Cronus

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

Cronus
Rhea (pictured on the left) giving the Omphalos stone to Cronus (pictured on the right)
Titan God of the Harvest
General Information
Species	God/Titan/Sky father
Biological sex	Male
Titles	King of the Titans Member of the Titans
Weapons	Sickle
Symbols	Snake, grain, sickle, scythe
Relationships
Parents	Uranus and Gaia
Grandparents	Gaia (paternal grandmother)
Siblings	Oceanus, Coeus, Crius, Hyperion, Iapetus, Theia, Rhea, Themis, Mnemosyne, Phoebe, Tethys, Uranus, Pontus, the Ourea, Cottus, Briareus, Gyges, Brontes, Steropes, Arges, the Gigantes, the Meliae, the Erinyes, Nereus, Thaumas, Phorcys, Ceto, Eurybia, Aphrodite, Typhon, Erichthonius
Consorts	Rhea, Philyra
Children	Chiron, Demeter, Hades, Hera, Hestia, Poseidon and Zeus
Grandchildren	Children of Poseidon, children of Zeus, Plutus, Philomelus, Acheron
Allegiance	Himself
Affiliation	Titans
Enemies	The Twelve Olympians
Languages
Hellēnikḗ(Ancient Greek)	Κρόνος
Equivalents
Roman equivalent	Saturn

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

A sketch of Cronus.

Cronus eating a baby.

A drawing of Cronus or Saturn with a sickle.

Cronus killing Uranus with a scythe.

Cronus devouring his child.

Rhea gives a rock to Cronus.

Rhea hands a rock to Cronus.

Cronus in a form of a horse, lying down next to a nymph.

Saturn-Cronus representing Saturday.

Cronus in Marvel Comics

Cronus (Kronos) in Percy Jackson

Cronus from God Is Dead.

Cronus (Kronos) in Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters

Cronus from Blood of Zeus.

References

Preceded by: Ouranós

King of the Greek Gods (Contested with Ophion) Mythic

Succeeded by Zeus