Rhea
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.
The Myth of Rhea
Rhea was a Titaness, daughter of Ouranos and Gaia, and sister-wife of Kronos. She bore six children destined to become the greatest gods: Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades, Poseidon, and Zeus. But Kronos, fearing the prophecy that his children would dethrone him, swallowed each at birth. Rhea endured this five times before turning to her mother Gaia for help. On Gaia's counsel, Rhea traveled to Crete and gave birth to Zeus in secret, in a cave on Mount Ida. She presented Kronos with a stone wrapped in cloth, and he swallowed it unsuspecting. Zeus grew to manhood hidden among the nymphs, then returned to wage the Titanomachy and free his siblings. Rhea's deception made the entire Olympian order possible. She was later identified with Cybele, the great mother goddess of Anatolia, and her worship endured at temples across Greece, from Delphi to the Peloponnese.
Parents
Ouranos and Gaia
Symbols
Fun Fact
The large flightless bird called the rhea was named after the Titaness, though the exact reasoning is lost.
Words We Inherited
English words and phrases that trace back to this myth. See our full guide to English words from Greek mythology.
Explore Further
Rhea
🏔 titanTitaness mother of the Olympians
The great Titaness who saved Zeus from being swallowed by Kronos, enabling the entire Olympian order to exist.
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.
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.
Leto
🏔 titanMotherhood, Modesty
A gentle Titaness and mother of the twin Olympians Apollo and Artemis, persecuted by Hera across the world before finding refuge on Delos.
Dione
🏔 titanTitaness and mother of Aphrodite
An ancient Titaness worshipped at Dodona as the consort of Zeus and, in Homer's tradition, the mother of Aphrodite.
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.
Anytus
🏔 titanTitan who raised Despoina
One of the Titans who nursed the secret daughter of Demeter and Poseidon in Arcadia.
Dione
🏔 titanOracle, Femininity
A shadowy Titaness worshipped at Dodona alongside Zeus, sometimes named as the original mother of Aphrodite before the sea-foam version became dominant.
Cronus
🏔 titanharvest, time, ruler of the Titans
Ruler of the Titans and father of the first Olympians, who swallowed his children to prevent being overthrown.
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.
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.
Tethys
🏔 titanTitaness of the primal ocean
The great Titaness of the sea who nursed Hera and whose union with Oceanus produced all the world's rivers and springs.