Titanomachy Titanomachy Steropes Category="Greek mythology"

Greek deitiesseries
Primordial deities
Olympians
Aquatic deities
Chthonic deities
Personified concepts
Other deities
Titans
The Twelve Titans:
Oceanus and Tethys,
Hyperion and Theia,
Coeus and Phoebe,
Cronus and Rhea,
Mnemosyne, Themis,
Crius, Iapetus
Sons of Iapetus:
Atlas, Prometheus,
Epimetheus, Menoetius

In Greek mythology, Titanomachy or the War of the Titans was the series of battles before the existence of mankind that lasted for ten years and was fought between the two races of Gods: Titans (fighting from Mt. Othrys) (the second generation of Gods) and esentially their own children -- or at least the third generation of deities called Olympians (who would come to reign on Mt. Olympus). It is also known as the Battle of the Titans, Battle of Gods or the Titan War.

The important war began shortly after the youngest Titan named Cronus overthrew his own father Uranus (God of the Sky and Ruler of the Universe) with the help of his mother (and Uranus's own wife) Gaia (who was Mother Earth). Cronus then took his father's throne and released his fellow Titan siblings who had been locked in the Underworld under the tyrranical reign of their greedy and selfish father Uranus. However, as Cronus now shut Uranus into the Underworld, the former-king made a prophecy that Cronus' own children would rebel against his rule just as he and his siblings had done to him (Uranus).

For fear of his unborn children rising against him, Cronus now turned into the terrible king his father Uranus had been and began swallowing each of his children whole as they were born from his wife/sister Rhea. (It is believed most Gods are born already full-grown.)

However Rhea managed to hide her final child Zeus, and instead gave Cronus a rock covered in baby's blankets to swallow. Cronus thus vomitted and regurgitated all his previously eaten children.

Now that they were no longer contained inside his stomach, they revolted against Cronus's reign as well as the power of the other Titans. This third generation of Gods who were the children of Cronus and Rhea were known as Olympians.

Now the Olympians, led by Zeus, declared war against their parents, the Titans.

The Titans who fought were led by Cronus and included: Coeus, Crius, Hyperion, Iapetus, Atlas, Menoetius.

The Olympians were led by Zeus and included: Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades, Poseidon, the Hecatonchires (Hundred-headeds), the Gigantes (Giants) and the Cyclopes (One-eyeds).

It is said the Hundred-handeds helped the Olympians by hurling huge stones at the Titans -- one hundred at a time. The Cyclopes helped by crafting Zeus' famous weapon: the lightning bolt.

Having at last won victory after a full decade of war, the Olympian Gods divided the spoils between themselves, granting dominion of the air and sky to Zeus, the sea and all bodies of water to Poseidon, and the Underworld to Hades (Pluto). The earth was a dominion left common to all gods.

The Olympians then shut the defeated Titans within the deepest depths of the underworld. However, since during the war Oceanus and the female titans (the titanesses: Thia, Rhea, Themis, Mnemosyne, Phoebe, and Tethys) remained neutral, they were not punished by Zeus. The Hecatonchires remained guard over them until, in time, Zeus set all but Atlas free.

Old Uranus (the Sky) nearly collapsed onto earth after the war because so much fighting had occurred within his heavens.As a result, Zeus punished Atlas to hold up the heavens and sky for eternity.

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