How did the earth came to be in Greek myth?

Answer 1

There are many myths about the origin of the earth, as most religions have their own unique explanation. Since this question was asked in the Christianity category, it is asking about the biblical account of creation. There are two stories of the origin of the world in Genesis. The first, in Genesis 1:1-2:4a (the first sentence in 2:4) is said by some biblical scholars to have been written by the 'P' or 'Priestly' author and may have had little currency in Judah until at least 522 BCE. The second account, in Genesis 2:4b-2:22 is a much older account that focusses more on the creation of Adam.

Neither account has creation begin with nothing. In the first account, there was pre-existing water, and the wind blew across the deep; God needed to divide the waters so that the land appeared from underneath. In the second account, there was pre-existing dry land, because it had not rained; a spring arose from the earth and watered the whole face of the ground.

There are some inevitable differences in two accounts from two quite different sources. In the first account, God created man (both male and female) last of all and then rested. In the second account, Adam (man) was his first act of creation, while Eve (woman) was the last act of creation. The second account does not explain the creation of the sun, moon and stars.

Beliefs about creation changed around the second century CE, when the concept of creation ex nihilo began. Modern belief is thus that God created the world from nothing.

Few Christians accept the term myth for the creation stories, and there are several widely divergent attempts to keep the Genesis account relevant in the modern world. For more information, please visit: http://christianity.answers.com/theology/the-story-of-creation

Answer 2

In Greek myth, the earth (Gaia) emerged from Chaos, the primordial void, and she gave birth to the sky (Ouranos) and the sea (Pontus). Gaia is considered the mother goddess of the Earth, and her offspring included many powerful beings and gods.

Answer 3

Gaea, Mother Earth, rose from a darkness called Chaos. She fell in love with the sky, Uranus, and she began to grow trees, flowers, and animals were born. Together, Gaea and Uranus had 12 children. They were the Titans. Later, they had 6 more children. 3 were the Cyclopses, and 3 were the Heconechires. Uranus, however, thought the Cyclopses and Heconechires were ugly, so he thrust them into Tartarus, the bottomless pit of the Underworld. Gaea was furious. She gave the youngest of the Titans, Cronus, a scythe. Cronus dethroned Uranus and became the new ruler of the universe. He fell in love with his sister, Rhea, and together they had 6 children. But, everytime a child was born, he would swallow it, so no child of his would dethrone him as he did his father. As the sixth child was born, Rhea gave Cronus a stone child to swallow, and she hid the baby, Zeus, atop a mountain where he could be safe. When he grew up, he used the help of a decended Titan, Metis, to trick Cronus into hurling out the 5 other gods. Together, they sent the Titans into Tartarus.