GAIA / ARES

Known as both Gaia and Gaea, the Goddess Gaia is a figure from Greek mythology. Her name essentially means earth or land and shows that she was the human version of the earth. Some refer to her as the ancestral mother and claim that she gave birth to all of the elements of the world. Gaia birthed Uranus, also known as Ouranos and the Titans as well as other major figures such as the Gigantes and Cyclopes. Terra is the Roman version of the goddess.

Gaia was the first of the immortals. She arose during the chaos period. Greeks refer to this period as the time before gods and goddesses. Christians use the same term to describe the world before God separated heaven and earth. She would become the eternal seat on Mount Olympus where all Olympians sat. Many refer to those men and women as the 12 Olympians. During the early years, many called her Mother Earth.

Though some Greek gods and goddesses have names that scholars later established, Gaia’s name dates back to before Greek civilization. Her name in other languages includes Doric and Attic, but all of the names mean earth. Mycenean Greeks called her Ma-Ka or Ma-Go, both of which mean Mother

Gaia.

In the creation myth, CHAOS came before everything else. He was made of Void, Mass and Darkness in confusion; and then earth in the form of Gaea came into existence. From “Mother Earth” sprang the starry heavens, in the shape of the sky God Uranus, and from Gaea also came the mountains, plains, seas and rivers that make up the Earth we know today.

Ares is the god of war, one of the Twelve Olympian Gods and the son of Zeus and Hera. In literature he represents the violent and physically untamed aspect of war, which contrasts with ATHENA who represents military strategy and generalship as the goddess of intelligence. Although Ares embodied the physical aggression necessary for success in war, the Greeks were ambivalent toward him because he was a dangerous, overwhelming force that was insatiable in battle.

Ares was never very popular—either with men or the other immortals. As a result, his worship in Greece was not substantial or widespread.