Gaia (mythology) facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Gaia |
|
|---|---|
| Primordial Deity of the Earth | |
| Member of the Protogenoi | |
| Abode | Earth |
| Personal information | |
| Consort | Uranus, Pontus, Aether and Tartarus |
| Offspring | Uranus, Pontus, the Ourea, Hecatonchires, Cyclopes, Titans, The Gigantes, Nereus, Thaumus, Phorcys, Ceto, Eurybia, Aergia, Typhon, and Python |
| Parents | None, or Chaos (Hesiod), or Aether and Hemera (Hyginus) |
| Siblings | None, or Nyx, Erebus, Tartarus, Eros, or Uranus, Thalassa |
| Roman equivalent | Terra, Tellus |
Gaia (Ancient Greek: Γαῖα), also spelled Gaea, is the personification of the Earth in Greek mythology. She was a primordial being, one of the first to have sprung forth from the void of Chaos. She is the mother and wife of Ouranos (Father Sky), with whom she sired the Titans, the Hekatonkheires, and the Elder Cyclopes. Other children of Gaia include Pontus (the sea), and the storm giant Typhon. Her Roman equivalent is Terra.
Contents
Family tree
Gaia is the goddess of the 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.
- Through Parthenogenesis
- With Elara
- With Oceanus
- Creusa
- Spercheus
- With Pontus
- With Aether
- Aergia
- With Poseidon
- Antaeus
- Charybdis
- With Tartarus
- With Ouranos
- With Hephaestus
- Erichthonius of Athens
- With Zeus
- Manes father of Atys
- Unknown father or through parthenogenesis
- Mimas
- Cranaus
- Pheme
- Kekrops
- Amphictyon
- Python
In the book by Rick Riordan, Heroes of Olympus, Gaea is the main evil goddess directing the downfall of the Gods of Mt. Olympus. Gaea is seen torturing the main characters such as Leo Valdez, whose mother she killed, and Piper McLean whose father she took in ransom for the death of her friends. She enters the main character of Rick Riordan's second book of the series Heroes of Olympus: The Son of Neptune, Percy Jackson's dreams telling him to join her, but Percy refuses her urging. Gaea is revealed to be sleeping and the most powerful of all Greek gods, and in a dream Aphrodite warns Piper that should Gaea awaken they are all doomed, and in a short moment, Medea tells Piper that her patron (Medea's patron) is an enemy they can't "even begin to challenge" referring to Gaea. It is also revealed that Gaea needs the blood of a female and male demigod in The Mark of Athena to rise, which she does in The Blood of Olympus and then attempts to destroy the demigods, before being defeated by Leo and Jason Grace.
Related pages
Images for kids
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Gaia (bottom-right) rises out of the ground, detail of the Gigantomachy frieze, Pergamon Altar, Pergamon museum, Berlin.
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Gaia hands her newborn, Erichthonius, to Athena as Hephaestus watches – an Attic red-figure stamnos, 470–460 BC
See also
In Spanish: Gea para niños
