Titans

Titans
The Fall of the Titans by Cornelis Cornelisz van Haarlem (1596–1598)
General Information
Species	Gigantes, Deities
Equivalents
Celtic equivalent	Fomorians
Hindu equivalent	Asura
Norse equivalent	Vanir
Statistics
greekmythologywiki	Titans

The Titans (Greek Τιτάν, plural Τιτάνες) were a race of powerful elemental deities of great size that ruled during the legendary Golden Age in Greek mythology. At the beginning, there were only 12 Titans (Apollodorus adds a thirteenth Titan, Dione, the Orphics added Ophion and Eurynome, and the Eleusinians added Anytos). They were associated with various, primal concepts, some of which are simply extrapolated from their names: "ocean" and "fruitful earth", "sun" and "moon", "memory" and "natural law". The twelve first-generation Titans were led by the youngest, Kronus, who overthrew their primordial father, Ouranós ("Heaven"), at the urgings of their primordial mother, Gaia ("Earth").

A Titan is about 20 to 30 feet tall. They are commonly dressed in traditional Greek garb, favoring togas and loincloths.

The Titans later gave birth to other Titans, notably the Iapetids (children of Iapetus)— Prometheus, Epimetheus, Atlas, and Menoetius and the Hyperionides (children of Hyperion)— Helios , Selene and Eos. During the war, all of the Titanides (female Titans) and some Titans remained neutral, such as Oceanus , Themis and Helios .

The Titans preceded the Twelve Olympians, but were eventually overthrown by them, led by Zeus, in the Titanomachy ("War of the Titans"), and were imprisoned in Tartarus, the depths of the underworld.

The Titans

This is a list of Titans.

First Generation Titans or The Elder Twelve Titans

Cronus

Cronus is the one who rebelled his father, the Primordial Ouranos, and was the one who lead the rebellion of the Titans. He is the god of agriculture.

Rhea

Rhea is both the sister and the wife of Cronus and is the mother of the original six Olympians. Rhea allowed Zeus to escape being devoured by Cronus by tricking the Titan into eating a rock wrapped in blankets instead. Either she or Metis later caused Cronus to vomit up the other original Olympians by giving him wine mixed with mustard.

Oceanus

Oceanus is the Titan god and personification of the seas and oceans. He remained neutral in the rebellion of his father Ouranos.

Tethys

Tethys is the wife and sister of Oceanus and daughter of Ouranós, she and her brother-husband gave birth to the Oceanids and Potamoi.

Coeus

Coeus is the son of Ouranós and is the god of the axis of Heaven and Lord of the North. His sister and wife is Phoebe and his daughters are Leto and Asteria.

Phoebe

|Phoebe is the wife and sister of Coeus and daughter of Ouranós. Mother of Leto and Asteria and thus grandmother of Apollo, Artemis and Hekate. She gave her grandson Apollo the oracle of Delphi and her name, henceforth he became known as (Phoebus) Apollo.

Crius

Crius is the son of Ouranós and is the god of constellations and Lord of the South. He is the husband of Eurybia, a daughter of Pontus and Gaia.

Mnemosyne

Mnemosyne is the goddess of memory and mother of the Muses by Zeus.

Iapetus

Iapetus Titan God of mortality, violent death, and the underworld, and Lord of the West, also known as "the piercer" due to his weapon of choice, the spear. His sons are Prometheus and Epimetheus were the creators of mankind and all other mortal creatures (animals), Atlas bearer of heaven, and Menoetius. He is the husband of Clymene (or Asia). a daughter of Oceanus and Tethys.

Themis

Themis is the goddess of judgement and mother of the Horae and the Moirai by Zeus. He remained neutral in the rebellion of her father Ouranos.

Hyperion

Hyperion is the son of Ouranós and Gaia. He is the god of light and the Lord of the East. He is married to his sister Theia and his children are Selene, Helios (married to Rhode) and Eos (married to Astraios).

Theia

Theia is the goddess of sight and the sister and wife of Hyperion. Mother of Helios, Selene and Eos.

Second Generation Titans

Helios

Helios is the son of Hyperion and Theia. He is the Titan god and personification of the sun and is the brother of Selene and Eos. His role as sun god was absorbed by Apollo, son of Zeus during the Roman era of Greece. He is also the descendant of the Proto-Indo-European God Seh₂ul.

Selene

Selene is the daughter of Hyperion and Theia. She is the Titan goddess and personification of the Moon and is the sister of Helios and Eos. Her role as moon goddess was absorbed by Artemis, son of Zeus during the Roman era of Greece. She, by Endymion is mother of the Menai and by Zeus she is the mother of Pandeia and Erse. She is also the descendant of the Proto-Indo-European Deity Meh₁not.

Eos

Eos is the daughter of Hyperion and Theia. She is the Titan goddess and personification of the dawn and is the sister of Helios and Selene. She is the wife of Astraeus. She is mother to the four Anemoi (wind gods), Boreas, Notus, Zephyrus and Eurus, and the Astra Planeta (planetary gods), Stilbon, Phainon, and Eosphorus; and by Cephalus of Athens she is the mother of Hesperus and Phaethon. She is also the descendant of the Proto-Indo-European Deity H₂éwsōs.

