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Aphrodite Apollo Ares Artemis Athena Atlas Coeus Crius Cronus Demeter Dionysus Gaia Hades Hephaestus Hera Hermes Hestia Hyperion Iapetus Mnemosyne Oceanus Phobos Phoebe Poseidon Prometheus Rhea Tethys Themis Uranus Zeus
Bacchus Ceres Diana Juno Jupiter Mars Mercury Minerva Neptune Pluto Venus Vesta Vulcan
Amun Anubis Aten Atum Babi Bastet Bes Geb Hapi hathor heqet Horus Isis Khepri Khnum Khonsu Maat Nephthys Nut Osiris Ptah Ra Seshat Seth Shu Sobek Thoth
Alfheim Baldur Freya Freyr Frigg Heimdallr Helheim Idun Jotunheim Loki Nerthus Njord Odin Thor Tyr
Aengus Arawn Badb Brigid Cailleach Ceridwen Cernunnos Cu Chulainn Dagda Danu Gwydion Herne the Hunter Lugh Medb Morrigan Neit Nuada Taliesin Taranis
Chalchiuhtlicue Coatlicue Huitzilopochtli Mictlantecuhtli Mixcoatl Ometeotl Quetzalcoatl Tezcatlipoca Tlaloc Tonatiuh Xipe Totec Xochiquetzal Xolotl
Amaterasu Ame no Uzume Benzaiten Bishamonten Daikokuten Ebisu Fujin Fukurokuju Inari Izanagi Kagutsuchi Raijin Susanoo Tsukuyomi
Caishen Cangjie Dragon King Eight Immortals Erlang Shen Fuxi Guanyin Hou Yi Huxian Jade Emperor King Yama Leizi Lu-ban Mazu Nezha Nuwa Pangu Shennong Sun Wukong Xiwangmu Yue Lao Zhong Kui
Norse Classical Celtic Arthurian
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    Aztec Gods Egyptian Gods Japanese Gods Chinese Gods Roman Gods Celtic Gods Greek Gods Norse Gods
  2. Greek Gods
    Aphrodite Apollo Ares Artemis Athena Atlas Coeus Crius Cronus Demeter Dionysus Gaia Hades Hephaestus Hera Hermes Hestia Hyperion Iapetus Mnemosyne Oceanus Phobos Phoebe Poseidon Prometheus Rhea Tethys Themis Uranus Zeus
  3. Cronus

Cronus

Cronus: Carnivore King of the Titans

In modern culture, Cronus, the Titan of time, is recognized through artistic renderings of the old man dining on his children. However, the story of Cronus is more detailed and contains a healthy measure of bounty and prosperous rule. Still, his gastric genocide was the pivotal event that led to the rise of the Olympian gods.

Cronus eating Poseidon by Rubens

Who Was Cronus in Greek Mythology?

Cronus was only one of the first 12 Titans that were personifications of time. In his case, he personified time as a relentless, destructive force. The passage of time eventually devours all things.

Not all of Cronus’ powers were considered destructive, however. He was also considered the god of grain and bountiful crops. After all, a good harvest also depends on time. In Athens, they celebrated his generosity during a harvest festival called Kronia. It honored the god for providing a bountiful harvest throughout the growing season. In his Roman persona of Saturn, he was revered during the winter planting festival of Saturnalia, which was the forerunner of Christmas.

Cronus is often pictured as a bearded man, vigorous but old, carrying the sickle with which he castrated his father. In his capacity as ruler of the harvest, he carried a sheaf of grain and a scythe. His animal symbol was a snake.

Sources differ on whether or not Cronus was a different god than Chronos, the old Father Time that relinquishes his rule to the baby New Year at the change of the calendar. Given their almost identical attributes, it would be easy to infer that the two are identical. Indeed, the Baby New Year has sometimes been conflated with Zeus. This Cronus/Chronos image has lent its name to instruments that measure time, such as the chronometer and the chronograph. The word for an old woman, crone, also derives from the same root.

Cronus, King of the Universe in the Golden Age

Though the myth of Cronus is relatively short, it is the vital foundation for all of Greek mythology. Without his contribution, the heroic tales of the Olympian gods wouldn’t exist.

At the beginning of the world, there existed only the amorphous being Chaos. Chaos created a handful of primordial gods, such as Nyx (Night), Erebus (Darkness), and Gaia (Earth). Gaia gave birth to Uranus (Sky) and then mated with him. Their union created the original 12 giants known as the Titans:

  • Oceanus, god of the river encircling the Earth

  • Hyperion, god of heavenly light

  • Themis, goddess of justice

  • Coeus, god of curiosity

  • Mnemosyne, goddess of memory

  • Crius, god of the constellations

  • Iapetus, god of mortality and violent death

  • Tethys, goddess of freshwater springs

  • Theia, goddess of vision

  • Phoebe, goddess of intelligence

  •  Cronus, god of time

  • Rhea, goddess of fertility

Cronus devouring his son by Goya

Some sources say they were six sets of twins, one set being Cronus and Rhea. Uranus and Gaia were also the parents of other races who were also giants: the Cyclopes, the giants with one eye, and the hundred-handed Hecatonchires.

