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Cronus or Kronos, (Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek

Ancient Greek is the historical stage in the development of the Greek language spanning across the Archaic Greece , Classical Greece , and Hellenistic civilization periods of ancient Greece and the classical antiquity....
 ??????, Krónos), was the leader and the youngest of the first generation of Titans
Titan (mythology)

In Greek mythology, the Titans ; were a race of powerful deities that ruled during the legendary golden age. Their role as Elder Gods was overthrown by a race of younger gods, the Twelve Olympians, effected a mythological paradigm shift that the Greeks borrowed from the Ancient Near East....
, divine descendants of Gaia
Gaia (mythology)

Gaia Gaia is a Greek primordial gods and chthonic deity in the Ancient Greek Pantheon and considered a Mother Goddess or Great Goddess....
, the earth, and Ouranos
Uranus (mythology)

Uranus is the Latinized form of Ouranos , the Greek language word for sky. In Greek mythology Uranus , or Father Sky, is personified as the son and husband of Gaia , Mother Earth ....
, the sky. He overthrew his father and ruled during the mythological Golden Age
Golden age

The term Golden age in ancient Greece mythology and legend but can also be found in other ancient cultures . It refers either to the highest age in the Greek spectrum of Iron, Bronze, Silver and Golden ages, or to a time in the beginnings of Humanity which was perceived as an ideal state, or utopia, when mankind was pure and immortal....
, until he was overthrown by his own sons, Zeus, Hades, and Poseidon, and imprisoned in Tartarus
Tartarus

In classic Roman mythology, below Heaven, Earth, and Pontus is Tartarus, or Tartaros . It is a deep, gloomy place, a pit, or an abyss used as a dungeon of torment and suffering that resides beneath the Hades....
  or sent to rule the paradise of the Elysian Fields
Elysium

In Greek mythology, Elysium was a section of the Greek Underworld . The Elysian Fields, or the Elysian Plains, were the final resting place of the souls of the heroic and the virtuous....
.

As a result of his association and virtuous Golden Age, Cronus was worshipped as a harvest
Harvest

In agriculture, the harvest is the process of gathering mature crop from the field s. Reaping is the cutting of grain or Pulse for harvest, typically using a scythe, sickle, or reaper....
 deity
Deity

A deity is a postulated preternatural or supernatural immortal being, who may be thought of as holy, divinity, or sacred, held in high regard, and respected by human beings....
, overseeing crops such as grains, nature and agriculture.






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Cronus or Kronos, (Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek

Ancient Greek is the historical stage in the development of the Greek language spanning across the Archaic Greece , Classical Greece , and Hellenistic civilization periods of ancient Greece and the classical antiquity....
 ??????, Krónos), was the leader and the youngest of the first generation of Titans
Titan (mythology)

In Greek mythology, the Titans ; were a race of powerful deities that ruled during the legendary golden age. Their role as Elder Gods was overthrown by a race of younger gods, the Twelve Olympians, effected a mythological paradigm shift that the Greeks borrowed from the Ancient Near East....
, divine descendants of Gaia
Gaia (mythology)

Gaia Gaia is a Greek primordial gods and chthonic deity in the Ancient Greek Pantheon and considered a Mother Goddess or Great Goddess....
, the earth, and Ouranos
Uranus (mythology)

Uranus is the Latinized form of Ouranos , the Greek language word for sky. In Greek mythology Uranus , or Father Sky, is personified as the son and husband of Gaia , Mother Earth ....
, the sky. He overthrew his father and ruled during the mythological Golden Age
Golden age

The term Golden age in ancient Greece mythology and legend but can also be found in other ancient cultures . It refers either to the highest age in the Greek spectrum of Iron, Bronze, Silver and Golden ages, or to a time in the beginnings of Humanity which was perceived as an ideal state, or utopia, when mankind was pure and immortal....
, until he was overthrown by his own sons, Zeus, Hades, and Poseidon, and imprisoned in Tartarus
Tartarus

In classic Roman mythology, below Heaven, Earth, and Pontus is Tartarus, or Tartaros . It is a deep, gloomy place, a pit, or an abyss used as a dungeon of torment and suffering that resides beneath the Hades....
  or sent to rule the paradise of the Elysian Fields
Elysium

In Greek mythology, Elysium was a section of the Greek Underworld . The Elysian Fields, or the Elysian Plains, were the final resting place of the souls of the heroic and the virtuous....
.

