Gaia (mythology)

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Gaia (mythology)

Gaia ( or ) ("land" or "earth
Earth

Earth is the third planet from the Sun. Earth is the largest of the terrestrial planets in the Solar System in diameter, mass and density. It is also referred to as the World and Wiktionary:Terra.Note that by International Astronomical Union convention, the term "Terra" is used for naming extensive land masses, rather...
", from the Ancient Greek

Greek language

Greek is an Indo-European languages native to the southern Balkan peninsula, the language of the Greek people. It forms an independent branch within Indo-European....
Gaîa; also Gæa or Gea (Modern Greek G?) is the primal Greek

Greek mythology

Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the Ancient Greece concerning their List of Greek mythological figures#Immortals and Greek hero cult, Cosmology#Metaphysical cosmology, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices....
goddess

Goddess

Earth

Greek primordial gods

The Ancient Greece Greeks proposed many different ideas about Primordialism deities in their Greek mythology, which would later be largely adapted by the Romans....
and chthonic

Chthonic

Chthonic designates, or pertains to, deities or spirits of the underworld, especially in relation to Ancient Greek religion.Greek khthon is one of several words for "earth"; it typically refers to the interior of the soil, rather than the living surface of the Landscape or the land as territory ....
deity in the Ancient Greek pantheon

Pantheon (gods)

A pantheon is a set of all the gods of a particular polytheistic religion or mythology.Max Weber's 1922 opus, Economy and Society discusses the link between a pantheon of gods and the development of monotheism....
and considered a Mother Goddess

Mother goddess

A mother goddess is a term used to refer to any goddess associated with motherhood, fertility, creation or the bountiful embodiment of the Earth....
or Great Goddess.

Her equivalent in the Roman pantheon was Terra

Terra (mythology)

Terra Mater or Tellus was a goddess personifying the Earth in Roman mythology. The names Terra Mater and Tellus Mater both mean "Mother Earth" in Latin; Mother is an honorific title also bestowed on other goddesses....
.

lass="link1" onMouseover='showByLink("m3712529",this)' onMouseout='hide("m3712529")'href="http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Hesiod">Hesiod

Hesiod

Hesiod was a Greek language oral poet, his date is uncertain but leading scholars agree that Hesiod lived in the latter half of the Eighth-century BCE....
's Theogony
Theogony

The Theogony is a poem by Hesiod describing the origins and genealogy of the polytheism of the ancient Greeks, composed circa 700 BC....
(116ff) tells how, after Chaos

Chaos (mythology)

In Greek myth, Chaos or Khaos is the original state of existence from which the first gods appeared. In other words, the dark void of space....
, arose broad-breasted Gaia the everlasting foundation of the gods of Olympus

Twelve Olympians

The Twelve Olympians or younger gods, also known as the Dodekatheon , in Greek mythology, were the principal Greek Godss of the Greek pantheon , residing atop Mount Olympus, having supplanted the Titan or older gods in the greek mythogical narrative....
.

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Encyclopedia

Greek language

Greek mythology

Goddess

Earth

Greek primordial gods

The Ancient Greece Greeks proposed many different ideas about Primordialism deities in their Greek mythology, which would later be largely adapted by the Romans....
and chthonic

Chthonic

Pantheon (gods)

Mother goddess

Terra (mythology)

In Greek mythology

Hesiod

Chaos (mythology)

Twelve Olympians

Uranus (mythology)

Uranus is the Latinized form of Ouranos , the Greek language word for sky. In Greek mythology Uranus , or Father Sky, is personified as the son and husband of Gaia , Mother Earth ....
, the starry sky, her equal, to cover her, the hills, and the fruitless deep of the Sea, Pontus

Pontus (mythology)

File:ConstantaPontos.JPGIn Greek mythology, Pontus was an ancient, pre-Olympian sea-god, one of the protogenoi, the "first-born". Pontos was the son of Gaia , the Earth: Hesiod says that Gaia brought forth Pontos out of herself, without coupling....
, "without sweet union of love," out of her own self through parthenogenesis

Parthenogenesis

Parthenogenesis is an asexual form of reproduction found in females where growth and development of embryos or seeds occurs without fertilization by a male....
. But afterwards, as Hesiod tells it, she lay with her son, Uranus, and bore the World-Ocean Oceanus

Oceanus

Oceanus was believed to be the World Ocean in classical antiquity, which the Ancient Rome and Ancient Greece considered to be an enormous river encircling the world....
, Coeus

Coeus

In Greek mythology, Coeus was one of the Titan , the giant sons and daughters of Uranus and Gaia ; his equivalent in Latin poetry?though he scarcely makes an appearance in Roman mythology? was Polus, the embodiment of the celestrial axis around which the heavens revolve....
and Crius

Crius

In Greek mythology, Crius was one of the Titan in the list given in Hesiod's Theogony, a son of Uranus and Gaia . The least individualized among them, he was overthrown in the Titanomachy....
and the Titan

Titan (mythology)

In Greek mythology, the Titans ; were a race of powerful deities that ruled during the legendary golden age. Their role as Elder Gods was overthrown by a race of younger gods, the Twelve Olympians, effected a mythological paradigm shift that the Greeks borrowed from the Ancient Near East....
s Hyperion

