Greeks have a very well-recorded history from famous philosophers such as Socrates, Aristotle, and Hippocrates, to major religious beliefs of how the world came to be. Although Greek myths are not part of a prominent belief in the world today, Greek gods are still well-known and believed in today. Greek religious or as some say, mythological, beliefs have a huge part in how Grecian culture is understood.
Understanding how the gods and goddesses came to be is crucial, as they are seen at the center of all Greek mythology. According to mythological beliefs, before any life came to be, there was nothing. The nothing was called Chaos from which many divine beings emerged, the main one being Gaia, the earth. Gaia gave birth to Uranus, the sky, and together, even though they are mother and son, they gave birth to the Titans consisting of six males and six females.
Cronus is the Titan to focus on in this situation. He marries his sister Rhea, a Titan, and becomes the ruler over future gods with the other Titans as his court. With Rhea, he had many children, but fearing that they may betray him, he ate each child at birth. Rhea, angry at her husband, hid one child, Zeus who grew until he could eventually face his Titan father.
Eventually, Zeus drugged his father, forcing him to throw up the other children who are known as the Olympians. The Olympian gods defeated their father in a vicious battle, and all of the Titans were banished into the Abyss, never to return.
Zeus had his first child Athena, the goddess of wisdom, civilization, and justice, and she had the job of breathing life into the clay figures formed by Prometheus. Prometheus was one of the Titans who was not banished and instead tasked to form humans out of clay figures. However, that was until Prometheus tricked Zeus, and as revenge, Zeus gave a beautiful human named Pandora a box, which she was not supposed to open but did, plaguing the world of humans with many evils. This story accounts for issues that the world faces today, wars, plagues, and disasters. For a more in-depth explanation of the rise of man and how the world came to be according to Greek mythology, go to Kahn Academy.
There are many other stories in Greek mythology besides these, many of them adventures that deal with humans, gods, and those in-betweens. Some notable stories include Perseus and Medusa, Heracles and the Hydra and Theseus and the Minotaur.
Over time, Greek mythology has grown in many ways in today’s culture. Authors such as the acclaimed Rick Riordan have written stories about Greek gods and the adventures of heroes such as Perseus, retelling the same tales told through generations in a new and fun way. There are so many resources that contain loads of information on Greek mythology as it is one of the best recorded mythologies. A suggested one would be Theoi Greek Mythology as it offers a better description of the stories mentioned and much more.