Gaea warned him that a son of the union would
She remained closely associated with
replace him as lord of the gods, reproducing the
cycle that had brought Zeus to power. Zeus was
determined to break this cycle, so instead of
waiting for Metis to give birth, he swallowed his
pregnant wife. Metis continued to live inside
Zeus, advising him with her intelligence, thus
giving him an intellectual advantage over the
other gods. Later, he gave birth to Athena, who
sprang fully armed from her fathers head.
By this strategy, Zeus had escaped the cycle
of hostility between fathers and sons that had
marked the two preceding generations. Zeus
also gave rights and privileges to the other gods
that they had never had before, thus establishing
a divine constitutional monarchy, which further
precluded the cosmic battles that had gone be-
fore. By evading the future overthrow prophe-
sied by his grandmother, he ensured that no son
would ever succeed to his position. Instead of al-
lowing his wife to bear a threatening son, he
swallowed her and bore a powerful and favorite
daughterAthenawhose perpetual virginity
and lack of a mother ensured that there would
be no further source of challenge to his author-
ity. He is thus established as the leader of the
Olympian deities who would dominate classical
Greek mythology.
In this myth of creation, the ancient Greeks
(or at least the poet Hesiod) linked the evolution
of an orderly universe with the growth of patri-
archal divine power in the person of Zeus, who
finally ended the family chaos. At the beginning
of the story, the powerful goddess Gaea can give
birth to her sons aloneshe needs no consort.
By the end of the story, Zeus can produce a
daughter, Athena, from his own head. In the
person of Zeus, the gods claim Gaeas role of re-
production as well as controlling the world.
Zeus does go on to father children in the normal
way; the first three (born of his marriage to
Themis, his second wife) are called Order, Peace,
and Justice, and they represent the high moral
tone of Zeuss government. These goddesses in-
dicate that the violence that had characterized
the previous generations of the gods was over
and had been replaced by peaceful rule by Zeus.
Gaea did not disappear from the Greek su-
pernatural world with the victory of her grand-
132 gaia
son Zeus.
oracles and prophecy, and according to tradition
it was she who founded the oracular shrine of
Delphi, which later became the shrine of Apollo.
The earth-snake Python belonged to Gaea, and
when Apollo killed it, he had to compensate for
the murder by establishing Pythian Games and
by employing the Pythian priestess to oversee his
oracle. Finally, Gaea supervised oaths, many of
which were made in her name, and she punished
those who broke their oaths by sending the Fu-
ries to avenge her. Throughout the ancient
Greek period there was a widespread cult of
Gaea; people did not forget their debt to their
mother Earth who spawned them all.
The myth of creation that brought Zeus to
power, however, seems to validate the male
domination on the human level by erecting a di-
vine pattern in which rule by men is linked to
the creation of order. The society created by the
ancient Greeks would mirror this order, to the
restriction of ancient Greek women.
See also Aphrodite; Athena; Delphic Oracle; Eve;
Nymphs
Suggested Readings
Athanassakis, Apostolos N. Hesiod: Theogony, Works
and Days, Shield. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins
University Press, 1983.
Blundell, Sue. Women in Ancient Greece. Cam-
bridge: Harvard University Press, 1995.
Grant, Michael, and J. Hazel. Whos Who in
Classical Mythology. New York: Oxford
University Press, 1993.
Grimal, Pierre. The Dictionary of Classical Mythology.
Oxford: Blackwell, 1996.
West, M. L. The Hesiod Catalogue of Women: Its
Nature, Structure, and Origins. New York:
Oxford University Press, 1985.
Gaia
See Gaea
Galla Placidia
Roman Empress (r. ca. A.D. 390450)
Emperor Theodosius I had established a strong
dynasty with the children from his first wife,
Flaccilla. When the empress died in A.D. 387,
however, Theodosius remarried, joining with
the imperial dynasty of the western portion of
the empire by marrying the reputedly beautiful
girl Galla. The new bride also sought to con-
tribute to Theodosiuss dynasty, but of the three
pregnancies she had, only one child survived
a daughter named Galla Placidia. The elder
Galla died in A.D. 394, but her daughter would
wield influence throughout the empire well
worthy of her illustrious relatives.
