Kronos— Greek Titan"King of the Titans"

The Usurper

Kronos was the youngest of the Titans, children of Gaia (Earth) and Uranus (Sky). Uranus hated his children and imprisoned them within Gaia's body. In agony, she fashioned an adamantine sickle and begged her sons to free her. Only Kronos had the courage. He ambushed his father, castrated him with the sickle, and cast the severed parts into the sea. From the blood sprang the Furies; from the foam, Aphrodite.

The Golden Age

Under Kronos's rule came the Golden Age—a time without war, labor, or suffering. Humans lived like gods, free from pain and old age, dying peacefully as if falling asleep. The earth gave fruit without cultivation, and justice reigned without laws. This paradise existed because Kronos, unlike his father, allowed the world to flourish.

The Devourer

But Kronos inherited his father's fear. A prophecy foretold that his own child would overthrow him, just as he had overthrown Uranus. To prevent this, Kronos swallowed each child as Rhea bore them—Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades, and Poseidon disappeared into his gullet. When Zeus was born, Rhea hid him in Crete and fed Kronos a stone wrapped in swaddling clothes.

The War in Heaven

Zeus grew strong in secret. When he came of age, he forced Kronos to vomit up his siblings—and the stone, which was set at Delphi as a sacred relic. The Olympians, joined by the Cyclopes and Hundred-Handed Ones, waged war against the Titans for ten years. Finally, Zeus's thunderbolts prevailed. Kronos and most Titans were cast into Tartarus, imprisoned for eternity.

Father Time

Kronos is often confused with Chronos, the personification of Time—a connection the Greeks themselves made. His sickle became the scythe of Time, harvesting all things. Some say he still sleeps beneath the world, or rules over the Isles of the Blessed where heroes dwell after death. The Golden Age he created remains humanity's dream of paradise lost.