Kronos
titanKing of the Titans who ruled during the mythological Golden Age. Kronos overthrew his father Ouranos and was in turn overthrown by his son Zeus.
The Myth
Kronos was the youngest of the twelve Titans, children of Ouranos (Sky) and Gaia (Earth). When Ouranos imprisoned Gaia's monstrous children, she fashioned an adamantine sickle and asked her sons to rebel. Only Kronos had the courage. He ambushed his father and castrated him, seizing power over the cosmos.
Under Kronos, the world experienced the Golden Age — a time of peace and abundance when humans lived without toil. But Kronos was haunted by a prophecy: just as he had overthrown his father, his own children would overthrow him. To prevent this, he swallowed each child as soon as they were born.
His wife Rhea saved the youngest, Zeus, by wrapping a stone in swaddling clothes for Kronos to swallow. Zeus grew to manhood in secret, then returned to free his siblings and wage the Titanomachy. After ten years of war, the Titans were defeated and imprisoned in Tartarus.
Parents
Ouranos and Gaia
Children
Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, Hera, Demeter, Hestia
Symbols
Fun Fact
Though Kronos and Chronos (Time) were originally different figures, the Greeks merged them, giving us our association of Father Time with a sickle.
Words We Inherited
English words and phrases that trace back to this myth: