trying to win his vote.
the pile covered in fat thinking the meat would be underneath; however, his pile was
Athena tried to bribe him by offering him wisdom and victory in battle. Hera offered
just the bones and fat. The humans were left with the meat to enjoy themselves. This
him power and dominion over all of Asia. And Aphrodite promised him the most
set the rule for all future sacrifices made by humans in honor of the gods. Humans
beautiful mortal woman in the world. Paris decided to choose Aphrodite.
were allowed to enjoy a feast of meat when they sacrificed the bones and fat to the
gods.
This was now the third thing that Prometheus had done to anger Zeus. Being
A Greek queen named Helen was thought to be the most beautiful woman in the
world, so with Aphrodite’s help, Paris went to claim his prize. However, Helen was
already married to Menelaus (King of Sparta). Aphrodite had to use her powers to
tricked at the animal sacrifice led Zeus to come up with way to punish both the
make Helen fall in love with Paris, which made kidnapping her much easier. King
humans and Prometheus. To punish the humans Zeus created the human Pandora.
Menelaus was not about to just let his wife be taken from him though. He went to his
She was given a sealed box by Zeus to take with her as a gift to humans. She was
brother Agamemnon (the greatest king in all of Greece) and the two put together an
told not to open the box, but her curiosity got the best of her as Zeus knew it would.
army of great kings and fighters and waged war against Paris and the rest of Troy.
She opened the box releasing such things as disease, pain, sorrow, insanity, envy,
and death. This being the reason that humans have suffering in their lives.
To punish Prometheus, Zeus had him chained to a mountain where an eagle
Thus began the Trojan War. Menelaus and Agamemnon led the Greeks against
Paris and the Trojans. The war waged for ten years bringing out great war heroes like
Achilles, Diomedes, Nestor, Ajax, and Odysseus on the Greek side; and Hector and
would peck out his liver each day. Being immortal, Prometheus could not die, so his
Aeneas on the Trojan side. In the tenth year of the Trojan War, Odysseus (King of
liver would grow back each night just to be pecked out again the next day. When
Ithaca) came up with a plan to get inside the Trojan’s camp and finally bring them
Prometheus could no longer handle the torture, he called to Zeus and offered to
down.
reveal the name of whom Zeus needed to avoid mating with in order to prevent
With Odysseus’s plan and the help of Athena, the Greeks tricked the enemy into
creating a more powerful god. Prometheus traded the name for his freedom. The
bringing a colossal wooden horse within the walls of Troy. The Trojans had no idea
name was Thetis. Thetis was a sea nymph who prophesied to bare him a son more
that Greek soldiers were hidden inside, under the command of Odysseus. That night
powerful than he was himself. To prevent this from ever happening, Zeus ordered
they emerged and opened the city gates to the Greek army. Troy was destroyed, and
Thetis to marry Pelleus (a mortal King) and live on earth with her new husband.
Helen was returned to her home with King Menelaus. Now it was time for Odysseus
Before they lived happily ever after though, an event at their wedding set off a chain
and the other Greeks to return to their kingdoms across the sea.
of events that led to the Trojan War.
Most of the Greeks were able to sail home with little or no problems and return to
Eris (evil goddess of discord) was not invited to the wedding. She was not happy
their lives as they were before the war. However the hero of the war, King Odysseus,
about this and intentionally wanted to cause problems for those at the ceremony. She
had nothing but trouble trying to get back to Ithaca. It took him nearly ten years to get
rolled a golden apple into the middle of the gathering. On the apple the words “to the
home after the end of the war. His famous ten-year voyage is known as The
fairest” were engraved. Three goddesses each assumed that she was the fairest and
Odyssey.
that the apple belonged to her. This started a fight between the three; Aphrodite