All about history book of myths and legends. ( PDFDrive )

The gods of Mount Olympus, who are the

dominant characters in most of the myths of

ancient Greece, took control of the universe

by fighting a long war with their ancestors

and rivals, the Titans. The story of this

Cosmic War, which is also known as the

Titanomachia, involves many themes – such

as oracles, lost children, and revenge – that

are prominent in later myths. At the end of

the struggle, Zeus emerged as the supreme

ruler of the entire cosmos, and the defeated

Titans were banished to the Underworld.

Cosmic War

CLASSICAL EUROPE

In battle

Hurling heavy rocks was one

way in which the gods and

giants attacked each other.

This painting shows a scene

from the Gigantomachia, the

battle between the gods and

Gaia’s children, the giants.

administered to Cronus, would make him

vomit up all his children. Zeus followed Metis’s

instructions and rescued his siblings – the gods

Poseidon and Hades, and the goddesses Hera,

Hestia, and Demeter. Then Zeus freed the

Cyclopes, the one-eyed giants whom Uranus had

banished to the Underworld. The gods and the

Cyclopes led by Zeus declared war on Cronus.

The two sides were equally matched and

the conflict seemed destined to last forever.

But the Cyclopes were master metalworkers,

and they created a number of magical weapons, including a

thunderbolt for Zeus, a trident for Poseidon, and a helmet

for Hades that made the wearer invisible. These eventually

gave the gods the upper hand in the conflict. At the end of

the war, the gods controlled the cosmos and the Titans were

imprisoned in Tartarus, a region in the Underworld full of

fearsome monsters guarded by the Hundred-Handed Giants.

FURTHER BATTLES

Gaia, outraged that her children had been dispatched to

Tartarus, began another war against the gods, bringing the

Giants, who were also her children, into battle against Zeus

and the other gods and goddesses. The gods were finally the

victors in this battle, known as the Gigantomachia, and the

Giants were buried beneath volcanoes. But even then their

rule was not secure. Zeus was challenged one last time by

Typhon, yet another of Gaia’s ofspring. Although Zeus injured

Typhon – a huge creature with many heads and countless legs

and arms – with his thunderbolt, the monster continued to

hurl enormous rocks at him. Zeus retaliated by attacking the

rocks with thunderbolts, so that they rebounded on Typhon,

knocking the strength out of him. Finally, Zeus hurled him

down to Tartarus. His rule was secure at last.

THE MYTH

An oracle had told the Titan Cronus that one

of his children would kill him. As a result,

whenever a child was born to his wife, Rhea,

Cronus would swallow it. After Cronus had

disposed of five children, Rhea hatched a

plan. When their next child, Zeus, was born,

she sent him to Crete, where Amalthea, a

friendly goat-nymph, brought up the child.

Meanwhile, Rhea wrapped a stone in swaddling

clothes and gave it to Cronus to swallow.

THE RETURN OF ZEUS

After Zeus grew up, one day his foster-mother, Amalthea,

revealed his true identity to him and narrated how Cronus

had swallowed all his siblings. An enraged Zeus then resolved

to take revenge

on his father for

this crime. When

he declared his

intention to the

Titaness Metis, she

told him that he

could still rescue his

brothers and sisters.

She gave him a drug

that, when it was

Bronze shield and sword

The Greeks used to make fine bronze

weapons. Myths about metalworkers

like the Cyclopes show how vital

these skills were to them.

16