Uranus’ rule was that of a paranoid tyrant. He imprisoned Cronus’ siblings, the Cyclopes and the Hecatonchires, in the abyss of Tartarus. Perhaps he was offended by the ugliness of those two races. Still, more likely, he was intimidated by their size and strength, fearing they could overthrow him. The Titans likely escaped this fate because Uranus considered them less of a threat. This error in judgment proved to be his downfall.

Gaia was upset at the treatment of her children, and their imprisonment in Tartarus caused her physical pain. She gathered the Titans and convinced them to rise up against their father, but only Cronus was willing to wield a weapon against him. Gaia gave Cronus an adamantine sickle with which to do the deed.

The Titan brothers that served as the Four Pillars of Heaven were Coeus, Crius, Iapetus, and Hyperion. They stood at the four corners of the earth, holding the sky aloft. Considering that Uranus and Gaea were the personifications of Earth and sky, keeping their parents apart seems an odd responsibility. However, they were in the perfect position to help Cronus with the coup.

When Uranus descended to mate with Gaia, the four brothers ambushed him and pinned each of his limbs at the corners of the earth. Cronus took the adamantine sickle and castrated his father, flinging his testicles into the sea. The blood that splattered onto the oceans created other creatures such as the Furies, the Erinyes, and the Meliae. His genitals caused the sea to foam, and from that foam, the goddess Aphrodite was born.

Uranus fled back into the cosmos, and Cronus assumed the throne on Mount Othrys. He and his sister/wife Rhea presided over what was known as the Golden Age, one of the five fabled ages of man. Sources record that the Golden Age was one of harmony between all living beings, where everyone operated within the natural order without the need for laws or governance. Humans lived peaceably, toiled little, and lived long.

The Titanomachy and the Downfall of Cronus

Unfortunately, the story didn't retain its idyllic nature. There existed a prophecy foretelling that the children of Cronus would rise up against him. Over time, he became obsessed with the idea, and he dreaded sharing his father’s fate. In his madness, he hatched a scheme to eat his children as soon as they were born.

The wife of Cronus was understandably upset when she brought her firstborn child Hestia to meet her father, and Cronus swallowed her whole. However, the sight of Cronus eating his daughter did not stop Rhea from bearing him more children. She watched in horror as he consumed the following four children: Demeter, Hera, Hades, and Poseidon.

By then, Rhea had finally had enough. When it was time to bear her sixth child, she fled the Island of Crete and gave birth to Zeus in secret. Returning to Mount Othrys, she tricked her husband. Instead of Cronus eating his son, he consumed a stone in swaddling clothes. By that time, he was so obsessed with preserving his rule that he swallowed the stone without noticing the difference.

Zeus grew up in safety, hidden in a cave on Crete. When he was an adult, he returned to Mount Othrys and disguised himself as Cronus’ cupbearer. He slipped a concoction into Cronus’ wine which caused him to vomit up his children, fully grown. Zeus and his siblings escaped to Mount Olympus and prepared for war.

Thus began the great conflict between Zeus and Cronus called the Titanomachy, or War of the Titans. Most of the male Titans fought alongside Cronus. A few, such as Prometheus and Epimetheus, fought for the new Olympians. For the most part, the female Titans remained neutral. Many of them reportedly took refuge at the home of their brother Oceanus until the end of the war.

The fierce battle lasted for ten years. Each side seemed unbeatable, and the earth suffered greatly during the struggle. It wasn’t until Zeus released the Cyclopes and Hecatonchires that the Olympians gained an advantage. The Cyclopes fashioned powerful weapons for the gods, including Zeus’ lightning bolt. The Hecatonchires used their many hands to hurl boulders and mountains at the Titans. With this extra force, the Olympian gods were finally able to overcome Cronus and the other Titans.

After the defeat, Zeus took Cronus’ sickle and cut his father into a thousand pieces, throwing him into the abyss of Tartarus along with all of Cronus’ brothers who fought with him. Homer mentions that Cronus was still in Tartarus as late as the Trojan War. However, some sources record that Zeus eventually had mercy on the Titans and released them. He gave his father the dominion of the Elysian Fields, the place in the Underworld where heroes and righteous people spent eternity in comfort and bliss.

Regardless of whether he was condemned to Tartarus or started a new Golden Age in the Elysian Fields, the story of Cronus effectively ended after the Titanomachy.

