The Role Of Chaos In Ancient Greek Religion

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The Greek religion should not be confused with Greek mythology, albeit, the two are intertwined. The ancient Greeks did not have an equivalent word for ‘religion’. The closest terms were threskeia (cult) and eusebeia (piety) (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2018). According to Hesiod, at the beginning of everything, there were four primordial entities that came to be: Chaos, Gaia, Eros, and Tartaros. Chaos is the Greek word for "gaping void' signifying space not disorder or confusion. Chaos was the first to come into being followed by Gaia, who is Earth and source of the gods (Hard, 2014). Only Chaos and Gaia hold any genealogical significance. Eros is the driving force of the mating and procreation process that brings everything else into existence.

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