Before we get started I just want to mention that only 10.6% of you are subscribed, so if you want to support the channel and future content, then please subscribe. Hey everyone, welcome to Mythology Explained. In today's video, we're going to discuss Metatron, perhaps the greatest of all the angels when considered in context of the constellation of non-scripture writings that pertain to the Abrahamic religions. Formerly a man, he was chosen by God to become an angel. As an angel, his form was larger than the whole of the earth. He had 72 wings, each one larger than the earth, and he had hundreds of thousands of eyes, each one brimming with God's glory. Let's get into it. In the aggregate, when considering all of the auxiliary non-canonical works, here meaning works that pertain to the Abrahamic religions but aren't scripture, many believe Metatron is presented as the greatest of all the celestial servants, greater even than archangel Michael and second only to God in power. The etymology of his name is a matter of some debate; Eleazar of Worms, a Jewish Rabbi of the late 12th and early 13th centuries CE, claimed it was based on the Latin word metator, which meant guide or measurer, and Hugo Odeberg, a Swedish professor and theologian, claimed the name was purely of Jewish origin, and that it was a metonym for the epithet 'little Yahweh, meaning something like "one who occupies the throne next to the divine throne. This supports the notion of Metatron residing in the 7th heaven, the uppermost tier in which God resides. In Traditions of the Jews II, written by Johann Andreas Eisenmenger, a 17th century scholar who studied rabbinical literature, Metatron is described as the Angel of Death. Daily instructions are given to him by God as to which souls were to be reaped. And just as he was God's delegate in this matter, so did Metatron operate through his deputies, Sammael and Gabriel. Another story that presents eminent angels as subordinate to Metatron is told in the Chronicles of Jerahmeel, a voluminous series of chronicles compiled by Eleasar ben Asher, who is thought to have lived during the 14th century. Jannes and Jambres, two Egyptian sorcerers who managed to ascend to heaven through use of their black arts, were so formidable that archangels Michael and Gabriel were unable to expel them. As the story goes, it wasn't until Metraton intervened and exerted his own power that these two sorcerers were cast out of the divine domain. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hey everyone, welcome to Mythology Explained. In today's video, we're going to discuss the all-out war between the gods and the titans, a war so devastating that it remade the face of the earth, a war so important that it decided who would sit highest and rule the cosmos. Let's get into it. Just as important as the war itself were the events that lead up to it, so we're going to spend a little time setting the stage by exploring the preamble. First there were the primordial deities, who were succeeded by the Titans, who were, in turn, superseded by the gods. Cronus, the youngest and boldest of the titans, learnt of a prophecy that foretold his downfall at the hands of one of his children, and he must have been especially paranoid of such an eventuality; for it was he who overthrew his own father, Uranus, the personification of the sky, by castrating him. The strategy Cronus employed was to swallow his children whole as soon as they were born, but his consort, the titan goddess rhea, grew more distraught with each child she lost, until she reached her tipping point and resolved to save her youngest child. She swaddled a stone in baby's wrappings and proffered it to Cronus in Zeus' stead, and Cronus, not suspecting even an inkling of trickery, promptly swallowed the stone. Unbeknownst to Cronus, though, Zeus was whisked away and raised in secret, where he grew into a paragon of power, strong of body and keen of mind. Once the bloom of manhood was upon him, he made a triumphant return with the goal of casting his father down from his lofty seat, but to accomplish this, he would need allies, so Zeus' first move was to free his siblings. Now, there are multiple accounts that detail exactly how Zeus was able to force Cronus to disgorge the five gods - Zeus' five siblings - he had swallowed. Per Apollodorus' account, Zeus enlisted the aid of Metis, who contrived for Cronus to imbibe an emetic, which purged the titan's stomach and brought up all who were imprisoned within. First came the stone, which was swallowed in Zeus' stead, then the gods in this order: Poseidon, Hades, Hera, Demeter, and finally, Hestia. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Below you'll find nine points in which the Hymn to Aten and Psalm 104 are said to parallel each other. 1 corresponds to 1, 2 to 2, 3 to 3, and so on and so forth. The website from which these were sourced is included at the very bottom. Hymn to Aten: 1 - How many are your deeds ... You made the earth as you wished, you alone, All peoples, herds, and flocks. 2 - When you set in western lightland, Earth is in darkness as if in death 3 - Every lion comes from its den 4 - When you have dawned they live, When you set they die; 5 - You set every man in his place, You supply their needs; Everyone has his food. 6 - The entire land sets out to work 7 - The fish in the river dart before you, Your rays are in the midst of the sea. 8 - Birds fly from their nests, Their wings greeting your ka 9 - He makes waves on the mountain like the sea, To drench their fields and their towns. Psalm 104: 1 - YHWH, how manifold are your works! In wisdom you have made them all; the earth is full of your creatures. 2 - You make darkness, and it is night, when all the animals of the forest come creeping out. 3 -The young lions roar for their prey .. when the sun rises, they withdraw, and lie down in their dens. 4 - When you hide your face, they are dismayed; when you take away their breath, they die 5 - These all look to you to give them their food in due season. 6 - People go out to their work and to their labor until the evening 7 - Yonder is the sea, great and wide, creeping things innumerable are there 8 - By the streams the birds of the air have their habitation; they sing among the branches 9 - You make springs gush forth in the valleys; they flow between the hills ... The trees of YHWH are watered abundantly https://projectaugustine.com/biblical-studies/ancient-near-east-studies/parallelism-between-the-hymn-to-aten-and-psalm-104/ See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hey everyone, welcome to Mythology Explained. In today's video, we're going to discuss the angelic hierarchy as reckoned by Pseudo-Dionysius, a 6th century Christian theologian who wrote several seminal treatises. His account of the angelic hierarchy has remained influential for hundreds of years, even into contemporary times. The hierarchy he developed comprises nine angelic choirs, nine stratifications organised based on their proximity to God's throne. These nine choirs are grouped into three triads, meaning three groups of three. The number three is significant because it reflects the holy trinity of father, son, and holy spirit. Choirs that are closer to earth are further away from God's throne and vice versa. For example, the archangel choir is ranked second lowest because of its nearness to earth. From here, we're going to look at each choir, bottom to top, working from those most earthly to those most heavenly. Let's get into it. In the third triad we have angels, which are our first entry, followed