As a result of his association and virtuous Golden Age, Cronus was worshipped as a harvest
Harvest

In agriculture, the harvest is the process of gathering mature crop from the field s. Reaping is the cutting of grain or Pulse for harvest, typically using a scythe, sickle, or reaper....
 deity
Deity

A deity is a postulated preternatural or supernatural immortal being, who may be thought of as holy, divinity, or sacred, held in high regard, and respected by human beings....
, overseeing crops such as grains, nature and agriculture. He was usually depicted with a sickle
Sickle

A sickle is a hand-held agricultural tool with a curved blade typically used for harvesting cereal crop or cutting grass for hay. The inside of the curve is sharp, so that the user can draw or swing the blade against the base of the crop, catching it in the curve and slicing it at the same time....
, which he used to harvest crops and which was also the weapon he used to castrate and depose Ouranos. In Athens, on the twelfth day of every month (Hekatombaion
Attic calendar

The Attic calendar is the calendar that was in use in ancient Attica, the ancestral territory of the ancient Athens polis. This article focuses on the 5th century BC and 4th century BC, the classical period that produced some of the most significant works of ancient Greek literature....
), a festival called Kronia
Kronia

In Athens, Greece, on the twelfth day of the month of Hekatombaion, a festival called Kronia was held in honor of Cronus, a god of agriculture, and to celebrate the harvest....
 was held in honor of Cronus to celebrate the harvest. Cronus was also identified in classical antiquity
Classical antiquity

Classical antiquity is a broad term for a long period of cultural history centered on the Mediterranean Sea, comprising the interlocking civilizations of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome....
 with the Roman deity
Roman mythology

Roman mythology, or more appropriately, Latin mythology, refers to the mythology beliefs of the Italic people inhabiting the region of Latium and its main city, Rome....
 Saturn
Saturn (mythology)

Saturn was a major Roman mythology god of agriculture and harvest. In medieval times he was known as the Roman god of agriculture, justice and strength; he held a sickle in his left hand and a bundle of wheat in his right....
.

The etymology of the name is obscure. It may be related to "horned", suggesting a possible connection with the ancient Indian demon Kroni
Kroni

Kroni is a figure in Ayyavazhi mythology. He is the primordial manifestation of evil, and manifests in various forms of evil, such as Ravana and Duryodhana, in different ages or yugas....
 or the Levantine deity El
El (god)

is the Northwest Semitic languages word for "deity" , cognate to Arabic and Akkadian .In the Canaanite religion, or Levantine religion as a whole, El or Il was the supreme god, the father of humankind and all creatures and the husband of the Goddess Asherah as attested in the tablets of Ugarit....
. In the Alexandrian and Renaissance
Renaissance

The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe....
 periods there was some confusion with the word ??????, Chronos, meaning time
Time

Time is a component of the measurement used to sequence events, to compare the durations of events and the intervals between them, and to quantify the motions of objects....
.

