Gaia
primordialGaia was the primordial Earth goddess, the first being to emerge after Chaos — mother of the Titans, the Giants, and virtually all life in Greek cosmology.
The Myth
In Hesiod's Theogony, Gaia emerged from Chaos and brought forth Uranus (Sky), Pontus (Sea), and the mountains. With Uranus she bore the twelve Titans, three Cyclopes, and three Hecatoncheires. When Uranus imprisoned their children in Tartarus, Gaia fashioned an adamantine sickle and persuaded Kronos to castrate his father. She later supported Zeus against Kronos but eventually turned against the Olympians too, sending Typhon and the Giants to challenge them.
Parents
Emerged from Chaos
Children
Uranus, Pontus, Titans, Cyclopes, Hecatoncheires, Typhon, Giants
Symbols
Fun Fact
The Gaia hypothesis, proposed by James Lovelock in 1979, treats the entire Earth as a self-regulating system — named directly after this goddess.
Words We Inherited
English words and phrases that trace back to this myth: