This page is about the Greek mythological figure. For the bird, see Rhea (bird)The rheas are species of ratites in the genus Rhea, native to South America. There are two existing species: the Greater or American Rhea and the Lesser or Darwin's Rhea. The genus name was given in 1752 by Paul Mohring and adopted as the English common name...
.
Rhea was the
TitanessIn Greek mythology, the Titans , were a race of powerful deities that ruled during the legendary Golden Age...
daughter of Ouranos, the sky, and
GaiaGaia Gaia Gaia ( or ; "land" or "earth", from the Ancient Greek Γαῖα; also Gæa or Gea (Koine and Modern Greek Γῆ) is the primal Greek goddess personifying the Earth....
, the earth, in
classical GreekClassical Greece was a culture that was highly advanced and which heavily influenced the cultures of Ancient Rome and still has an enduring effect on Western Civilization. Much of modern politics, artistic thought, scientific thought, literature, and philosophy derives from this ancient society...
mythology. She was known as
"the mother of gods." In earlier traditions, she was strongly associated with Gaia and
CybeleCybele , was the Phrygian deification of the Earth Mother...
, the
Great GoddessGreat Goddess refers to the concept of an almighty goddess, or to the concept of a mother goddess, including:*Great Goddess, anglicized form of the Latin Magna Dea*Great Goddess, anglicized form of the Sanskrit Mahadevi, the Shakti sum of all goddesses...
, and later seen by the classical Greeks as the mother of the
Olympian gods and goddessesThe Twelve Olympians, also known as the Dodekatheon , in Greek mythology, were the principal gods of the Greek pantheon, residing atop Mount Olympus. The first ancient reference of religious ceremonies for them is found in the Homeric Hymn to Hermes...
, though never dwelling permanently among them on Mount Olympus. In
Apollonius of RhodesApollonius Rhodius, also known as Apollonius of Rhodes , early 3rd century BCE - after 246 BCE, was a librarian at the Library of Alexandria...
'
Argonautica, the fusion of Rhea and Phrygian Cybele is complete. "Upon the Mother depend the winds, the ocean, the whole earth beneath the snowy seat of Olympus; whenever she leaves the mountains and climbs to the great vault of heaven, Zeus himself, the son of
KronosCronus or Kronos was the leader and the youngest of the first generation of Titans, divine descendants of Gaia, the earth goddess, and Ouranos, the sky...
, makes way, and all the other immortal gods likewise make way for the dread goddess," the seer
MopsusMopsus or Mopsos was the name of two famous seers in Greek mythology.-Son of Manto and Rhacius or Apollo:Mopsus, a celebrated seer and diviner, was the son of Manto, daughter of the mythic seer Tiresias, and of Rhacius of Caria or of Apollo himself, the oracular god...
tells Jason in
Argonautica; Jason climbed to the sanctuary high on
Mount DindymonIn Greek mythology, Dindymon was a mountain in eastern Phrygia, later part of Galatia, that was later called Agdistis, sacred to the "mountain mother", Cybele, whom the Hellenes knew as Rhea...
to offer sacrifice and libations to placate the goddess, so that the Argonauts might continue on their way. For her
temenosTemenos is a piece of land cut off and assigned as an official domain, especially to kings and chiefs, or a piece of land marked off from common uses and dedicated to a god, a sanctuary, holy grove or holy precinct: The Pythian race-course is called a temenos, the sacred valley of the Nile is the ...
they wrought an image of the goddess, a
xoanonA xoanon was an Archaic wooden cult image of Ancient Greece. Classical Greeks associated such cult objects, whether aniconic or effigy, with the legendary Daedalus...
, from a vine-stump. There "they called upon the mother of Dindymon, mistress of all, the dweller in Phrygia, and with her
TitiasIn Greek mythology, the Dactyls were the archaic mythical race of small phallic male beings associated with the Great Mother, whether as Cybele or Rhea. Their numbers vary, but often they were ten spirit-men so like the three Curetes, the Cabiri or the Korybantes that they were often interchangeable...
and
KyllenosIn Greek mythology, the Dactyls were the archaic mythical race of small phallic male beings associated with the Great Mother, whether as Cybele or Rhea. Their numbers vary, but often they were ten spirit-men so like the three Curetes, the Cabiri or the Korybantes that they were often interchangeable...
who alone of the many
Cretan Daktyls of IdaIn Greek mythology, the Dactyls were the archaic mythical race of small phallic male beings associated with the Great Mother, whether as Cybele or Rhea. Their numbers vary, but often they were ten spirit-men so like the three Curetes, the Cabiri or the Korybantes that they were often interchangeable...
are called 'guiders of destiny' and 'those who sit beside the Idaean Mother'." They leapt and danced in their armour: "For this reason the Phrygians still worship Rheia with tambourines and drums".