In Greek mythology and early myths


In ancient Greek myths, Cronos envied the power of his father, the ruler of the universe, Ouranos
Uranus (mythology)

Uranus is the Latinized form of Ouranos , the Greek language word for sky. In Greek mythology Uranus , or Father Sky, is personified as the son and husband of Gaia , Mother Earth ....
. Ouranos drew the enmity of Cronus' mother, Gaia
Gaia (mythology)

Gaia Gaia is a Greek primordial gods and chthonic deity in the Ancient Greek Pantheon and considered a Mother Goddess or Great Goddess....
, when he hid the gigantic youngest children of Gaia, the hundred-armed Hecatonchires
Hecatonchires

The Hecatonchires, or Hekatonkheires, were three gargantuan figures of an archaic stage of Greek mythology. According to Hesiod they were children of Gaia and Uranus , simply the issue of Earth and Sky, or of Earth and Sea thus part of the very beginning of things in the submerged prehistory of Greek myth, though they played no part...
 and one-eyed Cyclopes
Cyclops

In Greek mythology and later Roman mythology, a cyclops , is a member of a primordial race of giant , each with a single eye in the middle of its forehead....
, in Tartarus
Tartarus

In classic Roman mythology, below Heaven, Earth, and Pontus is Tartarus, or Tartaros . It is a deep, gloomy place, a pit, or an abyss used as a dungeon of torment and suffering that resides beneath the Hades....
, so that they would not see the light. Gaia created a great adamant
Adamant

Adamantand similar words are used to refer to any especially hardness substance, whether composed of diamond, some other gemstone, or some type of metal....
 sickle
Sickle

A sickle is a hand-held agricultural tool with a curved blade typically used for harvesting cereal crop or cutting grass for hay. The inside of the curve is sharp, so that the user can draw or swing the blade against the base of the crop, catching it in the curve and slicing it at the same time....
 and gathered together Cronus and his brothers to persuade them to kill Ouranos. Only Cronus was willing to do the deed, so Gaia gave him the sickle and placed him in ambush. When Ouranos met with Gaia, Cronus attacked him with the sickle by cutting off his genitals, castrating
Castration

Castration is any action, surgery, chemical castration, or otherwise, by which a male loses the functions of the testicles. In common usage the term is usually applied to males, although as a medical term it is applied to both males and females....
 him and casting the severed member into the sea. From the blood
Blood

Blood is a specialized bodily fluid that delivers necessary substances to the body's Cell s ? such as nutrients and oxygen ? and transports waste products away from those same cells....
 (or, by a few accounts, semen
Semen

Semen is an organic fluid, also known as seminal fluid, that usually contains spermatozoon....
) that spilled out from Ouranos and fell upon the earth, the Gigantes
Gigantes

In Greek mythology, the Gigantes or, commonly, Giants, were a race of giants, children of Gaia or Gaea, who were fertilized by the blood of Uranus_, after being castration by his son Cronus....
, Erinyes
Erinyes

In Greek mythology the Erinyes or Eumenides or Furies in Roman mythology were female, chthonic deities of revenge or supernatural personifications of the anger of the dead....
, and Meliae
Meliae

In Greek mythology, the Meliae or Meliai were nymphs of the ash tree, whose name they shared. They appeared from the drops of blood spilled when Cronus castrated Uranus , according to Hesiod, Theogony 187....
 were produced. From the member that was cast into the sea, Aphrodite
Aphrodite

Aphrodite is the classical Greek mythology goddess of love, sex, and beauty. According to Greek oral poet Hesiod, she was born when Uranus was castrated by his son Cronus....
 later emerged. For this, Ouranos threatened vengeance and called his sons titenes (according to Hesiod meaning "straining ones," the source of the word "titan", but this etymology is disputed) for overstepping their boundaries and daring to commit such an act.


In an alternate version of this myth, a more benevolent Cronus overthrew the wicked serpentine Titan Ophion
Ophion

In some versions of Greek mythology, Ophion , also called Ophioneus ruled the world with Eurynome before the two of them were cast down by Cronus and Rhea ....
. In doing so, he released the world from bondage and for a time ruled it justly.