Conclusion

Cronus eating his child statue

Cronus’ story is one of bountiful harvest and righteous rule, but he is recognized chiefly for his tyrannical violence and madness. Here’s a recap of what we have learned.

  • Cronus was the youngest of the first-generation Titans.

  • He was the god of the harvest and of the destructive passage of time.

  • Though he had no temples dedicated to him, he was honored during the festivals of Kronia and Saturnalia.

  • He deposed his father Uranus by castrating him with an adamantine sickle.

  •  He ruled over a prosperous era called the Golden Age of Man.

  • To avoid his father’s fate, Cronus ate five of his children, but they were rescued by the sixth child, Zeus.

  • He and the other Titans fought in a ten-year battle against Zeus and the new Olympian gods. They were defeated and sent to suffer in Tartarus.

Like the rest of the first-generation Titans, the arc of Cronus’ story is relatively short. However, his existence is vital to the foundations of Greek Mythology, and he will be remembered in legend alongside his children.

By Timeless Myths

Greek Gods:

  • • Aphrodite
  • • Apollo
  • • Ares
  • • Artemis
  • • Athena
  • • Atlas
  • • Coeus
  • • Crius
  • • Cronus
  • • Demeter
  • • Dionysus
  • • Gaia
  • • Hades
  • • Hephaestus
  • • Hera
  • • Hermes
  • • Hestia
  • • Hyperion
  • • Iapetus
  • • Mnemosyne
  • • Oceanus
  • • Phobos
  • • Phoebe
  • • Poseidon
  • • Prometheus
  • • Rhea
  • • Tethys
  • • Themis
  • • Uranus
  • • Zeus
Cronus (Saturn)

Cronus (Saturn)

Ruler of the universe and the leader of the Titans. Cronus was the youngest son of Uranus and Gaea ; according to Diodorus Siculus however, he was the eldest child. Cronus married his sister Rhea and was the father of Hestia , Poseidon , Hades , D...

April 19th, 1999 • Jimmy Joe
Uranus

Uranus

Uranus: The Titan and Greek God of the Sky, Heavens, and Air Uranus, titan of the first generation, was the primordial Greek god of the heavens, the sky, and the air. He was there at the beginning of time. His mother, Gaia, had him as her first ch...

April 2nd, 2002 • Timeless Myths
Chronus (Time)

Chronus (Time)

Before the world and the gods were created, there was nothing but Time which the Greeks called Chronus or Khronos, and Necessity who was named Adrasteia (Ananke). This was a period called the Unaging Time because time was unlimited and indetermina...

April 19th, 1999 • Jimmy Joe
Crius

Crius

Crius: The Forgotten Titan and Pillar of the Starlit South Crius, Titan of the Constellations, is one of the least recognized gods in Greek mythology. He appeared very little in the old stories, and not at all after Zeus and the Olympian gods came...

April 2nd, 2002 • Timeless Myths
Titans

Titans

According to Hesiod, the word Titan (Τιτησι) seemed to mean "Strainer", because they strained and performed some presumptuous, fearful deeds and vengeance would come after it. Whereas the Olympians lived on Olympus, the home of the Titans was Othr...

April 19th, 1999 • Jimmy Joe
Uranus (Sky)

Uranus (Sky)

The sky and the god of the sky. Uranus was the son of Gaea and possibly of Aether . Uranus married his mother and became the first supreme ruler of the world. (According to the Orphic myth, Gaea and Uranus were not mother and son. Rather they were...

April 19th, 1999 • Jimmy Joe
Crius

Crius

Titan. Crius was the son of Uranus and Gaea . Crius married his half-sister Eurybia , daughter of Gaea and Pontus, and became the father of Perses , Pallas and Astraeus . When Zeus overthrew Cronus and the other Titans, Crius was confined with the...

April 19th, 1999 • Jimmy Joe
Rhea

Rhea

Rhea: Mother of the Olympian Gods Rhea, Titan goddess of fertility and motherhood, may have played only a supporting role in the famous stories of Greek mythology. Still, the classic Greek pantheon wouldn’t even exist without her. Of all the godde...

April 2nd, 2002 • Timeless Myths
Zeus (Jupiter)

Zeus (Jupiter)

Supreme ruler of the gods and lord of the sky. The son of the titans Cronus and Rhea , he was known to the Romans as Jupiter or Jove. Zeus was the brother of Hestia , Poseidon , Hades , Demeter and Hera . Zeus was the youngest among his siblings. ...

April 19th, 1999 • Jimmy Joe
Cosmogony of Diodorus Siculus

Cosmogony of Diodorus Siculus

According to the 1st century BC historian Diodorus Siculus, Oceanus and Tethys were the source of all gods. To Diodorus, Uranus was the first king, and not really a god at all. Uranus was the first to gather people together into the first walled c...

April 9th, 1999 • Jimmy Joe

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