In Greek mythology, Gaia (; , a poetic form of (), meaning 'land' or 'earth'),, , . also spelled Gaea (), is the personification of Earth.Smith, "Gaea". She is the mother of Uranus (Sky), with whom she conceived the Titans (themselves parents of many of the Olympian gods), the Cyclopes, and the Giants, as well as of Pontus (Sea), from whose union she bore the primordial sea gods. Her equivalent in the Roman pantheon was Terra.Larousse Desk Reference Encyclopedia, The Book People, Haydock, 1995, p. 215.
Etymology The Greek name (Gaia ) is a mostly epic, collateral form of Attic (Gē ), and Doric (Ga ), perhaps identical to (Da ),. both meaning "Earth". Beekes suggested a Pre-Greek origin.Robert S. P. Beekes, Etymological Dictionary of Greek, Brill, 2009, pp. 269–270 (s.v. "γῆ"). M.L. West derives the name from the Indo-European form *dʰéǵʰōm (earth). Greek: gaia (<*gm̥-ya), chamai (χαμαί) on the earth, Hittite: tekan, Tocharian: tkam, Phrygian zemelo, Proto-Slavonic:*zem-yã, Avestan: za (locative: zemi), Vedic: ksam, , .M.L.West (2007). Indoeuropean poetry and myth, pp.173-174 .Oxford University Press, p.174
In Mycenean Greek Ma-ka (probably transliterated as Ma-ga, "Mother Gaia") also contains the root ga-.
Mythology Hesiod Birth of Gaia, Uranus, and the Titans
Hesiod's Theogony tells how, after Chaos, "wide-bosomed" Gaia (Earth) arose to be the everlasting seat of the immortals who possess Olympus above.Hesiod, Theogony 116–118; Hard 2004, p. 23. And after Gaia came "dim Tartarus in the depth of the wide-pathed Earth", and next Eros the god of love.Hesiod, Theogony 119–120; Hard 2004, p. 23. Hesiod goes on to say that Gaia brought forth her equal Uranus (Heaven, Sky) to "cover her on every side".Hesiod, Theogony 126–128. Gaia also bore the Ourea (Mountains), and Pontus (Sea), "without sweet union of love" (i.e., with no father).Hesiod, Theogony, 129–132: Gantz, p. 10; Hard 2004, p. 31; Fowler, p. 5; Caldwell, p. 6; Grimal, s.v. Gaia; Tripp, s.v. Gaea.
Afterward, with Uranus, her son, she gave birth to the Titans, as Hesiod tells it:She lay with Heaven and bore deep-swirling Oceanus, Coeus and Crius and Hyperion and Iapetus, Theia and Rhea, Themis, and Mnemosyne and gold-crowned Phoebe and lovely Tethys. After them was born Cronos (Cronus) the wily, youngest, and most terrible of her children, and he hated his lusty sire.Hesiod, Theogony, 132–138; cf. Apollodorus, 1.1.3.
Other offspring and the castration of Uranus According to Hesiod, Gaia conceived further offspring with her son, Uranus, first the giant one-eyed Cyclopes: Brontes ("Thunder"), Steropes ("Lightning"), and Arges ("Bright");Hesiod, Theogony 139–146; cf. Apollodorus, 1.1.2. then the Hecatonchires: Cottus, Briareos, and Gyges, each with a hundred arms and fifty heads.Hesiod, Theogony, 147–153; cf. Apollodorus, 1.1.1. As each of the Cyclopes and Hecatonchires were born, Uranus hid them in a secret place within Gaia, causing her great pain. So Gaia devised a plan. She created a grey flint (or adamantine) sickle. And Cronus used the sickle to castrate his father Uranus as he approached his mother, Gaia, to have sex with her. From Uranus' spilled blood, Gaia produced the Erinyes, the Giants, and the Meliae (ash-tree nymphs). From the testicles of Uranus in the sea came forth Aphrodite.Hesiod, Theogony 154–200.
By her son, Pontus, Gaia bore the sea-deities Nereus, Thaumas, Phorcys, Ceto, and Eurybia.Hesiod, Theogony 233–239; Gantz, p. 16; Grimal, s.v. Gaia; Smith, s.v. Gaea; Apollodorus, 1.2.6. For a genealogical table of the descendants of Gaia and Pontus, see Gantz, p. 805.