After dispatching Ouranos, Cronus re-imprisoned the Hecatonchires
Hecatonchires

The Hecatonchires, or Hekatonkheires, were three gargantuan figures of an archaic stage of Greek mythology. According to Hesiod they were children of Gaia and Uranus , simply the issue of Earth and Sky, or of Earth and Sea thus part of the very beginning of things in the submerged prehistory of Greek myth, though they played no part...
, the Gigantes
Gigantes

In Greek mythology, the Gigantes or, commonly, Giants, were a race of giants, children of Gaia or Gaea, who were fertilized by the blood of Uranus_, after being castration by his son Cronus....
, and the Cyclopes
Cyclops

In Greek mythology and later Roman mythology, a cyclops , is a member of a primordial race of giant , each with a single eye in the middle of its forehead....
 and set the dragon Campe
Campe

A chthonic female monster in Greek mythology Kamp? was set by Kronos to guard the Hecatonchires and Cyclops in Tartarus after Kronos imprisoned them there; she was killed by Zeus when he rescued the Cyclopes for help in the Titanomachy Campe was a she-dragon with a woman's head and torso and a scorpion-like tail....
 to guard them. He and Rhea
Rhea (mythology)

This page is about the Greek mythological figure. For the bird, see Rhea .Rhea was the Titan daughter of Ouranos , the sky, and Gaia , the earth, in Classical Greece mythology....
 took the throne of the world as king and queen. This period of Cronus' rule was called the Golden Age
Golden age

The term Golden age in ancient Greece mythology and legend but can also be found in other ancient cultures . It refers either to the highest age in the Greek spectrum of Iron, Bronze, Silver and Golden ages, or to a time in the beginnings of Humanity which was perceived as an ideal state, or utopia, when mankind was pure and immortal....
, as the people of the time had no need for laws or rules; everyone did the right thing, and immorality was absent.

Cronus learned from Gaia and Ouranos that he was destined to be overcome by his own son, just as he had overthrown his father. As a result, although he sired the gods Demeter
Demeter

File:Demeter in horse chariot w daughter kore 83d40m wikiC Tempio Y di Selinunte sec VIa.JPGDemeter , in Greek mythology, is the Goddess of cereal and fertility, the pure....
, Hera
Hera

In the Twelve Olympians of classical Greek Mythology, Hera or Here was the wife and older sister of Zeus. Her chief function was as goddess of women and marriage....
, Hades
Hades

Hades refers both to the ancient Greek underworld, the abode of Hades, and to the god of the underworld. Hades in Homer referred just to the god; the genitive case , Haidou, was an elision to denote locality: "[the house/dominion] of Hades"....
, Hestia
Hestia

In Greek mythology, virginal Hestia, daughter of Cronus and Rhea , is the goddess of the hearth, of the right ordering of domesticity and the family, who received the first offering at every sacrifice in the household....
, and Poseidon
Poseidon

In Greek mythology, Poseidon was the god of the sea and, as "Earth-Shaker," of earthquakes. The name of the god Nethuns in Etruscan mythology was adopted in Latin for Neptune in Roman mythology: both were sea gods analogous to Poseidon....
 by Rhea, he swallowed them all as soon as they were born to preempt the prophecy. When the sixth child, Zeus
Zeus

Zeus in Greek mythology is the king of the gods, the ruler of Mount Olympus and the god of the sky father and List of thunder gods. His symbols are the thunderbolt, eagle, bull , and oak....
, was born Rhea sought Gaia to devise a plan to save them and to eventually get retribution on Cronus for his acts against his father and children. Rhea secretly gave birth to Zeus in Crete
Crete

Crete is the largest of the Greek islands and the List of islands in the Mediterranean largest island in the Mediterranean Sea at 8,336 km? ....
, and handed Cronus a stone wrapped in swaddling clothes, also known as the Omphalos
Omphalos

An omphalos is an ancient religious stone Artifact , or baetylus. In Greek language, the word omphalos means "navel" . According to the ancient Greeks, Zeus sent out two eagles to fly across the world to meet at its center, the "navel" of the world....
 Stone, which he promptly swallowed, thinking that it was his son.

