Cronus
| Cronus | |
|---|---|
Leader of the Titans | |
Rhea offers to Cronus a stone wrapped in swaddling clothes, in place of the newborn Zeus. Red-figure ceramic vase, c. 460–450 BC, Metropolitan Museum of Art. | |
| Ancient Greek | Κρόνος |
| Predecessor | Uranus |
| Successor | Zeus |
| Abode |
|
| Planet | Saturn |
| Battles | Titanomachy |
| Symbol | Grain, sickle, scythe |
| Parents | Uranus and Gaia |
| Consort | Rhea |
| Offspring | Hestia, Hades, Demeter, Poseidon, Hera, Zeus, Chiron |
| Equivalents | |
| Roman | Saturn |
| Egyptian | Geb |
In ancient Greek religion and mythology, Cronus, Cronos, or Kronos (/ˈkroʊnəs/ or /ˈkroʊnɒs/; Ancient Greek: Κρόνος) was the leader and youngest of the Titans, the children of Gaia (Earth) and Uranus (Sky). He overthrew his father and ruled during the mythological Golden Age until he was overthrown by his son Zeus and imprisoned in Tartarus. According to Plato, however, the deities Phorcys, Cronus, and Rhea were the eldest children of Oceanus and Tethys.
Cronus was usually depicted with a harpe, scythe, or sickle, which was the instrument he used to castrate and depose Uranus, his father. In Athens, on the twelfth day of the Attic month of Hekatombaion, a festival called Kronia was held in honour of Cronus to celebrate the harvest, suggesting that, as a result of his association with the virtuous Golden Age, Cronus continued to preside as a patron of the harvest. Cronus was also identified in classical antiquity with the Roman deity Saturn.