Gaia - Greek Goddess of Earth and all life

Welcome to our first guest blog post!

We are so excited to be hosting some blog posts by Mya - a Mythology enthusiast and Classics student. Our first blog explores Gaia - Greek Goddess of Earth and all life.

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In this blog, I explore the deities, who they were and what they did, whilst adding my own commentary, this is not limited to just female deities (mostly though don’t you worry!), and even though my key knowledge is based around the Greek Pantheon of Gods, we will be praising deities from all over the world.

In between every few posts there will be a deep dive into a myth or an ancient media, such as plays, more commonly than not looking at the women who appear exploring how they were portrayed, what they achieved and, unfortunately, usually how they should’ve been treated better.

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Gaia, where do I start? The personification of the earth, the great mother of all creation, yea she’s a big one. Born from Chaos (the eternal void), she is single-handedly the reason why the earth looks like it does today. The sky, the sea, the mountains, if you can name it she probably made it. Not only did she birth the Titans (the first Pantheon of Greek Gods), but she also created nymphs, giants and fates.

The Greeks gave her the epithet "Gaia the Giver of Gifts". This is because when men were blessed by Gaia they were given bountiful harvests. She has an array of symbols - the most noticeable being the Cornucopia - the symbol of abundance, given to her as she would give those who worshipped her all they could need and desire. In fact, she and Demeter were often worshipped together as they both had control over agriculture and seasons, Gaia unfortunately missing out on getting her own cult. Those who did follow Gaia would sacrifice black animals to her as she was a chthonic (relating to the underworld) deity.

The birth of the Titans

Before I talk more about how amazing she was, I need to address how the Titans came into existence. Uranus was one of Gaia’s very first children, that in all her power she manifested into existence - without a man may I add! Not only was he her son, but for a period of her life he was also her lover.

With him, she birthed the Titans, the Cyclopes and the Hecatoncheires, monsters with 50 heads and 100 hands (google it it’s an interesting sight). You’ll be happy to know that she wasn’t with Uranus forever, as there was the slight issue that he hated his children so much he put them back into the earth, aka her womb. Gaia quickly grew tired of his antics, and in desperation begged her children to help her. Together they built a sickle, and the youngest of the Titans, Cronus, got given the lovely job of castrating his father, and this was the act that separated Earth from Heaven.

It is speculated that Gaia had over 60 children with lots of her own children, but can you call it incest when you are the creator of everything - who else was she to sleep with? Plus, most of her children play vital parts in the functioning of the earth so who are we to judge?

If I have learnt anything about Gaia, it is that she loves her children and will do anything to keep them safe. Her grandchildren, well maybe not so much.

Zeus' Power

Zeus' power was threatened twice by his grandmother. Zeus made the wrongful choice of imprisoning her children (the Titans) in Tartarus. Naturally, she set her other children, the Giants on Zeus, starting the Gigantomachy - a war that Zeus and the Olympians won but hey points to Gaia for sticking up for her children.

The second time was in the aftermath of losing the Gigantomachy. Out of rage that her children were still imprisoned, she created ‘the father of all monsters’ - Typhoeus with Tartarus, and well he stood his ground fighting against the Olympians for a good while, even beating Zeus at points. Eventually, Zeus struck him down with a lightning bolt, and you know what after all of this he still didn’t let her children out. Gaia had come to the realisation that she could not best Zeus, and the man won, which is common you’ll learn to find as I enlighten you more and more in these posts.

Many Greeks also chose Gaia to bless their weddings. One website (very rudely may I add) said this was a poor choice as she never settled down with one man, however, I do not blame all those who chose her, as I think the sentiment of Earth blessing your wedding is quite endearing.

So where can Gaia be seen today?

Well everywhere really, but I’ll give you some cool examples I found.

She is in space taking photographs of our stars, as an astronomical observatory. She is appearing in the media, even having a recent film, which even though I haven’t watched is apparently an interesting eco-horror. Finally, she is a hypothesis proposed by two biologists Margulis and Lovelock, which proposed that the earth and its biological systems act as one single identity which can regulate itself, which is such a cool concept.

All in all, I think this was a pretty strong deity to start with. I love Gaia and all the weird stories that come with her, the love and loyalty to her children, and how she is represented today - it is amazing to see how these deities have followed us through time.

The next deity will be Hecuba, so look out for that one!

The next time you admire nature, remember to thank Gaia for making it so beautiful for us.

Hope you enjoyed reading this,

Your amateur classicist,

Mya

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A little bit about me

I’m Mya and I’ve been interested in Mythology since I was a child, now studying Classics as a subject, my passion is focused on the female deities and how they act and fit in within their respective pantheons of Gods. I personally find it so interesting to look back on these key figures from a modern perspective seeing what they did and how important they were to ancient societies. My favourite deity is Hera, not only because of how she put up with Zeus as a husband, but also because of how respected and powerful she was, but more on that later.