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Gaia (pronounced // or //) ("'''land'''" or "''' Earth '''", from the Greek Γαîα; also '''Gaea''' or '''Ge''' (Greek '''{Γῆ''') is a Greek Goddess personifying the Earth. IN GREEK MYTHOLOGY and Terra Mater (Gaia) with four children, perhaps the personified seasons, Mosaic from a Roman villa in Sentinum , 200 - 250 BC , Munich Glyptothek (Inv. W504)]]
Hesiod mentions Gaia's further offspring conceived with Uranus: first the giant one-eyed , Briareos and Gyges , each with fifty heads.
After Uranus's castration, Gaia gave birth to Echidna and Typhon by Tartarus . By Pontus, Gaia birthed the sea-deities Nereus , Thaumas , Phorcys , Ceto and Eurybia . Zeus hid Elara , one of his lovers, from Hera by hiding her under the earth. His son by Elara, the giant Tityas , is therefore sometimes said to be a son of Gaia, the earth goddess, and Elara. Gaia also made Aristaeus immortal. Gaia is believed by some sources (Joseph Fontenrose 1959 and others) to be the original deity behind the Oracle at Delphi . She passed her powers on to, depending on the source, Poseidon , Apollo or Themis . Apollo is the best-known as the oracle power behind Delphi, long established by the time of Homer, having killed Gaia's child Python there and usurped the Chthonic power. Hera punished Apollo for this by sending him to King Admetus as a shepherd for nine years. Oaths sworn in the name of Gaia, in ancient Greece, were considered the most binding of all. In classical art Gaia was represented in one of two ways. In Athenian vase painting she was shown as a matronly woman only half risen from the earth, often in the act of handing the baby Erichthonius (a future king of Athens) to Athena to foster. Later in mosaic representations she appears as a woman reclining upon the earth surrounded by a host of Carpi, infant gods of the fruits of the earth. FAMILY TREE Gaia is the titan of earth.
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