Page 43 - Kallima Newsletter - April - May 2021

Leto
Leto was daughter of the Titans Coeus and Phoebe, and a goddess of motherhood. She is perhaps most famous for being the mother of the twin Olympian gods Apollo and Artemis (fathered by Zeus).
The Children of Cronus and the Beginning of War
Cronus, the leader of the Titans, and his wife (and sister) Rhea ruled over the universe. According to Hesiod, they had six children together – Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades, Poseidon and Zeus.
However, Uranus and Gaia revealed to him in a prophesy that his sons would one day overthrow him.
In order to protect himself, each time Rhea gave birth to another child, the fierce Titan would swallow it. He did this to Hestia, Hades, Hera, Poseidon and Demeter.
However, when Zeus, the youngest was born, Rhea with the help of Gaia, hid Zeus in a cave and gave Cronus a stone to swallow instead. Once Zeus reched adulthood, he forced his father to disgorge the contents of his stomach, spitting up his siblings.
Zeus then released his uncles, the Cyclops, who gave the young god his greatest weapons, the thunderbolts. Zeus then was involved with a
long war (The Titanomachy) with his fellow Olympians against the Titans. The price? Control of the Cosmos.
The Titanomachy
The Clash of the Titans or the Battle of the Gods. It was a 10 year war between the second generations gods - the Titans, and the Olympians, the younger generation of deities who were rising up to rule the universe.
Much of what we know about this war is attributed to Hesiod and Theogony.
On the side of Zeus were the Titans Themis and her son Prometheus, as well as the Cyclops and the Hecatonchires, who hurled huge boulders at the Titans.
Allied with Cronus were the other Titans, but they were not strong enough to defeat the mighty Zeus.
After 10 years of battling, these first children of the primordial gods were cut down by Zeus and imprisoned in Tartarus, with the Hecatonchires as their guards.
The Succession Myth
The rise and fall of the Titans is a central part of what is known as Hesiod’s succession myth.
Simply, the myth tells how from Chaos came Gaia, who begot Cronus who overthrew his father Uranus, and who, in turn was overthrown by his son Zeus.
The line of succession thus becomes a reflection of the might and power that the gods have, with each succeeding god proving stronger and distributing more power than the last.
This may have been a reflection of the different divine systems that were at play during this period as different populations moved in and across the Greek world.
However, in Hesiod’s Theogony, Zeus is finally able to stop the cycle of succession. He does this when it is revealed to him that the child that his wife Metis is carrying may usurp his rule. He thus swallows his wife whole and in doing so secures his eternal rule over the cosmos.
Who were the Olympians
Greek mythology embraces numerous gods, goddesses, monsters and mortals.
The best known are probably the Olympians. The ancient Greeks saw it they were the twelve supreme rulers of Greece and the world.
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