Cronus
Ruler of the Titans and father of the first Olympians, who swallowed his children to prevent being overthrown.
The Myth of Cronus
Cronus overthrew his father Uranus by castrating him with a sickle provided by his mother Gaia. He then released his siblings, the Titans, and ruled the cosmos during the Golden Age — a time of peace and plenty when humans lived like gods. But an oracle warned that he too would be overthrown by his own child. He swallowed each child his wife Rhea bore: Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades, Poseidon. When Zeus was born, Rhea wrapped a stone in swaddling clothes and presented it to Cronus, hiding the infant in Crete. When Zeus grew to maturity, he forced Cronus to disgorge his siblings, then led them in the Titanomachy. Cronus was imprisoned in Tartarus. Later traditions placed him as king of the Isles of the Blessed, ruler of a paradise for the heroic dead.
Symbols
Words We Inherited
English words and phrases that trace back to this myth. See our full guide to English words from Greek mythology.
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Kronos
🏔 titanTitan, father of the Olympians
King of the Titans who ruled during the mythological Golden Age. Kronos overthrew his father Ouranos and was in turn overthrown by his son Zeus.
Kronos
🏔 titanTitan king of the Golden Age
The king of the Titans who ruled during the Golden Age and devoured his children to prevent prophecy of his overthrow.
Rhea
🏔 titanTitaness of fertility, motherhood, the mountain wilds
Mother of the Olympian gods and wife of Kronos. Rhea saved the infant Zeus from being devoured by his father, enabling the rise of the Olympians.
Metis
🏔 titanWisdom, Cunning Counsel
The Titaness of wisdom and first wife of Zeus, swallowed whole by the king of the gods when a prophecy warned that her child would surpass him.
Eurynome
🏔 titanPastures, Wide Rule
A Titaness who in some traditions ruled Olympus alongside her husband Ophion before being overthrown by Cronus and Rhea in a divine coup.
Hyperion
🏔 titanTitan of heavenly light, observation
Titan of light and father of the sun, moon, and dawn. Hyperion was one of the original twelve Titans, embodying the celestial light that preceded the Olympians.
Rhea
🏔 titanTitaness mother of the Olympians
The great Titaness who saved Zeus from being swallowed by Kronos, enabling the entire Olympian order to exist.
Golden Age
🏔 titanParadise, Primordial Innocence
The mythical era of peace and plenty under Cronus's rule, before Zeus and the Olympians brought the current order of toil and mortality.
Iapetus
🏔 titanTitan father of Prometheus and Atlas
Iapetus was the Titan whose sons shaped humanity's relationship with the gods more than any other divine family.
Clymene
🏔 titanFame, Renown
An Oceanid-Titaness best known as the mother of Prometheus, Atlas, and the other sons of Iapetus who shaped humanity's early story.
Atlas
🏔 titanTitan condemned to hold up the sky
The Titan who was condemned to hold the celestial sphere on his shoulders for eternity. His name became synonymous with endurance and with books of maps.
Atlas
🏔 titanTitan condemned to hold the sky
The Titan condemned to bear the weight of the heavens on his shoulders at the western edge of the world for eternity.