The Titans were the ancestors of men.
They were the children of Gaea and Uranus.
The twelve original Titans were Oceanus, Tethys, Theia, Hyperion, Iapetus, Themis, Coeus, Phoebe, Mnemosyne, Crius, Rheia and Cronus.
They lived on the mountain Othrys during the Titanomachy.
After losing in the Titanomachy the Titans were banished to Tartarus where the Hecatoncheires guarded them.
Coeus was one of the twelve Titans born from Uranus and Gaea. His consort was Phoebe. Their children were Leto and Asteria.
Crius was one of the twelve Titans born from Gaea and Uranus. His consort was Eurybia. Their children were Astraeus, Pallas and Perses.
Cronus was the youngest of the twelve Titans born from Gaea and Uranus.
With his wife, the Titaness Rheia he had six children. Hestia, Demeter and Hera were their daughters. Their sons were Hades, Poseidon and Zeus.
Cronus was the personification of time. He ruled the world in the time of the Golden Age. Cronus relates to the experience of history, changes in nature, aging and life.
With the Oceanid Philyra Cronus had as child the centaur Chiron. Cronus had taken the disguise of a horse during his meeting with Philyra. Therefore Chiron was half man and half horse.
Cronus freed his brothers and sisters the Titans from his father Uranus. Uranus had locked the Titans in the underworld Tartarus.
Uranus was dethroned and castrated by Cronus with a sickle he got from his mother Gaea. He threw Uranus in the sea of which the goddess Aphrodite was born from the foam.
Out of his blood Gaea created the Erinyes/Furies, the Giants and the Meliae (ash-tree nymphs).
The sickle was supposed to be made from adamantine, a material that could not be bent.
Then Cronus was set up as leader. He first freed the Cyclopes and Hecantoncheires but locked them up again soon in Tartarus.
Under the reign of Cronus the work of creation continued. He was a tyrant like his father Uranus.
He destroyed his children after they were birthed by his wife Rheia. Gaea and Uranus had warned that one of his children would dethrone him.
Rheia saved the last of her six children: Zeus. With help of Gaea she brought him to the island Crete on Mount Dicte.
He was hidden in a cave by Rheia and guarded by two nymphs. When he was older Zeus let Metis, a daughter of Oceanus and Tethys, deliver a potion to Cronus.
The potion made Cronus vomit Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades and Poseidon. Zeus came to his father’s court disguised as a cup bearer.
He made Cronus very drunk. Then a battle ensued that lasted for ten years.
Cronus was helped by the other Titans, except for Oceanus, with Atlas as the general.
Zeus was helped by his five siblings and the Cyclopes who Zeus had set free.
Finally Zeus destroyed his father on Mount Olympus and threw him, in the depths of Tartarus where he was guarded by giants.
Most of the other Titans were thrown in Tartarus as well. In another version of the story Cronus was banished to an island near England.
In another version of the story Cronus was allowed, or later released from his chains, to rule the blessed dead in the Elysian Fields.
Zeus became king of heaven and earth. Cronus was probably revered as a god before the Greek came and Zeus and the Olympians got power.
With Zeus the Silver Age started.
An addition in Phoenician Mythology is that Hermes Trismegistus was the secretary and advisor to Cronus in the time when Cronus was in war with his father Uranus.
Cronus had teamed up with his mother Gaea who was angry of her husband's cheating.
Hermes helped Cronus' allies with magic words. During the war Uranus' favourite concubine fell into the hands of Cronus.
Cronus gave her as a wife to Dagon. Cronus surrounded the house of Uranus with a wall and founded his first city Byblos.
Cronus buried Atlas, fearing his schemes, on advice of Hermes in the depths of the earth. In other versions Cronus is the uncle of Atlas.
Uranus' sent three of his daughters: Ashtart, Rheia and Dione to kill Cronus by treachery.
Instead Cronus seduced them. By Ashtart Cronus had seven daughters and two sons: Pothos and Eros. After the war Cronus decided that Ashtart, Demarus and Adod had to rule over the country.
Cronus also made a tour over the world. He made his daughter Athena sovereign of Attica. In other versions she is the daughter of Zeus.
Moûth is a child of Cronus and Rheia: Death or Pluto with the Phoenicians. This is probably Hades.
Cronus gave the city of Byblos to the goddess Baltis: Dione. He gave Berytus to Poseidon and the Cabeiri.
The god Taaut (the Egyptian Thoth) designed the insignia of royalty for Cronus: four eyes: two in front and two behind, two opened and two closed, on his shoulder four wings: two spread in flight and two hanging limp.