If
Rhea is indeed Greek, most ancient etymologists derived 'Ρέα by
metathesisMetathesis may refer to the following:* Metathesis , in phonology, a sound change that alters the order of phonemes in a word...
from έρα "ground", but a tradition embodied in
PlatoPlato , was a Classical Greek philosopher, mathematician, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world...
connected the word with ρείν, "flow".
Rhea was wife to Kronos and mother to
DemeterDemeter , in Greek mythology, is the Goddess of grain and fertility, the pure...
,
HadesHades 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 , Haidou, was an elision to denote locality: "[the house/dominion] of Hades"...
,
HeraIn the Olympian pantheon 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. In Roman mythology, Juno was the equivalent mythical character. The cow, and later, the peacock were sacred to her...
,
HestiaIn Greek mythology, virgin 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. In the public domain, the hearth of the prytaneum functioned as her official...
,
PoseidonIn Greek mythology, Poseidon was the god of the sea and, as "Earth-Shaker," of earthquakes. The name of the sea-god Nethuns in Etruscan was adopted in Latin for Neptune in Roman mythology: both were sea gods analogous to Poseidon...
, and
ZeusIn Greek mythology, Zeus is the king of the gods, the ruler of Mount Olympus and the god of the sky and thunder. His symbols are the thunderbolt, eagle, bull, and oak. In addition to his Indo-European inheritance, the classical "cloud-gatherer" also derives certain iconographic traits from the...
.
In art, Rhea is usually depicted seated in a throne flanked by
lionThe Lion is one of four big cats in the genus Panthera, and a member of the family Felidae. With some males exceeding 250 kg in weight, it is the second-largest living cat after the tiger...
s or on a
chariotThe chariot is the earliest and simplest type of carriage, used in both peace and war as the chief vehicle of many ancient peoples. Chariots were built in Mesopotamia by the Mesopotamians as early as 3000 BC and in China during the 2nd millennium BC. The original chariot was a fast, light, open,...
drawn by two lions, and is not always distinguishable from Cybele. In
Roman mythologyRoman mythology, or Latin mythology, refers to the mythological beliefs of the Italic people inhabiting the region of Latium and its main city, Ancient Rome. It can be considered as having two parts; One part, largely later and literary, consists of borrowings from Greek mythology...
, her counterpart Cybele was Magna Mater deorum Idaea and identified with
Opis or
OpsOps, more properly Opis, was a fertility deity and earth-goddess in Roman mythology of Sabine origin.-Life:Her husband was Saturn, the bountiful monarch of the Golden Age. Just as Saturn was identified with the Greek deity Cronus, Ops was identified with Rhea, Cronus' wife...
.
Kronos, Rhea's
TitanIn Greek mythology, the Titans , were a race of powerful deities that ruled during the legendary Golden Age...
brother and husband, castrated their father, Uranus. After this,
KronosCronus or Kronos was the leader and the youngest of the first generation of Titans, divine descendants of Gaia, the earth goddess, and Ouranos, the sky...
re-imprisoned the Hekatonkheires, the
GigantesIn Greek mythology, the Giants were the children of Gaia or Gaea, who was fertilized by the blood of Ouranos, after being castrated by his son Cronus....
and the
CyclopesIn Greek mythology and later Roman mythology, a cyclops , is a member of a primordial race of giants, each with a single eye in the middle of its forehead. The classical plural is cyclopes , though the conventional plural cyclopses is also used in English...
and set the monster Kampê to guard them. He and Rhea took the throne as King and Queen of the gods. This
timeTime is a component of the measuring system used to sequence events, to compare the durations of events and the intervals between them, and to quantify the motions of objects...
was called the
Golden AgeThe term Golden Age comes from Greek mythology and legend, but can also be found in other ancient cultures . It refers either to the earliest and best age in a sequence of ages, such as the Greek range of Golden, Silver, Bronze, and Iron Ages, or to a time in the beginnings of humanity that was...
.
Kronos sired several children by Rhea:
HestiaIn Greek mythology, virgin 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. In the public domain, the hearth of the prytaneum functioned as her official...
,
DemeterDemeter , in Greek mythology, is the Goddess of grain and fertility, the pure...
,
HeraIn the Olympian pantheon 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. In Roman mythology, Juno was the equivalent mythical character. The cow, and later, the peacock were sacred to her...
,
HadesHades 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 , Haidou, was an elision to denote locality: "[the house/dominion] of Hades"...
