<Li> The age of heroes (heroic age), where divine activity was more limited . The last and greatest of the heroic legends is the story of the Trojan War and after (which is regarded by some researchers as a separate, fourth period). </Li> <P> While the age of gods often has been of more interest to contemporary students of myth, the Greek authors of the archaic and classical eras had a clear preference for the age of heroes, establishing a chronology and record of human accomplishments after the questions of how the world came into being were explained . For example, the heroic Iliad and Odyssey dwarfed the divine - focused Theogony and Homeric Hymns in both size and popularity . Under the influence of Homer the "hero cult" leads to a restructuring in spiritual life, expressed in the separation of the realm of the gods from the realm of the dead (heroes), of the Chthonic from the Olympian . In the Works and Days, Hesiod makes use of a scheme of Four Ages of Man (or Races): Golden, Silver, Bronze, and Iron . These races or ages are separate creations of the gods, the Golden Age belonging to the reign of Cronos, the subsequent races to the creation of Zeus . The presence of evil was explained by the myth of Pandora, when all of the best of human capabilities, save hope, had been spilled out of her overturned jar . In Metamorphoses, Ovid follows Hesiod's concept of the four ages . </P> <P> "Myths of origin" or "creation myths" represent an attempt to explain the beginnings of the universe in human language . The most widely accepted version at the time, although a philosophical account of the beginning of things, is reported by Hesiod, in his Theogony . He begins with Chaos, a yawning nothingness . Out of the void emerged Gaia (the Earth) and some other primary divine beings: Eros (Love), the Abyss (the Tartarus), and the Erebus . Without male assistance, Gaia gave birth to Uranus (the Sky) who then fertilized her . From that union were born first the Titans--six males: Coeus, Crius, Cronus, Hyperion, Iapetus, and Oceanus; and six females: Mnemosyne, Phoebe, Rhea, Theia, Themis, and Tethys . After Cronus was born, Gaia and Uranus decreed no more Titans were to be born . They were followed by the one - eyed Cyclopes and the Hecatonchires or Hundred - Handed Ones, who were both thrown into Tartarus by Uranus . This made Gaia furious . Cronus ("the wily, youngest and most terrible of Gaia's children"), was convinced by Gaia to castrate his father . He did this, and became the ruler of the Titans with his sister - wife Rhea as his consort, and the other Titans became his court . </P> <P> A motif of father - against - son conflict was repeated when Cronus was confronted by his son, Zeus . Because Cronus had betrayed his father, he feared that his offspring would do the same, and so each time Rhea gave birth, he snatched up the child and ate it . Rhea hated this and tricked him by hiding Zeus and wrapping a stone in a baby's blanket, which Cronus ate . When Zeus was full grown, he fed Cronus a drugged drink which caused him to vomit, throwing up Rhea's other children and the stone, which had been sitting in Cronus's stomach all along . Zeus then challenged Cronus to war for the kingship of the gods . At last, with the help of the Cyclopes (whom Zeus freed from Tartarus), Zeus and his siblings were victorious, while Cronus and the Titans were hurled down to imprisonment in Tartarus . </P>

Who were the first rulers of the earth according to greek mythology
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