In Greek mythology, the
primordial deities were
the first gods from the
beginning of the world.
Generally, these primordial
deities are associated with
 natural elements
(Earth, Cosmos, Sea, etc.).
 Two of these primordial deities
were Gaia (Earth) and Uranus (Sky).
These two time-independent beings
had twelve children,
collectively called the Titans. Titans were
immortal giants of incredible strength
and knowledge of old religion rituals
and magic.
They are also known as the Elder Gods and
their dwelling place was at Mount Othrys.
There were two generations,
with the first generation
being the twelve children
of Gaia and Uranus.
 Of this first generation, six were
male and six were female.
The male Titans were Cronus,
Coeus, Crius, Hyperion, Iapetus and Oceanus.
 The
female Titans or Titanesses were
 Mnemosyne, Phoebe, Rhea,
Tethys, Theia and Themis.
Cyclops and Hecatoncheires
were the brothers of the Titans,
as they were the
children of Gaia and Uranus.
The Hecatoncheires had fifty heads
and a hundred hands.
 Uranus was so repelled by the sight of the
Hecatoncheires that he tried
to push them back into Gaia’s womb,
which caused her terrible pain.
This caused Gaia to resent Uranus
even more, and she plotted with
her Titan children to at least
overthrow him,
 since Uranus was immortal and couldn’t be killed.
Only her youngest son Cronus agreed to the plot,
because he wanted to replace his father
as leader of the gods.
Gaia fashioned an adamantine
sickle and gave it to him.
Four of the titans
positioned themselves at the corners of the world,
ready to grasp their father as he
descended to lie with Earth,
Hyperion to the east, Krios to the South,
Coeus to the North and Iapetus to the west
while the fifth, Cronus, took his
place in the centre
 and there castrated Uranus with an adamantine sickle.
From the blood that spilled
from Uranus onto the Earth
came forth the Giants (gigantes), the Meliae (ash-tree nymphs), the Erinyes (the avenging Furies)
 and, from the genitals in the
sea came forth Aphrodite.
The Titans then dragged Uranus
to Tartarus and chained him there.
 This resulted in the
Titans becoming the new rulers of the heavens.
However, Cronus was told that his children
would overthrow him as well.
He ruled the cosmos during the
Golden Age
 after castrating and deposing his father Uranus.
In fear of a prophecy that he would inturn be overthrown by his own son,
Kronos swallowed each of his children
as they were born.
Rhea managed to save the youngest, Zeus,
 by hiding him away on the island of Crete,
and fed Cronus a stone wrapped
in swaddling clothes.
The god grew up, forced Cronus
to disgorge his swallowed offspring,
and the Titans were overthrown by Cronus'
children
in an event known as the
Titanomachy ("War of the Titans").
This was a ten-year war that raged
between the Olympians
led by Zeus and the Titans, which
resulted in the Olympians winning.
The Titans were imprisoned in
Tartarus after the war ended.
