THE GODDESS CHAOS IN GREEK MYTHOLOGY

Today, the concept of chaos is one related to disorder, and most people will actually be surprised that Chaos was also a deity of the Greek pantheon, one born at the very start of time.

the lineage of chaos

Magnum Chaos from Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore in Bergamo - Lorenzo Lotto & Giovan Francesco Capoferri - PD-life-100

From the works of Hesiod, we learn that Chaos was the first of all deities that came into existence at the birth of the cosmos; and shortly afterwards, Gaia (Earth), Tartarus (Hellpit) and Eros (Procreation) were born.

Hesiod of course was not the only writer writing in antiquity, and fragments of texts offer a different order of the Protogenoi. Orphic tradition had a different take on the Protogenoi, and Chaos, in this instance, was not the first deity, but was instead born from Chronus (Time).

Some sources also claim that Gaia, Tartarus and Eros were born to Chaos, although Hesiod specifically rejected this notion; although in the Theogony did state that Chaos did bring forth Nyx (Night) and Erebus (Darkness). 

---

The role of chaos

Chaos was nominally thought of in terms of being a female deity, although at the same time, Chaos was not thought to have had any physical form. The name itself can actually be translated as "Gap", and this was the role the Greek goddess would actually take, becoming the air of the earth, between the air of the heavens (Aether), and the air of the Underworld (Erebus).

Chaos was also considered to be a goddess of Fate, in much the same way as Nyx, and Chaos' granddaughters, the Moirai, were. It would though, take a Roman poet, in the form of Ovid, to build upon the mythology of Chaos, to make the goddess the source of all the elements, earth, air, water and fire, thus the goddess being the origin of everything.

Contents