Titan (mythology)

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Titan (mythology)

In Greek mythology

Greek mythology

Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the Ancient Greece concerning their List of Greek mythological figures#Immortals and Greek hero cult, Cosmology#Metaphysical cosmology, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices....
, the Titans (Greek

Greek language

Greek is an Indo-European languages native to the southern Balkan peninsula, the language of the Greek people. It forms an independent branch within Indo-European....
: - Ti-tan; plural: - Ti-tânes); were a race of powerful deities that ruled during the legendary 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....
. Their role as Elder Gods was overthrown by a race of younger gods, the Olympians

Twelve Olympians

The Twelve Olympians or younger gods, also known as the Dodekatheon , in Greek mythology, were the principal Greek Godss of the Greek pantheon , residing atop Mount Olympus, having supplanted the Titan or older gods in the greek mythogical narrative....
, effected a mythological paradigm

Paradigm

The word paradigm has been used in linguistics and science to describe distinct concepts.To the 1960s, the word was specific to grammar: the 1900 Merriam-Webster dictionary defines its technical use only in the context of grammar or, in rhetoric, as a term for an illustrative parable or fable....
shift that the Greeks borrowed from the Ancient Near East

Ancient Near East

The Ancient Near East refers to early civilizations within a region roughly corresponding to the modern Middle East: Mesopotamia , Fars Province, Elam and Medes , Anatolia , the Levant , and Ancient Egypt, from the rise of Sumer in the 4th millennium BCE until the region's conquest by Alexander the Great in the 4th century BCE, or covering both th...
.

There are twelve Titans from their first literary appearance, in 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....
, 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....
; Pseudo-Apollodorus, in Bibliotheke, adds a thirteenth Titan Dione

Dione (mythology)

Dione in Greek mythology is a vague goddess presence who has her most concrete form in Book V of Homer's Iliad as the mother of Aphrodite who lived among the mortals was known for her kindness....
, a double of Theia

Theia

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In Greek mythology

Greek mythology

Greek language

Golden age

Twelve Olympians

Paradigm

Ancient Near East

Hesiod

Dione (mythology)

Theia

In Greek mythology, Theia, goddess or divine, , also called Euryphaessa, wide-shining, was a Titan . The name Theia alone means simply, "goddess"; Theia Euryphaessa brings overtones of extent and brightness....
. The six male Titans are known as the Titanes, and the females as the Titanides ("Titanesses"). The Titans were associated with various primal concepts, some of which are simply extrapolated from their names: ocean

Water (classical element)

Water has been important to all peoples of the earth, and it is rich in spiritual tradition....
and fruitful earth

Earth (classical element)

Earth, home and origin of humanity, has often been worshipped in its own right with its own unique spiritual tradition....
, sun

Sun

The Sun , a G V star, is the star at the center of the Solar System. The Earth and other matter orbit the Sun, which by itself accounts for about 98.6% of the Solar System's mass....
and moon

Moon

The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite and the List of natural satellites by diameter satellite in the Solar System. The average centre-to-centre distance from the Earth to the Moon is km, about thirty times the diameter of the Earth....
, memory

Memory

In psychology, memory is an organism's mental ability to store, retain and recall information. Traditional studies of memory began in the fields of philosophy, including techniques of mnemonic....
and natural law

Natural law

Natural law or the law of nature is a theory that posits the existence of a law whose content is set by nature and that therefore has validity everywhere....
. The twelve first-generation Titans were ruled by the youngest, Cronus

Cronus

Cronus or Kronos, , was the leader and the youngest of the first generation of Titan , divine descendants of Gaia , the earth, and Uranus , the sky....
(Saturn), who overthrew their father, 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 ....
('Sky'), at the urgings of their 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....
('Earth').

Several Titans produced offspring who are also known as "Titans." These second-generation Titans include the children of Hyperion

Hyperion (mythology)

Hyperion is one of the twelve Titan gods of Ancient Greece, which were later supplanted by the Olympians. He was the son of Gaia and Uranus , and was referred to in early mythological writings as Helios Hyperion, 'Sun High-one'....
(Helios

Helios

Helios is the god of sun.In Greek mythology the sun was personified as Helios . Homer often calls him simply Titan or Hyperion , while Hesiod and the Homeric Hymn separate him as a son of the Titans Hyperion and Theia or Euryphaessa and brother of the goddesses Selene, the moon, and Eos, the dawn....
, Eos

Eos

Eos is, in Greek mythology, the Titan goddess of the dawn, who rose from her home at the edge of Oceanus, the Ocean that surrounds the world, to herald her brother Helios, the sun....
, and Selene