, and
PoseidonIn Greek mythology, Poseidon was the god of the sea and, as "Earth-Shaker," of earthquakes. The name of the sea-god Nethuns in Etruscan was adopted in Latin for Neptune in Roman mythology: both were sea gods analogous to Poseidon...
, but swallowed them all as soon as they were born, since he had learned from
GaiaGaia Gaia Gaia ( or ; "land" or "earth", from the Ancient Greek Γαῖα; also Gæa or Gea (Koine and Modern Greek Γῆ) is the primal Greek goddess personifying the Earth....
and
UranusUranus is the Latinized form of Ouranos , the Greek word for sky. In Greek mythology Ouranos or Father Sky, is personified as the son and husband of Gaia, Mother Earth...
that he was destined to be overcome by his own child as he had overthrown his own father. When
ZeusIn Greek mythology, Zeus is the king of the gods, the ruler of Mount Olympus and the god of the sky and thunder. His symbols are the thunderbolt, eagle, bull, and oak. In addition to his Indo-European inheritance, the classical "cloud-gatherer" also derives certain iconographic traits from the...
was about to be born, however, Rhea sought
UranusUranus is the Latinized form of Ouranos , the Greek word for sky. In Greek mythology Ouranos or Father Sky, is personified as the son and husband of Gaia, Mother Earth...
and
GaiaGaia Gaia Gaia ( or ; "land" or "earth", from the Ancient Greek Γαῖα; also Gæa or Gea (Koine and Modern Greek Γῆ) is the primal Greek goddess personifying the Earth....
to devise a plan to save him, so that Kronos would get his retribution for his acts against Ouranos and his own children. Rhea gave birth to
ZeusIn Greek mythology, Zeus is the king of the gods, the ruler of Mount Olympus and the god of the sky and thunder. His symbols are the thunderbolt, eagle, bull, and oak. In addition to his Indo-European inheritance, the classical "cloud-gatherer" also derives certain iconographic traits from the...
in
CreteCrete is the largest of the Greek islands and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea at 8,336 km²...
, handing Kronos a stone wrapped in
swaddlingSwaddling is an age-old practice of wrapping infants snugly in swaddling cloths, blankets or similar cloth so that movement of the limbs is tightly restricted. Swaddling bands were often used to further restrict the infant. It was commonly believed that this was essential for the infants to develop...
clothes, which he promptly swallowed.
Then she hid Zeus in a cave on
Mount IdaIn Greek mythology, two sacred mountains are called Mount Ida, the "Mountain of the Goddess": Mount Ida in Crete, and Mount Ida in Turkey, which known as Phrygian Ida in Classical times...
in
CreteCrete is the largest of the Greek islands and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea at 8,336 km²...
. According to varying versions of the story:
- He was then raised by Gaia
Gaia Gaia Gaia ( or ; "land" or "earth", from the Ancient Greek Γαῖα; also Gæa or Gea (Koine and Modern Greek Γῆ) is the primal Greek goddess personifying the Earth....
,
- He was suckled by a goat named Amalthea
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 Minoans may have called...
, while a company of KouretesThe Korybantes were the crested dancers who worshipped the Phrygian goddess Cybele with drumming and dancing. They are also called the Kurbantes in Phrygia, and Corybants in an older English transcription...
, soldiers, or smaller gods, shouted and clashed their swords together to make noise so that Kronos would not hear the baby's cry,
- He was raised by a nymph named 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 fed him goat milk. Since Kronos ruled over the earth, the heavens, and the sea and swallowed all of the children of Rhea, Adamanthea hid him by dangling him on a rope from a tree so he was suspended between earth, sea, and sky and thus, invisible to his father. Later Rhea married and had two children with the god Olympous.
Zeus forced the
TitanIn Greek mythology, the Titans , were a race of powerful deities that ruled during the legendary Golden Age...
Kronos to disgorge the other children in reverse order of swallowing: first the stone, which was set down at Pytho under the glens of Parnassus to be a sign to mortal men, then the rest. In some versions,
MetisIn Greek mythology, Metis was of the Titan generation and, like several primordial figures, an Oceanid, in the sense that Mètis was born of Oceanus and Tethys, of an earlier age than Zeus and his siblings. Mètis was the first great spouse of Zeus, indeed his equal and the mother of Athena, Zeus'...
gave Kronos an emetic to force him to disgorge the babies, or Zeus cut Kronos' stomach open. Then Zeus released the brothers of Kronos, the
GigantesIn Greek mythology, the Giants were the children of Gaia or Gaea, who was fertilized by the blood of Ouranos, after being castrated by his son Cronus....
