Who Is Chaos?
The "gap" at the beginning of the world
Chaos is the very first thing to come into being in Greek mythology. The word originally meant "gap" or "yawning chasm," and in Hesiod's Theogony, everything begins when Chaos comes into being.
After Chaos come Gaia (Earth), Tartarus deep beneath the earth, and Eros, the god of love. From Chaos are born Erebus, the darkness, and Nyx, black Night, and from Night and Darkness come Aether, the bright upper air, and Hemera, the Day. Episode 1 shows how heaven and earth take shape from Chaos. In the Titanomachy, the heat of Zeus's thunderbolts is said to reach as far as Chaos.
The modern meaning of "chaos" as a jumbled mess spread in later times. The Chaos of the Theogony is closer to an empty "gap."
Episodes featuring this character2
NEWEpisode 1
The Universe Began with a CrackChaos and the Creation (Theogony)
On fog-wrapped Mount Helicon, Hesiod, a starving shepherd, gets roasted by the sharp-tongued Muses, then handed a laurel staff and a divine voice. A single "Gap" opens in the white void. Darkness and Night are born, then the light Hesiod's own song calls up, then Earth and the starry Sky. Twelve children stir deep inside Earth, and only the youngest glares through the ceiling at his father with golden eyes.
20 pages
NEWEpisode 9
The Day Zeus Stopped Holding BackTitanomachy
Cronus feared his children would take his throne. Zeus, the youngest, was the only one who escaped him, and he has fought his father for ten years. This is the war's last day. Zeus finally stops holding back and hurls lightning hot enough to set the world on fire. The three Hundred-Handers bury the sky under three hundred boulders. Together they drive the old gods down into Tartarus, which lies as far below the earth as heaven lies above it.
19 pages