Apr 6, 2010
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The Titans of Ancient Greece
:
Cronus
Ruling Titan and Father of the Olympian Gods |  |  | Rhea
Mother of the Olympian Gods |
Coeus
Titan of Intelligence |  |  | Phoebe
Titaness of Brilliance and the Moon |
Hyperion
Titan of Life and Sun |  |  | Theia
Titaness of Sight |
Oceanus
Ruler of the Waters and the Seas |  |  | Tethys
Titaness of the Wet Element and the Oceans |
Cronus
According to Apollodorus
[1], Cronus was the youngest and weakest, but smartest of the 12 Titans. He was also considered by the ancient Greeks to be a harvest deity.
Cronus was married to his own sister
Rhea and together they took the throne of the world as King and Queen.
Cronus and Rhea gave birth to six of the fourteen Olympian Gods, including
Zeus, the King of the Gods,
Hera, the goddess of marriage and wife of Zeus,
Poseidon, the god of the seas,
Hestia, the goddess of the hearth,
Demeter, the goddess of agriculture and
Hades, the god of the underworld.
However, Cronus was a very envious deity, just like his father
Uranus, swallowing his children because he was been told that one of his descendants would dethrone him eventually.
So, when Rhea was expecting her last child Zeus, her parents advised her to cross the seas and reach the island of Crete. So Rhea did and gave birth to Zeus inside a cave in Lyctos, Crete, far away from her husband. She then left her child to be raised by
Gaea and the
Nymphs and quickly returned to
Mount Olympus all alone. There, she deceived Cronus by giving him a stone wrapped in swaddling clothes to swallow.
This way, Zeus escaped from the threat of Uranus and remained in Crete until he was mature enough to fight against his father and claim the Kingdom of the World.
Rhea
Cronus envied his own children ever since they were born and decided to swallow them one by one; but Rhea wanted to at least save their last child Zeus, so she deceived Cronus by giving him a huge rock to swallow instead.
With time , Zeus succeeded in rescuing his brothers and sisters; together, they then battled against the titans, overthrowing them successfully. All of Rhea's children finally became
Superior Deities and moved to their new palace on
Mount Olympus.
Coeus
Coeus was the titan of intelligence and the keeper of wisdom. His wife was
Phoebe, the titaness of the Moon and they had two daughters; Asteria, the goddess of fire and Leto, who would later on become the mother of the Olympian twins
Apollo and
Artemis.
As with the other Titans, Coeus was finally overthrown by Zeus and other Olympian Gods and was sent to Tartaros, in the depths of the Underworld.
Phoebe
Phoebe was the titaness of the Brilliance and the Moon. She was married to her own brother, the titan
Coeus, and together they had two children, Asteria and Leto, who gave birth to the Olympian twins
Apollo, the Greek god of the music and
Artemis, the Greek goddess of the hunt.
According to a myth, it was Phoebe who handed the Oracle of Delphi to Apollo, as a present for his birthday.
Hyperion
Hyperion had titaness
Theia as his mate who bore three children and celestial deities:
Helios, the personification of the Sun, Selene, the personification of the Moon and Eos (Aurora), the personification of the Dawn.
Theia
Theia was the wife of
Hyperion. Together they gave birth to three children:
Helios, the personification of the Sun, Selene, the personification of the Moon and the rosy-fingered Eos(Aurora), the personification of the Dawn.
Oceanus
Oceanus was the oldest of all titans. He was the perfect river and the ruler of the waters and the seas. Oceanus was, according to Homer, the origin of all things and of all deities.
Oceanus was born out of Mother Earth
Gaea and
Uranus, the ruler of the heaven, when Uranus watered Gaea with divine rain. Oceanus formed a union with titaness
Tethys and they created 3000 daughters, and gave them the name "Oceanids".
The main Oceanids were
Styx, who personified the sacred river of the Underworld,
Amphitrite, the future wife of
Poseidon and
Metis, the deity who bore inside herself all the wisdom of the world. Metis was the first wife of
Zeus, the king of the gods, and mother of
Athena, the Olympian goddess of Wisdom and War.
Tethys
Tethys was a golden wreathed, beloved sea deity who bore inside herself all the world's wisdom.
Tethys' husband was the titan of the Seas,
Oceanus. From their union sprang out three thousand rivers and three thousand nymphs, the so-called "Oceanids".
Tethys was the titaness who raised the Olympian goddess
Hera during the
Titans' War with the
Olympian gods (also known as Titanomachy).
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