Greek Civilization
Introduction
The texts about Greek civilization give readers many perspectives through which they can see the element of chaos/order. The first perspective is that Chaos was ‘the gaping void.’ It is perceived as the emptiness that existed before anything came to existence. It means that the world and everything that it contains were created inside the ’emptiness.’ It may also mean that Chaos was the origin of almost all the visible objects in the world. The Greek Gods are also included in the things that emerged from Chaos. The Earth was the first thing to originate from Chaos. The underworld followed, then love, darkness, and night.
Chaos is perceived as a form of the disorder that existed in the ’emptiness’ that was there before the world was created. The Greeks believed that at some point, Cosmic Egg formed inside Chaos (Clay, 2003). It hatched to give rise to the first Greek gods. Another perspective was that Chaos was female. Chaos was perceived as being female because it gave rise to everything that exists. It had other significant characteristics of a woman. One of them is that it gave rise to the weak, the powerful, something that other women also do (Unit 3, p. 70). However, most of the descendants of Chaos were dark and negative. Later, people perceived Chaos as the space between the heavens and the Earth. According to Hesiod, Chaos was also a place that humans could hardly reach. It was in the underground but could also be affected by the thunderbolts of Zeus.
One can also see how the different gods emerged out of Chaos. During the creation of the Earth, there was need for gods responsible for each of the specific creations. There was a god of the Earth, the Sea, and the Sky. Hesiod narrates the story of the fight between Zeus and the Titans in which many significant changes occurred. The heat increased significantly, a factor that affected the position of Chaos (Unit 3, p. 68). It appeared as if Uranus and Gaia had moved close to each other and met. Chaos had maintained the regular positions of the two entities. Their meeting shows that Chaos had moved away from his usual place. He hid between the Earth and the Sky. The war between Zeus and the Titans took a significantly long time, but finally, the Titans were defeated (Unit 3, p. 68). They ended up residing far away from the Olympian gods. They stayed in the gloomy Chaos. This is another perspective for Chaos as a living place. The Titans must have decided on staying there because of several elements that support life.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Chaos was a significant factor in the lives of the Ancient Greeks. He appears to have been perceived mainly as the enemy of order. That idea is based on the fact that most of the roles he performed were associated with darkness and negativity. The belief that he received thunderbolts from Zeus shows that he was also an enemy to the most powerful god of the land.