by archangels and principalities. The bottom of the celestial hierarchy, angels - ordinary angels, if there is such a thing - account for the ninth and final choir, meaning they are closest to earth and farthest away from God's throne. Indeed, more than anything else, the celestial hierarchy is a positional hierarchy; because of this, the upper echelons are mostly removed from earthly matters, and the lower echelons are dedicated to earthly matters, angels most of all. Angels, like all the other choirs, are entities of pure spirit and exist to carry out God's will. Chief among their responsibilities are acting as the protectors of humanity and as the messengers that carry the word of God to the mortal plane. As the choir closest to humanity, guardian angels are selected from among them to watch over people, but also places, like churches, towns, and even countries. As the messengers of God, they may bring blessed tidings, such as the birth of Christ, or dark portents, such as the looming destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah; as agents of the divine, they may encourage people towards the light, helping them to endure pain in all its forms and resist the temptation of sin; and as the wielders of the unfathomable power bestowed on them by God, they may reveal the true potency within them, like when one angel single-handedly annihilated an Assyrian army, eradicating 185,000 soldiers. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

How a Greek God Became the Devil in Christianity Hey everyone, welcome to Mythology Explained. In today's video we're going to discuss how the modern conceptualization of the Devil in Christianity was inspired, both in appellation and in appearance, by Greek Gods. First, we're going to look at how the Greek god Eospherous became the inspiration for one of the devil's most infamous epithets; second, we're going to cover how the Greek god Pan inspired the Devil's horned, cloven-hoofed appearance; and lastly, we're going to wrap up the video by diving into how the Devil became the incarnation of evil in the world. Let's get into it. Known as Aurora to the Romans, Eos was the goddess of the dawn. She was the daughter of the first-generation titans Hyperion, a solar deity, and Theia, whose sphere of influence included sight and blue sky, and thus was herself a second-generation titan. Helios, the sun, was her brother, and Selene, the moon, was her sister. Many mortals caught her eye, and she wasn't above abducting them, taking a page out of Zeus' book on several occasions. One was Orion, the giant, incredibly handsome master hunter who was set in the sky as a constellation after his death. Another, Tithonus, Greek mythology's version of Methuselah, the longest lived man in the bible, was cursed with the torturous combination of immortality without agelessness. Eos' first consort was Astraeus, the titan-god of stars, planets, and astrology, and together, they produced a multitude of children, including: the wind gods Notus, god of the South wind, Boreas, god of the North wind, and Zephyr, god of the West wind, and all of the stars of heaven. One of these stars was Phosphorus, also called Heosphorus and Eosphorus. He was the personification of the morning star, which was the planet Venus as it sparkled in the sky before sunrise. The Latin name for Phosphorus was Lucifer, the name the morning star was known by to the Romans. And this, of course, begs the question: how did the Roman name for the morning star become one of the Devil's names, and not just any name, but one of the most popular throughout the Middle Ages? See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hey everyone, welcome to Mythology Explained. In today's video, we're going to be discussing Loki. Let's get into it. As capricious as the wind, as dependable as a guttering flame, and ultimately, as devastating as an extinction-level meteorite impact, Loki, the wily trickster, is an enigmatic figure in Norse mythology. He's counted amongst the Aesir gods, but he'll fight for the giants come Ragnarok. Despite his antics regularly miring the gods in predicaments, his cunning and cleverness usually extricates them before too much damage is caused, even creating profit for the gods on many occasions. But this pattern ceases to continue in the mythic future. In the end, the darker part of Loki's nature eventually wins out, and the trouble he causes precipitates the death of the gods and the destruction of the world during Ragnarok, the great, ever-looming, all-consuming conflict. In Norse mythology, what tribe someone belongs to is contingent on their paternal pedigree. This is to say that people took after the father when being categorized. Most of the Aesir gods, the gods who dwell in Asgard are half-giant, but despite their split heritage, are gods, not giants, because their fathers were gods. Similarly, those whose fathers were giants, even if their mothers were gods, are considered to be of giant-kind. That kinship was reckoned through the paternal line is why it is thought that Loki was a giant, despite him living in Asgard and being counted amongst the Aesir gods. His father was a giant called Farbauti, and his mother, called either Laufey or Nal, was of ambiguous descent, being either a god or a giant. Loki had two brothers, Byleist and Helblindi, though little is known of either of them, and he had five children. Two of them, Nari and Narfi, were human-like in appearance, and he sired them by his wife, Sigyn. The other three, Hel, who presided over the underworld, Jormungandr, the Midgard Serpent, and Fenrir, a monstrous wolf, he sired by the ogress Angrboda. We'll discuss these children in more detail later in the video as we unpack various aspects of Loki's story. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hey everyone, welcome to Mythology Explained. In today's video, we're going to discuss a question of apocalyptic proportions: what would happen if Atlas stopped holding up the sky? In the primordial past, the world existed in different configurations, so with these as precedents, we're given some good insight into what might happen if Atlas abandoned his post. Would the sky simply stay where it is, would it fall, flatten the earth, and eradicate life, would the gods be driven underground, would the gods die? Let's get into it. We're going to start this video off by diving into the primordial past, back to a time when the sky didn't even exist. First there was nothing, truly nothing, not even empty space, then Chaos, the great void, emerged, and then, now that there was space for other things to exist, the first-generation primordial deities emerged. There were five of them: Gaia, the earth, Tartarus, the great chasm beneath the earth, Eros, love, Erebus, darkness, and Nyx, night. Gaia independently produced three children, three second-generation primordial deities. These were Uranus, the sky, Pontus, the sea, and Ourea, mountains. She took Uranus, whom she created to envelop her and be a celestial abode for the gods, as her consort, and here is where our story really begins. Together, Gaia and Uranus had many children. To them were born the 12 first-generation Titans, the trio of Uranian Cyclopes, who were godlike, but only had one eye, and the Hecatonchires, powerful hundred-armed behemoths with unparalleled size and strength. Uranus hated his children, so he kept them trapped deep within the earth. He was able to imprison them because there wasn't, at this time, a divide between the earth and the sky. Uranus was wrapped tightly around Gaia, smothering her in a constant embrace. Consequently, there wasn't any space between the earth and the sky, so though the Titans, Cyclopes, and Hecatonchires were grown, there wasn't space for them to emerge, keeping them imprisoned within Gaia. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

2:03 - Beginning of Cosmogony / Theogony 5:03 - End of Cosmogony / Theogony Hey everyone, welcome to Mythology Explained. In today's video, we're going to discuss the one weapon that, had the Titans used it, would have vanquished the gods. Let's get into it. As we know, the titans were defeated by the gods, but this wasn't achieved through the power of the gods alone. The cyclopes crafted the gods' awesome weapons - the thunderbolt for Zeus, the helm of darkness for Hades, and a trident that could shake and sunder the earth for Poseidon. The gods were also reinforced by the Hecatonchires, towering hundred-armed behemoths with irresistible strength. The titans, on the other hand, while incredibly powerful in their own right - they, too, were gods after all - weren't bolstered in the same way. No colossal monsters, unassailable in strength and unsurpassed in size, bolstered their forces, no magnificent cyclops-forged weapons boosted the combative abilities of any of their number. But what if their situation had been different? What if there was a weapon that could have augmented their power, and would this have turned the tide of the war? In this video, we're going to discuss the Ophiotaurus, a monster and a somewhat esoteric bit of Greek mythology. Spawned by Gaia, the front half was that of a bull and where the hindquarters should have been was the tail of a snake. The mere fact that it was alive posed an ever-present, existential threat to the Olympians. Supposedly, if its entrails were burned, the person or group that enacted this right became endowed with the power to defeat the gods, a great boon that the Titans were in dire need of, one that would have given them surety of victory. Before we really dive into the Ophiotaurus, we're going to set the stage by giving an overview of the events that lead up to the Titanomachy, the cataclysmic 10-year war between the gods and the titans, in case anyone watching is unfamiliar with them. If this is a part of Greek mythology you already know or just don't want to hear again, feel free to use the time stamps in the description and skip ahead. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hey everyone, Welcome to Mythology Explained. In today's video, we're going to discuss five monsters in Norse mythology that killed gods and /or contributed to destroying the world. Anything humanoid, such as Surtr, the chief of the fire giants, won't be discussed in this video. Let's get into it. Starting off our list are Skoll and Hati. Skoll and Hati are two wolves, and their story revolves around the sun and moon. In the deep past, there was a man named Mundilfari. He had two children, and he thought them so perfect that he named them Mani, "Moon", and Sol, "Sun". The giving of these names, high and mighty as they were, angered the gods, who punished Mundilfari for his hubris by setting his children in the sky amongst the very heavenly objects they were named after. Sol was made to drive the horses that pulled the chariot of the sun. Arvak and Alsvinn, the two celestial steeds drawing the chariot, would have perished in flames, but the gods took precautions and set bellows beneath their shoulders to keep them cool. Mani, henceforth, guided the moon in its arc across the sky and controlled its waxing and waning. Here is where Skoll and Hati come in. The sun and moon journeyed so swiftly across the sky because they were in constant flight. Skoll was the wolf chasing the sun, and Hati the moon. Tirelessly they pursued their quarry, relentlessly hunting. Their mother was an ogress that dwelt to the East of Midgard in a fell forest called the Jarnvid, the "Iron Wood". The frightening women that dwell within that dark forest were called the Jarnvidjur, "the Iron Wood Dwellers". It was said that from this ogress came many giant sons, all of them wolves. When the cataclysm of Ragnarok breaks the world and ends the current age in the mythic future, the long hunt will finally come to an end. The sun and the moon will be caught, and without them, the sky will go dark. Coming up next is the Nidhogg A swarm of serpents lived amongst the roots of aYggdrasil, the World Tree. Indeed, so many serpents seethed in the deep places of the universe that it was said no tongue could count them. They constantly gnawed and clawed the tree's roots, maiming its subterranean sprawl, and in so doing, trying to destroy the tree itself - root, stem, and branch - which, if they succeeded, would have apocalyptic consequences. The greatest of these serpents was the Nidhogg. And as there were creatures that dwelt amongst the tree's roots, so were there creatures that dwelt amongst its branches. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hey everyone, Welcome to Mythology Explained. In today's video, we're going to discuss ten of the most powerful gods in Greek mythology, gods so powerful that their powers often dwarfed those of the other deities in the Greek mythos. Just a quick comment before we get started: this list isn't ranked and is by no means comprehensive, so let us know in the comments who else you think deserved to be included. Also, this video will only feature male deities; we'll make a separate video for female deities later on. And lastly, the final five entries are the same as the ones in the top 5 version of this video, so if you've already watched the other one, the halfway point might be as far as you go. Let's get into it. Starting off our list is Hyperion. Called "The One on High" and "He Who Walks above", Hyperion was one of the 12 first-generation titans born to the primordial deities Uranus, the personification of the sky, and to Gaia, the personification of the earth. His consort was Theia, called "Far-Shining", another of the 12 first-generation Titans, and together, they had three children" Selene (the "Moon"), Helios (the "Sun"), and Eos (the "Dawn"). Of Hyperion's three children, Eos most followed in her father's footsteps in that she produced many of the other manifestations of the material world, including: Boreas, the North wind, Notus, the South wind, Zephyr, the West wind, and all the stars in the sky, including Eosphorus, better known by his Latin name, Lucifer, the Morning Star. Hyperion was a solar deity. Thus he was identified with his son, Helios, and later with Apollo. One thought is that Hyperion's original role was to oversee the cycle in which his children shined in the sky. Like the other Titans that fought against the Olympians during the Titanomachy, Hyperion was cast into the depths of Tartarus, the cavernous abyss beneath the earth. The only exception to this was Atlas, who was saddled with a special punishment, condemned to bear the vault of the heavens upon his shoulders for eternity. Coming in at number 2 is Hades. The Lord of the Dead and the ruler of the Underworld, Hades and his five siblings, Hera, Hestia, Demeter, Poseidon, and Zeus, were born to Cronus and Rhea, two of the first-generation Titans. Like his brothers and sisters, Hades was swallowed by his father at birth. Cronus did this to forestall his usurpation at the hands of one of his children the same way he himself usurped his own father. Zeus, the youngest, of course wasn't swallowed. He was raised in secret and made a triumphant return when the bloom of manhood was upon him. Hades and his siblings were rescued when Zeus caused Cronus to disgorge them, so began the Titanomachy, the cataclysmic 10 year war that raged between the gods and the titans. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Before we start this video, I just want to briefly mention that only 10% of you are subscribed, so if you enjoy the content please consider subscribing to support future content. Hey everyone, welcome to Mythology Explained. In today's video, we're going to discuss the five rivers of the underworld: Styx, Acheron, Lethe, Phlegethon, and Cocytus. Let's get into it. We're going to start off this video by taking a look at the Titans Oceanus and Tethys, as the vast majority of water deities are their progeny, so beginning with them will allow us to cover the parentage of the five rivers of the underworld in one fell swoop. The children of Uranus, the personification of the sky, and of Gaia, the personification of the earth, both Oceanus and Tethys numbered among the 12 first-generation titans. Oceanus was the personification of the great river that encircled the world, and Tethys - her sphere of influence more ambiguous - was either the font of Oceanus' sweet waters or a sea goddess, one that personified its fecundity. Together, Oceanus and Tethys produced the Oceanids, a group of 3,000 water nymphs, the greatest of whom were Doris, Amphitrite, and Metis, and more germane to this video, they also produced all the rivers of the world, including the rivers of the underworld. With that covered, we can start looking at each river in detail without having to delineate the same parental information five times. Starting us off is the river Styx. Compared to the other four rivers of the underworld, Styx is really in a league of her own, both in being the only female river deity and in the degree of prominence she has in Greek mythology; the others are quite obscure by comparison. Called Stygos Hydor ("Water of Horror") by Homer, Styx was the foremost river of the underworld. According to Hesiod, she was the oldest of the Oceanids, the female children born to the Titans Oceanus and Tethys. In the version presented by Hyginus, Styx was described as the daughter of Nyx, the personification of night, and of Erebus, the personification of darkness. Styx was said to flow around the underworld, encircling it nine times. In some versions, it is Styx' waters over which the ferryman Charon ferries the dead across; though other versions have the river Acheron as the one Charon crosses. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hey everyone, welcome to Mythology Explained. In today's episode, we're going to take another dive into the Lord of the Rings universe, specifically, into the life of Melkor, whose name means "He Who Arises in Might", the incarnation of evil and nemesis of all that is green and good in the Tolkien Legendarium. The Balrogs served him, he created all the dragons of the world, he created or corrupted every other evil creature, either directly or indirectly, and he was more powerful than any of the other greater spirits that came to Ea, the world. We're going to start things off with some general, introductory info, and then we're going to do an overview of his whole life. Let's get into it Long before the events that take place in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Sauron, the main antagonist of the series, wasn't his own master; rather, he was a servant of Melkor, the true Dark Lord. Melkor was, essentially, the incarnation of evil. In power he was second only to Eru, the One, the only god in the monotheistic structure that underpins the Lord of the Rings Mythos. Melkor was very similar to Lucifer, both as being part of an angelic race and as, driven by lust and hubris, falling from grace and plunging into shadow. When he first came to earth, his appearance was colossal and elemental, as tall as a mountain, as fell as a black cloud storm laced with lightning, with ice, fire and shadow about him. Later, after his first imprisonment, he assumed a fair form, one that helped convey the pretense of reform he maintained to belie his true thoughts and intentions. And later, after much of his personal power was dispersed - infused into his wicked works, such as corrupting the land, building fortresses and breeding armies - his individual potency was diminished; in this state, he appeared as a giant man plated in black armor, a sable bulwark of shield on one arm, Grond, the Hammer of the Underworld, wielded in the other. Though Melkor was not technically a god, once he descended to earth from the timeless halls, the power he possessed over life and land was certainly god-worthy when compared to the deities that populated the pagan pantheons of bygone polytheistic religions, like those of the ancient Egyptians and the ancient Greeks The only way to tell Morgoth's long and wicked story is by winding the clocks back to a time that precedes creation itself. In the very beginning, there was only Eru, the One. In Elvish his name was Iluvatar. He was self-created and, for a time, was the only thing that existed in the void. Omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, in power and province, he was similar to the gods of monotheistic religions. His first creations were the Ainur, an angelic race. They were manifestations of his thought, and using the Flame Imperishable - itself an aspect of Eru - he imbued them with eternal life. The Ainur dwelt in the Timeless Halls, a place Eru created for them. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hey everyone, Welcome to Mythology Explained. In today's video, we're going to discuss five of the most powerful gods in Norse mythology, gods so powerful that their powers often dwarfed those of the other deities in the Norse mythos. And just a quick comment before we get started: this list isn't ranked and is by no means comprehensive, so let us know in the comments who else you think deserved to be included. Cases could certainly be made for Baldr and Vidar. Also, this video will only feature male deities. We'll make a separate video for female deities later on. Let's get into it. Starting off our list is Odin. Odin was the son of Borr, who was the son of Buri, who was the first god to come into existence in Norse mythology. He was entombed in salty primordial ice and was thawed free by the constant licking of Audhumbla, the cosmic cow, who subsisted on the ice's salt. Odin had two brothers, Vili and Ve. Together they attacked and killed Ymir, the huge proto-giant that, along with Audhumbla, was first to emerge in all of creation. From the colossal corpse, Odin and his brothers fashioned the world, and later, they created the first man and the first woman from two logs washed up on a beach. Each of the three gods imbued the logs with gifts, but it was Odin that quickened them with life. Though Odin wasn't the strongest of the Norse gods - that honour went to his son, Thor - Odin was the most powerful of the gods. His power was rooted in his deep knowledge, profound wisdom, and mastery of magic. He was taught Seid, a feminine type of magic, from the vanir goddess, Freja; he became the master of poetry by stealing the mead of poetry and bringing it back to Asgard; he learned the secrets of the runes and runic magic by impaling himself with his spear and hanging himself from Yggdrasil, the world tree, for nine days and nine nights; he sacrificed one of his eyes to Mimisbrunn, mimir's well, so that he could gain its mystic visions; and he embalmed the severed head of Mimir with herbs, resurrecting it, so that he could learn its secret knowledge. Beyond being one of the two wisest gods, amongst the strongest gods, and having an unparalleled mastery of magic, Odin also had two ravens who reported to him each day all the going-ons in the world, two huge wolves who protected him, and a magical spear that never missed its target when thrust or thrown. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hey everyone, welcome to Mythology Explained. In today's video, we're going to discuss Athena: daughter of Zeus, goddess of wisdom and war, and one of the most popular and powerful gods in Greek mythology. Let's get into it. Known as Minerva to the Romans, Athena was the daughter of Zeus, the king of the gods, and of Metis, one of the oceanids and a second-generation titan goddess. That said, Athena's birth was singular in how unconventional it was. She emerged into the world from a cleft split in Zeus' skull, so it was also said that she was the daughter of Zeus alone, as he was both father and mother to her. Metis was Zeus' first wife. Her wisdom was deep, and it was said it surpassed that of every mortal and all the other gods. Uranus and Gaia came to Zeus while Metis was pregnant. The words of prophecy had come to them, so they revealed that Metis was destined to bear incredibly powerful children, first a daughter, wise and strong, then a son, mighty and bold. The reason for them coming to Zeus with this information was that they didn't wish the vicious cycle of son supplanting father to perpetuate another generation. Armed with foreknowledge, Zeus took preemptive action. He swallowed Metis, thus forestalling any eventuality that entailed him having his throne wrestled away by a usurper in the future. Unexpectedly, the pregnancy was passed on to Zeus, who, after some unquantified period of time had elapsed, was struck by an agonising pain in his skull. The pain was so much that Zeus begged Hephaestus for relief. The smith god clove Zeus' head with a powerful blow from his axe, and out sprung Athena, a grown woman, clad in armour, with spear in hand. Athena had a capacious sphere of influence that included war, wisdom, and crafts. Insofar as war was concerned, she was diametrically opposed to her brother, Ares. Athena was associated with the strategic and defensive aspects of war, particularly when war was the only option, having exhausted other, less extreme courses of action. Opportune occasions to invoke her would have been when battle plans were drawn up or when the defensive of a city was being organised. Ares, on the other hand, was associated with the wanton aspect of war, devoid of restraint, like slaughter, aggression, panic, and bloodlust. As a patroness of crafts and those who plied them, Athena's purview encompassed every trade a person could learn, even more masculin crafts like carpentry and metalworking - giving her some overlap with Hephaestus - though it was feminie crafts like spinning and weaving she was most strongly connected with. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hey everyone, Welcome to Mythology Explained. In today's video, we're going to be discussing the resurrection of Osiris.The myth of Horus and Set vying for the Kingship is both one of the best known and most important in all of the ancient Egyptian mythos. The impetus for this story is that age-old dynamic in which one person has power and another person, coveting that power, is driven to evil action. In this iteration, Osiris is king of all, both mortal and immortal alike. He imparts on mankind the gifts of civilization and agriculture, and no one, with the exclusion of Set, wished anything but for his reign to be long and prosperous. Admittedly, there is a range of reasons that supposedly drove Set to murder his brother. One has Osiris kick Set, and yet another has Osiris bed Nephthys, Set's wife. But in this video, we're just going to stick to the version of Set being that archetypal, power-hungry, tired-of-always-being-number-two person Osiris inherited his lofty position from impeccable lineage. Ra, the son god, was the original king, but as he grew older, he abdicated his throne, ascended to the heavens, and began his eternal, cyclical journey across the stars and then through the underworld. His emergence from the underworld brought the dawn, and night fell when he departed the mortal plain. His first successor was his son, Shu, the personification of air, who, in turn was succeeded by his son, Geb, the personification of the earth, who was, then, succeeded by one of his sons, Osiris. Geb's other son was Set, and Geb's two daughters were Isis and Nephthys, the consorts of Osiris and Set, making two brother-sister pairs. So Osiris was king, and Set, his younger brother, was jealous of him, coveting the kingship. Set used all his guile and cunning to supplant his brother and take the throne for himself. There are many accounts that detail how exactly Set killed Osiris. The most popular version has him lock Osiris in a chest, which is then cast into the nile. Another version has Set Transform himself into a bull and trample Osiris into the ground. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hey everyone, Welcome to Mythology Explained. In today's video, we're going to be taking a look at the Norse creation myth, from the primordial void, to the creation of the first gods and the first giants, to the creation of the world, to the creation of the first man and the first woman. Let's get into it. From Ginnungagap, the primordial void that existed before all else, spawned two worlds, the first two of the nine realms. These were Muspelheim and Niflheim. Muspelheim, the land of fire, was created to the south of Ginnungagap, and Niflheim, the realm of ice, was created to the north of Ginnungagap. The heat and fire of Muspelhiem emanated into the great void from the south, and the ice and cold of Niflheim extended their frozen tendrils into the great void from the north. Frost and fire met in the middle. The ice began to melt, and from the droplets quickened the first giant, Ymir, and the giant cow, Audhumbla. Ymir was the asexual progenitor of the frost giant race. When he drifted off into sleep, he began to sweat, and then two giants, one male, the other female, were propagated under his left arm; and Ymir's legs joined together in a sort of union to create a third offspring, another son, Thrudgelmir, who was the father of Bergelmir, an important frost giant we'll circle back to later in the video. Ymir's three offspring were the first frost giants, so the entirety of the frost giant race is descended from them. Audhumla, the cosmic cow, was the other being to emerge from the droplets produced where the fire of Muspelheim met the frost of Niflheim. Four rivers of milk ran from her udders, and it was these flows of milk on which Ymir subsisted. Audhumla found her own nourishment by licking salty blocks of ice. And as the cow fed, something peculiar began to happen: each time the cow licked the ice, it melted a little, and the more the ice melted, the more exposed the man frozen inside became. This man was Buri, the first god. Hi son, Bor, took the giantess Bestla as his wife, and by her he sired three sons, Odin, Vili, and Ve See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hey everyone, Welcome to Mythology Explained. In today's video, we're going to discuss the five most powerful monsters in ALL of Greek mythology. Let's get into it. Starting off our list is Medusa There are many versions of Medusa's myth and how she came to be a Gorgon. The older account, the one featured in Hesiod's Theogony, has