Titanomachy

The Fall of the TitansFor Cornelis van Haarlem.

In Greek mythology, the Titanomachy (in ancient Greek Τιτανομαχία Titanomakhía) is the battle fought by the Olympians against the Titans, colloquially known as the Battle of the Titans or the Titanic War.

On Hesiod

The main source of this mythological chapter is provided by Hesiod's Theogony. There it is said that the Titans — Ocean, Ceo, Crio, Hyperion, Iapetus, Thea, Rhea, Themis, Mnemosyne, Phoebe, Thetis, and Cronus — were the twelve youngest children of Uranus and Gaea. These primordials had earlier spawned the Cyclopes ("one-eyed monsters") and the hecatonchires ("hundred hands"). After reaching manhood Zeus forced Cronus to vomit his brothers, freed the Cyclopes and the Hecatonchires, and allied with them to defeat his father. Cronus and his brothers were defeated by Zeus and his allies in a terrible war, the Titanomachy, in which all the gods took part. The Titans were chained and thrown into Tartarus, located in the bowels of the earth; but one of the sons of Iapetus, Atlas or Atlante, was condemned to carry the vault of heaven on his shoulders for all eternity, for having supported Cronus. Ten years lasted the contest between the old gods and the most upstart; two races of deities long before the existence of humanity. The Titans took Mount Othrys as their headquarters, while the Olympians were stationed on Mount Olympus. This mountain would since then become the home of its new rulers.

Other authors

The Titanomachy is already confused by some late authors, such as Ovid, with another similar theomachy, the Gigantomachy. Others even include them in the same episode.

The Greeks of the classical age knew several poems about the Titanomachy apart from the Theogony. A lost epic poem entitled Titanomachy and attributed to the blind Thracian aedus Thamyris, himself a legendary character, was mentioned in passing in the essay On Music once attributed to Plutarch. At least in the poem of the Titanomachy, of which only miserable fragments have been preserved, we are told of characters in unknown contexts in the work, such as the horses of Helios and the Hours, or the birth of Chiron from the union of Cronus and Fílira.

The Titans also played a prominent role in the poems attributed to Orpheus. Although only fragments of the Orphic tales survive, they reveal interesting differences with the Hesiodic tradition.

These Greek myths of the Titanomachy fall into a class of similar myths present in Europe and the Near East, where a generation or group of gods confronts the dominant ones. Sometimes these are supplanted. Other times the rebels lose and are completely removed from power or incorporated into the pantheon. Other examples would be the wars of the Aesir with the Vanir and the Jotuns in Scandinavian mythology, the Babylonian epic Enuma Elish, the Hittite "Kingdom of Heaven" narrative, and the dark generational conflict of the Ugarite fragments.

Background

The setting for this important battle was created after the youngest Titan, Cronus, overthrew his own father, Uranus (god of the Sky and first ruler of the universe), with the help of his mother, Gaea (the Land). Cronus then castrated his father, seized his throne, and freed his Titan brothers, who had been imprisoned in Tartarus under the tyrannical and selfish reign of Ouranos.

However, when his position was usurped, Ouranos prophesied that Crono's own sons would rebel against his rule just as he and his brothers had done. Fearing his future children would rebel against him, Cronos became the terrible king that his father Uranos had been, swallowing his children whole as they were born to his wife and sister. of him. However, according to an Arcadian legend collected by the Greek geographer Pausanias in his Description of Greece, Rhea managed to hide her son Zeus, and instead of Zeus she gave him a stone wrapped in swaddling clothes. they allege that Poseidon was not devoured or vomited, but that Rhea gave Cronos a colt instead of him and hid him among the herds of horses. of blood, and that every year he dies and is buried.

Rhea took Zeus to a cave on the island of Crete, where he was raised by the Curetes and the nymphs Adrastea and Ida. When Zeus grew older, Metis gave Cronus an emetic potion, which caused him to vomit the children he had swallowed. Zeus then led them to rebellion against the Titans.

Theomachy

Before the war began, Zeus gathered his allies and made a sacrifice on the altar that the Cyclops had built for him, to commemorate their alliance. Zeus dedicated his offerings to Uranus, Gaea, and Helius. This altar was placed among the stars as the constellation Ara, the altar. As a sign of good fortune an eagle arose in the heavens, which Zeus it also ranked among the stars.

