The Origin of
the Gods
In the beginning there was Chaos…
The first legend tells the creation of
the universe and a war for control
over all of heaven and Earth.
The Greeks believe that before time
and the universe existed, there
was Chaos. Chaos was a formless
nothingness, a dark void of empty
space.
The end of Chaos
Eventually Chaos gave birth to the Titan known as
Gaia, the Earth.
She then in turn gave birth to Uranus, the Sky, to be
her equal and cover her.
Joined together they then gave birth to more
Titans: the Ocean, Intelligence, the Stars and the
Wind, Rivers, the Sun, the Moon, the Dawn,
Memory, Fate, and Rhea who was destined to
become mother of the gods.
The youngest Titan was named Cronus. He would one day
overthrow his father Uranus and make himself ruler of all things
and father to the gods. Uranus hated all of his children and when
Gaia gave birth to a race of giants, Cyclops, and monsters, he
trapped them deep inside the Earth. This caused Gaia much
grief, so she created a blade and gave it to Cronus to use against
his father. Using the blade Cronus hurt Uranus and declared
himself ruler over heaven and earth. He then took his sister Rhea
to be his wife.
However, all was not well, as it was prophesied that one day Cronus' children would rise and
overthrow him in the way he had done to his own father. Needless to say he was not very
happy when Rhea became pregnant. She gave birth to five children: Hestia, Demeter, Hera,
Hades, and Poseidon.
After each was born Cronus promptly swallowed them whole to ensure that they would not
rise up against him.
But when Rhea gave birth to their sixth son, Zeus, she hid him away on the Island of Crete and
wrapped a stone in his swaddling clothes. Mistaking the stone for the child, Cronus swallowed
the rock without knowing. Free from the fate of his siblings, Zeus was raised by Gaia until he
came of age, at which point he returned home to liberate his brothers and sisters
He tricked Cronus into drinking an elixir that made him vomit up all his children.
When he threw up his five previous children, who were Hestia, Demeter, Hera,
Hades, and Poseidon, they went to battle against their father. The results were that
all of his children, led by Zeus, vanquished Cronus forever into Tartarus' domain, the
Dark World under the Earth.
Following this, a massive war erupted between the Titans and gods for control of the
universe. Eventually the gods were able to subdue the Titans and imprison them in
the deepest darkest places of the universe.
The final battle happened at Olympia where Zeus and Cronus met to battle. They
wrestled for a great deal of time until Zeus was able to subdue his father. With this
the war was over and the gods declared themselves rulers of the universe. To
commemorate his victory, Zeus established the Olympic Games at Olympia so all
would remember his match with Cronus.
The Olympus Bunch
Here’s a story about a king named Cronus
who didn’t want to give up his throne.
So when his kids were born,
he just ate them.
The youngest was a stone.
Here’s a story about a mom named Rhea,
Who loved her kids so much
When the newest was born, she tricked her husband
And gave him a stone for lunch
Then one day when Rhea sent for Zeus,
who was living with a shepherd family.
He tricked his dad
to barf up his siblings
Now they all live in Olympus happily
The Olympus bunch
The Olympus bunch
That’s the way they became the Olympus bunch!