by Maurice Sassoon

Created on: August 08, 2008

The Titans were six giants and six giantesses in Greek mythology, the stories that ancient Greeks told about their gods and goddesses. They were the sons and daughters of Uranus (Heaven) and Gaea (Earth). The names of the six giants were Oceanus, Coeus, Crius, Hyperion, Iapetes and Kronos. At first, they lived in heaven. The most important giant among them was Iapetus, father of Atlas.

Instigated by his mother, Kronos rose up against his father, killed him and then ruled in his place. Subsequently, he married his sister, Rhea, and they had many children. Cronos feared that one of his children might kill him as he had killed his father. In order to protect himself from this calamity, he swallowed his children. The only one that survived was his son, Zeus. When Zeus grew up, he declared war on Cronos, and finally, with the help of other gods, Zeus became king of Heaven. The names of the six giantesses were Theia, Rhea, Themis, Mnemosyne, Phoebe and Tethys.

In a war with the Olympian deities, the Titans were defeated. With the exception of Oceanus, they were all imprisoned in Tartaras. The Titans were formidable and fearless. On the other hand, the Olympian deities were peace-loving, and possessed qualities that the Titans lacked.

The Titans belonged to a very remote past. Several of their names appeared to be non-Greek. As a group, the Titans were considered lawless and were of great strength and size, representing the wild and disorderly forces of Nature. They were eventually overcome by the Olympian deities, representing peace and order. The major Olympian deities were Zeus, father of the gods and lord of the sky, weather and thunderbolt; Hera, his wife was the goddess of marriage and domestic affairs, Athena, his daughter, was the goddess of wisdom, Apollo was the god of medicine, music and light, and Artemis was thr goddess of the moon and wild life.

The name of the Titans were passed on to the descendants of the original Titans, such as Atlas, Helios and Prometheus.

Greek mythology consists of collected myths of gods and goddesses, such as the Titans. Tales of obscure or forgotten origin are ascribed to them. Such myths are fundamentally religious in character, having a supernatural frame of reference, while serving to explain some concept, usage, institution, or natural phenomena. The predominant feature of Greek mythology is love of beauty, regarded as mere allegories of deep, moral meanings.

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