Dataset Viewer
text
string | audio
audio | source
string |
---|---|---|
These days, the origin of the universe is explained by proposing a big bang.
|
Stephen_Fry
|
|
A single event that instantly brought into being all the matter from which everything and everyone.
|
Stephen_Fry
|
|
The ancient Greeks had a different idea.
|
Stephen_Fry
|
|
They said that it all started not with a bang.
|
Stephen_Fry
|
|
Was chaos a god, a divine being, or simply a state of nothingness?
|
Stephen_Fry
|
|
Just as we would use the word today, a kind of terrible mess, like a teenager's bedroom, only worse.
|
Stephen_Fry
|
|
Think of chaos perhaps as a kind of grand cosmic yawn.
|
Stephen_Fry
|
|
And as in a yawning chasm or a yawning void.
|
Stephen_Fry
|
|
Whether chaos brought life and substance out of nothing or whether chaos yawned life up or dreamed it up or conjured it up in some other way, I don't know.
|
Stephen_Fry
|
|
And yet, in a way, we were because all the bits that make us were there.
|
Stephen_Fry
|
|
Science today agrees that everything is destined to return to chaos.
|
Stephen_Fry
|
|
It calls this inevitable fate entropy, part of the great cycle from chaos to order and back again to chaos.
|
Stephen_Fry
|
|
Your trousers began as chaotic atoms that somehow coalesced into matter that ordered itself over eons.
|
Stephen_Fry
|
|
Into a living substance that slowly evolved into a cotton plant.
|
Stephen_Fry
|
|
That was woven into the handsome stuff that sheaths your lovely legs.
|
Stephen_Fry
|
|
In time, you will abandon your trousers. Not now, I hope, and they will rot down in a landfill or be burned.
|
Stephen_Fry
|
|
In either case, their matter will at length be set free to become part of the atmosphere of the planet. And when the sun explodes and takes every particle of this world with it, including the ingredients of your trousers.
|
Stephen_Fry
|
|
And what is true for your trousers is of course true for you.
|
Stephen_Fry
|
|
So the chaos that began everything is also the chaos that will end everything.
|
Stephen_Fry
|
|
Now you might be the kind of person who asks, but who or what was there before?
|
Stephen_Fry
|
|
Or who or what was there before the big bang? There must have been.
|
Stephen_Fry
|
|
We have to accept that there was no before because there was no time yet.
|
Stephen_Fry
|
|
No one had pressed the start button on time no one had shouted now.
|
Stephen_Fry
|
|
And since time had yet to be created.
|
Stephen_Fry
|
|
Time words like before, during, when, then, after lunch and last Wednesday had no possible meaning.
|
Stephen_Fry
|
|
The Greek word for everything that is the case. Well, we would call the universe.
|
Stephen_Fry
|
|
And at the moment, although moment is a time word and makes no sense just now.
|
Stephen_Fry
|
|
Neither does the phrase just now. At the moment.
|
Stephen_Fry
|
|
Is chaos and only chaos because chaos is the only thing that is the case.
|
Stephen_Fry
|
|
A stretching, a tuning up of the orchestra.
|
Stephen_Fry
|
|
From formless chaos sprang two creations.
|
Stephen_Fry
|
|
They coupled at once and the flashing fruits of their union were Hemera Day and Ether.
|
Stephen_Fry
|
|
At the same time, because everything must happen simultaneously until time is there to separate events, chaos brought forth two more entities, Gaia, the Earth and Tartarus, the depths and caves beneath the earth.
|
Stephen_Fry
|
|
What first emerged from chaos were primal elemental principles that were devoid of any real color, character or interest. These were the primordial deities, the first order of divine beings from whom all the gods, heroes and monsters of Greek myth spring.
|
Stephen_Fry
|
|
They brooded over and lay beneath everything.
|
Stephen_Fry
|
|
The silent emptiness of this world was filled when Gaia bore two sons all on her own. The first was Pontus, the sea, and the second was Uranus, the sky, better known to us as Uranus, the sound of whose name has ever been the cause of great delight to children from nine to 90.
