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The Titans
Often called the Elder Gods, the Titans were
the firstborn children of Uranus and Gaea. They had incredible size and
incredible strength. Some Titans were imagined as having enormous human forms
but with serpent tails instead of legs. There is much discussion about the
number, nature, and age of the Titans, but the consensus is that they were
involved with the activities of nature. The Titans were numerous, and their
tasks were varied (and sometimes nebulous) according to different legends. Here
are some of the most notable Titans and their characteristics:
- Cronus, youngest of the first-generation Titans and eventually their ruler,
was known by the Romans as Saturn.
- Rhea, an earth goddess, was wife to Cronus and mother of the first Olympians.
- Oceanus, Titan of the oceans and seas, was the god of the great river
that circled the entire earth and bore his name.
- Prometheus was a second-generation Titan and the wisest of them all.
His name means 'Forethought' and he was able to tell the future. He supported Zeus
in his revolt and afterwards. He also became mankind's protector and benefactor.
He later opposed Zeus's will and suffered greatly for it until Heracles rescued him.
- Epithemeus, whose name means 'Afterthought,' was also a second-generation Titan.
A somewhat dull fellow, he did assist his brother Prometheus in creating mankind. Unfortunately
he accepted from Zeus the gift of Pandora and her box, which led to the introduction of all
the evils into the world.
- Atlas, a second-generation Titan, was condemned to hold up the earth on his shoulders
because he opposed Zeus. The memory of this terrible burden is preserved today in the name we give
to a collection of the world's maps.
- Hyperion, a sun god, was Titan of Light and father to the Sun, the Moon, and the Dawn,
for which he was greatly revered.
- Mnemosyne, Titaness of Memory, became the mother of the nine Muses. We still
invoke her name today when we speak of a 'mnemonic' device, something that aids memorization.
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Cronus' mother, Gaea, persuaded him to usurp his father
Uranus and take over the throne of Olympus. So Cronus -- alone or in some
legends with the aid of the other Titans -- mutilated Uranus, became the ruling Titan,
and married his sister Rhea. Cronus' rule in Olympus was a golden age in which
humans and gods were equally happy. However, he had been warned in a prophesy that
one of his own children would dethrone him and assume his place as ruler of Olympus.
To avoid this Cronus swallowed all of his children as soon as they were born.
Rhea, understandably unhappy at Cronus' behavior,
replaced their infant son Zeus with a disguised rock, and Cronus swallowed
the rock instead. Subsequently Zeus rebelled against Cronus and rescued his siblings
from Cronus' interior. In the ten-year war that followed, Zeus received help from
Cronus' half-brothers, the Cyclopes and the hundred-handed Hecatoncheires (the
Centimani).
Eventually Cronus and the Titans who had sided with
him against the Olympians were defeated. They were thrown into Tartarus
and imprisoned there forever under guard of the Hecatoncheires. In another version
of the fall of the Titans, the defeated Cronus went to rule in the Islands of the
Blessed (Italy). Titans who had not taken part in the wars against Zeus were allowed
to keep their status; these included Oceanus, the female Titans, and Helios (a son of Hyperion).
There were other Titans less prominent or important
in themselves but who had famous children:
- Iapetus was the father of Atlas, Prometheus, and Epithemeus.
- Themis, earth goddess and Titaness of Justice and Order, gave birth to the Fates and the Seasons.
- Tethys was a sea goddess and wife of Oceanus, with whom she produced the rivers, the 3000 sea nymphs, and the Titaness Metis.
- Metis, whose name means 'prudence' or 'counsel,' was a second-generation Titaness. Her name means 'prudence' or 'counsel.' She is said by some to have been the mother of Athena, having been swallowed whole by Zeus prior to giving birth.
- Coeüs was the Titan of Intelligence and father of Leto.
- Phoebe, a Titaness associated with the moon, was the mother of Leto.
- Leto, a second-generation Titaness, became mother of Apollo and Artemis.
- Theia was the wife of Hyperion and mother of the Sun, Moon and Dawn.
- Helios, son of Hyperion, was a sun god and father of the ill-fated Phaethon.
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About the more obscure Titans we know very little (perhaps they did very little), and they have tended to fade out of memory and out of the legends.
 Titans ungraded review activity
On to the Olympians 
Key Test Words: Cronus, Oceanus, Rhea, Atlas, Prometheus, Epimetheus
Notes: None
Sources:
Edith Hamilton's Mythology
Bulfinch's Mythology
Manual of Mythology by Alexander S. Murray
Oxford Classical Dictionary
Mythology and You, by Donna Rosenberg & Sorelle Baker
Contributors: James Isaacs, Cathy McMullen, Jane Smith
Last revised: June 27, 2001
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