Titanomachy Because Cronus had learned from Gaia and Uranus that he was destined to be overthrown by one of his children, he swallowed each of the children born to him by his Titan older sister, Rhea. But when Rhea was pregnant with her youngest child, Zeus, she sought help from Gaia and Uranus. When Zeus was born, Rhea gave Cronus a stone she received from Gaia wrapped in swaddling-clothes in his place, which Cronus swallowed, and Gaia took Zeus into her care.Hesiod, Theogony 453–491; Hard 2004, p. 68.
With the help of Gaia's advice,Hesiod, Theogony 626; Oxford Classical Dictionary, s.v. Gaia; Hard 2004, p. 68. Zeus defeated the Titans. But afterwards, Gaia, in union with Tartarus, bore the youngest of her sons Typhon, who would be the last challenge to the authority of Zeus.Hesiod, Theogony 820–880; Gantz, p. 48; Brill's New Pauly, s.v. Typhoeus; Oxford Classical Dictionary, s.v. Gaia. Hard 2004, p. 84: "Hesiod does not explain why Gaia, who was otherwise well-disposed toward Zeus, should have wished to give birth to this threatening monster, nor does he state that she did so with hostile intent."
Other sources According to the Roman mythographer Hyginus, Terra (Earth, the Roman equivalent of Gaia), Caelus (Sky, the Roman equivalent of Uranus) and Mare (Sea) are the children of Aether and Dies (Day, the Roman equivalent of Hemera).Hyginus, Fabulae Theogony 2 (Smith and Trzaskoma, p. 95; Latin text). With Aether, Terra produces Dolor (Pain), Dolus (Deception), Ira (Anger), Luctus (Mourning), Mendacium (Lying), Iusiurandum (Oath), Vltio (Vengeance), Intemperantia (Self-indulgence), Altercatio (Quarreling), Oblivio (Forgetfulness), Socordia (Sloth), Timor (Fear), Superbia (Arrogance), Incestum (Incest), Pugna (Fighting), Oceanus (Ocean), Themis, Tartarus, Pontus, the Titans, Briareus, Gyges, Steropes, Atlas, Hyperion, Polus, Saturn, Ops, Moneta, Dione, and the Furies (Alecto, Megaera, and Tisiphone).Hyginus, Fabulae Theogony 3 (Smith and Trzaskoma, p. 95; Latin text). By Tartarus, Terra then becomes the mother of the Giants, which are listed as Enceladus, Coeus, Ophion, Astraeus, Pelorus, Pallas, Emphytus, Rhoecus, Ienios, Agrius, Palaemon, Ephialtes, Eurytus, Theomises, Theodamas, Otos, Typhon, Polybotes, Menephiarus, Abseus, Colophomus, and Iapetus.Hyginus, Fabulae Theogony 4 (Smith and Trzaskoma, p. 95; Latin text). In addition to these figures, there are two Giants listed whose names are unintelligible. According to the mythographer Apollodorus, however, Gaia and Tartarus were the parents of Echidna.Apollodorus, 2.1.2; Smith, s.v. Echidna.
Diodorus Siculus recounts a legend that Gaia was a human woman named Titaea, one of the wives of Uranus, who in this telling was also originally a human and the first king of Atlantis. According to this story, Titaea was deified after her death and her name changed to "Gê."Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca historica 3.57.1-8
The Apples of the Hesperides that Heracles was tasked by Eurystheus to take were a wedding gift by Gaia to Zeus and Hera.Apollodorus, Library 2.5.11.
When Zeus decided to end the Bronze Age with the great deluge, Deucalion and Pyrrha were the only human survivors. Even though he was imprisoned, Prometheus who could see the future and had foreseen the coming of this flood, told Deucalion, to build an ark and, thus, they survived by landing on Mount Parnassus, the only place spared by the flood. Once the deluge was over and the couple were on land again, Deucalion consulted the oracle of Themis about how to repopulate the earth. He was told to throw the bones of his mother behind his shoulder. Deucalion and Pyrrha understood the "mother" to be Gaia, the mother of all living things, and the "bones" to be rocks. They threw the rocks behind their shoulders, which soon began to lose their hardness and change form. Their mass grew greater, and the beginnings of human form emerged. The parts that were soft and moist became skin, the veins of the rock became people's veins, and the hardest parts of the rocks became bones. The stones thrown by Pyrrha became women; those thrown by Deucalion became men.
