Page 37 - Kallima Newsletter - April - May 2021

The Creation Myth & Primordial Deities
We are going to look at some of the myths that undoubtedly involved the generation of gods known as ‘The Titans’.
From the primordial deities come a generation of gods and goddesses that were worshipped for their incredible might and knowledge – the Titans.
Other deities that are sometimes mentioned as primordial deities include:-
Phanes
(a god of procreation and the generation of new life).
Phanes was introduced through Orphism, an offshoot of ancient Greek religious beliefs and practices.
Eros
(the Greek god of love)
Eros is also sometimes described as one of the primordial deities, although equally, he has been named as one of the children of Aphrodite and Area.
Gaia’s First Children
It was through Gaia (Mother Earth) and Uranus (Father Sky) that the Titans come to be. Gaia was first from Chaos. She brought forth her equal, Uranus (god of Sky), and then bore the mountains and surrounding seas.
Following this, and together with Uranus, she birthed the Titans.
The Original 12 Titans
The Titans were the second generation of divine beings and the Greek gods that ruled the world before the Olympians. The twelve original Titans were:
Cronus
The leader of the Titans and the god of time. He was associated with the destructive force of time that could never be held back and eventually consumed everything.
Rhea
Cronus’s wife and queen of the Titans. She ruled over motherhood and fertility.
Oceanus
The eldest son of the Titans and the divine personification of the sea.
Tethys
A sea goddess who was married to Oceanus. 37
Before we get to the Titans, we are going to look back to the start of the universe as explained through Greek myths. In Hesiod’s Theogony, he claims that the first thing in existence was Chaos.
Chaos was a deity but he was also the void state, the ‘nothingness’ that preceded the creation of the universe. This is where those who are defined as the primordial deities came from:-
Gaia (Mother Earth)
Uranus (Father Sky)
Hermera (the goddess of the Daytime)
Nyx (the goddess of Night)
Erebus (Darkness and Shadow)
Tartarus (the deep abyss used as a place of torment and suffering)
Chaos Gaia
Hermera Nyx
Uranus
Erabus
Tartarus