Titanomachia
Welcome to this topic entitled Titanomachia. Here, we will learn something terrible that happened in titanic proportions. This cataclysmic event has been portrayed many times in various media with varied interpretations. A film directed by Tarsim Singh produced by Universal pictures and Relativity media featuring Henry Cavill as the Greek hero Theseus and Frieda Pinto as a Sybelline prophetess is just one of the many interpretations of it. However, we shall take into account various sources and myths to fully understand Titanomachia. So, what are you waiting for? Off we go!
Intended learning outcomes (ILO)
At the completion of this topic, the students should be able to:
- discuss the parallels (similarities and contrasts) between the Biblical and mythological war in heaven;
The Titanomachia
The Titanomachia, from the Greek words “Titan” and “Machia” which means “war or clash of the Titans” (Titanomachy in English), in Greek mythology, was the Great War that occurred between the Titans, the old generation of Greek gods, and the Olympian gods, led by Zeus. The war lasted for a total of ten years, ending in the defeat of the old pantheon, which was based on Mount Othrys, and the establishment of the new one, based on Mount Olympus.
Greeks of the Classical Age knew of several poems about the war between the gods and many of the Titans. The dominant one, and the only one that has survived, is the Theogony attributed to Hesiod. A lost epic, Titanomachia, attributed to the blind Thracian bard Thamyris, himself a legendary figure, was mentioned in passing in an essay On Music that was once attributed to Plutarch. The Titans also played a prominent role in the poems attributed to Orpheus. Although only scraps of the Orphic narratives survive, they show interesting differences from the Hesiodic tradition.
Causes of the Titanomachia
Uranus was the ruler of the universe. However, he caused the wrath of his wife, Gaea, after incarcerating some of her children, the Cyclopes and the Hecatonchires, in the depths of the earth, Tartarus. Gaea decided to take revenge, and created a giant adamantium sickle; she then told her children to castrate their father in order to overthrow him. Only Cronus agreed, and after he formed a plot with his mother, he managed to overpower his father and castrate him. From Uranus’ blood that fell on the earth, three sets of children were born; the Giants, the Erinyes, and the Meliae; while from the blood that fell into the sea, the goddess Aphrodite was born.
Cronus took the throne from his father, but not before Uranus made a prophecy or curse that his son would also be overthrown by his own sons. Afraid that he would lose the reign, Cronus turned into the same tyrant god that his father was; he put his brothers back into Tartarus, and also swallowed his own children, in an effort to prevent the prophecy from becoming true. However, his wife Rhea, with the aid of Gaia, tricked him and saved her youngest child, Zeus, from his father’s paranoia. She hid Zeus in a cave in the island of Crete, where he was feed by a goat, Amalthea. To shield Zeus from the all-powerful Cronus who rule the earth, the sea and the heavens, Zeus was suspended from the ground in what looks like a cradle.
When Zeus grew up into a fine young Titan, he became his father’s cupbearer, without revealing his true identity. Helped by Metis, the Titaness who later became his wife, he gave Cronus a mixture of wine and mustard, causing him to vomit one by one the children he had swallowed. When all of his brothers and sisters (Hera, Hades, Poseidon, Demeter, Hestia) were freed, Zeus gathered them and convinced them to start a rebellion against their father and his fellow Titans.
The course and outcome of the Titanomachia
Thus started the Titanomachy. Initially, Cronus and his Titan-brothers such as Iapetus, Crius, Hyperion, and their Titanic offsprings such as Atlas, Menoetius, Helios, and others were winning the initial phases of the war. The younger gods and Zeus, retreated and encamped themselves at Mt. Olympus, the highest peak in Greece. Cronus went down from his Kingdom of Othrys and surveyed the earth. They decided to pile Mt. Ossa on top of Mt. Pelion to equal the height of Mt. Olympus.
Not all the Titans sided with Cronus. Some of them such as Oceanus and his family remained neutral not to mention the Titanesses who were not concerned themselves with war. However, some Titans chose to fight alongside Zeus and the Olympians. Themis, the Titan goddess of divine justice and order and Prometheus, the Titan of foresight, were the only Titans who fought on the side of Zeus and the Olympians.
Hard-pressed from all sides, help came in the form of a wise counsel from Gaia, who advised Zeus to do her bidding. Zeus released the Hecatonchires and the Cyclopes from Tartarus and asked their help against their brothers. They all agreed; the Hecatonchires started hurling rocks against the Titans, while the Cyclopes created the famous thunderbolts for Zeus, the trident for Poseidon, and the pitchfork for Hades together with the helmet of invisibility.
Thus, the tide of the war turned in favor of the Olympians due to these divine weapons. The younger gods defeated the older Titans. When the War ended with the Olympians on the winning side, all Titans except Themis and Prometheus were jailed in Tartarus, and were guarded by the Hecatonchires.
Zeus, along with his brothers Poseidon and Hades, divided the universe by drawing straws; Zeus won and became the king of the sky, as well as the ruler of mortals and gods; Poseidon became the ruler of the seas; while Hades, who drew the shortest straw, became the ruler of the Underworld. This was the dawn of a new era in Greek mythology.
Works cited
- Hamilton, Edith. Mythology: Timeless Tales of gods and heroes. New York: Grand Central Publishing, 2012. Book.
- Bendix, Regina F. A Companion to Folklore. Massachusetts: Wiley Blackwell, 2012. Book.
- Harris, Stephen L. Classical Mythology: Images and Insights. New York: McGraw-Hill , 2012. Book.