In the Beginning Was Chaos

Book excerpt: From the noble Titan Prometheus who stole fire from Mount Olympus to the bloody tale of how Kronos castrated his own father Ouranos to avenge his mother Gaia, these visceral, often dark and powerful stories about the creation of the world are also larger than life projections of human passions, the exercise of power in a violent and hierarchical world and a reflection on the bitter-sweet human condition. With their remote origins in Mesopotamia and the ancient civilisations of the Near East, these myths come down to us primarily from the early Greek poet and farmer Hesiod in his two epic poems; the Theogony and the Works and Days. Drawing on Hesiod's account as well as ancient authors such as Ovid, Aeschylus and Apollodorus of Alexandria, In the Beginning was Chaos recounts the stories of the ancient Greeks about how the world began, the creation of humanity and their troubled relationship with the Gods. It includes the war between the Olympians and the Titans, Prometheus and his struggle with Zeus, as well as detailed descriptions of the twelve Olympian gods and goddesses and an account of the Underworld. It also includes the story Deucalion and Pyrrha and the great flood with its striking parallels to the Biblical account of the flood.