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 12 Titans of Greek Mythology - First Generation

14/05/2020
     The Titans of Greek Mythology are considered to be those ancient gods sons of Gaia (mother earth) and Uranus (sky god). Check out facts and images about these ancient gods below.

Titans in Greek Mythology:

     Titans (male) and titanids (female) in Greek Mythology, are among the entities that faced Zeus and the other Olympic gods in their rise to power. Other opponents were the giants, Typhon and Orion. Of the various Greek poems of the Classical Age about the war between the gods and the titans, only one survived. This is the Theogony attributed to Hesiod. Also the essay On music attributed to Plutarch, mentions in passing a lost epic poem titled Titanomaquia ("War of the Titans") and attributed to the blind Thracian bard, Tamiris, a legendary character. In addition, the Titans played an important role in the poems attributed to Orpheus. Although only fragments of the orphic accounts are preserved, they reveal interesting differences in relation to the hesiodic tradition. 

     The titans do not form a homogeneous set. These are, in general, very old deities or "proto-gods" (first gods) who, for one reason or another, continued to have a certain validity within classical Greek myths and, when constituting the genealogical scheme of the gods, were included among the descendants of Uranus.

CRONUS:

     Known as Saturn within Roman Mythology, the most important Titan, and also the youngest, used to be represented with a scythe in his hand, with which he would have mutilated his father, Uranus. Kronos joined one of his sisters, Rhea, with whom he had several children. Because he was afraid that his descendants would challenge his power over the world, he swallowed all his children. 

     But one of them, Zeus, enlisted the help of his mother to escape this tragic fate. After growing up and becoming strong, Zeus decided to rescue his brothers, giving a potion to the father who made him throw up all the swallowed children. With the help of the brothers, Zeus defeated Cronus and other titans in a great battle and became the great chief of all the Greek gods. Cronos and his allies were imprisoned forever in Tartarus, the underworld where the dead went.

OCEAN:

     Known as the Ancient Poseidon. It was the oldest titan, represented by a large river that flowed around the whole Earth (then considered flat), demarcating its borders. Ocean would have generated all existing rivers, streams and sources

Check: Pontus in Greek Mythology

CEOS:

     An obscure titan, who has importance only in the construction of the genealogical tree of the Greek gods, but his representation is in fact important, as it means wisdom and self-knowledge, mainly because he was the grandfather of Apollo (god of prophecy, medicine and music) and of Artemis (goddess of hunting and wildlife)

CRIO:

     Another secondary titan, not very prominent in Greek mythology. The legendary texts reveal only that Crio married Euribia, his half sister - daughter of Gaia with Ponto, another deity who represented the sea

HIPERION:

     It was probably a deity of pre-Hellenic origin, which ended up absorbed by Greek mythology, appearing as one of the 12 titans. Hyperion was identified with the solar forces

JAPETO:

     It is important in mythology because of some of your children. One of them was Atlas, who faced Zeus in the titanomaquia and, when defeated, received as a punishment the mission of carrying the world on his back. Another was Prometheus, creator of mortals

TETIS:

     In some epic texts, this titan appears as the goddess of fertility, symbolizing the generative and fertile capacity of waters. Also, it is no wonder: from her union with Brother Oceano thousands of children were born

FEBE:

     Known as "the luminous one", she joined with brother Ceos and had a daughter named Letó, who would be one of Zeus's loves and give birth to two important Greek gods: Apollo and Artemis

TEMIS:

     Goddess of justice and wisdom, she was Zeus' second wife. According to some mythological texts, in addition to being the ancient Athena, Themis invented oracles and religious rituals. Before the appearance of Apollo, she was also called the goddess of prophecy

TEIA:

     By having joined the brother Hyperion, also often identified as a solar deity. Téia had three children: Hélio (that would be the Sun itself), Selene (the Moon) and Éos (the dawn)

MNEMOSINE:

     The goddess of memory was Zeus' fifth wife and yet another of the titan aunts he chose with whom to procreate. From this union were born the nine Muses, goddesses of literature and the arts - such as poetry, music and dance.

RHEA:

     This titan was the sister and wife of Cronos, whom he managed to deceive, preventing his son Zeus from being swallowed by him. When Zeus was born, Rhea gave Cronos a stone to swallow in place of the newborn. She was also the mother of other gods, such as Poseidon (god of the sea) and Hades (king of the underworld)

Two Others Childrens of Gaia:

     Cycloples: Cyclopes were, in Greek Mythology, immortal giants with one eye in the middle of their foreheads who, according to the hymn of Callimachus, worked with Hephaestus as blacksmiths, forging the rays used by Zeus. Cyclops can be divided into two groups according to their age: the old cyclops (or first generation) and the young cyclops (new generation). They appear in many Greek myths, but with a very controversial origin. According to their origin, these beings are organized into three different species: the uraniums, sons of Uranus and Gaia, the Sicilians, sons of the god of the seas Poseidon, and the builders, who come from the Lycian territory.
     Hecatonchiros: Hecatonchiros or centimanos, in Greek Mythology, were three giant children of Uranus and Gaia and brothers of the twelve titans and three cyclopes. Their names were Briareu ("the vigorous" - also called Aigaion (Αἰγαίων), Latinized like Aegaeon, Coto ("the furious") and Giges ("the one of great members"). They had one hundred hands and fifty heads. Soon after their birth , Uranus, horrified by the monstrous nature of the beings he had generated, hid them in the depths of Tartarus. 

     Cronos, fulfilling a prophecy of the Delphic oracle, helped them escape Tartarus and form a rebellion that would culminate in the castration of his father, Uranus. After the fall of Uranus, Cronos rose to power and imprisoned them again in Tartarus. , the war of the olympic gods against the titans. In that war, the hecatomonchers threw hundreds of huge stones at the titans, helping to defeat them. the Aegean Sea, while Coto and Giges settled in palaces on the Ocean River.

Check: Titanomachy

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