Rhea kept Zeus hidden in a cave on Mount Ida, Crete
Mount Ida, Crete

Mount Ida, known variously as Idha, ?dhi, Idi, Ita and now Psiloritis, is the highest mountain on Crete. Located in the Rethymno Prefecture, it is sacred to the Greek mythology Titaness Rhea , and on its slopes, according to legend, lies the cave in which Zeus was born....
. According to some versions of the story, he was then raised by a goat named Amalthea
Amalthea (mythology)

In Greek mythology, Amalthea or Amaltheia is the most often mentioned among foster-mothers of Zeus. Her name in Greek is clearly an epithet, signifying the presence of an earlier nurturing goddess, whom the Hellenes, whose myths we know, knew to be located in Crete, where Minoan civilizations may have called her a version of "Dikte"...
, while a company of Kouretes
Korybantes

The Korybantes were the crested dancers who worshiped the Phrygian goddess Cybele with drumming and dancing. They are also called the Kurbantes in Phrygia, and Corybants in an older English language transcription....
, armored male dancers, shouted and clapped their hands to make enough noise to mask the baby's cries from Cronus. Other versions of the myth have Zeus raised by the nymph Adamanthea
Adamanthea

A nymph in Greek mythology, Adamanthea helped raise the infant Zeus to hide him from his father, Cronus. Reacting to a prophecy from his mother Gaia that his own offspring would overthrow his supreme position in the pantheon, Cronus swallowed all of his children immediately after birth....
, who hid Zeus by dangling him by a rope from a tree so that he was suspended between the earth, the sea, and the sky, all of which were ruled by his father, Cronus. Still other versions of the tale say that Zeus was raised by his grandmother, Gaia.

Once he had grown up, Zeus used a poison given to him by Gaia to force Cronus (Kronos or Kronus) to disgorge the contents of his stomach in reverse order: first the stone, which was set down at Pytho under the glens of Mount Parnassus
Mount Parnassus

Mount Parnassus is a mountain of barren limestone in central Greece that towers above Delphi, north of the Gulf of Corinth, and offers scenic views of the surrounding olive groves and countryside....
 to be a sign to mortal men, then the goat, and then his two brothers and three sisters. In other versions of the tale, Metis
Metis (mythology)

In Greek mythology, Metis was of the Titan generation and, like several primordial figures, an Oceanid, in the sense that M?tis was born of Oceanus and Tethys , of an earlier age than Zeus and his siblings....
 gave Cronus an emetic to force him to disgorge the children, or Zeus cut Cronus' stomach open. After freeing his siblings, Zeus released the Gigantes, the Hecatonchires, and the Cyclopes, who forged for him his thunderbolts. In a vast war called the Titanomachy
Titanomachy

In Greek mythology, the Titanomachy, or War of the Titans , was the ten-year series of battles fought between the two races of deities long before the existence of mankind: the Titan , fighting from Mount Othrys, or Mount Etna and the Twelve Olympians, who would come to reign on Mount Olympus ....
, Zeus and his brothers and sisters, with the help of the Gigantes, Hecatonchires, and Cyclopes, overthrew Cronus and the other Titans. Afterwards, many of the Titans were confined in Tartarus
Tartarus

In classic Roman mythology, below Heaven, Earth, and Pontus is Tartarus, or Tartaros . It is a deep, gloomy place, a pit, or an abyss used as a dungeon of torment and suffering that resides beneath the Hades....
. Some Titans were not banished to Tartarus
Tartarus

In classic Roman mythology, below Heaven, Earth, and Pontus is Tartarus, or Tartaros . It is a deep, gloomy place, a pit, or an abyss used as a dungeon of torment and suffering that resides beneath the Hades....
. Atlas, Cronus, Epimetheus, Menoetius, Oceanus and Prometheus are examples of Titans who were not imprisoned in Tartarus following the Titanomachy
Titanomachy

