Now that we have an appreciation of Ouranus and Gaia, we can delve further into the Chronicle of the Titans.
After ascending to the throne on Mount Othyrs, Cronos married to his youngest sister, Rhea. Although Cronos was happy on learning that Rhea was pregnant with their first child, his father's words tugged at the back of his mind. When Rhea arrived in his court and presented their daughter Hestia to him he could sense an odd aura around her. His father's words suddenly resurfaced in his mind, and he decided to put an end to his father's prophecy.
He asked his wife if he could hold their daughter, Rhea sensing no imminent danger agreed. As soon as Cronos got his hands on Hestia he opened his mouth wide and swallowed her whole. Rhea was horrified at the scene and disgusted at her husband, she tried to get her brothers and sisters to help her but to no avail since they were scared to go up against Cronos, fearful that he would do the same thing to them that he had done to his father.
A helpless Rhea had no choice but accept what happened. This scene was repeated time and again with their children Demeter, Hera, Hades and Poseidon. After five of her children went into her husband's belly, Rhea had enough. When she was pregnant with her sixth child, she fled to Crete.
After reaching Crete, Rhea sought her mother Gaia's advice. Gaia suggested that she hide her newborn child in the cave where she was and fool Cronos in some way or another and Gaia then returned to her deep slumber.
Taking her mother's advice, Rhea found a rock, the shape and size of a baby and dressed it in a babies clothes. When she presented the "child" to her husband, Cronos, as expected, swallowed the rock, thinking it to be his child. Rhea feigned to be furious with her husband for this barbaric act and fled to Crete once more. It was an ideal excuse for her to return to her new born son. She stayed in Crete for over a year then returned to her husband to allay his suspicions.
In this one year, however, she was surprised to see her son Zeus grow so fast. She visited him whenever she could. When Zeus came of age, he went undercover as Cronos's cup bearer and poisoned him so that he would spew up his siblings. First came Poseidon, then came Hades, Hera, Demeter and Hestia.
After the Gods were freed there was a war which lasted 10 years. This war was known as the Titanomachy. Eventually Cronos was overthrown by Zeus.
During the war the top of Mount Othrys was destroyed. Thus, the Gods built their castle on the next highest mountain, Mount Olympus.
Since Zeus was the one to defeat Cronos he was the King of the Gods. His brothers Hades and Poseidon ruled the Underworld and the Ocean respectively.
I didn't know any of this! 😀
I am learning a lot from your blogs.