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Have you ever wondered who the father of Zeus is? He was a Titan called Cronus (or Kronus) who reigned during the Golden Age and tried to swallow all of his children! This is the thrilling story of life before the much loved Olympian Gods.

The Titans, also known as the elder gods, were powerfully strong giants and reigned until they were overthrown by the Greek gods we’ve briefly mentioned in previous articles. Gaia is the Earth goddess who married her brother Uranus, divinity of the sky, and bore the first generation of Titans. The youngest of their twelve children, Cronus, envied his father’s power and longed to govern in his place. In the meantime Uranus’ wife, Gaia, grew to despise her husband as he took their youngest children to the pits of Tartarus where they wouldn’t see the light of day. As the days passed by Gaia grieved and plotted her revenge: she made a large sickle* known as the Harpe and persuaded Cronus to castrate his father. Once the deed was successful and Cronus has obtained power he married his sister Rhea and had five children: Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, Hera and Demeter and Hestia. Cronus learnt from Gaia and Uranus that he would be overthrown by his own sons just as he had overthrown his father so he devised a plan to prohibit the fulfilment of such a prophecy: every time a child of his was born he would swallow him. When his wife Rhea gave birth to their sixth child, Zeus, she could no longer stand the thought of giving up another baby so she handed Cronus a stone wrapped in cloth convincing him it was the child. The plan worked and Cronus swallowed the stone. Zeus lived in a cave in Crete until he was able to confront his father and make him disgorge his off springs in reverse order starting with the stone. A ten year war then broke out between the Titans and the new gods with Zeus as their leader until Cronus was finally defeated and the Titans were sent to the dark and gloomy pit of Tartarus.

It is said that Cronus escaped to Italy and is associated with the Roman god Saturn. For our Greek ancestors the defeat of Cronus paved way for a period of peace and prosperity under the protection of the Greek gods.

*The sickle is also known as a Harpe and  is an agricultural tool with a sharpe blade; Cronus used it to castrate Uranus. Cronus is usually depicted with his Harpe but a sickle has been described other times in Greek myths. For example Perseus used a sickle given to him by Zeus to defeat Medusa!

Image:

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