These beings were the Primordial Four-the first four
entities identified. Everything that came into the world thereafter derived ultimately
from one or more of the Primordial Four. Chaos did not signify a state of utter
disorder, as the word now implies; rather it was "bounded space," as
in a chasm.
Indeed, the words "chaos" and "chasm"
are etymologically related. In the logic of the myth Chaos offered room in
which the world could develop. Chaos had a dual nature: it was not only a
physical thing but also a personality, a living being out of which two other
cosmic entities, Darkness and Night, emerged, which in turn produced other
elements of the cosmos.
Like Darkness and Night, the descendants of Chaos were
mostly intangible elements such as Death, Sleep, and Discord.
In the first century CE the Roman poet Ovid presented a different
mythic cosmogony, in which the world initially consisted of shapeless matter,
Chaos, within which reigned confusion and discord. Opposites warred with each
other: heat with cold, wet with dry, hard with soft, heavy with light. Nature
or some god liberated these elements, brining order to the universe. In Ovid's
version, Chaos was truly characterized by a state of "utter disorder."
Many cosmogonic myths tell of an initial being or substance
that contains within itself many of the eventual constituents of the cosmos.
Examples are Tiamat (Mesopotamia) and Ginnungagap (Scandinavia).
by William Hansen
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