, the Hecatonkheires and the
CyclopesIn Greek mythology and later Roman mythology, a cyclops , is a member of a primordial race of giants, each with a single eye in the middle of its forehead. The classical plural is cyclopes , though the conventional plural cyclopses is also used in English...
, who gave him thunder and lightning, which had previously been hidden by Gaia.
ZeusIn Greek mythology, Zeus is the king of the gods, the ruler of Mount Olympus and the god of the sky and thunder. His symbols are the thunderbolt, eagle, bull, and oak. In addition to his Indo-European inheritance, the classical "cloud-gatherer" also derives certain iconographic traits from the...
and his siblings, together with the Gigantes, Hecatonkheires, and Cyclopes,
overthrewIn 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 Titans, fighting from Mount Othrys, or Mount Etna and the Olympians, who would come to reign on Mount Olympus...
Kronos and the other Titans. Similarly, in later myths, Zeus would swallow
MetisIn Greek mythology, Metis was of the Titan generation and, like several primordial figures, an Oceanid, in the sense that Mètis was born of Oceanus and Tethys, of an earlier age than Zeus and his siblings. Mètis was the first great spouse of Zeus, indeed his equal and the mother of Athena, Zeus'...
to prevent the birth of her child,
AthenaIn Greek mythology, Athena is the goddess of wisdom, peace, warfare, strategy, handicrafts and reason, shrewd companion of heroes and the goddess of heroic endeavour...
, but she was born unharmed, out of a wound made in his head by one of the other gods.
In
HomerHomer is a legendary ancient Greek epic poet, traditionally said to be the author of the epic poems the Iliad and the Odyssey...
, Rhea is the mother of the gods, though not a universal mother like
CybeleCybele , was the Phrygian deification of the Earth Mother...
, the
PhrygiaIn 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...
n
Great MotherA mother goddess is a term used to refer to any goddess associated with motherhood, fertility, creation or the bountiful embodiment of the Earth...
, with whom she was later identified. The original seat of her worship was in
CreteCrete is the largest of the Greek islands and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea at 8,336 km²...
. There, according to myth, she saved the new-born Zeus, her sixth child, from being devoured by Kronos, by substituting a stone for the infant god and entrusting him to the care of her attendants the
CuretesThe term Curetes may refer to:*The dancing attendants of Rhea, also known as Korybantes.*An early Hellenic tribe: Curetes....
. These attendants afterwards became the bodyguard of Zeus and the priests of Rhea, and performed ceremonies in her honor. In historic times, the resemblances between Rhea and the Asiatic Great Mother, Phrygian
CybeleCybele , was the Phrygian deification of the Earth Mother...
, a manifestation of the
Great GoddessGreat Goddess refers to the concept of an almighty goddess, or to the concept of a mother goddess, including:*Great Goddess, anglicized form of the Latin Magna Dea*Great Goddess, anglicized form of the Sanskrit Mahadevi, the Shakti sum of all goddesses...
, were so noticeable that the Greeks accounted for them by regarding the latter as their own Rhea, who had deserted her original home in Crete and fled to the mountain wilds of Asia Minor to escape the persecution of Kronos. A reverse view was held by, and it is probably true that cultural contacts with the mainland brought to Crete the worship of the Asiatic Great Mother, who became the Cretan Rhea.
Most often Rhea's symbol is a pair of
lionThe Lion is one of four big cats in the genus Panthera, and a member of the family Felidae. With some males exceeding 250 kg in weight, it is the second-largest living cat after the tiger...
s, the ones that pulled her celestial
chariotThe chariot is the earliest and simplest type of carriage, used in both peace and war as the chief vehicle of many ancient peoples. Chariots were built in Mesopotamia by the Mesopotamians as early as 3000 BC and in China during the 2nd millennium BC. The original chariot was a fast, light, open,...
and were seen often, rampant, one on either side of the
gateA gate is a point of entry to a space enclosed by walls, or an opening in a fence. Gates may prevent or control entry or exit, or they may be merely decorative. Other terms for gate include yett and port....
ways through the walls to many cities in the ancient world. The one at
MycenaeMycenae , is an archaeological site in Greece, located about 90 km south-west of Athens, in the north-eastern Peloponnese. Argos is 6 km to the south; Corinth, 48 km to the north...
is most characteristic, with the lions placed on either side of a pillar that symbolizes the goddess.
The
second largest moonRhea is the second-largest moon of Saturn and the ninth largest moon in the Solar System. It was discovered in 1672 by Giovanni Domenico Cassini.-Name:Rhea is named after the Titan Rhea of Greek mythology, "mother of the gods"...
of the planet
SaturnSaturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second largest planet in the Solar System, after Jupiter. Saturn, along with Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune, is classified as a gas giant...
is named after her.