Cronos

Cronos

"The murderer of Gaia enters my tomb?" � Cronos

Cronos, once the mighty leader of the Titans, has fathered the first group of Olympians. After his son Zeus had usurped the throne, Cronos was then cursed to forever carry Pandora's Temple atop his back.

In Greek mythology, Kronos (or Cronus) was the leader and also the youngest of the first generation of Titans. During the reign of Ouranos, the sky, the hundred-armed Hecatonchires and one-eyed Cyclops were imprisoned within Tartarus, causing Gaia great pain (Tartarus being her bowels). She created a stone sickle for one of her Titan sons to kill Ouranos and take his place as ruler. Only Cronos was willing to do the deed, and so Gaia gave him the sickle and placed him in ambush. When Ouranos met with Gaia, Cronos attacked his father and cut off his testicles, castrating him so he can't have children, and casting the severed testes into the sea. From the blood sprouted the Gigantes, Erinyes, and Meliae. From the member that was cast into the sea, Aphrodite emerged.

After defeating Ouranos, Cronos reimprisoned the Hecatonchires and the Cyclops along with the Gigantes and set the dragon Campe to guard them forever. He and his sister-wife, Rhea, took the throne of the world as king and queen, respectively. This period of Cronos' rule was called the "Golden Age", as the people of the time had no need for laws or rules; everyone did the right thing, and immorality was absent.

Cronos learned from the Sisters of Fate that he was destined to be overcome by his own son, just as he had overthrown his father. As a result, although he sired the gods Demeter, Hera, Hades, Hestia, and Poseidon by Rhea, he swallowed them all as soon as they were born to preempt the prophecy. The sixth and final child, Zeus, would become the son destined to overthrow Cronos and defeat the Titans.

Cronos was usually depicted with a sickle, which he used to harvest crops and also the weapon used to defeat Ouranos. Other children he is reputed to have fathered Chiron, by Philyra.
In the beginning, the mighty Titans were created by the union of Gaia and Ouranos. They were all born on the Island of Creation, home to the Sisters of Fate. Above any other beings, including the Titans, the Sisters of Fate could see the future and predict what would happen to any living being. The Titans feared the Sisters of Fate for this, and left the Island of Creation to rule the mortal world. This marked the beginning of the Golden Age of Mankind.

Cronos, the mighty ruler of the Titans, was prophesized to be overthrown by his own children in the future. To prevent this from coming true, Cronos tried to bribe the Sisters of Fate into changing his destiny by granting them the Steeds of Time. However, this gift would not prevent the prophecy from coming true. In a second attempt to prevent this from happening, his wife, Rhea, bore his children and one by one he swallowed them whole, imprisoning them within his belly. Rhea could not bear another loss, for she already had five children taken from her. When the sixth child, Zeus, was born, Rhea called upon an eagle to take the baby far away from the watchful eyes of Cronos. In the baby's place, Rhea wrapped a stone in cloth and offered it to Cronos, who foolishly believed it to be the baby and swallowed it.

Cronos

Farther beyond the Island of Creation, baby Zeus was raised by Gaia. She cared for Zeus and nurtured his desire to free his siblings from Cronos. When he came of age, Zeus freed them and started a war against the Titans. He desired to rule over the mortals more than anything. The continuous battles between the new gods and the Titans forged the landscape of the mortal world.

The mighty Atlas was the leader of the Titans in their epic battle against the gods. Mountains were hurled like pebbles and tremendous earthquakes shook the world. Cronos had almost been defeated, but was saved by Atlas, who was defeated by both Hades and Poseidon. After Zeus created the Blade of Olympus, the Titans were banished to the darkest pits of Tartarus to endure great suffering for all time, but Cronos would be granted another great fate in time.

Zeus punished Cronos by forcing him to wander the Desert of Lost Souls with Pandora's Temple chained to his back. The whirling sands may have one day ripped the very flesh from Cronos' bones, but he was given no sympathy. When the Titan Horn would be blown, Cronos would be called upon to allow countless warriors to endure the many dangers which lurked within the temple. Above all warriors, Kratos, the Ghost of Sparta, was responsible for completing the many feats within the temple and even retrieving Pandora's Box.

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