Selene

Selene is the Titan goddess of the moon.In Greek mythology, Selene was an archaic lunar deity and the daughter of the Titan Hyperion and Theia....
), the daughters of Coeus

Coeus

In Greek mythology, Coeus was one of the Titan , the giant sons and daughters of Uranus and Gaia ; his equivalent in Latin poetry?though he scarcely makes an appearance in Roman mythology? was Polus, the embodiment of the celestrial axis around which the heavens revolve....
(Leto

Leto

In Greek mythology, Let? is a daughter of the Titan Coeus and Phoebe : Kos claimed her birthplace. In the Olympian scheme of things, Zeus is the father of her twins, Apollo and Artemis, the Letoides....
and Asteria

Asteria

In Greek mythology, Asteria was a name attributed to five individuals:...
), and the sons of 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....
(Prometheus

Prometheus

In Greek mythology, Prometheus is a Titan known for his wily intelligence, who stole fire from Zeus and gave it to human beings for their use....
, Epimetheus

Epimetheus (mythology)

In Greek mythology, Epimetheus was the brother of Prometheus , a pair of Titan s who "acted as representatives of mankind" . They were the inseparable sons of Iapetus , who in other contexts was the father of Atlas ....
, Atlas

Atlas (mythology)

In Greek mythology, Atlas was the primordial Titan who supported the heavens. Atlas was the son of the Titan Iapetus and the Oceanid Asia or Klym?ne :...
, and Menoetius

Menoetius

In Greek mythology, Menoetius referred to several different people.#A son of Iapetus and Clymene. A glorious warrior who was insolent to Zeus....
).

The Titans preceded the Twelve Olympians

Twelve Olympians

Zeus

Titanomachy

Tartarus

Greek underworld

The Greek underworld is a general term used to describe the various realms of Greek mythology which were believed to lie beneath the earth or beyond the horizon....
, with the few exceptions, most being those who did not fight against Zeus.

In 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....
's 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....
the twelve Titans precede 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 "Hundred-handers") and Cyclopes as the oldest set of children of Uranus

Uranus (mythology)

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....
:

"Afterwards she lay with Uranus and bore deep-swirling Oceanus

Oceanus

Oceanus was believed to be the World Ocean in classical antiquity, which the Ancient Rome and Ancient Greece considered to be an enormous river encircling the world....
, Coeus

Coeus

Crius

In Greek mythology, Crius was one of the Titan in the list given in Hesiod's Theogony, a son of Uranus and Gaia . The least individualized among them, he was overthrown in the Titanomachy....
and Hyperion

Hyperion (mythology)

Iapetus (mythology)

Theia

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....
, Themis

Themis

Themis is an Greek mythology. She is described as "of good counsel", and was the embodiment of divine order, law, and custom. Themis means "law of nature" rather than human ordinance, literally "that which is put in place", from the verb t?????, t?themi, to put....
and Mnemosyne

Mnemosyne

Mnemosyne was the personification of memory in Greek mythology. This titan was the daughter of Gaia and Uranus and the mother of the Muses by Zeus....
and gold-crowned Phoebe

Phoebe (mythology)

In Greek mythology "golden-wreathed" Phoebe , in her very name simply the feminine counterpart of Phoebus, was one of the original Titan , one set of sons and daughters of Uranus and Gaia ....
and lovely Tethys

Tethys (mythology)

File:Tethys mosaic 83d40m Phillopolis mid4th century -p2fx.2.jpgIn Greek mythology, Tethys , daughter of Uranus and Gaia was an archaic Titan ess and Greek sea gods sea goddess, invoked in classical Greek poetry but no longer venerated in cult....
. After them was born Cronus

Cronus

Cronus or Kronos, , was the leader and the youngest of the first generation of Titan , divine descendants of Gaia , the earth, and Uranus , the sky....
the wily, youngest and most terrible of her children, and he hated his lusty sire."

Uranus kept all of Gaia's

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....
children trapped within her womb, and Gaia groaned from the strain. Eventually, Cronus

Cronus

Cronus or Kronos, , was the leader and the youngest of the first generation of Titan , divine descendants of Gaia , the earth, and Uranus , the sky....
, her youngest child at the time, volunteered to set upon his father, castrating him with a sickle, thereby freeing Gaia's children and setting himself up as king of the titans with Rhea as his wife and queen.

Rhea gave birth to a new generation of gods to Cronus, but, in fear that they too would eventually overthrow him, he swallowed them all whole 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 force Cronus to vomit up Zeus's siblings. A war between younger and older gods commenced, in which Zeus was aided by the Hecatonchires

Hecatonchires

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....
, who had once again been freed from 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....
. Zeus won after a long struggle, and cast many of the Titans down into 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....
.