Hyperion (mythology)

Hyperion is one of the twelve Titan gods of Ancient Greece, which were later supplanted by the Olympians. He was the son of Gaia and Uranus , and was referred to in early mythological writings as Helios Hyperion, 'Sun High-one'....
and Iapetus

Iapetus (mythology)

In Greek mythology, Iapetus, also Iapetos or Japetus , was a Titan , the son of Uranus and Gaia , and father of Atlas , Prometheus, Epimetheus , and Menoetius and through Prometheus, Epimetheus and Atlas an ancestor of the human race....
, Theia

Theia

In Greek mythology, Theia, goddess or divine, , also called Euryphaessa, wide-shining, was a Titan . The name Theia alone means simply, "goddess"; Theia Euryphaessa brings overtones of extent and brightness....
and Rhea

Rhea (mythology)

This page is about the Greek mythological figure. For the bird, see Rhea .Rhea was the Titan daughter of Ouranos , the sky, and Gaia , the earth, in Classical Greece mythology....
, Themis

Themis

Themis is an Greek mythology. She is described as "of good counsel", and was the embodiment of divine order, law, and custom. Themis means "law of nature" rather than human ordinance, literally "that which is put in place", from the verb t?????, t?themi, to put....
, Mnemosyne

Mnemosyne

Mnemosyne was the personification of memory in Greek mythology. This titan was the daughter of Gaia and Uranus and the mother of the Muses by Zeus....
, and Phoebe

Phoebe (mythology)

In Greek mythology "golden-wreathed" Phoebe , in her very name simply the feminine counterpart of Phoebus, was one of the original Titan , one set of sons and daughters of Uranus and Gaia ....
of the golden crown, and lovely Tethys

Tethys (mythology)

File:Tethys mosaic 83d40m Phillopolis mid4th century -p2fx.2.jpgIn Greek mythology, Tethys , daughter of Uranus and Gaia was an archaic Titan ess and Greek sea gods sea goddess, invoked in classical Greek poetry but no longer venerated in cult....
. "After them was born Cronus

Cronus

Cronus or Kronos, , was the leader and the youngest of the first generation of Titan , divine descendants of Gaia , the earth, and Uranus , the sky....
the wily, youngest and most terrible of her children, and he hated his lusty sire."

Hesiod mentions Gaia's further offspring conceived with Uranus: first the giant one-eyed Cyclopes

Cyclops

In Greek mythology and later Roman mythology, a cyclops , is a member of a primordial race of giant , each with a single eye in the middle of its forehead....
: Brontes

Brontes

* For the Greek mythological figure Brontes, see Cyclops.* For the 19th-century England writers, see Bront? - Charlotte Bront?, Emily Bront?, and Anne Bront?....
("thunderer"), Steropes ("lightning") and the "bright" Arges

Arges

* In Greek mythology, Arges was one of the Cyclops. He was elsewhere called Acmonides or Pyraemon.* Arges is the name of several geographic locations in Romania...
: "Strength and might and craft were in their works." Then he adds the three terrible hundred-handed sons of Earth and Heaven, the Hecatonchires

Hecatonchires

The Hecatonchires, or Hekatonkheires, were three gargantuan figures of an archaic stage of Greek mythology. According to Hesiod they were children of Gaia and Uranus , simply the issue of Earth and Sky, or of Earth and Sea thus part of the very beginning of things in the submerged prehistory of Greek myth, though they played no part...
: Cottus

Cottus

Cottus may mean:*Cottus, one of the Hecatonchires of Greek mythology*Cottus , a genus of sculpin fish....
, Briareos and Gyges

Gyges

Gyges can be:* A figure from Greek mythology, one of the Hecatonchires* King Gyges of Lydia...
, each with fifty heads. Uranus hid the Hecatonchires and the Cyclopes in Tartarus

Tartarus

In classic Roman mythology, below Heaven, Earth, and Pontus is Tartarus, or Tartaros . It is a deep, gloomy place, a pit, or an abyss used as a dungeon of torment and suffering that resides beneath the Hades....
so that they would not see the light, rejoicing in this evil doing. This caused pain to Gaia (Tartarus was her bowels) so she created grey flint (or adamant

Adamant

Adamantand similar words are used to refer to any especially hardness substance, whether composed of diamond, some other gemstone, or some type of metal....
ine) and shaped a great flint sickle, gathering together Cronos and his brothers to ask them to obey her. Only Cronos, the youngest, had the daring to take the flint sickle she made, and castrate his father as he approached Gaia to have intercourse with her. And from the drops of blood and semen, Gaia brought forth still more progeny, the strong Erinyes

Erinyes

In Greek mythology the Erinyes or Eumenides or Furies in Roman mythology were female, chthonic deities of revenge or supernatural personifications of the anger of the dead....
and the armoured Gigantes

Gigantes

In Greek mythology, the Gigantes or, commonly, Giants, were a race of giants, children of Gaia or Gaea, who were fertilized by the blood of Uranus_, after being castration by his son Cronus....
and the ash-tree Nymphs called the Meliae
Meliae

In Greek mythology, the Meliae or Meliai were nymphs of the ash tree, whose name they shared. They appeared from the drops of blood spilled when Cronus castrated Uranus , according to Hesiod, Theogony 187....
.

