Myths of the Planets Page 5

 or  Uranus

Uranus (Ouranos in Greek) does not exist in Roman culture. The name appears to be a latinisation of the Greek name. The Roman equivalent is Caelus from which we get our word celestial. Ouranos is the God of the Sky and was created by Gaia as her first act of creation along with Ourea (the Mountains) and Pontos (the Sea). He then mated with Gaia to produce twelve immortal beings called the Titans, three monstrous giants with fifty heads and a hundred arms known as the Hundred-handers, and three Cyclops, huge giants with a single eye in the centre of their foreheads. Fearful that one of these offspring might try to usurp his position as Chief of the Gods, Ouranos imprisoned the Hundred-handers and the Cyclops in the dark regions below the Earth and forced each of the Titans back into their mother’s womb. Eventually this became too painful for Gaia and she implored her sons to help her. Only the youngest, Kronos (Saturn) was brave enough to do so. He lay in wait for his father that night and, when he came to spread himself over Gaia, Kronos cut off his genitals and threw them across the world where they were still fertile and gave rise to a host of lesser beings. Ouranos was thus deposed and has lived peacefully ever since.

Neptune

Neptune (Poseidon in Greek) is God of the Sea and of Horses. Son of Kronos and Gaia, he is brother of Zeus and sided with him in his war with the Titans. When Zeus won that war, Neptune became an important god and took the sea as his realm. He is generally depicted as a benign old man but he was also capable of great rage when he would stir up the oceans with his trident and create great storms. He is also capable of great violence on land where he can create earthquakes. He is God of Horses and is believed to have created the first horse either by fertilization of the rocks with his semen or striking the ground with his trident. He sired the winged horse Pegasus with the Gorgon, Medusa. However his divine wife was a Nereid, Amphitrite. Nereids were sea nymphs renowned for their beauty. Initially she hid from Poseidon in the sea, but the sea god sent his sea creatures to find her. A dolphin found her and persuaded her to accept his master, so Poseidon rewarded the dolphin by immortalizing it in the sky as the constellation Delphinus. Poseidon and Amphitrite lived in a golden palace in the depth of the sea where they gave birth to Triton, a merman with the head of a man and the tail of a fish. Like his brother, Zeus, Poseidon fathered many mortal sons who were as rough and unpredictable as their father.

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