Chaos

Long after the "beginning of time", the void known as Chaos came into existence in the universe. Out of Chaos, or together with it, came Gaea ("Earth"), Tartarus and Eros ("Love"). Without a mate, Chaos bore Nyx ("Night") and Erebus ("Darkness").

Hesiod doesn't give us much detail about Chaos, only saying that he was the very first to come into being. It is from the 1st century BC Roman poet, Ovid, that we are given a further description of Chaos. Before the earth, sea and heaven (as well as the heavenly bodies, such as the sun, moon and stars), and before there were even the deathless gods, Chaos existed as a formless mass. It was lifeless matter where all elements of creation were heaped together, so that nothing could be distinguished from anything else.

See Creation, Theogony of Hesiod.

According to the Orphic myths, Chaos was born from Chronus (Time) and Adrasteia (Necessity), at the same time as Erebus and Aether. It was Chronus and Aether who became the parents of the first god, Phanes or Protogonus, who was usually identified with Eros (Love).