| Gaea
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 Hellinistic civilization. |
| Uranus
Uranus is the sky god and first ruler.
He is the son of Gaea, who created him without help. He then became the
husband of Gaea and together they had many offspring, including twelve
of the Titans.
His rule ended when when Cronus,
encouraged by Gaea, castrated him. He either died from the wound or withdrew
from earth. |
| Cronus
Cronus was the ruling Titan who came
to power by castrating his Father Uranus. His wife was Rhea. There offspring
were the first of the Olympians. To insure his safety Cronus ate each of
the children as they were born. This worked until Rhea, unhappy at the
loss of her children, tricked Cronus into swallowing a rock, instead of
Zeus. When he grew up Zeus would revolt against Cronus and the other Titans,
defeat them, and banish 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. |
| Rhea
Rhea was the wife of Cronus. Cronus
made it a practice to swallow their children. To avoid this, Rhea tricked
Cronus into swallowing a rock, saving her son Zeus. |
| Oceanus
Oceanus is the unending stream of
water encircling the world. Together with his wife Tethys produced the
rivers and the three thousand ocean nymphs. |
| Tethys
Tethys is the wife of Oceanus. Together
they produced the rivers and the three thousand ocean nymphs. |
| Hyperion
Hyperion is the Titan of light, the
father of the sun, the moon, and the dawn. |
| Mnemosyne
Mnemosyne was the Titan of memory
and the mother of Muses. |
| Themis
Themis was the Titan of justice and
order. She was the mother of the Fates and the Seasons. |
| Iapetus
Iapetus was the father of Prometheus,
Epimetheus, and Atlas. |
| Coeus
Titan of Intelligence. Father of
Leto. |
| Crius
A Titan, married
Eurbia. Had 3 children: Astraios, Perses, Pallas. Was grandfather of (Astraios
married Eos): Zephyros/Zephyrus (West Wind), Boreas (North Wind), Notos/Notus
(South Wind), Eosphoros/Eurus (East Wind), and all the "stars". Was also
grandfather of (Pallas married Styx): Zelos, Nike, Kratos, Bia. |
| Phoebe
Titan of the Moon. Mother of Leto. |
| Thea
The wife of
her brother Hyperion, Theia gave birth to Helios (sun), Eos (dawn), and
Selene (moon). She is the goddess from whom light emanates and considered
especially beautiful. |
| Prometheus
Prometheus was the wisest Titan.
His name means "forethought" and he was able to foretell the future. He
was the son of Iapetus. When Zeus revolted against Cronus Prometheus deserted
the other Titans and fought on Zeus side.
By some accounts he and his brother
Epimetheus were delagated by Zeus to create man. In all accounts, Prometheus
is known as the protector and benifactor of man. He gave mankind a number
of gifts including fire. He also tricked Zeus into allowing man to keep
the best part of the animals scarificed 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 Zeus children would try to replace him. He was eventually
rescued by Hercules without giving in to Zeus. |
| Epimetheus
Epimetheus was a stupid Titan, whose
name means "afterthought". He was the son of Iapetus. In some accounts
he is delegated, along with his brother Prometheus by Zeus to create mankind.
He also accepted the gift of Pandora from Zeus, which lead to the introduction
of evil into the world. |
| Atlas
Atlas was the son of Iapetus. Unlike
his brothers Prometheus and Epimetheus, Atlas fought with the other Titans
supporting Cronus against Zeus. Due to Cronus's advance age Atlas lead
the Titan's in battle. As a result he was singled out by Zeus for a special
punishment and made to hold up the world on his back. |
| Metis
Metis was the Titaness of the forth
day and the planet Mercury. She presided over all wisdom and knowledge.
She was seduced by Zeus and became pregnant with Athena. Zeus became concerned
over prophecies that her second child would replace Zeus. To avoid this
Zeus ate her. It is said that she is the source for Zeus wisdom and that
she still advises Zeus from his belly.
It may seem odd for Metis to have
been pregnant with Athena but, never mentioned as her mother. This is because
the classic greeks believed that children were generated soley from the
fathers sperm. The women was thought to be nothing more then a vessal for
the fetus to grow in. Since Metis was killed well before Athena's birth
her role doesn't count. |