From the union of Gaia and Uranus came the 12 Titans, the prior gods. First born was Cronus but the three sons that followed were malformed monsters, each with but a single round eye in the middle of their foreheads, the Cyclopes. The next children produced by Uranus and Gaia were uglier still with fifty heads and a hundred arms, Hecatoncheires.

Uranus was so appalled by the sons born of this union that, one by one, he took them and hid them from the light of day.

Much of modern day fantasy is influenced by the greek myths. Over the coming weeks I will look at the origins of the myths and how they have helped shape the fantasy genre into was it has become today. I’ll start with the origins of the world according to the ancient Greeks.

In the beginning there was Choas. Choas produced Gaia, the Earth, then Tartarus, the Underworld and finally Eros, the god of love.

Gaia then went onto produce the mountains, the sea and Heavenly Uranus, whom she took for her lover.