Cronus
Sign in to saveIn ancient Greek religion and mythology, Cronus, Cronos, or Kronos ( or ; ) 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.
AI overview
Cronus was a powerful figure in ancient Greek mythology—the youngest of the Titans who overthrew his father Uranus to rule during a legendary golden age, only to be later defeated and imprisoned by his own son Zeus. He matters because his story was central to how ancient Greeks understood the origins of their gods and the natural order of the cosmos, illustrating themes of generational conflict and the rise and fall of divine power.
AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.
Key facts
- Deity.type
- Greek
- Deity.name
- Cronus
- Deity.god_of
- Leader of the Titans
- Deity.image
- Rhea handing a swaddled stone to Cronus, Attic terracotta pelike, c. 460–450 BC, Met 06.1021.144.jpg (cropped).jpg
- Deity.caption
- 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.
- Deity.script_name
- Ancient Greek
- Deity.planet
- Saturn
- Deity.battles
- Titanomachy
- Deity.symbol
- Grain, sickle, scythe
- Deity.consort
- Rhea
- Deity.parents
- Uranus and Gaia
- Deity.offspring
Article
20 sectionsContents
- Mythology
- Rise to power
- King of Gods
- Overthrown
- Libyan account by Diodorus Siculus
- ''Sibylline Oracles''
- Release from Tartarus
- Other accounts
- Name and comparative mythology
- Antiquity
- From the Renaissance to the present
- Elus, the Phoenician Cronus
- Roman mythology and later culture
- Cronus alias Geb in Greco-Roman Egypt
- Astronomy
- Genealogy
- Notes
- References
- General sources
- External links
In ancient Greek religion and mythology, Cronus, Cronos, or Kronos ( or ; ) 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. Cronus was likely originally a harvest god, which is why in many regions of Greece the month of the harvest was named Cronion after him. 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.