In Greek mythology, the Titanomachy, or War of the Titans , was the ten-year series of battles fought between the two races of deities long before the existence of mankind: the Titan , fighting from Mount Othrys, or Mount Etna and the Twelve Olympians, who would come to reign on Mount Olympus ....
. Gaia bore the monster Typhon
Typhon

In Greek mythology, Typhon , also Typheus/Typhoeus , Typhaon or Typhos is the final son of Gaia , fathered by Tartarus, and is the god of wind....
 to claim revenge for the imprisoned Titans, though Zeus was victorious. Accounts of the fate of Cronus after the Titanomachy differ. In Homer
Homer

Homer is traditionally held to be the author of the ancient Greek language epic poems the Iliad and the Odyssey, as well as of the Homeric Hymns....
ic and other texts he is imprisoned with the other Titans in Tartarus. In Orphic poems, he is imprisoned for eternity in the cave of Nyx. Pindar describes his release from Tartarus, where he is made King of Elysium
Elysium

In Greek mythology, Elysium was a section of the Greek Underworld . The Elysian Fields, or the Elysian Plains, were the final resting place of the souls of the heroic and the virtuous....
 by Zeus. In another version, the Titans released the Cyclopes from Tartarus, and Cronos was awarded the kingship among them, beginning a Golden Age
Golden age

The term Golden age in ancient Greece mythology and legend but can also be found in other ancient cultures . It refers either to the highest age in the Greek spectrum of Iron, Bronze, Silver and Golden ages, or to a time in the beginnings of Humanity which was perceived as an ideal state, or utopia, when mankind was pure and immortal....
.

Other children Cronus is reputed to have fathered include Chiron
Chiron

In Greek mythology, Chiron or Cheiron was held as the superlative centaur among his brethren. Like the satyrs, centaurs were notorious for being overly indulgent drinkers and carousers, given to violence when intoxicated, and generally uncultured delinquents....
, by Philyra.

Cronos is again mentioned in the Sibylline Oracles
Sibylline oracles

The Sibylline Oracles are a collection of oracular utterances written in Dactylic hexameter ascribed to the Sibyls, prophetesses who uttered divine revelations in a frenzied state....
, particularly book three, which makes Cronos, 'Titan' and Iapetus
Iapetus (mythology)

In Greek mythology, Iapetus, also Iapetos or Japetus , was a Titan , the son of Uranus and Gaia , and father of Atlas , Prometheus, Epimetheus , and Menoetius and through Prometheus, Epimetheus and Atlas an ancestor of the human race....
, the three sons of Ouranos and Gaia, each to receive a third division of the Earth, and Cronos is made king over all. After the death of Ouranos, Titan's sons attempt to destroy Cronos' and Rhea's male offspring as soon as they are born, but at Dodona
Dodona

Dodona in Epirus in northwestern Greece, was a prehistoric oracle devoted to the Mother Goddess identified at other sites with Rhea or Gaia , but here called Dione and later, in historical times also to the Greek mythology God Zeus....
, Rhea secretly bears her sons Zeus, Poseidon and Hades and sends them to Phrygia
Phrygia

In antiquity, Phrygia was a kingdom in the west central part of Anatolia, in what is now modern-day Turkey. The Phrygians initially lived in the Southern Balkans; according to Herodotus, under the name of Bryges, changing it to Phruges after their final migration to Anatolia, via the Hellespont....
 to be raised in the care of three Cretans. Upon learning this, sixty of Titan's men then imprison Cronos and Rhea, causing the sons of Cronos to declare and fight the first of all wars against them. This account mentions nothing about Cronos either killing his father or attempting to kill any of his children.

