Cronus

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• published: 26 Mar 2015
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Ancestors of the West project The Greek king of Titans was Cronus. The Greeks believe the Universe created the Gods. The gods were the grandchildren of the Universe; the middle generation was the Titans. Cronus, the youngest of the Titan children, was known as the “willy troublemaker” of the elite. His Roman counterpart is “Saturn.” His wife, the queen of Titans, is Rhea. His parents, along with his Titan siblings, were the Earth (Ge) and Sky (Ouranos). Cronus is popular by the myth of his overpowering by his son Zeus. In a time long before the gods, Titans roamed the Earth. Before Cronus killed his father, Sky, his father prophecized that Cronus’s child would overthrow him. Because of this prophecy, Cronus swallowed all of his own children. Rhea was in terrible grief; when she conceived Zeus, she asked her mother to hide her so she could give birth and keep her child alive. Rhea hid in Crete, where she gave birth to Zeus and raised him. Rhea deceived her husband by giving him a wrapped rock as a substitute for their child. Once Zeus grew up, Earth gave Cronus a drug that forced him to vomit the rest of his children—the other gods. The ten-year war—gods vs titans—commenced. When the Gods won, Zeus sent titans to Tartaros and bestowed upon himself the title of King. Before Cronus went down, he cursed Zeus; Prometheus warned Zeus not to have a child with Thetis, or else that child will overtake Zeus the same way Zeus overtook Kronos and Kronos overtook Sky. Cronus is most famous for being the God of time. In translation, the word Cronus means “time”—still seen in the words “chronological” and “chronicles.” He symbolizes how destructive time is—how time consumes all, just as how he consumed his children. Said Cicero, “Time devours the ages and gorges himself insatiably with the years that are past. Cronus is bound by Zeus in order that Time’s course might not be unlimited, and that Zeus might fetter himself by the bonds of the stars.” Some believe Zeus freed the titans to the Elysian Islands; therefore, Cronus is also the King of the Islands of the Blessed. The island is a paradise for the blessed, for the famous heroes of Greek literature. According to Pindar, “those who had good courage, three times on either side of death, to keep their hearts untarnished of all wrong, these travel along the road of Zeus to Kronos’ tower.” Before the gods came to be, Cronus was King of the Golden Age of Man. According to philosopher Plato, “blissful was the life of men in that age.” Life was paradise for all people. According to Hesiod, the moral men “lived like gods without sorrow of heart, remote and free from toil and grief: miserable age rested not on them; but with legs and arms never failing they made merry with feasting beyond the reach of all evils. When they died, it was as though they were overcome with sleep, and they had all good things; for the fruitful earth unforced bare them fruit abundantly and without stint. They welt in ease and peace upon their lands with many good things, rich in flocks and loved by the blessed gods.” The unlikely contemporary character comparable to Cronus is actor Jon Voight. He is the father of uber-famous Angelina Jolie. The two are publicly known for their incredibly strained relationship; Angelina claims Voight abandoned her (similar to how Cronus did not want Zeus). s Corresponding to how Zeus wanted to disassociate with Cronus completely by condemning him to Tartaros, Jolie completely shut Voight out of her life and even legally dropped his last name from her name. Of the two, Jolie is the more famous and powerful in their domain of Hollywood; similar to how Zeus is more renowned than her father. Like Zeus, Jolie brought Voight somewhat back into her life. As Zeus brought Cronus back to rule the heroes of the Elysians, Jolie brought back her father so that her children would have a grandfather figure. Cronushad cults in Athens, Olympia, Lebadeia, and Gades. Dedicated to him is this hymn: “To Kronos, Fumigation from Storax. Eternal father, mighty Titan, hear, great sire of gods and men, whom all revere; endued with various counsel, pure and strong, to whom increase and decrement belong. Hence matter’s flowing forms through thee that die, by three restored, their former place supply. The world immense in everlasting chains, strong and ineffable thy power contains, father of vast eternity, divine, O mighty Kronos, various speech is thine; blossom of earth and of starry skies, husband of Rhea, and Prometheus wise. Obstetric power and venerable root, from which the various forms of being shoot; no parts peculiar can they power enclose, diffused through all, from which the world arose. O best of beings, of a subtle mind, propitious hear, to suppliant prayers inclined, and sacred rites benevolent attend, and grant a blameless life, a blessed end.”