From the testicles of Uranus in the sea came forth Aphrodite

Aphrodite

Aphrodite is the classical Greek mythology goddess of love, sex, and beauty. According to Greek oral poet Hesiod, she was born when Uranus was castrated by his son Cronus....
. For this, a Greek etymologist urged, Uranus called his sons "Titans," meaning "strainers" for they strained and did presumptuously a fearful deed, for which vengeance would come afterwards; for, as Uranus had been deposed by his son, Cronos, so was Cronos destined to be overthrown by Zeus

Zeus

Zeus in Greek mythology is the king of the gods, the ruler of Mount Olympus and the god of the sky father and List of thunder gods. His symbols are the thunderbolt, eagle, bull , and oak....
, the son born to him by his sister-wife Rhea

Rhea (mythology)

This page is about the Greek mythological figure. For the bird, see Rhea .Rhea was the Titan daughter of Ouranos , the sky, and Gaia , the earth, in Classical Greece mythology....
. In the meantime, the Titans released the Cyclopes from Tartarus, and Cronos was awarded the kingship among them, beginning a Golden Age

Golden age

The term Golden age in ancient Greece mythology and legend but can also be found in other ancient cultures . It refers either to the highest age in the Greek spectrum of Iron, Bronze, Silver and Golden ages, or to a time in the beginnings of Humanity which was perceived as an ideal state, or utopia, when mankind was pure and immortal....
.

After Uranus's castration, Gaia gave birth to Echidna

Echidna (mythology)

In the most ancient layers of Greek mythology, Echidna was called the "Mother of All Monsters". Echidna was described by Hesiod as a female monster spawned in a cave, who mothered with her mate Typhon every major horrible monster in the Greek myths,...
and Typhon

Typhon

In Greek mythology, Typhon , also Typheus/Typhoeus , Typhaon or Typhos is the final son of Gaia , fathered by Tartarus, and is the god of wind....
by Tartarus

Tartarus

Nereus

Nereus , in Greek Mythology, was the eldest son of Pontus and Gaia , a Titan who fathered the Nereids, with whom Nereus lived in the Aegean Sea....
, Thaumas

Thaumas

In Greek mythology, Thaumas was a sea god, son of Pontus and Gaia . He married an Oceanid, Electra, and was the father of the Harpies and Iris , the goddess of rainbows and messenger of the gods. Thaumas was also the name of a centaur....
, Phorcys

Phorcys

In Greek mythology, Phorcys, or Phorkys , was one of the names of the "Old Man [or One] of the Sea", the primeval Greek sea gods, who, according to Hesiod, was the son of Pontus and Gaia ....
, Ceto

Ceto

In Greek mythology, Cetus , also called Ceto or Cetea, was a hideous sea monster, a daughter of Gaia and Pontus . The asteroid 65489 Ceto was named after her, and its satellite Ceto I Phorcys after her husband....
, and Eurybia

Eurybia

In Greek mythology, Eurybia was married to the Titan Crius and gave birth to three known offspring Astraios, Perses, and Pallas . She was a minor sea goddess under the dominion of Poseidon....
. Aergia

Aergia

Aergia is a goddess in Greek mythology, a personification of sloth and laziness. She is the daughter of Aether and Gaia . She is said to guard the court of Hypnos in the Underworld....
, a goddess of sloth and laziness, is the daughter of Aether

Aether (mythology)

Aether , in Greek mythology, is one of the Protogenoi, the first-born elemental gods. He is the personification of the "upper sky," space, and heaven, and the elemental god of the "Bright, Glowing, Upper Air." He is the pure upper air that the gods breathe, as opposed to normal air , the gloomy lower air of the Earth, which mortals breathe....
and Gaia.

Zeus hid Elara

Elara (mythology)

In Greek mythology, Elara was the daughter of King Orchomenus and mother of Tityos. She was one of Zeus' lovers and he hid her from his wife, Hera, by placing her deep beneath the earth....
, one of his lovers, from Hera

Hera

In the Twelve Olympians of classical Greek Mythology, Hera or Here was the wife and older sister of Zeus. Her chief function was as goddess of women and marriage....
by hiding her under the earth. His son by Elara, the giant Tityas, is therefore sometimes said to be a son of Gaia, the earth goddess, and Elara.

Gaia also made Aristaeus

Aristaeus

A minor god in Greek mythology, which we read largely through Athenian writers, Aristaeus or Aristaios , "ever close follower of the flocks", was the culture hero credited with the discovery of many useful arts, including bee-keeping; he was the son of Apollo and the huntress Cyrene ....
immortal.

