Cronus: The Cruelest Titan Amongst All Greek Titans

Cronus:
No matter who we are, essentially you, me, we all submit ourselves to one entity, God. Some of us believe in him, some believe in Karma but at the end of the day, we all submit to him when we die. Let’s call it The Judgment Day.

Why so? why do we have to answer to him? That is because it is believed that God is the ultimate reality and the most powerful being. But Did u know? According to Greek Mythology, before the Gods walked the earth, there was a specie that used to hold that particular position of Ultimate Power, and that specie was known as The Titan.

But before we discuss this specific specie of ancient ultimate power, The Titan, let’s travel further back in time. Let’s travel to the time of the very beginning of this universe. Now, what comes in your mind when we say the words “ Space…Universe”? Endless and Dark right? Exactly, according to the Big Bang Theory, Universe is endless, dark, and still expanding. Now, let’s connect the dots of our modern scientific knowledge with Ancient Greek Mythology as if u notice carefully u will see the greek mythology is very uniquely related to our solar system.

According to Greek Mythology, In the beginning, there was nothing but yawning Dark silence of nothingness. Out of the void emerged Gaia (the Earth) and other divine beings — Eros (love), the Abyss (a certain part of the underworld), and the Erebus (the unknowable place where the death itself is believed to dwell). Do you guys notice something interesting here? Death, Love, earth everything is personified in Greek mythology.

Coming back to the story upon Emergence, Gaia impregnated herself on her own and gave birth to Uranus (the sky) who then impregnated Gaia again and gave birth to the Greek Titans.

Now when we talk about the Greek Titans, one cannot ignore the infamous arrogant Titan whose selfish actions lead to the extinction of the whole species of Ancient Ultimate Power, the Greek Titans. Yes, you are right, we are talking about Cronus aka Kronos, the primal antagonist of the Divine war of Titanomachy. Well, buckle up as today you and I, we are going to sight a little something interesting about this last Titan leader, Cronus/Kronos.

Who is Cronus/ Kronos? What was Cronus the god of?

Cronus aka Kronos was the king and the leader of the Greek titans. Titans and Gods are two different things. Titans came before the gods and was a completely different race but either way, Kronos is known as The God of Time when time is viewed from the perspective of Destruction. He is also known as the god of Harvest. Across every ancient text and epithets of Greek Mythology, one can find him mentioned as extremely ruthless and powerful and hence was feared by all Titans. Typical qualities of a negative leader, right?

What is Cronus known for? Why did Cronus eat his babies?

Not just a negative leader, Cronus/ Kronos was darn sneaky and greedy too as history is the witness. According to Hesiod’s Theogony, he attacked his own father, Uranus from Behind and castrated him to overthrow and rule the whole Cosmos himself. But sadly for him, upon overthrowing his father Cronus/ Kronos received a prophecy from the oracles that his sons would do the same to him.

In the fear of sharing the same fate as his father, Cronus aka Kronos ate his own children that he had with Rhea. But his luck ran out the 6th time, as By each passing time, Rhea got mentally broken for losing her children and when finally Zeus was born she secretively came up with a plan to save her sixth child. When Kronos came to snatch the little Zeus from Rhea, she gave him pebbles wrapped in clothes, those pebbles are known as Omphalos Stone today.

Precisely that’s where Kronos went wrong as he quickly engulfed the stones thinking it’s his 6th child and that was pretty much the beginning of the doom of Greek titans. Later on, the years, when Zeus grew up he wiped out the whole race of the Greek Titans in revenge. It’s quite an irony really, how one spoiled apple ruins the bunch.

NOTE: Hesiod (/ˈhiːsiəd, ˈhɛsiəd/; Greek: Ἡσίοδος Hēsíodos) was a Greek poet generally who existed somewhere between 750 and 650 BC, around the same time as Homer.

Geneology of Cronus, The Mad Leader of Greek Titans -

PredecessorSuccessorAbode: Mount Othrys (formerly) and Tartarus
PlanetBattles: Titanomachy
Symbol: Snake, grain, sickle, scythe
PERSONAL INFORMATIONS
Parents: Uranus and Gaia
Siblings: Titans, Hekatonkheires, Cyclopes, Other siblings

ConsortOffspring: Zeus, Hera, Hades, Hestia, Demeter, Poseidon, Chiron
EQUIVALENTS
Roman equivalent: Egyptian equivalent: Geb

Who did Cronus eat first?

Kronos aka Cronus, the mad leader of the greek titans ate Hestia, Hera, Demeter, Poseidon, and Hades, and in the mentioned order (Basically all the 1st generation greek gods except Zeus).

Who defeated Cronus? How did Cronus die?

Well the answer to both the questions are pretty same as the legend says-

When Zeus grew up strong, he discovered his powers and decided to bring Justice to her mother Rhea, and his fallen siblings. So the first thing he did was, use his emetic, that made the mad leader of greek titans (Kronos) disgorge Omphalos, the sacred pebbles, and all his children, who he ever swallowed.

Upon rescuing his siblings, Zeus set free the Cyclops and Hecatonchires who forged -

• Thunderbolt for Zeus
• The Trident for Poseidon
• The Helmet of Darkness for Hades

and together with the help of his siblings, cyclops, and Hecatonchires, Zeus fought Cronus and the other Titans in the epic famous war of Titanomachy, which is believed to have lasted for 10 years when Zeus finally defeated Cronus and imprisoned him in Tartarus, the infamous deep abyss.

When the great war of Titanomachy finally ended, Zeus sat on Mount Olympus as the God of Olympia and the king of gods.

Ancient Romans researched on it, and as per few Roman texts, Cronus died as captive inside the deep abyss of Tartarus.

Originally published at https://world-tomorrow.com on May 16, 2020.