Astraeus

Astraeus is the god of the stars and the planets, and the art of astrology. He is the son of Crius and Eurybia. His wife is Eos and his children are Eosphorus (Venus), Notus (West Wind), Zephyrus (South Wind), Eurus (East Wind), Phaeton (Jupiter), Stilbon (Mercury), Phainon (Saturn), Pyroeis (Mars) and Boreas (North Wind). Through Boreas' marriage to the nymph Oreithiya (Mountain Gale), he is grandfather of Khione (Snow). Through Zephyrus' marriage to Chloris (Greenery), he is grandfather of Carpus (Fruit).

Pallas

Pallas (Πάλλας) is a Titan, associated with war, killed by Athena in the fight with gods. Most sources indicate that he was the son of Crius and Eurybia, the brother of Astraeus and Perses, and the husband of Styx. He was the father of Zelus, Nike, Kratos, and Bia. In addition, he has been named as the father of Scylla, Fontes, and Lacus.

Perses

Perses is the god of destruction and son of two Titan siblings, Crius and Eurybia. He is the husband of Asteria and father of Hekate.

Asteria

Asteria is the wife of Perses and mother to Hekate. After Perses' death she was seduced by Zeus and fled into the ocean. Upon being seduced by Poseidon, she turned into the island of Delos. Daughter of Coeus and Phoebe.

Leto

Leto is the mother of Artemis and Apollo by Zeus. Goddess of being Unseen. Daughter of Coeus and Phoebe.

Atlas

Atlas is the god of the Daring and is endurance personified for his punishment he is to hold the sky and heavens forever. He is the husband of Pleione or Aethra and Hesperis. By Pleione he is the father of the Pleiades, Hyas, and the Hyades. By Hesperis he is the father of the Hesperides and Hesperus.

Prometheus

Prometheus is the god of forethought and fire and the creator of humans. Prometheus is also the protector of the human species. For his punishment he was chained to a rock in the Caucasus mountains but was later freed by his second cousin once removed (Hercules/Heracles).

Epimetheus

Epimetheus is the god of afterthought and the creator of animals. He is the husband of Pandora and in some versions was the one who opened Pandora's Pithos.

Menoetius

Menoetius is the god of violent anger and rash action. He rebelled against Zeus and was placed in Tartarus along with his father.

Third Generation Titans

Hecate

Hecate is the daughter of Perses and Asteria. She is the Titan goddess of magic and witchcraft. 

The Astra Planeta

The Astra Planeta were the Titan gods and personifications of the planets. They are Stilbon (Mercury), Eosphorus (Venus), Pyroeis (Mars), Phaeton (Jupiter), and Phainon (Saturn).

Nike

Nike is the goddess of victory. She and her siblings, Kratos, Zelus, and Bia are the children of the Titan Pallas and the Oceanid Styx. She and her siblings became the personal entourage of Zeus.

Kratos

Kratos is the god of force and power. He and his siblings, Nike, Zelus, and Bia are the children of the Titan Pallas and the Oceanid Styx. He and his siblings became the personal entourage of Zeus.

Zelus

Zelus is the god of zeal, glory, and envy. He and his siblings, Nike, Kratos, and Bia are the children of the Titan Pallas and the Oceanid Styx. He and his siblings became the personal entourage of Zeus.

Bia

Bia is the goddess of force and strength. She and her siblings, Nike, Kratos, and Zelus are the children of the Titan Pallas and the Oceanid Styx. She and her siblings became the personal entourage of Zeus.

Miscellaneous Titans

These Titans are not mentioned in Hesiod's Theogony but they are mentioned in other sources.

Dione

Dione was goddess of prophecy and original 'owner' of Dodona for prophesying and later gave it to Zeus. In some myths she is mother of Aphrodite by Zeus. She is presented as the daughter of Gaia by either Ouranos or Aether or she is an Oceanid. She is mentioned as a Titan by Apollodorus but was an Oceanid in Hesiod and the mother of Aphrodite by Homer in the Iliad.

Ophion

Ophion was the Titan Snake God and first child of Gaia and Ouranós. He was the husband of Eurynome and was the first King of the Titans until Cronus wrestled him for it and was defeated. He is mentioned in Orphic literature.

Eurynome

Eurynome is the wife of Ophion and later mother of the Hours by Zeus. He is mentioned in Orphic literature.

Anytos

God who reared the young goddess Despoina, the daughter of Demeter. He is mentioned by Pausanias when he was describing the Temple of Despoina which is part of the Eleusinian mysteries.

Titan

Titan was the Titan of astrology and a teacher to mankind and in some account the brother of Helios. He is mentioned by Pausanias when he was describing the town of Titane in Sicyon in which Pausanias said that he was the first inhabitant in the area.