|
Stephen_Fry
|
|
Hemera and Ether bred too. And from their union came Thalassa
|
Stephen_Fry
|
|
The female counterpart of Pontus the C.
|
Stephen_Fry
|
|
This trick of virgin birth or parthian genesis can be found in nature still in aphids, some lizards and even sharks. It is a reasonably common way to have young. There won't be the variation that two sets of genes allow. And this is the same in the genesis of the Greek gods. The interesting ones are all the fruit of two parents.
|
Stephen_Fry
|
|
The very beginning, the primordial deities always were.
|
Stephen_Fry
|
|
The things they represented and ruled over. Indeed, Uranus is the Greek word for sky to this very day.
|
Stephen_Fry
|
|
And you could say that Gaia was the earth.
|
Stephen_Fry
|
|
Of hills, valleys, caves, and mountains, yet capable of gathering herself into a form that could.
|
Stephen_Fry
|
|
The clouds of Uranus, the sky rolled and seethed above her, but they too could coalesce into a shape we might recognize.
|
Stephen_Fry
|
|
It was so early on in the life of everything, very little was settled.
|
Stephen_Fry
|
|
Uranus, the sky covered his mother, Gaia, the earth 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
|
Stephen_Fry
|
|
He covered Gaia in both senses.
|
Stephen_Fry
|
|
He covered her as the sky still covers the earth to this day and he covered her as a stallion covers a mare.
|
Stephen_Fry
|
|
Something else began to watch. We call it personality drama individuality.
|
Stephen_Fry
|
|
With all its flaws and failings, fashions and passions, schemes and dreams, meaning began. You might say the seeding of Gaia gave us meaning germination of thought.
|
Stephen_Fry
|
|
Seminal semantic semiology from the seamen of the sky.
|
Stephen_Fry
|
|
Now I will leave such speculation to those better qualified, but it was nevertheless.
|
Stephen_Fry
|
|
In the creation of and conjoining with Uranus, her son, and now her husband, Gaia unwound the ribbon of life that runs all the way to human history and our own very selves.
|
Stephen_Fry
|
|
Right from the start, the union of Uranus and Gaia was gratifyingly productive. Twelve robust, healthy children came first, six male, six female.
|
Stephen_Fry
|
|
The males were Oceanus, Chios, Creus, Hyperion, Iapetus, and Cronos. Okay, let's get on to the main topic of the day, so let's get on to the main topic of the day, so let's get on to the day, so let's get on to the day, so let's get on to the day, so let's get on to the day, solet's get on to the day, solet's get on to the day, solet's get on to the day, solet's get on to the day, solet's get on to the day, solet's get on to the day, solet's get on to the day, solet's get on to the day, solet's get on to the day, solet's get on to the day, solet's get on to the day, solet's get on to the day, solet's get on to the day, solet's get on to the day, solet's get on to the day, solet's get on to the day, solet's get on to the day, solet's get on to the day,
|
Stephen_Fry
|
|
Themis, Mnemosyne, Phi Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii Bii B
|
Stephen_Fry
|
|
Were destined to become the second order.
|
Stephen_Fry
|
|
Of divine beings earning themselves a legendary name.
|
Stephen_Fry
|
|
As time crept into being the clock.
|
Stephen_Fry
|
|
Began the clock of cosmic history that still ticks today.
|
Stephen_Fry
|
|
Perhaps one of these newborns was responsible. We can look into that later.
|
Stephen_Fry
|
|
Not content with these 12 strong, beautiful brothers and sisters, Uranus and Gaia gave the world yet more progeny to distinctive but distinctly not beautiful.
|
Stephen_Fry
|
|
The three cyclopes came first, one-eyed giants who gave their father Sky a whole new range of expressions and modulations. The eldest cyclopes was called Bronte's Thunder.