Gaia is believed by some sources (Joseph Fontenrose 1959 and others) to be the original deity behind the Oracle

Pythia

The Pythia was the priestess presiding over the Oracle of Apollo at Delphi, located on the slopes of Mount Parnassus. The Pythia was widely credited with giving prophecy inspired by Apollo, giving her a prominence unusual for a woman in male-dominated ancient Greece....
at Delphi

Delphi

Delphi is an archaeology site and a modern town in Greece on the south-western spur of Mount Parnassus in the valley of Phocis. Delphi was the site of the Pythia, the most important oracle in the classical Greek world, when it was a major site for the worship of the god Apollo after he slew the Python , a deity who lived there and protecte...
. She passed her powers on to, depending on the source, Poseidon

Poseidon

In Greek mythology, Poseidon was the god of the sea and, as "Earth-Shaker," of earthquakes. The name of the god Nethuns in Etruscan mythology was adopted in Latin for Neptune in Roman mythology: both were sea gods analogous to Poseidon....
, Apollo or Themis

Themis

Python (mythology)

In Greek mythology Python, serpent, was the earth-dragon of Delphi, always represented in Ancient Greek sculpture and Pottery of ancient Greece s as a Serpent ....
there and usurped the chthonic

Chthonic

Admetus

In Greek mythology, Admetus /?d 'mi: t?s/ was a king of Pherae in Thessaly, succeeding his father Pheres after whom the city was named. Admetus was one of the Argonauts and took part in the Calydonian Boar hunt....
as a shepherd for nine years.

Oath

Oath

An oath is either a promise or a statement of fact calling upon something or someone that the oath maker considers sacred, usually God, as a witness to the binding nature of the promise or the truth of the statement of fact....
s sworn in the name of Gaia, in ancient Greece, were considered the most binding of all.

In classical art Gaia was represented in one of two ways. In Athenian vase painting she was shown as a matronly woman only half risen from the earth, often in the act of handing the baby Erichthonius (a future king of Athens) to Athena to foster (see example below).

Later in mosaic representations she appears as a woman reclining upon the earth surrounded by a host of Carpi, infant gods of the fruits of the earth (see example below under Interpretations).

Family Tree

Gaia is the titan of Earth and these are her offspring as related in various myths. Some are related consistently, some are mentioned only in minor variants of myths, and others are related in variants that are considered to reflect a confusion of the subject or association.

Argive genealogy in Greek mythology

Interpretations

Etymologically Gaia is a compound word of two elements. Ge, meaning "Earth

Earth

Neologism

A neologism is a newly coined word that may be in the process of entering common use, but has not yet been accepted into mainstream language . Neologisms are often directly attributable to a specific person, publication, period, or event....
s, such as Geography

Geography

Geography is the study of the Earth and its lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena. A literal translation would be "to describe or write about the Earth"....
(Ge/graphos = writing about Earth) and Geology (Ge/logos = words about the Earth). *Ge is a pre-Greek substrate

Substratum

In linguistics, a stratum or strate refers to a language that influences, or is influenced by another through language contact. A substratum is a language which is influenced by another, while a superstratum is the language that exerts the influence....
word that some relate to the Sumerian

Sumerian

Sumerian may refer to:*Sumerian language*Cuneiform script*Sumer, including**History of Sumer**Sumerian architecture**Mesopotamian mythology...
Ki

Ki (goddess)

Ki in Sumerian mythology was the goddess and personification of the earth and underworld, chief consort of Anu the sky god. In some legends Ki and An were brother and sister, being the offspring of Anshar and Kishar , earlier personifications of heaven and earth....
, also meaning Earth. Aia is a derivative of an Indo-European stem meaning "Grandmother". The full etymology of Gaia would, therefore, appear to have been "Grandmother Earth" . Some sources, such as anthropologists James Mellaart

James Mellaart

James Mellaart is a United Kingdom archaeologist and author who is noted for his work at the Neolithic village of Catalhoyuk in Turkey. He was also expelled from Turkey suspected of involvement with the antiquities black market and was involved with the so-called Mother goddess controversy in Anatolia....
, Marija Gimbutas

Marija Gimbutas

Marija Gimbutas , was a Lithuanian-American archeology known for her research into the Neolithic and Bronze Age cultures of "Old European Culture", a term she introduced....
and Barbara Walker

Barbara G. Walker (author)

Barbara G. Walker is a United States author and feminist. She writes about religion, cultural anthropology, spirituality, and mythology from the viewpoint of Pre-Indo-European neolithic matriarchy....
, claim that Gaia as the Mother Earth is a later form of a pre-Indo-European

Pre-Indo-European

Old Europe is a term coined by archaeologist Marija Gimbutas to describe what she perceives as a relatively homogeneous and widespread pre-Indo-European Neolithic Europe culture in Europe, particularly in Megalithic Temples of Malta and the Prehistoric Balkans....
Great Mother

Great Mother

The Great Mother refers to the concept of the mother goddess, including:*Great Mother, anglicization of Latin Magna Mater, Roman title of the goddess Cybele...
who had been venerated in Neolithic

Neolithic

The Neolithic period was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 Before the Christian Era in the Middle East that is traditionally considered the last part of the Stone Age....
times, but this point is controversial in the academic community. Belief in a nurturing Earth Mother is often a feature of modern Neopagan "Goddess" worship, which is typically linked by practitioners of this religion to the Neolithic goddess theory. For more information, see the article Goddess

Goddess

A goddess is a female deity. Often deities are part of a polytheism system that includes several deities in a pantheon .Common associations of goddesses are the Earth goddess, the Mother Goddess, Love goddess, and the hearth goddess, reflecting historical gender roles....
.

