Uranus

From Phantis
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Uranus is the Latinized form of Ouranos, Greek name of the sky. In Greek mythology Uranus is personified as the son and husband of Gaia, Mother Earth. Ouranos and Gaia were ancestors of most of the Greek gods.

Other sources claim a different parentage of Ouranos. Cicero, in his work De Natura Deorum claims that he was the offspring of the ancient gods Aether and Hemera. According to the Orphic Hymns, Ouranos was the son of the personification of night, Nyx.


The Creation Myth

In the Olympian creation myth, Uranus came every single night to cover the earth and mate with Gaia, but he hated the children she bore him and imprisoned Gaia's youngest children in Tartarus. The one-hundred-armed giants (Hecatonchires) and the one-eyed giants, the Cyclopes, caused pain to Gaia. She shaped a great flint sickle and asked her sons to castrate Uranus. Only Cronus was willing: he ambushed his father and castrated him casting that which was severed into the sea. From the blood which spilled from Uranus onto the Earth came forth the Gigantes, the three avenging Furies—the Erinyes— and Meliae, the ash-nymphs. From that which was cast into the sea came forth Aphrodite. For this, Uranus called his sons Titanes Theoi, or "Straining Gods", for their fearful deed. Another variation of the story is that Uranus' mass smothered Gaia, and in desperation she created the scythe or sickle to have Cronus castrate his father.

After Uranus was deposed, Cronus re-imprisoned the Hecatonchires and Cyclopes in Tartarus. The fate of being castrated and deposed by his son was prophesied and came to pass for Cronus who attempted unsuccessfully to avoid the fate by devouring his young. It was also prophesied for Zeus, who avoided the fate.

These ancient myths of distant origins were not expressed in cult among the Hellenes (Kerenyi p. 20). The function of Uranus is as the vanquished god of an elder time, before real time began. After his castration, the Sky came no more to cover the Earth at night, but held to its place.

Robert Graves' and others' identification of the name Ouranos with the Hindu Varuna is widely rejected. The most probably etymology is from Proto-Greek *vorsanos, from a PIE root *vers "to moisten".

Consorts/Children

  1. No mother
    1. Aphrodite
    2. Erinyes
      1. Alecto
      2. Megaera
      3. Tisiphone
    3. Gigantes
      1. Alcyoneus
      2. Athos
      3. Clytias
      4. Enceladus
      5. Echion
    4. Meliae
  2. With Gaia
    1. Cyclopes
      1. Brontes
      2. Steropes
      3. Arges
    2. Hecatonchires
      1. Briareus
      2. Cottus
      3. Gyes
    3. Titans
      1. Coeus
      2. Crius
      3. Cronus
      4. Hyperion
      5. Iapetus
      6. Mnemosyne
      7. Oceanus
      8. Phoebe
      9. Rhea
      10. Tethys
      11. Theia
      12. Themis

References

  • Kerenyi, Carl, 1951. The Gods of the Greeks
  • Graves, Robert, revised edition, 1960. The Greek Myths.

A portion of content for this article is credited to Wikipedia. Content under GNU Free Documentation License(GFDL)