El, the Phoenician Cronus


When Hellenes encountered Phoenicians and later, Hebrews, they identified the Semitic El
El (god)

is the Northwest Semitic languages word for "deity" , cognate to Arabic and Akkadian .In the Canaanite religion, or Levantine religion as a whole, El or Il was the supreme god, the father of humankind and all creatures and the husband of the Goddess Asherah as attested in the tablets of Ugarit....
, by interpretatio graeca
Interpretatio graeca

Interpretatio graeca is a Latin term for the common tendency of ancient Greek writers to equate foreign divinities to members of their own pantheon....
, with Cronus. The association was recorded as late as Philo
Philo

Philo , known also as Philo of Alexandria , Philo Judaeus, Philo Judaeus of Alexandria, Yedidia and Philo the Jew, was a Hellenistic Judaism philosopher born in Alexandria, Egypt....
, reported in Eusebius' Prĉparatio Evangelica I.10.16, as Peter Walcot observed.

The account ascribed by Eusebius to the semi-legendary pre-Trojan War
Trojan War

In Greek mythology, the Trojan War was waged against the city of Troy by the Achaeans after Paris of Troy stole Helen from her husband Menelaus, the king of Sparta....
 Phoenicia
Phoenicia

Phoenicia was an ancient civilization centered in the north of ancient Canaan, with its heartland along the coastal regions of modern day Lebanon, extending to parts of Israel, Syria and the Palestinian territories....
n historian, Sanchuniathon
Sanchuniathon

Sanchuniathon is the purported Phoenician author of three lost works originally in the Phoenician language, surviving only in partial paraphrase and summary of a Greek language translation by Philo of Byblos, according to the Christian bishop Eusebius of Caesarea....
, indicates that Cronus was originally a Canaan
Canaan

Canaan is an ancient term for a region encompassing modern-day Israel and Lebanon, the Palestinian Territories, plus adjoining coastal lands and parts of Jordan, Syria and northeastern Egypt....
ite ruler who founded Byblos
Byblos

Byblos is the Greek language name of the Phoenician city Gebal . It is a Mediterranean city in the Mount Lebanon Governorate of present-day Lebanon under the current Arabic language name of Jbeil and was also referred to as Gibelet during the Crusades....
 and was subsequently deified. This version gives his alternate name as Elus or Ilus, and states that in the 32nd year of his reign, he emasculated, slew and deified his father Epigeius or Autochthon "whom they afterwards called Uranus". It further states that after ships were invented, Cronos, visiting the 'inhabitable world', bequeathed Attica
Attica

Attica is a Peripheries of Greece in Greece, containing Athens, the capital of Greece. Attica is subdivided into the prefectures of Greece of Athens Prefecture, Piraeus Prefecture, East Attica and West Attica....
 to his own daughter Athena
Athena

In Greek mythology, Athena is the shrewd companion of Hero and the goddess of Hero endeavour. She is the virgin patron of Athens, which built the Parthenon to worship her....
, and Egypt
Egypt

Egypt is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Western Asia. Covering an area of about , Egypt borders the Mediterranean Sea to the north, the Gaza Strip and Israel to the northeast, the Red Sea to the east, Sudan to the south and Libya to the west....
 to Thoth
Thoth

Thoth, , though variations are accepted , was considered one of the more important god of the Egyptian pantheon, often depicted with the head of an Sacred Ibis....
 the son of Misor
Misor

Misor was the name of a deity appearing in a theogeny provided by Roman era Phoenician writer Philo of Byblos in an account preserved by Eusebius in his Praeparatio Evangelica, and attributed to the still earlier Sanchuniathon....
 and inventor of writing.