The symbol meant that Cronus slept while he watched and watched while he slept. The wings meant that he flew while at rest and rested in flight.
The other gods had two wings. Cronus gave all Egypt to Taaut to be his kingdom.
The equivalent of Cronus in Roman mythology was Saturn.
Hyperion was one of the twelve Titans born from Gaea and Uranus. His consort was Theia. Their children were Helios (the sun), Selene (the moon) and Eos (the dawn).
Iapetus was one of the twelve Titans born from Gaea and Uranus. His children were Atlas, Menoetius, Epimetheus and Prometheus. According to Hesiod their mother was the Oceanid Clymene. According to Aeschylus this was Themis.
Mnemosyne was one of the twelve Titans born from Gaea and Uranus. She was the goddess of memory. She was a wife of Zeus. He stayed nine nights with her in Pieria and then she gave birth to the nine Muses: goddesses of art, history and astronomy. According to Pausanias there were originally three Muses. According to Day the Muses were Mnemosyne’s grandchildren.
Oceanus was the eldest of the twelve Titans, the ancestors of men, born from Gaea and Uranus. He was god of the ocean.
With his wife Tethys he got 3000 daughters and 3000 sons. The daughters were the Oceanids, sea nymphs. The sons were the rivers.
Oceanus was the father of all water gods and nymphs, except for the sea god Poseidon.
Dione, Electra, Leuce, Metis and Capheira were daughters of Oceanus and Tethys. Proteus and Alpheus were sons of Oceanus and Tethys.
The daughters of Oceanus Nereus and Doris birthed fifty daughters: the Nereids.
Other children from Oceanus and Tethys were Tyche (fortune) and Styx (the infernal river).
Oceanus was a friendly man with a long beard and the horns of a bull. He also was the personification of the river Oceanus that circled the earth.
All rivers would come from this river. The sun would rise from this river and the moon would set in it.
He gave birth to all rivers, the sea and all waters of earth.
Oceanus was the only Titan who did not rise up against his father Uranus.
Oceanus and Tethys took care of the goddess Hera when she was an infant, who they sheltered in their palace in the west of the world.
Glaucus became attracted to Oceanus by eating an herb. He went into the sea where the sea gods made him immortal. They gave him the new looks of a Triton.
Oceanus and Tethys cleansed Glaucus of human ailments.
Phoebe was one of the twelve Titans born from Gaea and Uranus. She was the consort of Coeus. Their children were Leto and Asteria. She succeeded Themis at the oracle of Delphi. She gave it as a birthday gift to Phoebus according to Aeschylus. After that it passed to Apollo.
Rheia was one of the twelve Titans born from Gaea and Uranus. She was the wife of Cronus.
Their children were Hestia (the oldest daughter), Hera, Demeter, Hades, Poseidon and Zeus. She was an earth goddess.
She had similar qualities as Gaea. She was made mother of the ruling gods of Olympus. She was later merged with the earth goddess Cybele.
She was supposed to reside on Mount Thaumasium in Arcadia. Rheia took care of the holy oak.
Cronus turned out to be a tyrant like his father Uranus. Gaea predicted that one of his sons would dethrone him.
Therefore Cronus ate all his children at birth, except for his third son Zeus with whom Rheia was still pregnant.
With help from Gaea Rheia came to Crete where she gave birth to Zeus on Mount Dicte (Mount Aegeum).
She bathed him in the river Neda.
He was hidden in a cave at Mount Ida and raised and guarded by nymphs: the Curetes.
The names of the nymphs were Adrasteia and Ida, daughters of Melisseus, king of Crete. They put him in a golden cradle.
Rheia made Cronus swallow a stone instead of Zeus.
Rheia brought the proposal to Demeter that Persephone should pass two-thirds or half of the year with her mother Demeter.
In Phoenician Mythology Rheia was sent by her father Uranus to kill Cronus by treachery with her sisters Astart and Dione.
Instead Cronus seduced them.
Tethys was one of the twelve Titans born from Gaea and Uranus. Her husband was Oceanus.
She was a sea goddess and vital for a green planet just like Oceanus.
They surrounded the earth with water. They were the parents of 3000 daughters and 3000 sons. The daughters were the Oceanids, the sea nymphs.
The sons were the rivers. Dione, Electra, Leuce, Metis, Tyche (goddess of fortune) and Capheira were daughters of Oceanus and Tethys.
Proteus and Alpheus were sons of Oceanus and Tethys. Other children of Tethys and Oceanus were the rivers of the underworld including the river Styx.
