God Cronus(or Saturn):The God Who Ate His Children

The ancient greeks were masters of drama they literally invented it dating back to the 5th century bce they staged their first tragedies at the theater of dionysus in the shadow of the acropolis but far before oedipus fulfilled a prophecy to kill his father boink his mother and give the rest of us a major complex for the rest of our lives cronus and zeus set a precedent for the flawed morality humans inherited from their gods.

Their legend is one of inescapable faiths cannibalism and immortal infanticide betrayals between fathers and sons and war between gods and giants and it explains the very creation of the world as the ancient greeks knew it cronus or kronos also known as saturn to the romans though we will be sticking with the greek names was the king of the titans in greek mythology his story and the great irony of his downfall cannot be told fully without first explaining how he won his crown in the first place at the beginning of time.

There was a union between uranus the god of the sky and heavens and gaia the eldest goddess of earth these primordial deities gave birth to 12 children called the titans and cronus was the youngest of them but the titans had six older brothers who were slightly more monstrous to look upon first there are the cyclops three mono-eyed giants known for their incredible strength next there are three heckatonkers or the hundred-handed giants so named because they each had 100 hands and 50 heads.

Uranus was so afraid of his grotesque and powerful eldest sons that he kept them imprisoned in tartarus the deepest depths of the underworld gaia mourned the fate of her shackled children and resented uranus’s cruelty for what he had done to them in her spite she gave cronus the key to overthrowing his father all he had to do was castrate uranus with a harpy a type of greek sickle scythe or sword in doing so cronus would separate heaven from earth and become king of the titans gaia had hoped cronus would be a more merciful ruler than his father so her other children might finally be freed from their prison in tartarus however once crone is sat on the throne.

He realized he also didn’t want to take any chances he refused her keeping his brothers in chains gaia was surprised and horrified so she told cronus of a prophecy that foretold he was already destined to lose his crown one day he would be usurped by his own child just as he had overthrown his father cronus believed there was a way around the prophecy vowing that he would never have children but the fates had other plans cronus ultimately married his sister reya which was a conundrum for the power-hungry king reya who was also an earth goddess like her mother gaia gave birth to their first child a daughter named hestia lovingly wrapped in a blanket reya brought hestia to cronus so he could admire her beauty cronus opened his arms wide and smiled at his firstborn but not out of happiness to have become a father it was rather because he felt confident in the wicked plan he concocted to keep the prophecy at bay he ate baby hestia in a single gulp rhea gave birth three more times.

Two more daughters demeter and hera and her first son hades each time reya brought her children to meet their father cronus would welcome the baby into his arms only to promptly eat it the next moment when reya got pregnant a fifth time she dreaded the loss of another child she sought guidance from her mother gaia who was also enraged over what cronus had done to her grandchildren together they came up with the plan to deceive him so they might save the next baby rhea gave birth to her second son poseidon immediately after he was born gaia stole him away to a remote island in the middle of the ocean there he could hide from his father protected by caring sea deities as he grew up meanwhile reyes presented cronus with an animal a fall and some tellings swaddled tightly in a blanket without even caring to look at it cronus ate it assuming it was his newborn son.

By the time rey got pregnant a sixth time the goddesses knew they had a plan that would work again when her third son was born they were so astonished by the radiance that seemed to emanate out of his glowing skin that they named him zeus which is shine or sky in greek like his father zeus might have been the youngest of his siblings but he was also the most powerful gaia ran off with him this time hiding him away on the island of crete deep in a cave on mount ida reya didn’t even have to use an animal this time all she had to do was wrap a rock in a blanket and hand it to cronus predictably he did not even bother to look at it before swallowing it whole now all gaia and reya had to do was wait with two living sons safely hidden away the prophecy was coming and both goddesses would have their vengeance on the god who had kept them apart from their children when zeus and poseidon came of age they began to prepare for the titanic coup unsure where to start zeus and gaia first consulted with metis the wisest goddess at the time and the daughter of titans oceanus and tethus metis gave them a vial of liquid and told them that if they could trick cronus into drinking it the drugs inside would force him to vomit until his stomach was completely empty .

