Gaia

Gaia, or Gaea or Ge, was the personification of the Earth and one of the Greek primordial deities. Gaia was the great mother of all: the primal Greek Mother Goddess; creator and giver of birth to all the Earth and all the Universe; the heavenly gods, the Titans, and the Giants were born to her. The gods reigning over their classical pantheon were born from her union with Uranus, while the sea gods were born from her union with Pontus. Her Roman equivalent was Terra.

Hesiod
Hesiod's Theogony tells how, after Chaos, Gaia arose to be the everlasting seat of the immortals who possess Olympus above and the depths of Tartarus below. He then tells that Gaia brought forth her equal Uranus to "cover her on every side" and to be the abode of the gods. Gaia also bore the Ourea and Pontus. Afterwards, she gave birth to the Titans.

According to Hesiod, Gaia conceived further offspring with Uranus, first the giant one-eyed Cyclopes: Brontes, Steropes, and Arges; then the Hekatonkheires: Cottus, Briareus, and Gyges, each with a hundred arms and fifty heads. As each of the Cyclopes and Hekatonkheires were born, Uranus hid them in a secret place within Gaia, causing her great pain. So Gaia devised a plan. She created a gray flint sickle and had Cronus use the sickle to castrate his father, Uranus, as he approached Gaia to have intercourse with her. From Uranus' spilled blood, Gaia produced the Erinyes, the Gigantes, and the Meliae.

By her son Pontus, Gaia bore the sea deities Nereus, Thaumas, Phorcys, Ceto, and Eurybia.

Because Cronus had learned from Gaia and Uranus that he was destined to be overthrown by his own child, Cronus swallowed each of the children born to him by his Titan sister Rhea. But when Rhea was pregnant with her youngest child, Zeus, she sought help from Gaia and Uranus. And when Zeus was born, Gaia took the child into her care and in place of Zeus, Rhea gave Cronus a stone wrapped in swaddling clothes, which he swallowed.

With Gaia's advice, Zeus defeated the Titans. But afterwards, Gaia, in union with Tartarus, bore the youngest of her sons, Typhon, who would be the last challenge to the authority of Zeus.

Other Sources
According to Hyginus, Gaia, along with Heaven and Sea, were the children of Aether and Hemera. According to Apollodorus, Gaia and Tartarus were the parents of Echidna.

In classical art, Gaia was represented in one of two ways. In Athenian vase paintings, she was shown as a matronly woman only half-risen from the earth, often in the act of handling the baby Erichthonius to Athena to foster. 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.

Consorts and Children

 * No father
 * Uranus
 * Pontus
 * The Ourea
 * With Uranus
 * The Cyclopes
 * The Hekatonkheires
 * Coeus
 * Crius
 * Cronus
 * Hyperion
 * Iapetus
 * Mnemosyne
 * Oceanus
 * Phoebe
 * Rhea
 * Tethys
 * Theia
 * Themis
 * Mneme
 * Melete
 * Aoide
 * The Gigantes
 * The Erinyes
 * The Meliae
 * With Pontus
 * Ceto
 * Phorcys
 * Eurybia
 * Nereus
 * Thaumas
 * With Poseidon
 * Antaeus
 * Charybdis
 * The Laistrygones
 * With Oceanus
 * Kreousa
 * Triptolemos
 * With Tartarus
 * Typhon
 * Echidna
 * Campe
 * With Zeus
 * Manes
 * With Hephaestus
 * Erichthonius
 * With Aether
 * Uranus (more commonly thought to be a child of Gaia alone)
 * Aergia
 * Unknown father or through parthenogenesis
 * Pheme
 * Cecrops
 * Python