In Roman mythology and later culture


the Mutiliation of Uranus By Saturn


Forumromanum


While the Greeks considered Cronus a force of chaos along with disorder, believing that the Olympian gods had brought an era of peace and order by seizing power from the crude and malicious Titans, the Romans had a more positive view of the deity. Although the Roman deity Saturn
Saturn (mythology)

Saturn was a major Roman mythology god of agriculture and harvest. In medieval times he was known as the Roman god of agriculture, justice and strength; he held a sickle in his left hand and a bundle of wheat in his right....
 was conflated heavily with Cronus, the Romans favored Saturn much more than the Greeks did Cronus. While Cronus was considered a cruel and tempestuous deity to the Greeks, his nature under Roman influence became more innocuous, with his association with the Golden Age eventually causing him to become the god of "human time", i.e., calendars, seasons, and harvests — not to be confused with Chronos
Chronos

In Greek mythology, Chronos in pre-Socratic philosophical works is said to be the personification of time. His name actually means "time," and is alternatively spelled Khronos or Chronus ....
, the unrelated embodiment of time in general. While the Greeks largely neglected Cronus, considering him a mere intermediary stage between Ouranos and Zeus, he was a larger aspect of Roman mythology and religion
Roman religion

The term Roman religion may refer to:*Religion in ancient Rome*religions of the Roman Empire period **Imperial cult *** Sol Invictus**Mithraism...
; Saturnalia
Saturnalia

Saturnalia is the festival with which the Romans commemorated the dedication of the temple of the god Saturn , which was on 17 December. Over the years, it expanded to a whole week, to 23 December....
 was a festival dedicated in his honor, and at least one temple to Saturn
Temple of Saturn

The Temple of Saturn is a monument to the Roman mythology Saturn that stands at the western end of the Forum Romanum in Rome. It represents the oldest surviving structure in that area, having been established between 501 BC and 498 BC....
 existed in the early Roman Kingdom
Roman Kingdom

The Roman Kingdom was the monarchy government of the city of Rome and its territories. Little is certain about the history of the Roman Kingdom, as no written records from that time survive, and the histories about it were written during the Roman Republic and Roman Empire and are largely based on legend....
.

Owing to the abundance of isolated cities in ancient and classic times, numerous myths were developed and adopted to the local regions. As technology allowed cultures of common descent to rejoin, people made accommodations to create a unified pantheon or understanding of the universe.

As a result of Cronus' importance to the Romans, his Roman variant, Saturn, has had a large influence on Western culture
Western culture

File:Clash of Civilizations map.pngWestern culture are terms which are used to refer to cultures of European origin. This terminology originated as a way of describing what was different about the Graeco-Roman culture and its descendants, in contrast to the older neighboring civilizations of the Middle East, which in many ways continued...
. In accordance with the Near Eastern tradition, the seventh day of the Judaeo-Christian week was also called in Latin
Latin

Latin is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Military history of the Roman Empire, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe....
 Dies Saturni ("Day of Saturn"), which in turn was adapted and became the source of the English
English language

English is a West Germanic language that originated in Anglo-Saxon England and has lingua franca status in many parts of the world as a result of the military, economic, scientific, political and cultural influence of the British Empire in the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries and that of the United States from the mid 20th century onwa...
 word Saturday. In astronomy
Astronomy

Astronomy is the science of Astronomical object and Phenomenon that originate outside the Earth's atmosphere . It is concerned with the evolution, physics, chemistry, meteorology, and motion of celestial objects, as well as the physical cosmology....
, the planet Saturn is named after the Roman deity. It is the seventh and outermost of the seven heavenly objects that are visible with the naked eye.

Argive genealogy in Greek mythology



See also


  • Hesiod
    Hesiod

    Hesiod was a Greek language oral poet, his date is uncertain but leading scholars agree that Hesiod lived in the latter half of the Eighth-century BCE....
    : the Theogony
    Theogony

    The Theogony is a poem by Hesiod describing the origins and genealogy of the polytheism of the ancient Greeks, composed circa 700 BC....
    , Works and Days
    Hesiod

    Hesiod was a Greek language oral poet, his date is uncertain but leading scholars agree that Hesiod lived in the latter half of the Eighth-century BCE....
    .

External links


  • , a collection of source texts confirming most of the statements in this article.