They gave the vial to rhea and entrusted her with this covert mission with the same smile cronus had given her just before he ate their babies reyes secretly slipped the drug into his drink with only a sip the titan king was on the floor clutching his stomach in pain cronus began vomiting and when all else was emptied the last thing to come out were four fully grown gods and goddesses his children hestia hera demeter and hades who had been imprisoned in his stomach for so long they were ready to take vengeance on the king who had been their captor suddenly zeus and poseidon arrived to stand beside their siblings ,demanding that cronus surrender ready for the star-fated coup that had always been coming though he was weak cronus was able to run away and instigated a declaration of war known as the titanomachy.

The 10-year war between the titans and the olympians the pantheon of gods named after the home they would ultimately make a top mount olympus that ensued is considered the first war in all of greek mythology zeus had the olympians but cronus still had the support of a pack of titan brothers and sisters to fight alongside him so the odds were evenly matched for nine years battles raged without any conclusion as neither side seemed to be able to gain the upper hand even though gaia had helped her grandchildren in the attempted coup once the war began she tried to remain neutral she despised cronus but she could not betray her other titan children so easily however when zeus finally came to her for advice she knew it was time to take a righteous stand she told zeus he would have to free her oldest sons the hundred-handed giants in the cyclops from their change in tartarus to finally win the war with this key zeus poseidon and hades made the very dangerous journey to tartarus luckily evading the many traps and foes they met on their paths when they reached their uncles the long-feared creatures cried with tears of joy they had been imprisoned for so long they thought they had been forgotten the gods freed them but moreover they also brought their uncles an ambrosia that could restore them to full power together they could defeat the titans in their gratitude the mythical monsters bestowed gifts to the young olympian gods to zeus they gave invincible lightning bolts and booming thunder that would allow him to rule over both the mortal and immortal worlds for poseidon they gave the gift of a trident a three-pronged spear imbued with magic that gave him the power to control all of earth’s waters for hades they bestowed a helmet of invisibility he now had the power to conceal his presence or shield his identity whenever he wanted zeus hurled down thunderbolts from mount olympus as the hundred-handed giants made their way to land finally freed to see the light of day they channeled the long harbored rage over their captivity into battle the titans were not prepared for their power or their wrath it is said the hundred handed giants ripped apart entire mountains like they were merely stones to throw out their titan opponents the titans including cronus were forced to retreat ending up back in tartarus which was exactly where the olympians wanted them as part of their plan the cyclops had stayed behind so the titans truly had nowhere left to run instead of finding refuge the cyclops captured and imprisoned them in unbreakable chains tartarus was once again an immortal prison but this time poseidon built a massive bronze wall around it

So it was truly inescapable thankful for their service zeus asked the hundred-handed giants if they would serve as the immortal guardians of tartarus after so much of their existence had been lived in the darkness there it really was the only thing they knew in the place they felt most at home they were content knowing they could leave any time to spend some time in the sun cronus fate varies depending on the legend in some he is a prisoner and tartarus for all of time in others he made the most of his time trapped in the underworld by becoming king of elysium basically heaven and greek mythology the gods then determined how to divide power amongst them by drawing lots zeus ruled over the sky and brought order to the immortal and human realms but he was also known to harshly punish those who disrespected him or the gods poseidon ruled the seas and could bring about storms and other natural disasters but more importantly he taught humans how to train horses and build ships and considering the location of greece and her isles a competent seafaring society was critical to their survival hades ruled the underworld and gave humans the gift of funeral rites.

So they could bury the dead in a manner that allowed their souls to pass through to elysium eventually all other realms of the natural world civilization and human achievement were divided amongst the olympians and their deity children stories of their greatness or even their misdeeds provided greeks with an answer to all their existential questions such as why the sun rose and fell every day why nothing would grow in the winter whose immortal favor had given the most talented strong wise or beautiful mortals their power and gifts but all those are myths for another time today we remember the dawn of the human world as the ancient greeks knew it the day the titans rule ended in the reign of the olympian gods began you.