greek mythology stories

How did the Titans become rulers of the world

painting:by Cornelis van Haarlem

The first Titans were twelve; six male and six female. The youngest one was Cronus. At some point, Uranus decided that he did not like the Cyclops and the Hecatoncheires at all. He considered them too ugly and too powerful, so he imprisoned them in Tartarus, the depths of the Underworld. Gaia, the mother of the Cyclops and Hecatoncheires, did not like how Uranus treated her children. She became furious with Uranus and decided to take revenge. She asked her other children, the Titans, to cut Uranus’s genitals and overthrow him… The Titans were too afraid to do that, except one: the youngest of the twelve, Cronus. When Uranus approached Gaia, Cronus surprised Uranus and cut his genitals with a scythe. Cronus with his action had separated Uranus (the heavens) and Gaia (the Earth).From the drops of Uranus’ blood that fell on Gaia, the Erinyes (Furies), the Meliai and the Giants were born. The Erinyes were deities of vengeance. If you broke an oath or wronged someone, they would hunt you forever. The Meliai were nymphs of the trees, beautiful and gentle deities. The Giants were creatures of immerse strength and very aggressive.

With Uranus defeated, Cronus freed his siblings from the dark Tartarus and the Titans became the new Greek gods. They immediately recognized Cronus as their leader and ruler of the cosmos and helped him consolidate his power. After becoming the undisputed ruler of the world, Cronus, fearing the power of the Hecatoncheires and the Cyclops like his father did before him, imprisoned them once again in Tartarus. Only Themis and Mnemosyne represented more mental states, justice and memory. During the battle of the gods that Themis and Mnemosyne were the only two of the first Titans that did not side with their siblings in their war against the Olympians, and continued their course alongside the Olympian gods.When Rhea became pregnant with the 1st child of Cronus, Uranus prophesized that Cronus’ children will overthrow him as he overthrew Uranus. When Rhea gave birth to their first child, Hestia, Cronus could not get Uranus’ prophecy out of his mind. Overcome with fear and madness, and trying to avoid the fate his father had, he swallowed the newborn! The same happened to their next four children; Cronus devoured all five of his newborns! The only one who survived was the sixth and youngest child, Zeus. Rhea tricked Cronus into eating a rock instead of the baby and left Zeus to the island of Crete, to be raised away from his mad father. Zeus grew older and stronger and eventually sought to free his siblings, leading to the epic battle between the Titans and the Olympians who the latter eventually won thus, overthrowing the previous generation of Greek gods.