Gaia was the Greek primordial deity who personified the Earth.
In Hesiod’s creation narrative, Gaia emerged after Chaos and became the foundational Earth power in the cosmos. She produced Uranus, the sky, as well as the mountains and the sea. Gaia later united with Uranus, and their children included the Titans, Cyclopes, and Hecatoncheires.
Gaia is more than a goddess who merely lives on Earth: she is Earth presented as a living divine being. Her mythology explains the structure of the early cosmos and the conflict between generations of gods. When Uranus imprisoned some of their children, Gaia helped Cronus overthrow him, giving him the sickle used in the attack.
Her name is also spelled Gaea, and her Roman counterpart is Terra or Tellus. Gaia should not be casually substituted for Demeter: Demeter governs agriculture and grain, while Gaia represents the Earth itself. Modern environmental writing also borrowed her name for the Gaia hypothesis, a scientific idea about interactions between life and Earth’s systems.