Samothraki
Samothraki, sanctuary of the great gods.
Hesiod once said:
First Chaos came to be,
but next the wide-bosomed Earth,
the ever-sure foundations of all the deathless ones who hold the peaks of snowy Olympus, and dim Tartarus in the depth of the wide-pathed Earth.
Then Eros (Love) fairest among the deathless gods, who unnerves the limbs and overcomes the mind and wise counsels of all gods and all men.
Next came forth Erebus the darkness and Nyx the black Night.
Of the Night were born the Aether and the Day, whom she conceived and bare from her loving union with Erebus.
Earth bare the starry Heaven, equal to herself, to cover her on every side, and to be an ever-sure abiding-place for the blessed gods. She brought forth long Hills, and the graceful haunts of the nymphs, who dwell amongst the glens.
Ἦ τοι μὲν πρώτιστα Χάοσ γένετ᾽, αὐτὰρ ἔπειτα
Γαῖ᾽ εὐρύστερνοσ, πάντων ἕδοσ ἀσφαλὲς αἰεὶ
ἀθανάτων, οἳ ἔχουσι κάρη νιφόεντοσ Ὀλύμπου,
Τάρταρά τ᾽ ἠερόεντα μυχῷ χθονὸσ εὐρυοδείησ,
ἠδ᾽ Ἔροσ, ὃσ κάλλιστοσ ἐν ἀθανάτοισι θεοῖσι,
λυσιμελήσ, πάντων δὲ θεῶν πάντων τ᾽ ἀνθρώπων
δάμναται ἐν στήθεσσι νόον καὶ ἐπίφρονα βουλήν.
Ἐκ Χάεοσ δ᾽ Ἔρεβός τε μέλαινά τε Νὺξ ἐγένοντο·
Νυκτὸσ δ᾽ αὖτ᾽ Αἰθήρ τε καὶ Ἡμέρη ἐξεγένοντο,
οὓσ τέκε κυσαμένη Ἐρέβει φιλότητι μιγεῖσα.
Γαῖα δέ τοι πρῶτον μὲν ἐγείνατο ἶσον ἑ᾽ αὐτσ
Οὐρανὸν ἀστερόενθ᾽, ἵνα μιν περὶ πάντα καλύπτοι,
ὄφρ᾽ εἴη μακάρεσσι θεοῖσ ἕδοσ ἀσφαλὲσ αἰεί.
Γείνατο δ᾽ Οὔρεα μακρά, θεῶν χαρίεντασ ἐναύλουσ,
Νυμφέων, αἳ ναίουσιν ἀν᾽ οὔρεα βησσήεντα.
-Ησεοδοσ