|
Stephen_Fry
|
|
The Brontosaurus or thunder lizard got his name from Bronte's Bronte's Bronte's Bronte's Bronte's Bronte's Bronte's Bronte's Bronte's Bronte's Bronte's Bronte's Bronte's Bronte's Bronte's Bronte's Bronte's Bronte's Bronte's Bronte's Bronte's Bronte's Bronte's Bronte's Bronte's Bronte's Bronte's Bronte's Bronte's Bronte's Bronte's Bronte's Bronte's Bronte's Bronte's Bronte's Bronte's Bronte's Bronte's Bronte's Bronte's Bronte's Bronte's Bronte's Bronte's Bronte's Bronte's Bronte's Bronte's Bronte's Bronte's Bronte's Bronte's Bronte's Bronte's Bronte's Bronte's Bronte's Bronte's Bronte's Bronte's Bronte's Bronte's Bronte's Bronte's Bronte's Bronte's Bronte's Bronte's Bronte's Bronte's Bronte's Bronte's Bronte's Bronte's Bronte's Bronte's Bronte's Bronte's Bronte's Bronte's Bronte's Bronte's
|
Stephen_Fry
|
|
The novelist sisters from Yorkshire didn't.
|
Stephen_Fry
|
|
Next came Stero pays the lightning and then Argy's the brightness The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. the. The. the. the. the. the. the. the. the.
|
Stephen_Fry
|
|
Could fill the heavens with flashes of lightning and crashing thunder.
|
Stephen_Fry
|
|
He gloried in the noise and spectacle.
|
Stephen_Fry
|
|
But the second set of triplets Gaia bore sent even greater shudders through him and all who saw them.
|
Stephen_Fry
|
|
Perhaps it is kindest to say that they were a mutational experiment, never to be repeated. A genetic dead end for these newborns. The heck of Tom Kirei's each had 50 heads and a hundred hands and were as hideous, fierce, violent, and.
|
Stephen_Fry
|
|
Powerful as anything that had yet been released into being.
|
Stephen_Fry
|
|
Their names were Cotus, the Furious, Gyges, the Long Limbed, and De Gaeon, the Long Limbed and De Gaeon, the Long Limbed and De Gaeon, the Long Limbed and De Gaeon, the Long Limbed and De Gaeon, the Long Limbed and De Gaeon, the Long Limbed and De Gaeon, the Long Limbed and De Gaeon, the Long Limbed and De Gaeon, the Long Limbed and De Gaeon, the Long Limbed and De Gaeon, the Long Limbed and De Gaeon, the Long Limbed and De Gaeon, the Long Limbed and De Gaeon, the Long Limbed and De Gaeon, the Long Limbed and De Gaeon, the Long Limbed and De Gaeon, the Long Limbed and De Gaeon, the Long Limbed and De Gaeon, the Long Limbed and De Gaeon, the Long Limbed and De De Gaeon, the Long Limbed and De De Gaeon, the Long Limbed and De De Gaeon, De Gaeon, the Long Limbed and De De Gaeon, De Gaeon, De De Gaeon, De De Gae
|
Stephen_Fry
|
|
Sometimes called Briarios, the vigorous one.
|
Stephen_Fry
|
|
Loved them. Uranus was revolted by them. Maybe he was most horrified by the thought that he Lord of the Sky could have fathered such strange and ugly things. But I think that like most hatred, his revulsion was rooted in fear.
|
Stephen_Fry
|
|
Filled with disgust, he cursed them.
|
Stephen_Fry
|
|
For offending my eyes, you shall never see light again.
|
Stephen_Fry
|
|
As he roared out these furious words.
|
Stephen_Fry
|
|
He pushed his own children back into Gaia's womb.
|
Stephen_Fry
|
|
Gaya’s Revenge“. „Geier’s Revenge“. „Geier’s Revenge“. „Geier’s Revenge“. „Geier’s Revenge“. „Geier’s Revenge“. „Geier’s Revenge“. „Geier’s Revenge“. „Geier’s Revenge“. „Geier’s Revenge“. „Geier’s Revenge“. „Geier’s Revenge“. „Geier’s Revenge“. „Geier’s Revenge“. „Geier’s Revenge“. „Geier’s Revenge“. „Geier�s Revenge“. „Geier�s Revenge“. “
|
Stephen_Fry
|
|
We have good cause to wonder here what he pushed them into Gaia's womb.