Yet the older gods left their mark on the world: Oceanus continued to encircle the world, and the name of "bright shining" Phoebe was attached as an epithet to effulgent Apollo

Apollo

In Greek mythology and Roman mythology, Apollo , is one of the most important and many-sided of the Twelve Olympians. The ideal of the kouros , Apollo has been variously recognized as a god of light and the sun; truth and prophecy; archery; medicine and healing; music, poetry, and the arts; and more....
, "Phoebus Apollo". Some of the Titans had not fought the Olympians and became key players in the new administration: Mnemosyne

Mnemosyne

Mnemosyne was the personification of memory in Greek mythology. This titan was the daughter of Gaia and Uranus and the mother of the Muses by Zeus....
as a Muse

Muse

File:Muse reading Louvre CA2220.jpgThe Muses in Greek mythology, poetry, and literature are the goddesses or spirits who inspire the creation of literature and the arts....
, 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....
, Hyperion

Hyperion (mythology)

Themis

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....
. on the left, in Gustave Doré

Gustave Doré

Paul Gustave Dor? was a France artist, engraver, illustrator and sculpture. Dor? worked primarily with wood engraving and steel engraving....
's illustrations to Dante

DANTE

DANTE is a not-for-profit organisation that plans, builds and operates the international networks that interconnect the various National Research and Education Networks in Europe and surrounding regions....
's Divine Comedy]]

Titanomachy

Greeks of the Classical age knew of several poems about the war between the gods and many of the Titans, 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 ....
("War of the Titans"). The dominant one, and the only one that has survived, was in 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....
attributed to 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....
. A lost epic Titanomachy attributed to the blind Thracian bard Thamyris

Thamyris

In Greek mythology, Thamyris , son of Philammon and the nymph Telephassa, was a Thrace singer who was so proud of his skill that he boasted he could outsing the Muses....
, himself a legendary figure, was mentioned in passing in an essay On Music that was once attributed to Plutarch

Plutarch

Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus , c. AD 46 ? 120 ? commonly known in English as Plutarch ? was a Ancient Rome historian , biographer, essayist, and Middle Platonism....
. The Titans also played a prominent role in the poems attributed to Orpheus

Orpheus

Orpheus was a legendary figure, probably from Thracian origin, venerated by the Greeks and Thracians of the Classical age as a chief among poets and musicians, and the perfector of the lyre invented by Hermes....
. Although only scraps of the Orphic narratives survive, they show interesting differences with the Hesiodic tradition.

These Greek myths of the Titanomachy fall into a class of similar myths of a War in Heaven throughout Europe

Europe

Europe is, conventionally, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural , the Caspian Sea, and by the Caucasus Mountains to the southeast....
and the Near East, where one generation or group of gods largely opposes the dominant one. Sometimes the Elder Gods are supplanted. Sometimes the rebels lose, and are either cast out of power entirely or incorporated into the pantheon

Pantheon (gods)

A pantheon is a set of all the gods of a particular polytheistic religion or mythology.Max Weber's 1922 opus, Economy and Society discusses the link between a pantheon of gods and the development of monotheism....
. Other examples might include the wars of the Æsir

Æsir

In Old Norse, ?ss is the term denoting a member of the principal groups of gods of the List of Norse gods of Norse paganism. They include many of the major figures, such as Odin, Frigg, Thor, Baldr and Tyr....
with the Vanir

Vanir

In Norse mythology, the Vanir are one of two groups of gods, the other being the ?sir. The two groups are described as having waged war against one another in the ?sir-Vanir War?, resulting in the unification of the two into a single tribe of gods....
and Jotuns in Scandinavian mythology, the Babylonian epic Enuma Elish

Enûma Elish

The is the Babylonian mythology creation myth . It was recovered by Henry Layard in 1849 in the ruined library of Ashurbanipal at Nineveh , and published by George Smith in 1876....
, the Hittite

Hittites

The Hittites were an ancient Anatolian people who spoke a Hittite language of the Anatolian languages of the Indo-European languages family, and established a kingdom centered at Hattusa in north-central Anatolia ca....
"Kingship in Heaven" narrative, and the obscure generational conflict in Ugarit

Ugarit

Ugarit was an ancient cosmopolitan port city, sited on the Mediterranean coast. Ugarit sent tribute to Ancient Egypt and maintained trade and diplomatic connections with Cyprus , documented in the archives recovered from the site and corroborated by Mycenaean Greece and Cypriot pottery found there....
ic fragments. The rebellion of Lucifer

Lucifer

Lucifer is a name frequently given to Satan in Christian belief. This usage as a reference to a fallen angel stems from a particular interpretation of a passage in the Bible that speaks of someone who is given the name of "Day Star" or "Morning Star" as fallen from heaven....
from Christianity

Christian mythology

Christian mythology is the body of traditional narratives associated with Christianity. Many Christians believe that these narratives are sacred and that they communicate profound truths....
could also fall under this category.

