Seven of the most ancient beings in the Greek mythological tradition. Seven complete novels. One volume.

Gaia — She was the earth itself. She had been there before the gods. She had suffered under Ouranos and had asked her children to act. She had counseled Rhea and counseled Zeus. Every living thing lived on her. She was the most practically significant of all possible divine beings and the tradition had largely reduced her to a footnote in the Olympian story.

Tartarus — The deep abyss below the earth. The place where the Titans were imprisoned. He was both a place and a being — the specific embodiment of the deepest and most absolute of all possible divine places. He had been there since the beginning. He held the Titans. He was the most final of all possible divine conditions.

Thetis — The sea goddess who was destined to bear a son mightier than his father. Because of the prophecy Zeus avoided her and she was forced to marry a mortal. Her son was Achilles. She knew from his birth that he would die young. She tried to prevent it. She could not prevent it. She held him in the river Styx by the heel.

Atlas — He holds up the sky. He has been holding it since the Titanomachy. He holds it not because he wants to but because the alternative is the sky falling. Perseus tricked him into looking at Medusa's head and he became a mountain. He was holding the sky before he became a mountain and the mountain still holds the sky.

Epimetheus — The afterthought. His name meant afterthought as his brother's name meant forethought. He distributed the gifts to the animals and ran out of gifts when he got to humans. He accepted Pandora when Prometheus warned him not to. He acted after thinking rather than before. The tradition used him as the cautionary contrast to his brother. He was more than that.

Asteria — The goddess of falling stars and nocturnal oracles. She was pursued by Zeus and turned herself into a quail and threw herself into the sea to escape him and became the floating island of Delos. Her sister was Leto. Her daughter was Hecate. She was the origin of the island where Apollo and Artemis were born.

Nyx — The night. She was older than most of the gods. Even Zeus was careful in his dealings with her. She was the mother of Death and Sleep and Dreams and Nemesis and Discord. She drove her chariot across the sky every night. She was the most genuinely feared of all possible divine beings and the most genuinely necessary.

Titans of the Ancient World Volume 2

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