greek mythology

" The ancient Greeks believed that our world began with a shapeless and confused mass of elements. They called it Chaos. From Chaos, Nyx (Night), Erebus (Darkness), and Gaea (Earth) were born. Then, slowly, more things began to appear. For example, Nyx and Erebus jointly created Hypnos (Sleep), Thanatos (Death), and Moros (Doom). And Gaea made Uranus (Sky).
Gaea is the Earth goddess & Uranus is the sky god and first ruler.
Gaea and Uranus had many children. The twelve Titans -- six sons and six daughters -- were their firstborns. They were their parents' pride and joy. After the twelve Titans, Gaea gave birth to two sets of triplets, all sons. Brontes, Steropes, and Arges were from the first set. Each had only one eye in the middle of his forehead. Collectively, they were known as the Cyclopes*. Briareus, Cottus, and Gyges were from the second set. Each had one hundred arms and fifty heads. Collectively, they were known as the Hecatonchires.*2
Gaea loved all her children equally. But Uranus did not. He favored only the Titans, for they were good-looking gods and goddesses. As he grew increasingly uncomfortable with his other children, he decided to cast them away. When Gaea heard of the plan, she was horrified. She tried to reason with her husband, but to no avail. Helplessly, she watched Uranus throw the Cyclopes and the Hecatonchires into Tartarus, the darkest pit in the underworld. She was mortified. She vowed that she would never forgive Uranus for his cruelty.
To rescue her children, Gaea made a sickle and presented the weapon to her six Titan sons. She urged them to use it to overthrow their father. Fear took hold of five of the Titans. The mere idea of standing up to Uranus made them tremble. So they refused. Only Cronus*3, the youngest and the strongest, took pity on his mother. He promised her that he would defeat Uranus and free his brothers. True to his words, he picked up the sickle and went after his father. Scared by the threat, Uranus fled and gave up his powers. Cronus occupied the now vacated throne. He became the new lord of the universe
.Cronus was a great ruler. Under his leadership, people lived in harmony. They called this happy, peaceful time their Golden Age"(1)." But when he was warned by his parents that his own child would likely overthrow him, he swallowed the first five of Rhea’s offspring -- Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades, and Poseidon.
With the sixth child, however, Rhea tricked Cronus and gave him a stone to swallow, which he promptly did. When the sixth child, Zeus, came of age, he loosed the prisoners of Tartarus, made war on Cronus, and won! In the process, his siblings freed." (2)

pictures:

*http://www.ultimatecoupons.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/cyclops2.JPG
*2http://www.geocities.com/axegrinder_01/hecatoncheires.jpg
*3http://images.elfwood.com/art/m/i/micheldd/kronos.jpg







(1)edhelper.com
(2)www.halexandria.org