The Titans

Atlas, the son of Iapetus. Unlike his brothers Prometheus and Epimetheus, Atlas fought with the other Titans supporting Cronus against Zeus. Due to Cronus' advanced age, Atlas lead the Titan's into battle. As a result he was singled out by Zeus for a special punishment and made to hold up the world on his back.

Coeus is the Titan of Intelligence and father of Leto.

Crius married his sister Eurybia and became the father of Astraeus, Pallas and Perses.

Cronus was the ruling Titan who came to power by castrating his Father Uranus. His wife was Rhea and their offspring were the first of the Olympians. To insure his safety Cronus ate all of the male children as they were born. This worked until Rhea, unhappy at the loss of her children, tricked Cronus into swallowing a rock by wrapping it in swaddling clothes, instead of eating their son Zeus. When he grew up Zeus revolted against Cronus and the other Titans, defeated them, and banished them to Tartarus in the underworld. Cronus managed to escape to Italy where he ruled as Saturn. The period of his rule was said to be a golden age on earth honored by the Saturnalia feast.

Dione is the mother of Aphrodite.

Epimetheus is a one of the less smart of the Titans, whose name means "afterthought". He was the son of Iapetus. In some accounts he is said to have, along with his brother Prometheus, been told by Zeus to create mankind. He also accepted the gift of Pandora from Zeus, which lead to the introduction of evil into the world. Epimetheus and his brother Prometheus were given the task of creating humanity and providing humans and all the animals on earth with the endowments they would need to survive. Epimetheus (whose name means afterthought) accordingly proceeded to bestow on the various animals gifts of courage, strength, swiftness, and feathers, fur, and other protective covering. When it came time to create a being who was to be superior to all other living creatures, Epimetheus found he had been so reckless with his resources that he had nothing left to bestow. He was forced to ask his brother's help, and Prometheus took over the task of creation.

Gaea is the Earth goddess. She mated with her son Uranus to produce the remaining Titans. Gaea seems to have started as a neolithic earth-mother worshipped before the Indo-European invasion that eventually lead to the Hellenistic civilization.

Hyperion is the Titan of light, an early sun god. He is the son of Gaea and Uranus and he married his sister Theia. Their children are Helius (the sun), Selene (the moon), and Eos (the dawn).

Iapetus is the father of Prometheus, Epimetheus, Menoetius, and Atlas Clymene.

Leto is the daughter of the Titans Phoebus and Coeus, and the mother of Artemis, goddess of the moon. She was loved by Zeus who, fearing the jealousy of his wife Hera, banished Leto when she was about to have his child. All countries and islands were also afraid of Hera's wrath and refused the desperate Leto a home where her child could be born. Finally, in her wanderings, she set foot on a small island floating in the Aegean Sea. The island, which was called Delos, was a rocky, barren place, but when Leto reached it and asked for refuge, they welcomed her hospitably. At that moment four great pillars rose from the bottom of the sea to hold the island firmly moored forever after.

Metis is the Titaness of the forth day and the planet Mercury. She presides over all wisdom and knowledge. She was seduced by Zeus and became pregnant with Athena which led to Zeus becoming concerned over prophecies that her second child would replace him. To avoid this Zeus ate Metis while the child was still in her womb. It is said that she is the source for Zeus' wisdom and that she still advises Zeus from inside his belly. It may seem odd for Metis to have been pregnant with Athena but, since Metis was killed well before Athena's birth this leads people to believe her role in the process didn't count.

Mnemosyne is the Titan of memory. She slept with Zeus for nine nights and gave birth to the nine Muses.

Oceanus ruled over the unending stream of water encircling the world which was believed to be a flat circle. Together with his wife Tethys they produced the rivers and the three thousand ocean nymphs. The nymphs of this great river, the Oceanids, were their daughters, and the gods of all the streams on earth were their sons.

Phoebe is the Titan of the Moon and mother of Leto.

Prometheus, the son of the Titan Iapetus by the sea nymph Clymene or the Titaness Themis, is the wisest of the Titans. His name means "forethought" and he is able to foretell the future. When Zeus revolted against Cronus, Prometheus deserted the other Titans and fought on Zeus' side. Prometheus and his brother Epimetheus were given the task of creating humanity and providing humans and all the animals on earth with the endowments they would need to survive. Epimetheus (whose name means afterthought) accordingly proceeded to bestow on the various animals gifts of courage, strength, swiftness, and feathers, fur, and other protective covering. When it came time to create a being who was to be superior to all other living creatures, Epimetheus found he had been so reckless with his resources that he had nothing left to bestow. He was forced to ask his brother's help, and Prometheus took over the task of creation.

To make humans superior to the animals he fashioned them in a nobler form and enabled them to walk upright. He then went up to heaven and lit a torch with fire from the sun. The gift of fire that Prometheus bestowed upon humanity was more valuable than any of the gifts the animals had received. In all accounts Prometheus is known as the protector and benefactor of man. He also tricked Zeus into allowing man to keep the best part of the animals sacrificed to the gods and to give the gods the worst parts, for this Zeus punished Prometheus by having him chained to a rock with an eagle tearing at his liver. He was to be left there for all eternity or until he agreed to disclose to Zeus which of his children would try to replace him as king of the gods. He was eventually rescued by Hercules, though, without having to give in to Zeus.

Rhea was the wife of Cronus who together ruled the universe for many ages. Cronus, having been warned that one of their children was destined to seize his throne tried to avert this fate by swallowing his offspring as soon as they were born. After the birth of her sixth child, the god Zeus, Rhea outwitted her husband by giving him a stone wrapped in swaddling clothes which he swallowed thinking it was the baby. In the meantime she had hidden the child in Crete. Later, when Zeus was grown, he forced his father to disgorge the stone along with the five other children who had been born to Rhea: Poseidon, god of the sea; Hades, god of the dead; Demeter, goddess of the earth; Hestia, goddess of the hearth; and Hera, goddess of marriage who became the wife of Zeus.

Tethys is the wife of Oceanus. Together they produced the rivers and the three thousand ocean nymphs.

Themis is the Titan of justice and order. She is the mother of the three Fates and the Horae (Seasons). The goddess of divine justice and law, Themis is the constant companion of the Zeus and sits beside him on Olympus. She is usually represented holding aloft a pair of scales on which she weighs the claims of opposing parties.

Uranus is the sky god and first ruler. He is the son of Gaea who created him without help from any man. He then became the husband of Gaea and together they had many offspring, including twelve of the Titans. His rule ended when Cronus, encouraged by Gaea, castrated him. Nobody knows if he died from the wound or simply withdrew from earth.

Unless otherwise stated, the content of this page is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License