Tales from Greek Myths

5: Birth of the Olympians

Cronus was now ruling the universe but there was something that was still bothering him. With his dying breath Ouranos had prophesied that one of his children would overthrow his rule.

Cronus had married his sister Rhea (one of the Titans) and gave birth to Hades (God of Underworld), Poseidon (God of the Seas), Demeter (Goddess of Agriculture), Hestia (Goddess of Domesticity) and Hera (Goddess of Marriage).

Because of fear of the prophecy, Cronus swallowed all of his children one by one as they were born. Rhea was heartbroken because of this. Her last child(Zeus) was about to be born and she didn't want him to suffer the same fate, so she went to Gaia for advice.

When Zeus was born, Rhea gave the baby to a nymph. As Gaia had advised, Rhea wrapped a stone in clothes and gave it Cronus. Cronus quickly swallowed the stone and thought that he had finally broken the prophecy.

Zeus( God of Thunder) was raised by nymphs. He was extremely powerful from a young age. After many years, Rhea finally told Cronus about Zeus. Cronus, who was no longer scared of the prophecy, decided to meet him.

When they finally met, Zeus gave him a drink as a gift for accepting him. As soon as Cronus drank it, he had enormous pain in his stomach and vomited all his children that he had swallowed. All of them were fully grown up and were thankful to Zeus for letting them escape.

Cronus on seeing this ran to other Titans for help and the war between the gods was underway.