Gaia resented the way Zeus had treated her children, the Titans, so she brought forth the Gigantes to fight Zeus. It was prophesied that the Gigantes, who were born from Uranus's blood, could not be killed by the gods alone, but they could be killed with the help of a mortal. Hearing this, Gaia sought for a certain plant that would protect the Gigantes even from mortals. Before Gaia or anyone else could get it, Zeus forbade Eos (Dawn), Selene (Moon) and Helios (Sun) to shine, harvested all of the plant himself, and had Athena summon the mortal Heracles, who assisted the Olympians in defeating the Gigantes.Apollodorus, 1.6.1The god Hephaestus once attempted to rape Athena, but she pushed him away, causing him to ejaculate on her thigh. Athena wiped off the semen and threw it on the ground, which impregnated Gaia. Gaia then gave birth to Erichthonius of Athens, whom Athena adopted as her own child.Burkert, p. 143.
Nonnus describes a similar myth, in which Aphrodite fled from her lustful father Zeus, who was infatuated with her. As Zeus was unable to catch Aphrodite, he gave up and dropped his semen on the ground, which impregnated Gaia. This resulted in the birth of the Cyprian Centaurs.Nonnus, Dionysiaca 14.193
According to little-known myth, Elaea was an accomplished athlete from Attica who was killed by her fellow athletes, because they had grown envious of her and her skills; but Gaia turned her into an olive tree as a reward, for Athena's sake. Gaia also turned the young Libanus into rosemary when he was killed by impious people.Nicolaus Sophista, Progymnasmata 2.4
According to Hesiod, in his lost poem Astronomia,See Gantz, p. 271. Orion, while hunting with Artemis and her mother Leto, claimed that he would kill every animal on earth. Gaia, angered by his boasting, sent a giant scorpion to kill him, and after his death, he and the scorpion were placed among the stars by Zeus.Hard 2004, p. 564; Gantz, p. 272; Hesiod fr. 7 Diels, p. 196 [= Eratosthenes, Catasterismi 32 (Hard 2015, p. 101; Olivieri, pp. 37–8)]; cf. Hyginus, De Astronomica 2.26.2. According to Ovid, Gaia for some reason sent the scorpion to kill Leto instead, and Orion was killed trying to protect her.Hard 2004, p. 564; Ovid, Fasti 5.537–544.
When Boreas, the god of the north wind, killed Pitys, an Oread nymph, for rejecting his advances and preferring Pan over him, Gaia pitied the dead girl and transformed her into a pine tree.Libanius, Progymnasmata, 1.4
Zeus hid Elara, one of his lovers, from Hera by stowing her under the earth. His son by Elara, the giant Tityos, is therefore sometimes said to be a son of Gaia, the earth goddess.Hard 2004, pp. 147–148.
Gaia made Aristaeus immortal for the benefits he bestowed upon humanity.
Cult
It seems that the worship of the "earth" was indigenous in Greece.Farnell, Cults III, p.1. However it is doubtful if the mother-religion is rooted to the Pre-Greek population.Nilsson, Geschichte, Vol I 456-458 In classical times Ge was not an important deity and she didn't have any festivals. She was usually honoured together with other gods or goddesses.Hard: "The Rootledge handbook of Greek mythology", p.32 Hard p.32 Local cults of Gaia are rare and only some of them can be mentioned from the existing evidence.
Elements of a primitive cult of Gaia appear at Dodona in Epirus. It seems that in an old religion the earth goddess was worshipped together with the sky-god (Zeus)."Zeus was and is and will be hail great Zeus. Earth brings forth fruits, wherefore call on mother earth" Farnell, Cults III, p.8 At Thebes there was cult of "Gaia Makaira Telesforos". Telesforos means "bringing fruits to perfection".Farnell, Cults III, p.8. The earth goddess had powers over the ghosts and the dreams which come from the underworld, therefore she acquired oracular powers. These conceptions are evident in her cults at Delphi, Athens and Aigai of Achaea. An inscription "ieron eurysternou" (sanctuary of the broad-bosomed), is mentioned at Delphi by Mnaseas.Farnell, Cults III, 8-10. A temple of Ge was built to the south of the temple of Apollo. "Eutysternos" is a surname of Ge and it had an earlier use by Hesiod. It was also given to her in her worship at the Achaean Aegai.