Why Did Gaia Exist

In the beginning, Earth appeared as a single entity from the nothingness that had existed before. Gaia, the earth, lay the foundation for all life to occur but “Love, coeval with Gaia, govern the subsequent stages of creation” (Waterfield 18). Gaia then created Uranus, the sky, as her husband and together, they conceived the ocean. Uranus, afraid to be overthrown by his children, would force each of his offspring’s back into Gaia’s womb. Finally, Cronus, the youngest son, devised a plan to stop him with the help of his mother. When Uranus came to Gaia, Cronus cut off his genitals and threw them behind him. While the blood that landed on the ground became the furies, the genitals that landed in the sea made the sea foam that gave birth to Aphrodite. Thus, Aphrodite was born solely from one of the great entities that existed before the Olympian gods.
By the very nature of her birth, unlike any of her other siblings, she exists as the embodiment of sex. Born from male genitalia, she instinctively invokes sexual desire more prevalent among men. Her ability to charm gods and men make her one of the most powerful goddesses on Olympia. Ares would also fall prey to her advances. When Hephaestus asked Zeus if Aphrodite would be his wife, the goddess was undesirably forced into marriage. From this, Ares and Aphrodite had numerous affairs with one another and bore Anteros, god of unrequited love, Deimos, god of fear, Phobos, god of panic, and Harmonia, goddess of harmony. Hephaestus would eventually catch them in a trap he created, humiliating both of them by displaying their affair for all of Olympus to