Cosmogony - birth of cosmos. (cosmos = decoration, order; ~cosmetic.)

Hesiod: Theogony; Works and Days - didactic epic poems in dactylic hexameter.
        (= finger-like six-meter; no close English equivalent.)
Orphic Hymns (texts ~3rd/4th c. A.D., based on the old doctrine of Orphism/ Orphic Mysteries, reflected in Plato, Aristophanes,
      Virgil and Ovid.)

CHAOS: primeval chasm. > EROS (=Love: erotic. ~libido. = Primal outburst of energy.)
        Orphic: Egg > Phanes (winged Eros of     many shapes)
  > Darkness/Night > Light (Aether)/Day
  > GAEA (Earth) > URANUS (Sky). + Sea and Mountains.
Gaea & Uranus give birth to the race of the Titans.  (+ Cyclopes; Hecatoncheires etc.)

The dynasty of Titans:
 Cronus  (~Time?)
 Helios, Eos, Selene  - Astral bodies: Paleolithic worship?
 Hecate    - sorcery; Moon.
 Oceanus; Atlas   - water; mountains.
 Prometheus (& Epimetheus) - ~ demiurge: god-artisan, creator of material world.
 Themis/ Dike/ Astreia  - Common Law ~Earth/ Justice ~astral world.
 Rhea; Leto (mother of Apollo & Artemis: ~Sun & Moon) - Great Goddesses.

Gaea unhappy; son Cronus (Lat. Saturn) separates the father from the mother with a sickle: castration of Uranus, birth of Aphrodite from Uranus' severed phallus (Aphrodite Urania = Celestial).
 Eros & Aphrodite: creative force.
 Eros in Plato, Symposium - Aristophanes tells a story of primeval all-rounded race split into two parts - to explain the search
    of modern men for their true soul-mates.
 (+ Amor and Psyche tale (structurally - first known folktale!) in Apuleius, Golden Ass. ~ Neo-Platonic: Psyche/Anima/=Soul separated and reunited with her mate - Amor/Eros/=Love.)

 // Creation ~sparagmos: tearing apart; separation of the primal unity into plural parts.
 Mesopotamia:  first Monster-Mother - Tiamat: menacing, killeded and used for creation.
  Old Norse:       Primeval giant Ymir out of the pieces of his body the world is created.
 China:                Pangu - sacrificed his body to create the world.

Cronus (father-Time?) (Lat. Saturn = Plentiful, Satiated; Sower?)
        Now in charge of the universe, swallows his children from Rhea.
Rhea feels biological clock, gives to Cronus a swaddled rock and hides Zeus in Crete - Curetes/ Corybantes; nymphs.
 Amalthea - horn of plenty - cornucopia.
 Zeus grows up, revolts against his father Cronus, making him spit up all the swallowed kids. (// Primitive motifs of swallow and regurgitation.) Spat up, thus, are the second generation of gods:

Older Olympians: Zeus; Hera; Hestia; Demeter; Poseidon; Hades.
Olympian dynasty begins.
The war between Olympians and Titans: Gigantomachia/Titanomachia.
        Traditional battle scenes of Greek art:
        * Titanomachia.
        * Greeks vs. Amazons.
        * Lapyths (North Greek tribe) vs. Centaurs.

// Older vs. Newer gods:     Greek:             Titans   vs.          Olympians
                                                   Old Norse:     Vanir   vs.           Aesir
                                                   Ireland:           Fomorians  vs.  Tuatha de Danann

Olympians win, Titans are partly imprisoned in Tartarus, partly assimilated and/or assigned steady jobs
        --Atlas; Helios, Eos, Selene.
Gaea is angry for mistreatment of her Titanic children and gives birth to the monster Typh-on/-eus
                (from Typhon & Echidna - the race of Monsters).
Zeus fights Typhon: first heroic dragon-fight. Zeus nearly defeated; Hermes retrieves his sinews; Zeus wins.
                     Typhon is incarcerated under the volcanic mount Aetna in Sicily (periodic eruptions).

   Creation of man & the story of mankind:

Prometheus (& Epimetheus) - demiurges: they fashion man from clay. Plato, Protagoras: Epimetheus forgot to provide man
        with defences, suc has hoofs, horns and fur: now, the mind is man's only asset!
Prometheus' transgressions (Hesiod,Works and Days; Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound:):
 - tricks Zeus to accept unessential portion of sacrificed animals.
 - steals fire, gives to mankind. = Cultural hero: Benefactor of mankind //Trickster of primitive mythologies.
 - In Aeschylus, Prometheus took away man's innate clairvoyance; gave hopes to people.

 Zeus punished Prometheus by having him pinned to the highest rock of Caucasus, where the eagle daily feeds on his liver. Zeus needs him, however: only Prometheus knows who will succeed Zeus as the next king of the universe. (The key - to avoid mating with Thetis, sea-goddess: her son will be mightier than his father. Eventually, Prometheus reveals the secret; Zeus allows Heracles to release him. Thetis is married off to a mortal Peleus, and gives birth to Achilles - the mightiest hero of the Trojan War.)

Prometheus: theomachist/ savior: god suffering for humans.
  // Old Testament:     Book of Job.
   Old Norse:                 self-sacrifice of Odin: hanging on the world-tree Yggdrasil to gain the knowledge of runes.
   + New Testament:   the story of Redemption.

Gods retaliate the stealth of fire by creating Pandora (all-gift-ed/-ing?) - the First Woman, and give her as a wife to Epimetheus,
        together with a box - never to be opened. Pandora yields to temptation to open her box, and all the evils fly out.
         (Only Hope remains: // Prometheus' gift?)
Pandora // Biblical Eve: mother-creatress?  - She creates all; therefore, she is to be blamed for all. - Clash of two ideologies: primacy of the mother vs. traditional misogyny of patriarchal society. Both Pandora's and Eve's quest for knowledge brings disastrous consequences.

Flood: Zeus decides to destroy mankind. Prometheus warned his son Deucalion, married to Pyrrha, to build a raft; they landed
    on Mt. Parnassus. Oracle of Gaea/Themis: Throw the bones of the mother... - ? - Mother = Earth; her bones = stones.
    Thus, Earth is re-populated.

Five Ages (Hesiod; Ovid: four)  - Golden - all-good: Dike-Astreia reigns.
  - Silver - decadentic, infantile.
  - Bronze - violent.
  - Heroes - heroic aspect of violence; =Bronze: Ovid.
  - Iron - the last (=our) age: utter immorality.
  (+ Computer Age!)

 Three-Level Universe : Heaven / Earth / Realm of the Dead.

Greek:                   Old Norse:

Aether                                                - Upper atmosphere: the sphere of purity
Olympus              Asgard                 - World of gods
Gaea                      Midgard              - World of people
Hades                    Hel                       - World of the dead
Tartarus                                              - Bottom of the universe; place of torments