|
Stephen_Fry
|
|
Some people have taken it to indicate that he buried the Hecate on Kirei's in the earth in the earth in the earth in the earth in the earth in the earth in the earth in the earth in the earth in the earth in the earth in the earth in the earth in the earth in the earth in the earth in the earth in the earth in the earth in the earth in the earth in the earth in the earth in the earth in the earth in the earth in the earth in the earth in the earth in the earth in the earth in the earth in the earth in the earth in the earth in the earth in the earth in the earth in the earth in the earth in the earth in the earth in the earth in the earth in the earth in the earth in the earth in the earth in the earth in the earth in the earth in the earth in the earth in the earth in the earth in the earth in the earth in the earth in the earth in the earth in the earth in the earth in the earth in the earth in the the earth in the earth in the earth in the
|
Stephen_Fry
|
|
Divine identity at this early time was fluid. How much a god was a person and how much an attribute is hard to determine. There were no capital letters. Then Gaia the Earth Mother was the same as Gaia the Earth itself, just as Uranus the Sky and Uranus the Sky Father were one and the same.
|
Stephen_Fry
|
|
What is certain is that in reacting like this to the three heck tonki rays, his own children they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're
|
Stephen_Fry
|
|
And in treating his wife with such abominable cruelty, Uranus was committing the first crime.
|
Stephen_Fry
|
|
An elemental crime that would not go unpunished.
|
Stephen_Fry
|
|
And inside her, alongside the trio of writhing, flailing, 300 handed clawing and a 150 headed butting hecate on Kirei's, there sprang up. I'm not saying I'm not saying I'm not saying I'm not saying I'm not saying I'm not saying I'm not saying I'm not saying I'm not saying I'm not saying I'm not saying I'm not saying I'm not saying I'm not saying I'm not saying I'm not saying I'm not saying I'm not saying I'm not saying I'm not saying I'm not saying I'm not saying I'm not saying I'm not saying I'm not saying I'm not saying I'm not saying I'm not saying I'm not saying I'm not saying I'm not saying I'm not saying I'm not saying I'm not saying I'm not saying I'm not saying I'm not saying I'm not saying I'm not saying I'm not saying I'm not saying I'm not saying I
|
Stephen_Fry
|
|
A most terrible and implacable hatred against Uranus, the son she had borne, and the husband with whom she had given birth to a new generation, and like ivy twisting round a tree.
|
Stephen_Fry
|
|
There grew a plan of revenge.
|
Stephen_Fry
|
|
The piercing pain of the hecate on Kyrie is still gnawing at her. Gaia visited Otrus, a great mountain that looks down over central Greece. It's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's
|
Stephen_Fry
|
|
From its peak, you can see the blue waters of the Western Aegean as they embrace the sporadic scattering of islands called the spora days.
|
Stephen_Fry
|
|
Was consumed with too much pain and too much fury to enjoy one of the world's most charming views. On the summit of Mount Othris, she set to work fashioning a most unusual and terrible.
|
Stephen_Fry
|
|
For nine days and nights she labored until she had produced an object.
|
Stephen_Fry
|
|
In the cleft of the mountain.
|
Stephen_Fry
|
|
Next, she took herself off to visit her twelve beautiful, strong children.
|
Stephen_Fry
|
|
Will you kill your father Uranus and rule the cosmos with me?
|
Stephen_Fry
|
|
She asked each, in turn, you will have the sky from him, and together all of creation will be our dominion.
|
Stephen_Fry
|
|
Perhaps we imagine that Gaia.
|
Stephen_Fry
|
|
Is soft, warm, bountiful and kind. Well, sometimes she is, but remember that she banks down fire inside. Sometimes she can be crueler, harsher, and more terrifying than even the wildest sea.
|
Stephen_Fry
|
|
And talking of the marine world, the first of the children that Gaia tried to win to her side were Oceanus and his sister Tethys.
|
Stephen_Fry
|
|
Tethys is also the name paleontologists give to the great ancient sea that was an ancestor of the Mediterranean.
|
Stephen_Fry
|
End of preview. Expand
in Data Studio
README.md exists but content is empty.
- Downloads last month
- 72