Then the Olympians, led by Zeus, declared war on the previous generation of deities, the Titans. On the Olympian side were the other Cronids: Hestia, Hera, Demeter, Hades, and Poseidon, who had been devoured by their father and now sought revenge. The Titaness Hecate also sided with Zeus, and for this reason Cronids she maintained her dignity as a goddess with power in the heavens, the sea, and the earth. On the advice of Oceanus, Styx led her four children, Crato, Zelo, Bia, and Nike, to Zeus's side; for being the first to respond to his call, Zeus made the waters of the Styx as the source of his irrevocable oath, which Iris was in charge of collecting in a crater. In addition, the hundred-armed Hecatonchires and the one-eyed Cyclopes, who had previously imprisoned by Crono, they helped the Olympians to satisfy their revenge. Zeus, to free his uncles — at least the Cyclopes — killed the Tartarus jailer, Campe.These Uranids helped by making Zeus's famous weapons, lightning bolts, Poseidon's trident, and Hades' invisibility helmet. It is even said that Pan also sided with the Olympians, uttering such screams that they put the Titans to flight. Chrono—, sent the enormous Ophiotaur, that is, an immense bull with a serpent's tail, which attacked the Titans. Others say that the Ophiotaur supported the Titans and that Aestyx, alerted by the Fates, had to imprison him, while Briareus destroyed it with an adamantine axe. Gaea had also prophesied that Zeus would achieve victory after ten years of war. Late authors also include other Olympian gods who were sons of Zeus during the battle, at least Athena, Ares, Dionysus, Apollo and Artemis, but this seems to be a confusion with gigantomachy. At least Ares is said to have possessed a "titan-destroying spear", although this could be a simple war metaphor.

The Titans, led by Cronus, included at least Ceo, Crio, Hyperion and Iapetus, as well as his sons Atlas and Menoetius; all of them participated explicitly in the Theogony. From Pallas, Perses and Astraeus, sons of Crío, it can be implicitly interpreted that they were also included, but no source contemplates it. Another ally of the Titans was Aegeon, son of Pontus and Gaea, who resided in the seas. Azeo, a son of Gaea, also fought favoring the Titans; as did Echidnades, who was even used by Cronus to receive the Zeus's lightning strike. The Hecatonchires, to give thanks for their new freedom, helped the Olympians by throwing huge stones at the Titans, one hundred by one, who ended up burying their enemies, thus giving Zeus and his followers the final victory. Two sister goddesses remained as heralds on both sides, Iris being the messenger for the Olympian side while Arce was for the Titanic side.

Having finally achieved victory after a decade of warfare, the Olympians divided the spoils among themselves and then decided to share out the lot of the universe. However, there are two versions here. The Homeric tells us that the three Cronidas drew lots: Zeus was given the domain of heaven, Poseidon's domain of the sea, and Hades' domain of the underworld; but the land remained as common territory.The Hesiodic version says that after finishing the theomachy and at the indication of Gaea, they encouraged Zeus to be the sovereign of the immortals, and he distributed each lot to his two brothers.

Then they decided to imprison and chain the defeated Titans in Tartarus, the deepest depths of the underworld; Poseidon is said to have built the walls of bronze. Since then the Titans have been called chthonic gods. A specific source that Oceanus did not participate in the titanomachy. Regarding the six Hesiodic Titans, Hesiod says that "they all fought, female and male, the Titan gods and those who were born from Cronus", but no source provides us with more information on this. They should not have been punished, because after the titanomachy the author cites, in the catalog of Zeus' wives, at least the titanides Metis, Themis, Eurynome, Mnemosyne and Leto. Metis helped Zeus to overthrow Cronus for what we suppose that, even if she did not participate in the war, she would be aligned in favor of the Olympians. Dione is described as living on Olympus, and in no source we are told that Rhea was condemned, but she is not cited as living on Olympus either.. Actually, no source tells us that the Titanides were condemned in Tartarus, with the sole exception of Arce. It is also said that during the war the Titans sent the Corybantes from Bactria to guard their sister Rhea.

Other Titans who were not imprisoned in Tartarus were Atlas, Epimetheus and Prometheus; yet Menoetius was struck down by Zeus with a thunderbolt “for his insolence.” Ouranos, the heavens, had nearly collapsed to earth after the war in the mighty roar of the devastating strife below him; a huge smoke rose, even reaching Chaos itself. Zeus arranged for Atlas, as an exemplary punishment, to hold the celestial vault for all eternity on his weary shoulders. For his part, Prometheus had harangued his relatives to refrain from fight against Zeus, since the victory of the Olympians was already predestined. Prometheus was a wise titan and knew how to foresee his fate, convincing his brother Epimetheus to follow in his footsteps and not participate in the battle; therefore both brothers were not punished either.

There are at least two mythical variants of Crono's fate: the oldest tradition, reflected in certain Homeric and Hesiodic formulas, assumes that Crono lives in Tartarus surrounded by the rest of the Titans. A later tradition indicates that Cronus was later released by the will of Zeus, and that he was left reigning in the islands of the Blessed. This version is attested in an interpolation to Works and days, and in some verses by Pindar. The Hecatonchires remained on guard in Tartarus over the prisoners. Poseidon also, to thank the hundred-man Briareus for his help, married him to his daughter Cymopoleia.