Medusa, along with her two sisters, Euryale and Sthenno, born as gorgons - the offspring of two primeval sea gods, Phorcys and Ceto. Later versions, such as the one given in Ovid's Metamorphoses, say that Medusa was originally a beautiful maiden. Poseidon took her against her will on the floor of Athena's temple, and then a wrathful Athena, as punishment for the defiling of her temple, made Medusa hideous to behold. Of the three Gorgon sisters, only Medusa was mortal, meaning she was the only one of the three that could be killed, which is why she was singled out and made the object of Perseus' quest. In some versions, it's only Medusa whose appearance petrifies, but in others, all three sisters share this ability. Where hair should have been were tangles of writhing snakes. Tusks that could have belonged to huge boars jutted from their jaws. Their hands were of bronze, sharper and deadlier than eagle's talons. A pair of great golden wings gave each of them the power of flight. And most infamous, most perilous of all, any who beheld them were turned to stone. Rather than some epic battle, strength against strength, Perseus, bedecked in every godly gift imaginable, Slayed Medusa in a furtive fashion. Made invisible by a magic cap, he flew, using his magic winged sandals, into Medusa's cave and lopped off her head while she slept. From the gory stump spurted more than monster's blood; out sprung two offspring: Pegasus, the winged horse, and Chryasor, meaning Golden-Blade. While Medusa met an untimely end when Perseus' blade sliced cleanly through her neck and decapitated her, the ability to turn any living creature to stone is undeniably powerful. The version of her myth given in Ovid's Metamorphoses is what guaranteed her place. In it, Perseus used Medusa's severed head to turn the Titan Atlas to stone. Extrapolating from that, it can be deduced that Medusa's gaze would similarly turn other immortal beings, like gods and other titans, to stone, making it a weapon of unparalleled power in Greek mythology. At number 4 we have the Cyclopes Here, when we say cyclopes, we're not talking about lesser cyclopes, like the cave-dwelling man-eater Polyphemus that Odysseus and his crew encountered in the Odyssey. No, we're talking about a specific trio of cyclopes: Arges, Steropes, and Brontes. In many respects they were similar to the Titans and gods that were to come, except for the large single eye in the middle of their foreheads. They were the sons of Uranus, the personification of the sky, and Gaia, the personification of the earth. They had three older siblings, the Hecatonchires, also known as the Hundred-Handers, and 12 younger siblings, the 12 first-generation titans. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hey everyone, Welcome to Mythology Explained. In today's video, we're going to discuss Manwe, the Wind Lord, the king of the Valar, and one of the most powerful characters in the Lord of the Rings universe. Let's get into it. To Understand how Manwe is, effectively, the Lord of the Rings' version of Zeus, we first have to spend a little time outlining the divine hierarchy - its theogony and cosmogony, which is to say where, when, and how the gods and the universe came into being In the Lord of the Rings, the divine structure is monotheistic, meaning there is only one true god. This god is Eru Illuvatar, known as the One. Self-created, Eru existed before all else, before mountains, forests, and rivers, before rock, branch, or rapid, and before there existed any other mind to perceive these things had they been there to be seen. Eru's first creations were the Ainur. Using the Flame Imperishable, which was itself an aspect of Eru, the Ainur were brought to life when Eru thought them into existence. They were holy and immortal beings, similar to God's angels in Christianity, and their cohort was stratified into two tiers, the Valar and the Maiar. The Valar were the greatest of the Ainur. Originally they were 15 in number - later 14 after one of them turned evil and effectively became Tolkien's version of Lucifer, the fallen angel - and were called the Powers of Arda. (Arda is the name of the world on which the events of the Lord of the Rings take place.) The Maiar were lesser spirits - minor angels, more numerous but less powerful than the Valar. At this point there existed only Eru and his created Ainur. A material world had yet to be made. They all dwelt in the timeless halls, which were similar to heaven in that it existed beyond the dimensions of time and space. Here, Eru had the Ainur sing in a divine choir. The sounds of each coalesced into a mighty work, which was a vision of Arda. Then, once again using the Flame Imperishable, Eru manifested what the Ainur sang, bringing their vision to life, creating the world. Following this, there was a split. Some of the Ainur chose to remain in the Timeless Halls while others descended to Arda to shape and rule the world. The Ainur that descended to Arda became the Valar and the Maiar. (Originally the world was called Ea, the "World that Is"; It was later named Arda, the "world", by the elves.) See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hey everyone, welcome to Mythology Explained. In today's video, we're going to explore whether Chaos was the most powerful God in Greek mythology. Let's get into it. Chaos, in Greek mythology, was the first primordial deity, meaning the first god, to come into existence. He was the manifestation of the great void that existed before all else. Chaos' power is predicated on his primacy in the creation myth and on the scope of his procreation. Some accounts have all the other first-generation primordial deities (Gaia, the personification of the earth, Tartarus, the personification of the cavernous abyss beneath the earth, Eros, the personification of desire, Erebus, the personification of darkness, and Nyx, the personification of night) all emerging from him, which would make Chaos the ultimate progenitor of everything and everyone in Greek mythology, being both self-created and then having everything else come from him and from the offspring he independently produced. However, In Hesiod's Theogony, in which exists the oldest surviving account of the Greek creation myth, Chaos isn't the father of all. Here's the quote: First came the Chasm; and then broad-breasted Earth, secure seat forever of all the immortals who occupy the peak of snowy Olympus; the misty Tartara in a remote recess of the broad-pathed earth; and Eros, the most handsome among the immortal gods, dissolver of flesh, who overcomes the reason and purpose in the breasts of all gods and all men. Out of the Chasm came Erebos and Dark Night." Per Hesiod's account, neither Gaia, nor Tartarus, nor Eros emerged from Chaos; rather, they inexplicably appeared, self-created as Chaos himself was first to do. This would make Gaia, Tartarus and Eros more so akin to the siblings of Chaos, not his independently begotten children. The quote then goes on to say that Erebus and Nyx came from Chaos. