ORIGIN: Greek
TYPE: Archetypal Earth Mother
KNOWN PERIOD OF WORSHIP: Circa 1500 BCE until Christianization (Circa CE 400)
SYNONYMS: Gaea; Ge; Terra
CENTER(S) OF CULT: Oracle at Delphi
ART REFERENCES: Sculptures and reliefs.
LITERARY SOURCES: Theogony, Hymn to Gaia in the so-called Homeric hymns (Hesiod); Aristophanes.
ABODE: Earth
PLANET; Earth
PARENTS: None (Hesiod)
CONSORT: Uranus, Pontus, Aether and Tartarus
OFFSPRING: Uranus, Pontus, the Ourea, the Hecatonchires, the Cyclopes, the Titans, The Gigantes, Nereus, Thaumus, Phorcys, Ceto, Eurybia, Aergia, Typhon, Python, and Antaeus.
EQUIVALENTS: Terra (Roman); Bhumi (Hinduism)
INFORMATION: Gaia is an ancient pre-Hellenic goddess who was mainly revered in Attica. She is the primordial essence of the earth, one of the creations of Aether and Hedera, the primordial beings of the cosmos. Through the encouragement of Eros she became the mother of Pontos (sea) and Ouranos (Heaven). According to tradition, through liaison with Ouranos, she also engendered the race of Titans. By consorting with the underworld she created the monstrous Typhon.
Perceived as placid and resilient goddess generally with some apathy to the goings-on around her in the tale of beginnings. She had an oracle at Delphi that predated that of Apollo. Gaia was later superseded by other divinities, but she maintained a role presiding over marriage and the taking of oaths. In the Iliad, Agamemnon cries to Zeus: "May Zeus, all highest and first of the gods, be witness first, then Gaia and Helios and the Furies underground who punish men for having broken oaths."
In Hellenic times Gaia became Da-meter or Demeter, the corn mother whose daughter is Kore, the corn spirit. Her attributes include fruit and cornucopiae.