Which came first: the chicken or the egg? If God created the universe, then who created God? If nothing existed before the Big Bang, then what created the cataclysm? The laws of the universe dictate that something can’t come from nothing. As a species, we have always struggled to explain how the universe as we know it originated. Religions have always tried to fill this gap in our knowledge, with mixed results. A prime example is the ancient Greek creation myth, which begins with Chaos. Chaos was an incredibly fluid and confusing concept in ancient Greece – sometimes a place, sometimes a goddess, and sometimes quite literally nothing.

Who, or What, was Chaos in Greek Mythology?

In Greek cosmology, first there was nothing, and then there was Chaos. What was Chaos? Well, that changed over time. Sometimes Chaos was described as a place, and other times Chaos was described as a deity. Over the years and centuries, Greek representations of Chaos kept evolving.

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In the common tradition, Chaos was the progenitor of everything that followed, the original entity of creation that sparked everything. This stayed true, whether or not Chaos was portrayed as a place, deity, or both.

Read more: Ancient Origins