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hey everyone, welcome to Mythology Explained. In today's video, we're going to discuss Romulus, the hero that founded Rome and became a god. Let's get into it. To set the stage for Romulus' story, we're going to wind the clocks back about 15 generations, back to the fall of Troy. Our preamble centres on Aenas, the most important Roman hero aside from Romulus. Aenas was the son of Aphrodite and of Anchises. Aphrodite, of course, was the goddess of love, sexuality, and beauty, and Anchises, as the son of Themiste, a Trojan princess, was Trojan nobility. Themiste was the sister of Laomedon, who was the father of Priam, who was the ruling king during the events of the Trojan war. And to bring this geneology full-circle, Aenas married Creusa, who was Priam's daughter. Together, they had a son, Ascanius. Though Aenas and his compatriots fought valiantly, in the end, Troy was sacked by the Greeks. Following this, Aenas led his family - though his wife was lost - and many of his countrymen away from the burning city. They found some ships and set sail, embarking on a quest for greener pastures where they could establish a new city for their people. This story, which begins with the fall of Troy and ends with Aenas defeating an army, taking a new wife, and founding a city in Italy - called either Lavinium or Latium - is the one sentence version of the Aeneid, which was written by the poet Virgil and is basically a conflation of the Odyssey and the Iliad. We'll cover the events of the Aeneid in greater detail in another video. Fast Forward about 12 generations and you get the birth of two brothers, Amulius and Numitor. Their father, Procas, a direct descendant of Aenas, divided the royal inheritance into two parts: one was the kingdom itself, and the other was all the treasure in the kingdom. Numitor, the first born son, chose the kingdom, leaving Amulius with all the treasure, but Amulius, who was treacherous and power-hungry, used his newly acquired wealth to overthrow and banish his brother. Then, to ensure there would be no one to challenge him in the future, Amulius dealt with Numitor's children. The son was killed, and the daughter, Rhea, was dedicated to the service of Vesta, the Roman equivalent of Hestia, the virgin goddess of the hearth. It was expected that priestesses in Vesta's service remain virgins, so by binding Rhea to Vesta in this way, it ensured she would bear no children, no sons that could create trouble later on. Amulius' plan would have worked had he lived in a world without gods, but alas, this wasn't the case. One day, Rhea ventured into the woods to fetch water. Mars, the Roman equivalent of Ares, the god of war, came upon her and seduced her. They lay down together, and though Rhea did not yet know it, twin sons began to grow inside her. Months later, the pregnancy came to the attention of Amulius, who had his niece put in prison. When her children - twin brothers called Remus and Romulus - were born, they were taken from her and brought to the wilds, to the bank of the Tiber river. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hey Everyone, welcome to Mythology Explained. In today's video, we're going to dive into another versus, this time pitting Hades, the lord of the underworld, against Poseidon, the lord of the sea. In this head-to-head we're going to determine who would win based on several points of consideration - specifically, weapons, sphere of influence, raw power, and combat ability - to see which one would ultimately emerge victorious. To set the stage for this, we're going to do a quick overview of part of the Greek creation myth, as much of the information we'll need is incorporated in it. Here we go. Following the rule of the Primordials, Cronus, the youngest and boldest of the 12 first-generation titans, rose to power by castrating his father, Uranus, taking his place. After establishing himself as the king of the cosmos, Cronus learned from his parents that he was fated to be overthrown by one of his sons as he himself had overthrown his father, perpetuating the vicious cycle of son supplanting father. In an effort to forestall this eventuality, he swallowed his children as soon as they were born, imprisoning them inside himself. But his attempt to preempt his fate was thwarted when his consort, the titan goddess Rhea, proffered a stone swaddled in baby's wrappings in the place of her youngest son, Zeus, who was whisked away and raised in secret. When Zeus was grown, he made a triumphant return, freed his siblings from Cronus' belly, freed the cyclopes and the Hecatonchires, and then successfully led this motley alliance of gods and monsters in a 10 year war against the titans called the Titanomachy, which ended with the defeat of the titans and their subsequent imprisonment in Tartarus. Now, you might be wondering: why is this portion of the creation myth integral to a versus video that pits Hades against Poseidon to see which god would emerge victorious after an all out one-on-one battle. Well, it's crucial because this portion of the creation myth sets the stage for three of the most important factors in this comparison, namely, weapons, relative power level, and sphere of influence. The Hecatonchires and the Cyclopes - there were three of each - allied themselves with the gods after the gods traveled to the underworld, slayed the dragon Campe, and freed each trio. The Hecatonchires were indomitable behemoths. 50 arms hung from each shoulder, and 50 heads surmounted each of their bodies. They joined the gods on the battlefield, unleashing an onslaught of boulders that rained down on the Titans. The main contribution of the Cyclopes wasn't as warriors, but rather, as forge masters. They crafted three weapons, one for each of the brothers. They made Zeus' lightning bolts, Hades' cap of darkness, and Poseidon's trident. We're going to revisit these later in the video, looking at how they bolster each god's strength. After the war was over, Zeus, Hades, and Poseidon each drew lots to see which domain would be distributed to which brother. To Zeus went the skies, to Hades, the underworld, and to Poseidon, the sea. The fact that each of their domains were distributed by chance tells us that each of the brothers were all about on the same power level, at least that Hades and Poseidon were, as they all possessed the capacity to rule any of the three realms. Either Hades or Poseidon could just as easily have been appointed to the skies. However, despite this argument, we're going to exclude Zeus from it because he's consistently portrayed throughout Greek mythology as being more powerful than either of his brothers. Because Hades and Poseidon each had the same level of raw power - this fact extrapolated from them having the capacity to rule each other's domains - a battle between them, then, would be determined by the factors that differentiate them. These factors are domains, combat abilities, and weapons, and we're going to address each one, in that order. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hey everyone, welcome to Mythology Explained. In today's video, we're going to discuss Ares, the god of War, Zeus' least favourite child, and perhaps the least respected god in the Greek pantheon. Let's get into it. Most of Zeus' children were bastards, meaning they were conceived out of wedlock, which is to say that Zeus had a penchant for philandery, gallivanting around and employing all the tricks and tools at his disposal - from cajoling to coaxing to coercing - siring a plethora of illegitimate children, thereby defiling the sanctity of his marriage at every possible opportunity. But it has to be conceded that, despite his many, many offences, he did have some legitimate children that came from his marriage to Hera. Together they had Ares, the god of war, Hebe, a personification of vigor and youthful beauty, described as being a sort of handmaiden to the other Olympians, and Hephaestus, the god of the forge and volcanic fire, though in some versions he was independently produced by Hera, who made him in response to Zeus birthing Athena out the side of his skull. Almost always portrayed clad in armour, battle ready, sword, spear, and shield equipped, Ares, known as Mars to the Romans, was one of the 12 Olympians and the Greek god of war, but perhaps saying that he was a Greek god of war would be more accurate, for certain aspects of warfare - its defensive and strategic aspects, for example - more so fell beneath Athena's purview, subsumed into her own sphere of influence, though Ares is likely the first name that comes to mind when the phrase Greek god of war is said. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hey everyone, welcome to Mythology Explained. In today's video we're going to be discussing Hercules: more specifically, his 12 labors, ranking them from least to most dangerous. Before we jump into the list, though, we're going to quickly touch on why it was that Hercules had to complete 12 nigh-impossible, death-defying labors. Hera could be vicious and vindictive. She had good reason, to be sure: Zeus was a lecher and a serial-offender in the adultery department. That said, perhaps the victims of Hera's wrath were unfairly chosen, for are the children begot from infidelity not blameless? Of all Zeus' bastards, none was more doggedly targeted by Hera than Hercules. Hera attempted to thwart, ruin, and kill Hercules at every turn, but her most malicious attack was when she cursed Hercules with a spell of madness. In this state - his mind not his own - Hercules murdered his three sons and even his wife, Megara, who tried in vain to protect her children from her crazed husband. Hercules, seeking to atone for the atrocities he had committed, looking to cleanse himself of the sins of his past, traveled to Delphi where he consulted the resident oracle, who told Hercules that he needed purification, that a great penance was needed. Hercules was instructed to seek his cousin Eurystheus, King of Myceanae, and to submit himself to whatever was tasked of him. Eurystheus was cunning and opportunistic, and he was very concerned about not being supplanted by Hercules, who would have been the rightful king had it not been for a contrivance from Hera that had Eurystheus born prematurely so to be older than Hercules. The labors devised by Eurystheus - encouraged by Hera - were diabolical in the degree of difficulty and danger entailed in them. His motivations for subjecting Hercules to such labors were two fold: to fully exploit and profit from having the strongest man on earth compelled to satisfy his every whim, and to eliminate a potential rival for his throne. With that covered, let's dive into our list. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

5 Gods so Powerful Even the Other Gods Feared Them Hey everyone, Welcome to Mythology Explained. In today's video, we're going to discuss five of the most powerful gods in Greek mythology, gods so powerful that their powers often dwarved those of the other deities in the Greek mythos. And just a quick comment before we get started: this list isn't ranked and is by no means comprehensive, so let us know in the comments who else you think deserved to be included. Certainly Hades could have been added, but we kept it to five. Let's get into it. Starting off our list is Atlas. Atlas' case for making this list is explained through the punishment he was saddled with when the Titans were finally defeated by the gods after 10 years of war. Unlike the other titans that fought in the war, Atlas wasn't banished to Tartarus, the great, cavernous abyss that existed beneath the earth; No, he was singled out and perpetually subjected to his own personal hell, which was to forever be the pillar that held up the heavens, stabilising creation itself by keeping earth and sky separate. This, of course, begs the question: why was Atlas given special treatment? Well, the reason for this was that Atlas was an implacable force for the Titans. His leadership and battle prowess greatly bolstered the overall strength of his side. His presence, both as counselor and as warrior, was a core reason that the war between the gods and the titans extended into the protracted 10 year conflict that it was. When the gods finally won, their greatest adversary was condemned to suffer the greatest punishment. Atlas came to be defined by his unending plight. In this way, his constant, crushing burden associated him with endurance and resilience. But he wasn't all brawn. He was known as a wise man, and the art of astronomy, the tracking of the myriad of stars embedded in the firmament he pressed upwards, was said to come from him. At number 2 we have Cronus. Cronus was the youngest of the 12 first generation titans. His mother, Gaia, the personification of the earth, was kept in constant agony by having her older children, the cyclopes and the Hecatonchires, trapped inside of her by her consort, Uranus, the personification of the sky, who was repulsed by his earlier children, thinking them abominations that needed to be hidden away, which he did by pressing them back inside Gaia. This unbearable predicament was the catalyst that forced Gaia to turn to her children for help, beseeching them to rise up against their father. Only Cronus had the potency of character, a combination of audacity and ambition, to answer his mother's call. He lay in wait, stone sickle in hand, then ambushed his father, castrating him, casting the severed genitals into the sea. And so, Cronus deposed his own father, superseding him to become the new king of the cosmos, ushering in the era of titan rule. Later, Cronus would swallow his children, one at a time as they were born, a preemptive effort to prevent his own usurpation at the hands of one of his children as he himself had done. But his efforts would be to no avail, and the drums of war would soon sound as the gods and titans laid waste to the surface of the earth as they fought for supremacy, a conflict that would end badly for the Titans, the belligerents of their number heaved into Tartarus, sentenced to banishment, forever. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hey everyone, welcome to Mythology Explained. In today's video, we're going to see if anyone ever managed to escape from Tartarus. Let's get into it. Tartarus was one of the first-generation primordial deities, the five primeval gods to first emerge from Chaos, the great void that existed before all else. These primordial deities were Gaia, the personification of the earth, Tartarus, the personification of the abyss beneath the earth, Eros, the personification of love and desire, Erebus, the personification of darkness, and Nyx, the personification of night. Tartarus was the vast cavernous plane that existed deep within the earth. It was said that an anvil took nine days and nine nights to plummet from the heavens to the earth; at which point, it would take yet another nine days and nine nights to plunge through the earth to the pit of Tartarus. This way, creation, as conceptualized by the ancient Greeks, existed as a cosmic oval, the flat earth sandwiched between the dome of the heavens and the inverted dome of Tartarus. While Tartarus was characterized by the duality common to all primordial deities, existing as both place and person, he was barely anthropomorphized, almost exclusively existing as the deep dark that functioned as the antithesis of the celestial vault that made up the heavens. Aside from coupling with Gaia on one occasion and siring the monster Typhon, Tartarus, really only featured in Greek mythology as prison, the ultimate prison. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.