The Titans: Rulers before the Olympians

The Titans: Rulers before the Olympians

The Titans were also known as the elder Gods, they ruled before they were overthrown by the Olympians (Hunt). Gaea was the Earth goddess and the mother of all the Titans(Atsma) . She created Ouranos by herself, then the two of them created Cyclopes, Hecatoncheires, and the twelve Titans together (Hunt). The twelve Titans or Titanides, the female Titans were Cronos, Coeus, Crius, Iapetus, Hyperion, Oceanus, Mnemosyne, Themis, Rhea, Theia, Phoibe, Tethys, and Gaea. The each had their own specific role in the world (Atsma).

The Titanides are the female versions of the titans, the original gods of time, the cosmic inverse of heaven, and the divinities of both heaven and the Tartarean pit. Each Titanide represents a different piece or part of their mother Gaea, and they represent different aspects of human and animal traits. Many of them resembled different pieces and parts of nature as well (Atsma, Aaron).

Tethys was the nourishing waters of the subterranean springs and the nurse of all life. She gave human and animals their motherly and nursing aspects. Rhea was nature's fertile mother and the lady of all wilds, she gave humans and animals their female fertility (Atsma, Aaron). She was known as the mother of gods, the goddess of the powers of nature, and the arts of cultivation (Struck). Themis was Earth’s natural order and prophetic voice,and she honoured the nature of Delphi, Dodona, and Ikinai. Natural order and custom, somethings instinct or reaction was given to humans and animals by her (Atsma, Aaron). She was represented as a woman of commanding and awe-inspiring presence, holding scales and a cornucopia, the symbol of blessing and order (Struck, Peter T.) Themis’s ...

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...g the Golden Ages he ruled the Cosmos(Atsma).

Cronus knew that one day, one of his children would one day try and overthrow him to become ruler of the Titans. So he devoured all of his children after they were born so they could not attempt to overthrow him. In devouring his children it upset his wife Rhea. She retaliated by giving Cronus a rock to swallow instead of their last son Zeus, and hid Zeus in a cave (Atsma).

Her plan worked, when Zeus reached adulthood he made his father surrender his siblings, and then used his army to overthrow Cronus. Cronus and his army were thrown into Tartaros, and Zeus became King-Titan (Atsma). During all of the overthrowing the Titanides either stayed neutral or were passive supporters of the Olympian gods. Since they were always neutral most of the time, they were never thrown into the Tartarean pit (Atsma, Aaron).