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In Greek mythology the Primordial deities, called the Protogenoi (Greek: Πρωτογένοs Protogenos, lit. "the first-born"), are the earliest entities or beings to come into existence - the original race of Greek gods. They form the very fabric of the universe and as such are immortal. These deities are a group of gods from which all the other gods descend. They preceded the Titans, the descendants of Gaia and Uranus.
Although generally believed to be the first gods produced from Chaos, some sources mention a pair of deities who were the parents of the group. These deities represent various elements of nature. Chaos has at times been considered, in place of Ananke, the female consort of Chronos. The female members are capable of parthenogenesis as well as sexual reproduction.
The primordial gods are depicted as a place or a realm. The best example is Tartarus who is depicted as the Underworld, Hell, and a bottomless abyss. His sibling Erebus is also depicted as a place of darkness, pitch-black or a vast emptiness of space.
Their mother, Chaos is depicted as an empty void. Other siblings that include Gaia are depicted as Mother Nature, or as the earth. Pontus or Hydros are depicted as the oceans, lakes, and rivers. Chronos is depicted as time and of eternity.
According to Hesiod's Theogony (c. 700 BC):
The ancient Greeks proposed many different ideas about primordial deities in their mythology, which would later be largely adapted by the Romans. The many religious cosmologies constructed by Greek poets each give a different account of which deities came first.
Philosophers of Classical Greece also constructed their own metaphysical cosmogonies, with their own primordial deities:
The Independent, Hertfordshire, Order of the British Empire, The Guardian, Mars
Hesiod, Eros, Greek mythology, Ovid, Theogony
Atheism, Irreligion, Buddhism, Hinduism, Criticism of religion
Classical Antiquity, Ancient Greece, Bronze Age, Ovid, Ancient history