Oceanus and Tethys took care of the goddess Hera when she was an infant, who they sheltered in their palace in the west of the world.
Because of Tethys the constellation of Callisto, which had once been the nymph Callisto, could never go under the horizon into the sea because that would violate Hera.
Therefore the Great Bear is always around the north pole.
Oceanus and Tethys cleansed Glaucus of human ailments.
Theia was one of the twelve Titans born from Gaea and Uranus. She was the wife of Hyperion. Their children were Helios (the sun), Selene (the moon) and Eos (the dawn). Another name of Theia is Euryphaessa.
Themis was one of the twelve Titans born from Gaea and Uranus. Themis (divine tradition) was the goddess of law, justice and order.
She protected the just and punished the guilty. In her name and according to her advice judges gave their verdicts.
She was also goddess of wisdom and was called Euboulous: the good counsellor. She presided over public assemblies with this name.
She could also deliver oracles which she did at Delphi before the time of Apollo. Another task was of her was the ceremonial: she gathered the gods to prepare the feasts.
She is represented with a grave countenance and strict features. Her attribute was a pair of scales.
She came from the far off regions were Uranus dwelt. She was the second wife of Zeus.
Their children were the Horae or seasons: Eunomia (wise legislation), Dike (justice) and Eirene (peace), and the Morae (fates) or daughters of the night.
Sometimes the Hesperides are said to be her daughters.
According to Aeschylus she was also the mother of Atlas, Menoetius, Epimetheus and Prometheus with Iapetus. She lived at Mount Olympus.
When she was replaced by Hera as wife of Zeus she continued to be an advisor of Zeus and was always revered on Olympus.
It seemed that Hera took no offence on this: when Hera arrived at the assembly of the gods she received the cup of nectar from Themis.
She was helpful. It is said that she had received the infant Zeus from Rheia when she wished to shelter him from Cronus.
She also presided over the birth of Apollo and Artemis. Themis put nectar and sweet ambrosia to the lips of the infant Apollo.
He was not nourished with mother’s milk.
It is also said she made Apollo the present of the oracle at Delphi which she inherited from her mother Gaea although in other versions he got it from Phoebe or Phoebus.
Phoebus was another name for Apollo as well.
Themis presided over Delphi after Gaea and before Phoebe.
A temple to her stood at the citadel of Athens. She also had sanctuaries at Troezen, Tanagra, Olympia and Thebes (the last together with Zeus).
In the legend of the flood Deucalion and Pyrrha addressed prayers to Themis at Delhi which she once owned.
The goddess replied with: “Veil your heads. Remove the girdles of your robes and cast behind the bones of your first ancestor.”
They solved the mystery at last: they threw stones over their shoulders of the earth: Gaea.
The stones which Deucalion threw were changed into men and those of Pyrrha to women. So was the human race renewed and the earth re-peopled.
Themis declared that the son of the Nereid Thetis would be more powerful than his father.
She was sought by Zeus and Poseidon who then renounced their project.
Themis fought the giants of the north in a chariot drawn by lions.
Asteria was the star goddess Titan of the night and prophecy of the night: the goddess of dreams. She was a nymph.
Asteria was the daughter of the Titans Coeus and Phoebe.
She was the sister of Leto.
The daughter of Asteria was Hecate with her husband: the Titan Perses, first named Angelos by Hera who raised her.
Diomedes was the son of Ares and Cyrene or Asteria and Atlas.
Zeus loved and followed Asteria. Therefore she changed herself into a quail and then into a floating island, named Ortygia.
Later the island was named Delos after Leto gave birth to Apollo on the island.
Metis was an Oceanid Titaness and one of the daughters of Oceanus and Tethys.
She personified wisdom, cleverness and control. According to Hesiod Metis knew more things than all the gods and men put together.
Metis was the mother of the Olympian goddess Athena with her husband Zeus as father.
Metis was the first wife of Zeus.
Zeus was warned by Gaea against the power of the child, it would defeat his father, and tried to get rid of it by changing the pregnant Metis into a fly and eating her.
Athena was then born from the head of Zeus, split open by Hepheastus with an axe.
In another version Metis protected herself because Zeus wanted her wisdom. She changed herself into a fly or a water drop and Zeus ate her.
Athena inherited the wisdom of her mother.
Zeus got the aid of Metis in the battle against Cronus.
Metis, or Zeus by advice of Metis, gave Cronus a draught that made him vomit the stone Rheia had given him and the gods that he had swallowed: the siblings of Zeus.
According to Hesiod Metis was the maker of the aegis instead of Hephaestus.