The Story of the Greek Mythology: Short

The War in Heaven

Cronus never forgot his father's warning that he, too, would be overthrown by one of his own children someday. To prevent this, he swallowed his first five children as soon as they were born. Hestia, Demeter, and Hera, his daughters, and his sons; Hades and Poseidon, had all been swallowed by the time the sixth child was on its way.

His wife, Rhea, was very upset by this. She went to her mother, Gaia, and asked how she could put a stop to this unfatherly behavior. Gaia, having had a similar problem with her husband Uranus, was more than happy to advise her. She told Rhea to go the island of Crete and to hide her newborn child in a secret cave on Mount Ida, a mountain there. She was to give Cronus a stone, wrapped in blankets, instead of the baby. Gaia said that Cronus would never know the difference.

Rhea did as Gaia had told her, and Cronus swallowed the bundle-stone, blankets and all. He never even looked up from what he was doing.

The child was a son, Zeus, who grew up on Crete, well cared for by nymphs and shepherds. He could not travel to the palace, however, without endangering his life. Finally, one day Rhea sent the messenger Metis to visit Zeus and to show him how to brew a strong poison from herbs. The messenger told Zeus to go to Cronus's palace and hide there until he could get a chance to put the poison into Cronus's wine cup. Zeus dis this, and one night, while he was hiding under the super table, he got his chance. Cronus had eaten a big meal and was sitting, drowsing, over his wine. Zeus slipped the poison into the cup.

As soon as Cronus had drunk the poisoned wine, an amazing thing happened. He got so sick that up came his first five children as well as the big stone wrapped in blankets.

Cronus had a strong stomach, though, and the poison only made him sick for a while. Although Zeus and his brothers, Hades and Poseidon, quicky tied their father to his chair, he was soon shouting for his brother Titans. And thus began a battle that lasted for years. The Elder Gods were led by the Titans Atlas, and the younger Gods, were led by Zeus. First the Titans chased the younger gods up Mount Olympus, and it looked as if the Elder Gods were winning. But Zeus went to see her grandmother, Gaia, since it had been her advice that had brought things to this pass anyway.

Gaia was old, and she was getting impatient and more than a little irritated with the quarrels of her family. Besides, she was still upset that her husband Uranus had shut their first six children's in the earth. So she said to Zeus, "You have freed your mother's firstborn children, but until you free mine, you will not be victorious."

Zeus did not understand Gaia's words, for he knew little of his family history. So he shrugged his shoulders and went back to the battle.

The battle between the Titans and the younger gods might have raged even longer had it not been for Prometheus, a son of Iapetus, one of the Titans. For Prometheus could see into the future, and he knew that the reign of Cronus and the Titans was ending. He thought it would be best to settle things with the last possible damage to everyone concerned, so he asked the other Titans to make a truce. Thy shouted him down. "Not a chance!" they said.

Prometheus then went to Zeus and told him all about the monstrous children of Gaia and Uranus. He said to Zeus, "If you release them, they will fight on your side." Zeus went to the Underworld and freed the hundred-handed monsters and the Cyclopes. The monsters fought against the Titans with all their strength, and the Cyclopes made armor and weapons for Zeus and his brother. They made a helmet for Hades which made him invisible, a three-pronged spear for Poseidon, and thunderbolts for Zeus.

The younger gods now quicky won the war.
Some of the Titans were flung into the underworld, some escaped and disappeared forever, and Atlas was made to stand at the western edge of the world, holding up the heavens. Only Prometheus and one or two of the Titan women were saved. Perhaps Prometheus was saved because of the help he had given to Zeus and the younger gods.