The Titans of Greek Mythology
Discover the Titans of Greek mythology, the elder gods led by Cronus who ruled before Zeus and lost the great war against the Olympians.
Browse Titan Gods
Titan of the great river encircling the world and father of all rivers.
Questioning Titan of the mind who held the axis around which the heavens turn.
Lesser-known Titan linked to the ram and the stars that mark the seasons.
Watchful Titan of heavenly light who fathered the sun, the moon, and the dawn.
Titan father of Atlas and Prometheus, ancestor of the human race in some myths.
Titan king who overthrew Uranus and swallowed his children to keep his throne.
Shining Titan goddess believed to give gold and gems their brilliant sparkle.
Mother of the Olympians who tricked Cronus with a stone wrapped in swaddling clothes.
Wise Titan of divine order who advised Zeus and once held the Delphic oracle.
Titan goddess of memory who bore Zeus nine daughters, the inspiring Muses.
Titan sea mother who bore thousands of rivers and ocean nymphs with Oceanus.
Condemned Titan who forever holds up the heavens after fighting against Zeus.
Clever Titan who stole fire for humanity and suffered an eagle's eternal torment.
The Story of the Titans
The Titans were the generation of gods who ruled before Zeus, and Hesiod's Theogony names twelve of them as the sons and daughters of Gaia, the earth, and Uranus, the sky. The six sons were Oceanus, Coeus, Crius, Hyperion, Iapetus and Cronus, and the six daughters were Theia, Rhea, Themis, Mnemosyne, Phoebe and Tethys. Many of them stood for great forces of nature or ideas, such as the ocean that circled the world, light, memory and divine law. The word titan itself later became a byword for anything huge and powerful.
According to Hesiod, Uranus hated his children and kept them hidden away inside the body of Gaia, causing her great pain. Gaia fashioned a sickle of hard adamant and asked her sons to punish their father, but only the youngest, Cronus, was brave enough. He ambushed Uranus and castrated him, and from the drops of blood that fell on the earth came the Erinyes, the Giants and the ash tree nymphs. With the sky separated from the earth, Cronus became king of the gods.
The reign of Cronus was later remembered as a golden age, a time when, as Hesiod describes in his Works and Days, the first race of mortals lived without toil or sorrow. Yet Cronus feared that he too would be overthrown by one of his children. He married his sister Rhea and swallowed each of their babies at birth, until Rhea tricked him with a stone and hid the infant Zeus on Crete. Once grown, Zeus freed his siblings and challenged the Titans for the throne.
The war that followed, the Titanomachy, shook heaven and earth. Hesiod says it lasted ten years, with the Titans fighting from Mount Othrys and the younger gods from Mount Olympus. Not every Titan stood with Cronus, and in a tragedy by Aeschylus, the Titan Prometheus says he took the side of Zeus. Victory came when Zeus freed the Cyclopes and the hundred handed giants, and the defeated Titans were cast into Tartarus, with the hundred handed giants set to guard them.
Some Titans received special punishments. Atlas, the son of Iapetus, was made to hold up the sky at the western edge of the world, and Prometheus, who stole fire for humanity, was chained to a rock where an eagle fed on his liver each day until Heracles set him free. His brother Epimetheus accepted Pandora as a bride, and from her jar came the troubles that still afflict humankind. Cronus himself, in some later tellings, was eventually released and ruled over the Isles of the Blessed.
The children of the Titans played big roles in later myth. Hyperion and Theia were the parents of Helios the sun, Selene the moon and Eos the dawn, while Coeus and Phoebe were the parents of Leto, mother of Apollo and Artemis. Oceanus and Tethys had thousands of children, the river gods and the ocean nymphs, and one of their daughters, Metis, became the first wife of Zeus. Mnemosyne, the goddess of memory, bore Zeus the nine Muses.
The Titans had little formal worship compared with the Olympians, but they were never forgotten. Athens held a harvest festival called the Kronia in honor of Cronus, and Helios was worshipped above all on Rhodes, where the famous Colossus stood in his honor. Themis was revered as the goddess of divine order and was linked with early oracles, including Delphi before Apollo took it over. In modern times the Titans have given their names to moons of Saturn, the Atlas Mountains, the Atlantic Ocean and countless stories, films and games.
Frequently Asked Questions About the Titans
Who was the leader of the Titans?
Cronus, the youngest of the original twelve Titans, was their leader and king. He took power by overthrowing his father Uranus and ruled until his own son Zeus defeated him.
How many Titans were there?
Hesiod names twelve original Titans, six sons and six daughters of Gaia and Uranus. Their children, such as Atlas, Prometheus, Helios and Leto, are often called Titans too, so the full number depends on who is counted.
What was the Titanomachy?
The Titanomachy was the war between the Titans and the Olympian gods for control of the universe. According to Hesiod it lasted ten years and ended when Zeus and his allies imprisoned the defeated Titans in Tartarus.
Were the Titans evil?
Not really. The Greeks saw the Titans as an older, wilder order of gods rather than as villains, and several of them, including Themis, Mnemosyne and Prometheus, were honored or admired. Cronus is the one most often shown as cruel, because he swallowed his own children.
What happened to the Titans after the war?
Most of the Titans who fought against Zeus were locked in Tartarus, deep beneath the earth. Atlas was given the task of holding up the sky, while goddesses such as Themis and Mnemosyne kept their honors and even became wives of Zeus.
Is Atlas a Titan?
Yes. Atlas was the son of the Titan Iapetus and the ocean nymph Clymene, which makes him a second generation Titan. He is best known for holding up the sky, and the Atlantic Ocean and the Atlas Mountains are named after him.