In Orphic sources

Hesiod is not, however, the last word on the Titans. Surviving fragments of Orphic

Orpheus

Orpheus was a legendary figure, probably from Thracian origin, venerated by the Greeks and Thracians of the Classical age as a chief among poets and musicians, and the perfector of the lyre invented by Hermes....
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 Cronus, so that he becomes drunk upon fermented honey. Rather than being consigned 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....
, Cronus is dragged — still drunk — to the cave of Nyx (Night), where he continues to dream and prophesy throughout eternity.

Another myth concerning the Titans that is not in 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....
revolves around Dionysus

Dionysus

Zeus

Dionysus

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....
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

Zeus

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....
preserves the heart in a gypsum doll, out of which a new Dionysus is made. This story is told by the poets Callimachus

Callimachus

Callimachus was a native of the Greek colony of Cyrene, Libya, Libya. He was a noted poet, critic and scholar of the Library of Alexandria and enjoyed the patronage of ancient Egyptian Greeks Pharaohs Ptolemy II Philadelphus and Ptolemy III Euergetes....
and Nonnus

Nonnus

Nonnus , was a Greek language epic poet. He was a native of Panopolis in the Egyptian Thebaid, and probably lived at the end of the 4th or early 5th century....
, who call this Dionysus

Dionysus

Zagreus

In Greek mythology, Zagreus was identified with the god Dionysus and was worshipped by followers of Orphism who believed him to be an ancient god of the Minoans....
", and in a number of Orphic texts, which do not.

One iteration of this story, reported by the Neoplatonist philosopher Olympiodorus

Olympiodorus the Younger

Olympiodorus the Younger was a Neoplatonist philosopher and teacher who lived in the early years of the Byzantine Empire, after Justinian I's Academy which closed Plato's Academy in Athens and other pagan schools....
, 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

Pindar

Pindar , was an Ancient Greek Lyric poetry poet.Of the canonical nine lyric poets of ancient Greece, Pindar is the one whose work is by far the best preserved, and critics in antiquity tended to regard him as the greatest....
, Plato

Plato

Plato , was a Classical Greece Greeks philosopher, mathematician, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Platonic Academy in Ancient Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the western world....
and Oppian

Oppian

Oppian or Oppianus was the name of the authors of two didactic poems in Greek hexameters, formerly identified, but now generally regarded as two different persons....
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.

In the 20th century

Some scholars of the past century or so, most eloquently Jane Ellen Harrison

Jane Ellen Harrison

Jane Ellen Harrison was a ground-breaking United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland classics scholar, linguistics and feminist. Harrison is one of the founders, with Karl Kerenyi and Walter Burkert, of modern studies in Greek mythology....
, have argued that an initiatory or shamanic

Shamanism

Shamanism is a range of traditional beliefs and practices concerned with communication with the spirit world. A practitioner of shamanism is known as a shaman, , noun ....
ritual underlies the myth of Dionysus

Dionysus

In classical mythology, Dionysus or Dionysos , is the God of wine, the inspirer of ritual madness and ecstasy, and a major figure of Greek mythology, and one of the twelve Olympians, among whom Greek mythology treated Dionysus as a late arrival....
's dismemberment and cannibalism by the Titans.

She also points out that the word "Titan" comes from the Greek t?ta???, signifying white earth, clay or gypsum, and that the Titans were "white clay men", or men covered by white clay or gypsum dust in their rituals. Other scholars believe the word to be related to the Greek verb t?µ?? (to stretch), a view which Hesiod himself appears to share: "But their father Ouranos, who himself begot them, bitterly gave to them to those others, his sons, the name of Titans, the Stretchers, for they stretched out their power outrageously." (Hesiod, Theogony, 207-210).

The scholar M.L. West also points this out in relation to shamanistic initiatory rites of early Greek religious practices.

The element titanium

Titanium

Titanium is a chemical element with the symbol Ti and atomic number 22. Sometimes called the ?space age metal?, it has a low density and is a strong, lustrous, corrosion-resistant transition metal with a silver colour....
is named for the titans.

Out of confusion with 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....
, various large things have been named after the Titans, for their "titanic" size, for example the RMS Titanic

RMS Titanic

The Royal Mail Ship Titanic was an Olympic class ocean liner superliner owned by the White Star Line and built at the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland....
or the giant predatory bird Titanis walleri.

External links

references to Titans in classical literature, in translation
summary of the Titans myth