Hesiod's separation of Rhea from Gaia was not rigorously followed, even by the Greek mythographers themselves. Modern mythographers like Karl Kerenyi

Karl Kerényi

One of the founders of modern studies in Greek mythology, K?roly Ker?nyi was born in Temesv?r, Hungary , and then lived in Hungary....
or Carl A. P. Ruck and Danny Staples, as well as an earlier generation influenced by Frazer

James Frazer

Sir James George Frazer , was a Scotland social anthropologist influential in the early stages of the modern studies of mythology and comparative religion....
's The Golden Bough
The Golden Bough

The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion is a wide-ranging, comparative study of mythology and religion, written by Scottish anthropologist Sir James Frazer ....
, interpret the goddesses Demeter

Demeter

File:Demeter in horse chariot w daughter kore 83d40m wikiC Tempio Y di Selinunte sec VIa.JPGDemeter , in Greek mythology, is the Goddess of cereal and fertility, the pure....
the "mother," Persephone

Persephone

In Greek mythology, Persephone was the embodiment of the Earth's fertility at the same time that she was the Queen of the Greek Underworld, the kore , and the parthenogenesis daughter of Demeter and, in later Classical myths, a daughter of Demeter and Zeus....
the "daughter" and Hecate

Hecate

Hecate Hekate , or Hekat was originally a goddess of the wilderness and childbirth, naturalized early in Mycenaean Greece or in Thrace, but originating among the Carians of Anatolia, the region where most theophoric names invoking Hecate, such as Hecataeus or Hecatomnus, progenitor of Mausollus, are attested, and where Hekate re...
the "crone," as understood by the Greeks, to be three aspects of a former Great Goddess

Great Goddess

Great Goddess refers to the concept of an almighty goddess, or to the concept of a mother goddess, including:*Great Goddess, anglicized form of the Latin Magna Dea...
, who could be identified as Rhea

Rhea (mythology)

This page is about the Greek mythological figure. For the bird, see Rhea .Rhea was the Titan daughter of Ouranos , the sky, and Gaia , the earth, in Classical Greece mythology....
or as Gaia herself. Such tripartite goddesses are also a part of Celtic mythology

Celtic mythology

Celts mythology is the mythology of Celtic polytheism, apparently the religion of the Iron Age Celts. Like other Iron Age Europeans, the early Celts maintained a polytheistic mythology and religious structure....
and may stem from the Proto-Indo-Europeans

Proto-Indo-Europeans

The Proto-Indo-Europeans were the speakers of the Proto-Indo-European language, and likely lived around 4000 BC, during the Copper Age and the Bronze Age, or possibly earlier, during the Neolithic or Paleolithic eras....
. In Anatolia

Anatolia

Anatolia or Asia Minor is a region of Western Asia, comprising most of the modern Republic of Turkey. It is a geographic region bounded by the Black Sea to the north, the Caucasus to the northeast, the Aegean Sea to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and the Iranian plateau to the east and southeast....
(modern Turkey

Turkey

Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country that stretches across the Anatolian peninsula in southwest Asia and Thrace in the Balkans region of Southern Europe....
), Rhea was known as Cybele

Cybele

Cybele , was the Phrygian deification of the Earth Mother. As with Greek Gaia , or her Minoan civilization equivalent Rhea , Cybele embodies the fertile Earth, a goddess of caverns and mountains, walls and fortresses, nature, wild animals ....
, a goddess derived from Mesopotamia

Mesopotamia

Mesopotamia is the area of the Tigris-Euphrates river system, along the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, largely corresponding to modern Iraq, as well as some parts of northeastern Syria, some parts of southeastern Turkey, and some parts of the Khuzestan Province of southwestern Iran....
n Kubau

Kubaba

Kubaba is the only queen on the Sumerian king list. She was monarch in the 3rd Dynasty of Kish , reigned in the "Early Dynastic III" period of History of Sumer and is listed to have reigned for 100 years....
, Hurrian Kebat or Kepa

KEPA

Kehitysyhteisty?n palvelukeskus , often referred as KEPA, is a service base for nongovernmental organizations in Finland interested in development work and global issues....
. The Greeks never forgot that the Mountain Mother's ancient home was Crete

Crete

Crete is the largest of the Greek islands and the List of islands in the Mediterranean largest island in the Mediterranean Sea at 8,336 km? ....
, where a figure some identified with Gaia had been worshipped as Potnia Theron
Potnia Theron

Potnia Theron is an ancient title of the Minoan civilization Goddess, an aspect of her power that was assumed by Artemis among others in the Twelve Olympians that was later introduced in mainland Greece....
(the "Mistress of the Animals") or simply Potnia

Potnia

Potnia , Ancient Greek for "Mistress, Lady", title of a goddess*Potnia theron*Artemis*Athena...
("Mistress"), an appellation that could be applied in later Greek texts to Demeter

Demeter

File:Demeter in horse chariot w daughter kore 83d40m wikiC Tempio Y di Selinunte sec VIa.JPGDemeter , in Greek mythology, is the Goddess of cereal and fertility, the pure....
, Artemis

Artemis

In Greek mythology, Artemis was the daughter of Zeus and Leto, and the twin sister of Apollo. She was the Hellenic goddess of forests and hills, child birth/virginity/fertility, the hunt and was often depicted as a huntress carrying a bow and arrows.....
or Athena

Athena

In Greek mythology, Athena is the shrewd companion of Hero and the goddess of Hero endeavour. She is the virgin patron of Athens, which built the Parthenon to worship her....
. In Rome the imported Phrygian

