Uranus

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Uranus?was a primal Greek god, symbolising the sky. According to Hesiod's?Theogony, he was born by?Gaea?alone. Other sources say that his parents were?Gaea?and?Chaos, or?Gaea?and?Aether.

Uranus?and?Gaea?had many children; the twelve?Titans, three?Cyclopes, and three?Hecatoncheires. Hating his children,?Uranus?banished them to?Tartarus, inside?Gaea.?Gaea?was infuriated and created a diamond sickle, which she gave to?Cronus, one of the?Titans.?Cronus?found his father and castrated him in his sleep; from the blood that fell on the earth, the?Erinnyes, the?Giants?and the Meliads were born; while from the sperm that fell into the sea,?Aphrodite?was born. Thus ended the reign of?Uranus, and?Cronus?became the new ruler of the universe.

See Also:?Gaea,?Titans,?The Creation,?Cronus

Uranus Is also called Caelus, Ouranos.

Gaea

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Gaea?was a primal Greek goddess, one of the deities that governed the universe before the?Titans. She symbolised the Earth, and was the mother of everything.

According to one version,?Gaea, along with?Chaos?and?Eros, coexisted during?the creation?of the world. Another version has it that the three of them were born out of the Cosmic Egg, which itself was created out of nothingness. Hesiod then tells us that from the union of?Gaea?and?Chaos?- and supported by?Eros?-?Uranus?was born.?Gaea?and?Uranus?gave birth to the?Giants, the?Titans,?Oceanus?and the whole world. At that point,?Uranus?decided to stop?Gaea?from creating anything else and sent his children inside her;?Gaea?was infuriated and allied with one of her Titan sons,?Cronus, managing to overthrow?Uranus. However, due to the cruelty of?Cronus?and his determination to remain on the throne,?Gaea?assisted?Zeus?in overthrowing?Cronus, which marked the end of the age of the?Titans.

See Also:?Titans,?Uranus,?Cronus,?Zeus,?The Creation

Gaea Is also called Terra, Gaia, Gi, Ge.

Thanatos

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Thanatos?was the daemonic representation of death in Ancient Greek mythology (daemonic here is used with its classical meaning, which refers to benevolent or benign nature spirits). He did not play a major part in Greek mythology and rarely appeared in any stories, as he was mostly displaced by?Hades, the god of the Underworld.

He was the son of?Nyx?(the Night) and?Erebos?(the Darkness), while his twin brother was?Hypnos?(the Sleep). Other siblings of?Thanatos?and?Hypnos?included?Geras?(old age),?Eris?(strife),?Nemesis?(retribution),?Apate?(deception) and Charon (the boatman that led the souls to the Underworld).

Thanatos?was believed to be merciless and indiscriminate, and both?mortals?and gods hated him. However, he could sometimes be outsmarted. In a myth,?Thanatos?was told by?Zeus?to chain King?Sisyphus?in the Underworld, as it was time for him to die.?Sisyphus?managed to chain?Thanatos?in his own fetters, thus protecting all?mortals?from dying while the god was chained. In the end, god?Ares, angry that at the wars he waged noone died, freed?Thanatos?and gave?Sisyphus?to him.

See Also:?Hades,?Nyx,?Erebos,?Hypnos,?Eris,?Nemesis

Thanatos Is also called Thanatus, Mors, Letus, Letum.

Nyx

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Nyx?was a?primordial?deity in Greek mythology that preceded the?Titans?and the?Olympians, and was the personification of the night. She was the daughter of?Chaos, out of which all creation originated, and the sister of?Erebus,?Gaea?and?Tartarus. She was married to?Erebus?and had a number of children, including?Nemesis?(retribution),?Hypnos?(sleep),?Thanatos?(death),?Geras?(old age),?Eris?(strife) and Charon (the boatman who brought the souls of the dead to the gates of the underworld). According to Hesiod,?Nyx's home was in?Tartarus, along with her children?Hypnos?and?Thanatos.

See Also:?Chaos,?Erebus,?Gaea,?Tartarus

Nyx Is also called Nox.

Europa

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Europa?was initially a Cretan moon goddess, who was incorporated into the Greek mythology as a virgin Phoenician princess. She was the daughter of the King Agenor of Sidon and Europe was named after her.

She had an affair with?Zeus, which?Hera?never learned about and therefore, never tried to pursue?Europa?to punish her. One night,?Europa?dreamed of two continents, which had taken the forms of women, arguing over her. Asia maintained that since?Europa?had been born in Asia, she belonged to her. The other continent, which was nameless, said that her birth was not important and that?Zeus?would give?Europa?to her. Disturbed by the dream,?Europa?woke up in the early hours and did not go back to sleep. She summoned her companions, who were all daughters of nobility and of her age. It was a beautiful day and they went off gathering flowers by the sea.?Zeus?noticed this charming group, particularly?Europa, who was the prettiest of the maidens. According to some sources,?Eros?induced him into action with one of his arrows, although?Zeus?never really needed much persuasion. In any case,?Zeus?appeared to the group in the form of a white bull, one that was more beautiful than any other; a bull that smelled of flowers and lowed beautifully; a bull so obviously gentle that all the maidens rushed to stroke and pet it. The bull laid down in front of?Europa?and she slid onto its back. Instantly, the bull charged off, plunging into the sea, and began to swim rapidly from the shore.?Europa?saw that a procession had joined them,?Nereids?riding dolphins,?Triton?blowing his horn, even?Poseidon. From this, she realized that the bull must be a god and she pleaded to pity her.?Zeus?spoke to her and explained his love. He took her to?Crete, where he had been raised, and promised her that she would bear him many famous sons. Her sons included?Minos?and?Rhadamanthus.

See Also:?Zeus,?Hera,?Minos,?Rhadamanthus