Lelantos

Lelantos is a younger Titan, and god of the winds and the unseen. His name means the unseen in Greek. He is mentioned by Nonnus in his work the Dionysiaca where he also mention that he is the father of Aura and husband of Periboea, he does not mention his parentage.

Melisseus

Melisseus ("bee-man"), the father of the nymphs Adrasteia and Ide (or Aega, according to Hyginus) who nursed the infant Zeus on Crete, was the son of Ouranós and Gaia. He is mentioned by Nonnus in his work the Dionysiaca.

Olymbros

Olymbros was the mentor to Zeus in his early years on Olympus He later led a rebellion against the Olympians and was killed by Zeus. He is mentioned by Ptolemaeus Chennus in his work New History.

Oceanus

Coeus

Crius

Perses

Pallas

Astraios

Hyperion

Helios

Iapetus

Atlas

Prometheus

Epimetheus with Pandora

Gaia

Tethys

Selene

Eos

Hekate

In Hesiod

In Hesiod's Theogony the twelve Titans follow the Hundred-handers and Cyclopes as the youngest set of children of Ouranós, heaven, and Gaia, the Earth:

"Afterwards she lay with Heaven and bore deep-swirling Oceanus, Coeus and Crius and Hyperion and Iapetus, Theia and Rhea, Themis and Mnemosyne and gold-crowned Phoebe and lovely Tethys. After them was born Cronus the wily, youngest and most terrible of her children, and he hated his lusty sire."

Ouranós considered Cronos monstrous, and imprisoned him in the bowels of the Earth. Cronus, was aided by the Hecatonchires and Cyclopes, who then set upon his father, castrated him, and set himself as king of the gods, with Rhea as his wife and queen.

Rhea gave birth to a new generation of gods to Cronos, but, in fear that they too would eventually overthrow him, he swallowed them all one by one. Only Zeus was saved: Rhea gave Cronus a stone in swaddling clothes in his place, and placed the infant Zeus in Crete to be guarded by the Kouretes.

Once Zeus reached adulthood, he subdued Cronus by wile rather than force, using a potion concocted with the help of Gaia, his grandmother, to forcibly cause Cronus to vomit up Zeus's siblings. A war between younger and older gods commences, in which Zeus is aided by the Hecatonchires, Gigantes, and Cyclopes, who have once again been freed from Tartarus. Zeus wins after a long struggle, and casts many of the Titans down into Tartarus.

And yet the older gods leave their mark on the world: Oceanus continues to encircle the world, and the name of "bright shining" Phoebe was attached as an epithet to effulgent Apollo, "Phoebus Apollo". Some of them had not fought the Olympians and became key players in the new administration: Mnemosyne as a Muse, Rhea, Hyperion, Themis, or the "right ordering" of things and Metis.

Orphic sources

Hesiod is not, however, the last word on the Titans. Surviving fragments of Orphic poetry in particular preserve some variations on the myth.

In one Orphic text, Zeus does not simply set upon his father violently. Instead, Rhea spreads out a banquet for Kronos, so that he becomes drunk upon fermented honey. Rather than being consigned to Tartarus, Cronus is dragged — still drunk — to the cave of Night, where he continues to dream and prophesy throughout eternity.

Another myth concerning the Titans that is not in Hesiod revolves around Dionysus. At some point in his reign, Zeus decides to give up the throne in favor of the infant Dionysus, who like the infant Zeus is guarded by the Kouretes. The Titans decide to slay the child and claim the throne for themselves; they paint their faces white with gypsum, distract Dionysus with toys, then dismember him and boil and roast his limbs. Zeus, enraged, slays the Titans with his thunderbolt; Athena preserves the heart in a gypsum doll, out of which a new Dionysus is made. This story is told by the poets Callimachus and Nonnus, who call this old Dionysus "Zagreus", and also in a number of Orphic texts, which do not.

One iteration of this story, reported by the Neoplatonist philosopher Olympiodorus, writing in the Christian era, says that humanity sprung up out of the fatty smoke of the burning Titan corpses. Other earlier writers imply that humanity was born out of the blood shed by the Titans in their war against Zeus.

Pindar, Plato and Oppian refer offhandedly to man's "Titanic nature". Whether this refers to a sort of "original sin" rooted in the murder of Dionysus is hotly debated by scholars.

Some Orphics also attest to Ophion and his wife Eurynome, and replaced Oceanus with Hydros.

Term

Astrology

The term titan, in astrology, was suggested by John Herschel to use as name for celestial bodies like the moons on Saturn, his 1847 publication Results of Astronomical Observations Made at the Cape of Good Hope. Titan or Saturn VI, is the largest moon of Saturn and is the only natural satellite known to have a dense atmosphere, and the only object other than Earth to show evidence of stable bodies of water.

References

• Jane Ellen Harrison, Themis: A Study of the Social Origins of Greek Religion, 1912. [1]
• William Smith, Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, 1870, article on "Titan".
• Martin Litchfield West, The Orphic Poems, 1983.

External links

• Theoi Project, Titans references to Titans in classical literature
• Greek Mythology Link, Titans summary of the Titans myth
• Titans article on Wikipedia