Cronus was the youngest and weakest, but smartest of the 12 Titans. He married his sister Rhea and together they took the throne of the world as King and Queen.
Cronus and Rhea gave birth to 6 of the 14 Olympian Gods, including Zeus, the King of the Gods, Hera, the goddess of marriage and wife of Zeus, Poseidon, the god of the seas, Hestia, the goddess of the hearth, Demeter, the goddess of agriculture and Hades, the god of the underworld.
Just like his father Uranus, Cronus was a very envious deity, swallowing his children because he was been told that one of his descendant would eventually dethrone him.
So, when Rhea was expecting her last child Zeus, her parents advised her to cross the seas and reach the island of Crete. So Rhea did and gave birth to Zeus inside a cave in Lyctos, Crete, far away from her husband. She then left her child to be raised by Gaea and the Nymphs and quickly returned to Mount Olympus all alone. There, she deceived Cronus by giving him a stone wrapped in swaddling clothes to swallow.
This way, Zeus escaped from the threat of Uranus and remained in Crete until he was mature enough to fight against his father and claim the Kingdom of the World. |