Chaos In Ancient Greek Chaos

1199 Words5 Pages
Chaos is present everywhere in society. The idea of chaos is the idea of the uncertain and unpredictable. The idea of order is the idea of pattern and structure. Despite this fact, order is always present within chaos if you look for the underlying patterns. These patterns of chaos make it predictable and brings order to the idea of chaos. To understand the very idea of chaos one must look at the origins of it. The Greeks saw chaos as the empty state before the creation of the universe in Greek myths. From Chaos formed Gaea (earth) Tartarus (underworld) and Eros (love). Later on, Erebus (darkness) and Nyx (night) also formed. This word began to be known as an abyss eventually a very specific abyss, Tartarus, or the underworld. In Greek mythology, Chaos was the first thing to exist and was from what everything else formed from. Ancient Egyptians perceived chaos as a time without light. Darkness creating chaos thus the Egyptian god Seth began to be known as the god of chaos as he was the god of darkness. However, at first, Seth was seen was seen as a beneficial god. The Egyptians prayed to him to protect family members who had died recently. When the priests of Horus began to conflict with the followers of Seth they began to see him as a polar opposite of Horus. This opposing view led to the destruction of the image of Seth and he began to be seen as unclean and chaotic. His cult of followers was one of the first formed and some Pharaohs even honored his chaotic nature.