When Theodosius died in A.D. 395, he left his
son Arcadius ruling in the eastern portion of the
empire while his son Honorius and his half-sister
Galla Placidia went to the western portionthe
region most plagued by invading Germanic
tribes, most of whom were called Goths. When
the Goths invaded Italy, the royal household was
unable to withstand them. Even Galla Placidia
was captured in A.D. 409 or 410, and she wit-
nessed the sack of the Eternal City of Rome it-
self. (During this raid, the expensive house of the
holy woman Melania the Younger was burned
down.) The young hostage seems to have been
well treated and held in respectful captivity, and
during this time Galla Placidia seems to have
begun to exert influence on the Goths.
When the Goths left Italy and moved into
Gaul (modern-day southern France), the royal
princess went with them. In A.D. 414, the
Gothic leader Athaulf made a peace treaty with
Rome and established a home in the empire for
him and his people. In the same year, he married
Galla Placidia, thus making any children they
would have heirs to the Roman Empire itself. At
their wedding, he reputedly claimed to have
changed his ambitionsinstead of planning to
establish a Gothic empire, he wanted to renew
the Roman one. Sources suggest that Galla
Placidia was instrumental in transforming the
Gothic raider to an aspiring emperor. In A.D.
415, she bore Athaulf a son, and they gave him
the royal name Theodosius. The infant soon
died, however, and Athaulf was murdered in the
same year; Galla Placidia would have to ensure
her royal power through other means.
In the next year, the Roman general Con-
stantius forced the Goths to come to terms with
him. In exchange for food, the Goths promised
a peace treaty, which included the exchange of
hostagesincluding the royal widow, Galla
Placidia. She once more moved to the center of
Roman power in the west and sealed her posi-
tion by marrying the victorious general, Con-
stantius. She bore him two children: a daughter,
Justa Grata Honoria, and a son, Valentinian. In
A.D. 421, Constantius received the title of co-
emperor with Galla Placidias brother, and it
looked as if the couples success was ensured.
The violence of the age, however, once again
caused havoc in the royal household.
Shortly after he was named emperor, Con-
stantius died, leaving Galla Placidia a widow
once again. Her brother Honorius seemed to
fear the political influence she wieldedespe-
cially over the always-turbulent Gothic tribes, so
he sent her to Constantinople with her children
to keep her out of the way. Honorius himself
died two years later in A.D. 423, leaving the suc-
cession uncertain. After two years of a usurper,
the eastern emperor Theodosius II restored
Galla Placidias family. In A.D. 425, her young
son Valentinian III (only about six years old)
was crowned emperor. She ruled for about a
decade during his minority, and during that
time she showed her political astuteness as she
maneuvered through the difficult times when
Goths and Romans were fighting for wealth and
power throughout the west.
Sometime during her regency, Galla Placidia
commissioned the building of a small chapel in
the new Italian capital of Ravenna. This elegant
building in the shape of a cross has a simple ex-
terior, but inside it is dominated by splendid
mosaicsthe oldest in Ravenna. This building
has come to be called the mausoleum of Galla
Placidia, although it was probably intended as a
chapel, not a tomb. This lovely building remains
as a memorial of the life of an extraordinary
fifth-century woman.
See also Eudoxia; Flaccilla; Honoria; Justina;
Melania the Younger
Suggested Readings
Bury, J. B. Justa Grata Honoria. The Journal of
Roman Studies 9 (1919): 113.
Frend, W. H. C. The Rise of Christianity. Philadel-
phia: Fortress Press, 1984.
Jones, A. H. M. The Later Roman Empire:
284602. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University
Press, 1986.
galla placidia 133