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This article is about the leader of the Titans and father of Zeus. For the primeval Greek god of time, see Chronus.


Cronus (Ancient Greek: Κρόνος (Krónos)) was the Titan God of the Harvest, agriculture, vegetation, fertility, the ages and the destructive forces of time, and King of the Titans. Also known as Father Time.

Cronus was the son of Gaia and Ouranós in Greek mythology. His wife was the Titaness Rhea. He was the leader of the Titans. His Roman counterpart is Saturn. He is often confused with Chronos, the Greek god of time.

In Mythology[]

Cronus was born to Gaia and Ouranós as their last Titan child. He was asked by Gaia to kill Ouranós for imprisoning their children, the Hecatonchires and the Cyclopes, in the depths of Tartarus. He was given a sickle (named the scythe) which he used to castrate Ouranós when he was going to have intercourse with Gaia. He then became the King of Gods.

He married his sister, Rhea, and had six children: Demeter, Hestia, Hades, Poseidon, Hera, and Zeus. He was also the father of Chiron, who was born to Philyra. But when Gaia asked him to free her children from Tartarus, Cronus refused. She warned him that if he refused to let them go, that one of his children would betray and kill him, just as he did to Ouranós. He then ate all of his children, one by one, as they were born. When his sixth child, Zeus, was born, Rhea decided that she could no longer continue bearing children only to have them eaten. She swaddled a rock in a baby's cloth and gave that to Cronus instead. He gladly ate it while Zeus lived on. When Zeus grew up, he approached his father as a stranger, and gave him a drink that made him throw up his siblings, who as immortal gods had survived in Cronus' stomach.

Titanomachy[]

Once Zeus and his brothers and sisters were free, they decided to go to war with him and his Titan siblings. Cronus did not lead this war, for he was already defeated, so his nephew Atlas, led the forces of the Titans. However, the Titans lost the war against the Gods when they freed the Hecatonchires and Cyclopes at Gaia's urging. He was then cut up by Zeus with his own scythe, the one that he had used on Ouranós.

Punishment[]

Different versions of Cronus' punishment exist. Some versions of the story have him ruling over Elysium in Hades, while other versions have him trapped deep in the bowels of Tartarus, constantly tortured. And yet another is that he was made drunk, and cast off in a cave, in which he was drunk forever.

Tropes[]

Archetypes and Status[]

  • Sky Father
  • Titan

Family Tree[]

Olympian Genealogy in Greek mythology
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Chaos
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Gaia
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Uranus
 
Gaia
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Iapetus
 
Clymene
 
 
 
 
Cronus
 
Rhea
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Coeus
 
Phoebe
 
 
 
 
 
Themis
 
Zeus
 
Dione
 
 
Mnemosyne
 
Zeus
 
Eurynome
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Atlas
 
Pleione
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Metis
 
Zeus
 
 
Leto
 
Zeus
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Aphrodite
 
 
 
 
 
 
The Muses
 
Graces
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Athena
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Moirai
 
Hours
 
Nemesis
 
Tyche
Zeus
 
Maia
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Hermes
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Artemis
 
Apollo
 
Coronis
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Asclepius
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Hera
 
Zeus
 
Demeter
 
Poseidon
 
Amphitrite
 
Hades
 
Persephone
 
Hestia
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Persephone
 
 
 
 
 
 
Triton
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Arion
 
Despoina
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Hebe
 
Heracles
 
Eileithyia
 
Eris
 
Ares
 
Aphrodite
 
Hephaestus
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
AlexiAres
 
Anicetus
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Harmonia
 
Cadmus of Thebes
 
Eros
 
Anteros
 
Himeros
 
Hymenaios
 
Pothos
 
Peitho
 
Deimos
 
Phobos
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Zeus
 
Semele
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Dionysus

Gallery[]

References[]



Preceded by:
Ouranós
King of the Greek Gods

(Contested with Ophion)
Mythic

Succeeded by
Zeus
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