Phrygian

Phrygian can refer to:*A person from Phrygia*Phrygian cap once characteristic of the region* Phrygian language*Phrygian mode in music* Phrygian Valley, a historic location in northwestern Turkey...
goddess Cybele

Cybele

Ceres (mythology)

| Image = Ceres_statue.jpg| Caption = This statue depicting Ceres holding wheat is on display at the Louvre in Paris, France.| Name = Ceres| God_of = Goddess of growing plants and motherly love...
, the grain goddess who was an approximate counterpart of Greek Demeter, but with differing aspects and venerated with a different cult. Her worship was brought to Rome following an Augury of the Cumaean Sibyl

Cumaean Sibyl

The ageless Cumaean Sibyl was the priestess presiding over the Apollonian oracle at Cumae, a Greek colony located near Naples, Italy.The word Sibyl comes from the ancient Greek word sibylla, meaning prophetess....
that Rome could not defeat Hannibal the Carthaginian until the worship of Cybele came to Rome. As a result she was a favoured divinity

Divinity

Divinity and divine are broadly applied but loosely defined terms, used variously within different faiths and belief systems ? and even by different individuals within a given faith ? to refer to some transcendent or transcendental power, or its attributes or manifestations in the world....
of Roman legionaries

Legionary

The Ancient Rome legionary was a professional soldier of the Military history of ancient Rome after the Marian reforms of 107 BC. Legionaries had to be Roman citizenship under the age of 45....
, and her worship spread from Roman military encampments and military colonies.

In other cultures

The idea that the fertile earth itself is female, nurturing mankind, was not limited to the Greco-Roman world. These traditions themselves were greatly influenced by earlier cultures in the Central area of the ancient Middle East. In Sumerian mythology Tiamat

Tiamat

In Babylonian mythology, Tiamat is a goddess who personifies the sea. Tiamat is considered the monstrous embodiment of primordial chaos. Although there are no early precedents for it, some sources identify her with images of a sea serpent or dragon, In the En?ma Elish, the Babylonian Epic poetry of Creation myth, she gives birth to the fi...
influenced Biblical notions of The Deeps in Genesis

Genesis

Genesis or Breishit is the first book of the Bible used by Judaism and Christianity, and the first of five books of the Pentateuch or Torah....
1. The title "The mother of life" was later given to the Akkadian

Akkadian language

Akkadian or Assyrian-Babylonian is a Semitic language that was spoken in ancient Mesopotamia. The earliest attested Semitic language, it used the cuneiform writing system derived ultimately from ancient Sumerian language, an unrelated language isolate....
Goddess Kubau

Kubaba

Hebat

Hebat also transcribed a Kheba or Khepat, was the mother goddess of the Hurrians, known as "the mother of all living". She was the consort of Teshub and the mother of Sarruma....
, emerging as Hebrew Eve

Eve (Bible)

Eve was, according to the Book of Genesis, the First man or woman created by God, and an important figure in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Her husband was Adam, from whose rib God created her to be his helpmate....
(Heva) and Phygian Kubala (Cybele

Cybele

Norse mythology

Norse, Viking or Scandinavian mythology comprises the beliefs, myths and legends of the Norse paganism of the North Germanic language people, including those who settled on Faroe Islands and Iceland, where most of the written sources for Norse mythology were assembled....
the earth is personified as Jörð

Jörð

In Norse mythology, J?r? , is a giantess, the mother of Thor, and the personification of the Earth. Fj?rgyn and Fj?rgynn and Hl?dyn are considered to be other names for J?r?.J?r? is also the goddess of Earth...
, Hlöðyn, and Fjörgyn and Fjörgynn

Fjörgyn and Fjörgynn

In Norse mythology, the feminine Fj?rgyn is described as the mother of the god Thor, son of Odin, and the masculine Fj?rgynn is described as the father of the goddess Frigg, wife of Odin....
. The Irish Celt

Celt

Celts , is a modern term used to describe any of the European peoples who spoke, or speak, a Celtic languages. The term is also used in a wider sense to describe the Modern Celts of those peoples, notably those who participate in a Celtic culture....
s worshipped Danu

Danu (Irish goddess)

In Irish mythology, Danu or Dana was the mother figure who accompanied The Dagda. The genitive is Danann , and the dative Danainn....
, whilst the Welsh Celts worshipped Dôn

Don

The term Don or DON may refer to*Donald, a Western name *Don , a Spanish, Portuguese and Italian title, given as a mark of respect* Don, a crime boss...
. Dana played an important part in Hindu mythology and hints of their names throughout Europe, such as the Don river

Don River

There are several rivers named Don:...
, the Danube River, the Dnestr and Dnepr

Dnieper River

The Dnieper River , is one of the major rivers in Europe that flows from Russia, through Belarus and Ukraine, to the Black Sea. Its total length is , of which lie within Russia, within Belarus, and within Ukraine....
, suggest that they stemmed from an ancient Proto-Indo-European goddess . In Lithuanian mythology

Lithuanian mythology

Lithuanian mythology is an example of paganism mythology containing archaic elements, developed by Lithuanians throughout the centuries....
Gaia - Žemė is daughter of Sun and Moon. Also she is wife of Dangus (Varuna

