PRIMORDIAL DEITIES - PART I

The Primordial Gods or Deities were the most basic components of the Universe, that emerged at the time of creation.

The Greeks referred to them as Protogenoi (protos meaning first and genos meaning birth), and they represented the very fabric of the universe. They were completely elemental deities. To best illustrate the difference between a primordial deity and an Olympian God let’s take two examples: Ouranus and Zeus. While Zeus is the God of the Sky, he and the sky are two different entities that are separable. Ouranus however is the sky god, wherein he is literally the sky, and the two were not viewed as separate entities.

The primordial deities have always been represented as being part of their respective elements. Even in their anthropomorphic form, however even their they were invariably inseparable from their native element.

While both Hesiod’s Theogony and the Pelasgian Creation Myth believe that the creation of the Universe started with Chaos, only the Theogony has deified Chaos as a primordial deity. While the Orphic Hymns have also deified Chaos, they believe she came after Chronus (Time). One of the most powerful Primordial Deities and one of the first to appear is Nyx. Nyx not only gave birth to other Primordial Deities like Aether and Hemera, she also had multiple Daimone like Eris (Strife), Thanatos (Death), Hypnos (Sleep), and many more.

Most primordial deities irrespective of the gender they were usually associated with had the ability of Parthenogenesis. This means that they could create offspring independently of a partner. The most common example of this is Nyx, the primordial deity of Night.

AETHER

Aether is a primordial deity of light and represents the bright blue ether of the heavens. Ether is the air that divine beings like gods breathe in. Aether’s mists covered the space between the heavens or Ouranous and the air of the mortals (Aer or Chaos). His nature is in vast contrast to his parents Nyx and Erebus, who both represent darkness, but he can be seen as an anti-thesis of his father Erebus, whose dark mists cover the space of underworld and encircle the world. Aether’s mists usually covered the mountain peaks (because that is where the Gods apparently lived) and the other heavenly bodies like the stars, the sun and the moon.

His consort his sister, Hemera (Day).

Aether’s female counterpart is the Titaness of the clear blue sky, Theia (also known as Aethra).

While the most widely accepted genesis of the Greek universe, Hesiod’s Theogony claims that Aether was born of Erebus and Nyx, Aristophanes says he was born of Erebus alone, and Hyginus Preface tells us he was born of Chaos alone. The Orphic Hymns also give us a differing view on the matter. While the Orphic Argonautica says he was born of Chronus and Ananke, the Orphic Rhapsodies state he was born of only Chronus.

Although the Theogony doesn’t mention Aether having any offspring, other sources name Ouranos, the Nephelai, Gaea,and Thalassa as his children. He is also said to have fathered several Daimones with Gaea - Algos, Dolos, Lyssa, Penthos, Pseudologus, Horkos, Poine, Amphilogia, Lethe, Aergia, Deimos, Hysmine.

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