Rhea
The great Titaness who saved Zeus from being swallowed by Kronos, enabling the entire Olympian order to exist.
The Myth of Rhea
Rhea was the wife and sister of Kronos and the mother of the six original Olympians: Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Hades, Demeter, and Hestia. She is the most important figure in the transition from Titan to Olympian rule, because without her intervention, all the Olympians would have remained trapped inside Kronos forever. After watching Kronos swallow five of her children, Rhea conspired with Gaia and Ouranos. When Zeus was born, she wrapped a stone in swaddling clothes and presented it to Kronos, who swallowed it. She hid the infant Zeus in a cave on Mount Dicte in Crete, where the Kouretes danced and clashed their shields to mask the baby's cries. Rhea was worshipped throughout the Greek world but especially in Crete, where her cave sanctuary was an ancient pilgrimage site. She was later identified with the Anatolian goddess Cybele, whose ecstatic cult spread across the Roman Empire.
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 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.
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.
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.
Anytus
🏔 titanTitan who raised Despoina
One of the Titans who nursed the secret daughter of Demeter and Poseidon in Arcadia.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Perses
🏔 titanTitan of destruction
Perses was the Titan of destruction and ravaging — father of Hecate, the great goddess of crossroads and magic.
Anytus
🏔 titanCultivation, Mystery Rites
A little-known Titan who raised the goddess Demeter's daughter and became connected to the Arcadian mystery cults of southern Greece.
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.