Varuna

In Historical Vedic religion, Varuna or Waruna is a god of the sky, of waters and of the celestial ocean, as well as a god of law and of the underworld....
). In Pacific cultures, the Earth Mother was known under as many names and with as many attributes as cultures who revered her for example Maori

Maori

The Maori are the indigenous people Polynesian people of Aotearoa . The group probably arrived in south-western Polynesia in several waves at some time before 1300....
whose creation myth included Papatuanuku, partner to Ranginui - the Sky Father

Sky father

The sky father is a recurring theme in mythology. The sky father is the complement of the earth mother and appears in some creation myths, many of which are European or ancient Near Eastern....
. In South America in the Andes

Andes

The Andes form the world's longest exposed mountain range. They lie as a continuous chain of highland along the western coast of South America. The range is over 7,000 km long, 200-700 km wide , and of an average height of about 4,000 m ....
a cult of the Pachamama still survives (in regions of Bolivia

Bolivia

The Republic of Bolivia , named after Sim?n Bol?var, is a landlocked country in central South America. It is bordered by Brazil on the north and east, Paraguay and Argentina on the south, and Chile and Peru on the west....
, Peru

Peru

Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
, Ecuador

Ecuador

Ecuador , officially the , literally, "Republic of the equator") is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, by Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west....
, Argentina

Argentina

Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic , is a country in South America, constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city....
and Chile

Chile

Chile, officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long and narrow coastal strip wedged between the Andes mountains and the Pacific Ocean....
). The name comes from Pacha (Quechua for change, epoch) and Mama (mother). While ancient Mexican cultures referred to Mother Earth as Tonantzin Tlalli that means "Revered Mother Earth".

In Indian religions, the Mother of all creation is called "Gayatri

Gayatri

Gayatri is the feminine form of , a Sanskrit word for a song or a hymn.Originally the personification of the Gayatri mantra, revered by both Buddhists and Hindus worldwide, the goddess Gayatri is considered the veda mata, the mother of all Vedas and also the personification of the all-pervading Brahman, the ultimate unchangin...
", a surprisingly close form of Gaia.

Only in Egyptian Mythology

Egyptian mythology

Ancient Egyptian religion encompasses the various religious beliefs and rituals practiced in ancient Egypt over at least 3,000 years, from the Predynastic Egypt until the adoption of Coptic Christianity in the early centuries Common Era....
is the reverse true - Geb

Geb

Geb was the egyptian mythology god of the Earth and a member of the Ennead of Heliopolis . The name was pronounced as such from the Greek period onward, ...
is the Earth Father while Nut

Nut (goddess)

In the Ennead mythology, Nut , was the goddess of the sky. Her name means Night. Some of the titles of Nut were Coverer of the Sky, She Who Protects, Mistress of All, and She Who Holds a Thousand Souls....
is the Sky Mother.

Carl Gustav Jung suggested that the archetypal

Archetype

An archetype is an original model of a person, ideal example, or a prototype after which others are copied, patterned, or emulated; a symbol universally recognized by all....
mother was a part of the collective unconscious

Collective unconscious

Collective Unconscious, sometimes known as Collective Subconscious, is a term of analytical psychology, coined by Carl Jung. While Sigmund Freud did not distinguish between an "individual psychology" and a "collective psychology", Jung distinguished the collective unconscious from the Personal unconscious unconscious mind particular to...
of all humans, and various Jungian students, e.g. Erich Neumann

Erich Neumann

Erich Neumann may refer to:*Erich Neumann , Nazi politician*Erich Neumann , Psychologist and writer...
and Ernst Whitmont have argued that such mother imagery underpins many mythologies

Mythology

The word mythology refers to a body of folklore/myths/legends that a particular culture believes to be true and that often use the supernatural to interpret natural events and to explain the nature of the universe and humanity....
, and precedes the image of the paternal "father", in such religious systems. Such speculations help explain the universality of such mother goddess imagery around the world.

The Upper Paleolithic Venus figurines have been sometimes explained as depictions of an Earth Goddess similar to Gaia

Gaia

Gaia or Gaea most commonly refers to Gaia , the primal Greek goddess of the earth. But it may also refer to:...

In Neopaganism

Many Neopagans

Neopaganism

Neopaganism or Neo-Paganism is an umbrella term used to identify a wide variety of new religious movement, particularly those influenced by pre-Christian "Paganism" beliefs of Europe....
actively worship Gaia. Beliefs regarding Gaia vary, ranging from the common Wicca

Wicca

Wicca is a neopaganism, nature-based religion. It was re-popularised in 1954 by Gerald Gardner, a retired United Kingdom civil servant, who at the time called it Witchcraft and its adherents "the Wica"....
n belief that Gaia is the Earth (or in some cases the spiritual embodiment of the earth, or the Goddess of the Earth), to the broader Neopagan belief that Gaia is the goddess of all creation, a Mother Goddess from which all other gods spring. Gaia is sometimes thought to embody the planets and the Earth, and sometimes thought to embody the entire universe. Worship of Gaia is varied, ranging from prostration to druidic ritual.

Unlike Zeus, a roving nomad god of the open sky, Gaia was manifest in enclosed spaces: the house, the courtyard, the womb, the cave. Her sacred animals are the serpent

Serpent (symbolism)

Serpent is a word of Latin origin that is commonly used in a specifically mythology or religion context, signifying a snake that is to be regarded not as a mundane natural phenomenon nor as an object of scientific zoology, but as the bearer of some symbolic value....
, the lunar bull

Bull (mythology)

Appearances of the Bull in mythology and worship are widespread in the ancient world. It is the subject of various cultural and Religion incarnations, as well as modern mentions in new age cultures....
, the pig, and bees. In her hand the narcotic poppy may be transmuted to a pomegranate

Pomegranate

The pomegranate is a fruit-bearing deciduous shrub or small tree growing to between five and eight metres tall. The pomegranate is native to the region from Iran to the Himalayas in northern India and has been cultivated and naturalized over the whole Mediterranean Basin region and the Caucasus since ancient times....
.

Some who worship Gaia attempt to get closer to Mother Earth by becoming unconcerned with material things and more in tune with nature. Others who worship Gaia recognize Gaia as a great goddess and practice rituals commonly associated with other forms of worship. Many sects worship Gaia, even more than worship Themis

Themis

Artemis

Hera

In the Twelve Olympians of classical Greek Mythology, Hera or Here was the wife and older sister of Zeus. Her chief function was as goddess of women and marriage....
. Some common forms of worship may include prostration, attempting to reach a greater connection to the earth, shamanistic practices, tithing, praising and praying, creating inspired works of art dedicated to the goddess, burning oils and incense, rearing plants and gardens, the creation and maintaining of Sacred Groves
Sacred grove

Sacred groves were a feature of the mythological landscape and the cult of Old European culture, of the most ancient levels of Germanic paganism, Greek mythology, Slavic mythology, Roman mythology, and in Druidry practice....
. Other forms of worship may indeed be common, as worship of Gaia is very broad and can take many forms.

In modern ecological theory

The mythological name was revived in 1979 by James Lovelock

James Lovelock

James Ephraim Lovelock, Order of the Companions of Honour, Order of the British Empire, Royal Society is an independent scientist, author, researcher, environmentalist, and futurist who lives in Devon, in the south west of England....
, in Gaia: A New Look at Life on Earth; his Gaia hypothesis

Gaia hypothesis

The Gaia hypothesis is an ecology hypothesis proposing that the biosphere and the physical components of the Earth are closely integrated to form a complex system that maintains the climate and biogeochemistry conditions on Earth in a preferred homeostasis....
was supported by Lynn Margulis

Lynn Margulis

Lynn Margulis is an United States biologist and University Professor in the Earth science at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She is best known for her theory on the origin of eukaryote organelles, and her contributions to the endosymbiotic theory?which is now generally accepted for how certain Mitochondrion were formed....
. The hypothesis proposes that living organisms and inorganic material are part of a dynamic system that shapes the Earth

Earth

Earth is the third planet from the Sun. Earth is the largest of the terrestrial planets in the Solar System in diameter, mass and density. It is also referred to as the World and Wiktionary:Terra.Note that by International Astronomical Union convention, the term "Terra" is used for naming extensive land masses, rather...
's biosphere, and maintains the Earth as a fit environment for life. In some Gaia theory approaches the Earth itself is viewed as an organism with self-regulatory functions. Further books by Lovelock and others popularized the Gaia Hypothesis

Gaia hypothesis

Environmentalism

Environmentalism is a broad philosophy and social movement centered on a concern for the Conservation movement and improvement of the environment ....
of the 1990s.

In Literature

Gaia (Gaea) is referenced through the re-naming of a character in Ayn Rand

Ayn Rand

Ayn Rand , was a Russian-American novelist, philosopher, playwright, and screenwriter. She is known for her best-selling novels and for developing a philosophical system called Objectivism ....
's science fiction

Science fiction

Science fiction is a broad genre of fiction that often involves speculations based on current or future science or technology. Science fiction is found in books, art, television, films, games, theatre, and other media....
novella

Novella

A novella is a writing, fictional, prose narrative longer than a novelette but shorter than a novel. While there is disagreement as to what length defines a novella, the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America Nebula Awards for science fiction define the novella as having a word count between 17,500 and 40,000....
, "Anthem
Anthem (novella)

Anthem is a dystopian fiction novella by Ayn Rand, first published in 1938. It takes place at some unspecified future date when mankind has entered another dark age as a result of the evils of irrationality and collectivism and the weaknesses of socialism thinking and Socialist economics....
."

Gaia, a preternaturally beautiful and highly skilled teenaged girl born without the fear gene, is also the protagonist of Francine Pascal's young adult series, "Fearless."

Gaia is described as the Earth Mother and aids the protagonists in Chris D' Lacey's The Fire Within

The Fire Within

The Fire Within is a 1963 in film France film directed by Louis Malle. It is based on the novel of the same name by Pierre Drieu La Rochelle....
series. She takes on many animal forms, such as an albino hedgehog (dubbed 'Spikey') and the legendary mate of one of the seven bears that ruled the ice, Sunasala.

External links

references to Gaia in classical literature and art

Gaia (mythology)

In Greek mythology

Family Tree

Argive genealogy in Greek mythology

Interpretations

In other cultures

In Neopaganism

In modern ecological theory

In Literature

See also

External links