Cronus (deity)
Cronus is a significant deity in pre-Hellenic and later Greek and Roman mythology, primarily recognized as the god of time and the ages. He is the youngest of the twelve Titans, born to Uranus (the god of Heaven) and Gaea (the goddess of Earth), and is notably the father of the six major Olympian gods, including Zeus. His name is thought to relate to the concept of a "crow," a bird associated with the sacred king's soul. Cronus is often depicted in art as an elderly figure, sometimes with a scythe, symbolizing the passage of time and the changing seasons.
In mythology, Cronus is famous for castrating his father Uranus, an act that allowed him to rule the universe during a golden age. However, fearing a prophecy that one of his children would dethrone him, he swallowed five of them until Rhea saved Zeus, who later forced Cronus to regurgitate his siblings. The subsequent conflict, known as the Titanomachy, saw Zeus overthrow Cronus, leading to his uncertain fate, which ranges from imprisonment in Tartarus to ruling the cosmos.
While Cronus had a certain cultural importance, particularly in relation to agricultural themes and harvest festivals like Kronia in Greece and Saturnalia in Rome, he did not occupy a central role in the broader pantheon of Greek mystery cults. Artistic representations and literary references to Cronus can be found throughout history, reflecting the complexities and contradictions in his myth.
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Subject Terms
Cronus (deity)
Culture: pre-Hellenic; Greco-Roman
Mother: Gaea
Father: Uranus
Siblings: Oceanus, Koios, Krios, Hyperion, Iapetus, Thea, Rhea, Themis, Mnemosyne, Phoebe, Thetis
Children: Demeter, Hades, Hera, Hestia, Poseidon, and Zeus
Cronus was a god or deity of pre-Hellenic Greece and later a Greek god and a Roman god (named Saturn), yet he was most likely not worshipped widely by the Greeks. He was the son of Uranus (the god of Heaven) and Gaea (the goddess of Earth). Cronus was the youngest of twelve Titan gods and the father of six of the Olympian gods. His name most likely means "crow," a bird believed to have the soul of a sacred king, but only after his sacrifice.
Cronus was primarily known as the god of time and the ages. He was also the ruler of the universe during the golden age of men. According to pre-Hellenic beliefs, Cronus may have been the god of agriculture. His name symbolizes the end of the year. The Greeks celebrated a harvest festival at the end of the year called Kronia. In Roman mythology Saturn (Cronus) was the god of the planets and of agriculture. The Romans celebrated a harvest festival at the end of each year, called Saturnalia, in his honor.
In ancient Greek and Roman art, Cronus may be shown with a scythe, a farming implement that was often associated with the changing seasons. Such images suggest that Cronus was associated with time itself. In the ancients’ view, only after the heavens and Earth were created could time (and by implication, Cronus) exist since time is measured by their movement.
Cronus is often portrayed as an aging bald man wearing torn garments. He is also commonly shown eating his children. This is symbolic insofar as time wears and weathers everything, and it also consumes all things. Cronus has also been portrayed as a snake or dragon with many heads. Sometimes, he is shown with bulls and lions on his body.
In Mythology
Cronus is part of the greater myth creation story in Greek and Roman mythology. This creation story explains both time and its place in the ongoing drama of the changing seasons, the annual harvests, and the backstory of heaven and Earth.
In the myth, Cronus castrated his father with a pruning hook. By performing this act on the counsel of his mother, he separated heaven from Earth. She persuaded Cronus and his siblings to attack Uranus because he had thrown his sons, the Cyclops who had rebelled against him, into Tartarus, the Underworld. Cronus attacked his father when the older god was sleeping. Uranus’s blood streamed out, and drops of it landed on Gaea. As a result, she bore three furies called Erinnyes: Alecto, Tisiphone, and Megaera. The task of the Erinnyes was to avenge harm that was carried out against mothers. After Uranus’s death, the Titans set the Cyclops free from Tartarus, and Cronus became king of the Titans.
As king of the Titans, Cronus subsequently returned the Cyclops to Tartarus. Then he married one of his sisters, Rhea, and together they produced six children—Demeter, Hades, Hera, Hestia, Poseidon, and Zeus, who would in time become the supreme god in Greek mythology. (Renamed Jupiter, he would play the same role in Roman mythology.) Cronus’s parents warned him that one of his offspring might try to take over as king, so he swallowed five of his children to prevent this from happening. Rhea tried to save Zeus by hiding him in Crete. She then tricked Cronus by giving him a stone to swallow instead of Zeus.
Zeus matured into adulthood and faced his father with a vengeance. He put a magic potion into his father’s beverage and demanded that Cronus bring back his brothers and sisters, which he did by disgorging them. After Cronus released his children, Zeus declared war on his father and defeated him in the battle of Titanomachy.
Cronus’s fate is debated and is not clearly known. He may have been taken a prisoner in Tartarus, sent into exile, or became a king of the cosmos during the golden age of mortals.
Origins and Cults
Cronus was a somewhat important figure in ancient Greek and Roman mythology insofar as he was the deity of time and the father of Zeus, as well as the god of agriculture and the planets. Yet Cronus did not have a prominent role in Greek mystery cults, and he came from an earlier epoch than other, more famous and recognized gods, such as his son Zeus. For this reason, there are not many stories, rites, or rituals associated with him. Much of the information about Cronus is inconsistent. Some details in the story of Cronus are missing; other details are contradictory. Yet he does have some prominence, as seen at Olympia, the ancient Greek site that was dedicated to the worship of Zeus. There lies the Kronian hill, which could have been an early place of worship.
Cronus is the subject of various paintings and works of art and literature. Many of the themes of these paintings show Cronus castrating his father or swallowing his children. These themes are evident in works by such artists as Francisco de Goya, Giorgio Vasari, and Peter Paul Rubens. In literature Cronus is the subject of poems by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Friedrich Holderlin. Cronus’s persona and references to him can be seen in fairy tales—for example, when a character swallows someone or something, and later the victim is brought back alive. A few musical works have also given a nod to Cronus and the little that we know about him.
Bibliography
Eddy, Steve. Understand Greek Mythology. Chicago: McGraw, 2012. Print.
Ferry, Luc. The Wisdom of the Myths: How Greek Mythology Can Change Your Life. New York: Harper, 2014. Print.
Hamby, Zachary. Greek Mythology for Teens: Classic Myths in Today’s World. Waco: Prufrock, 2011. Print.
Hamilton, Edith. Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes. New York: Grand Central, 2011. Print.
Murray, A. S. Mythology: Who’s Who in Greek and Roman Mythology. Minneapolis: Wellfleet, 2015. Print.
Pinsent, John. Greek Mythology. New York: Bedrick, 2015. Print.
Riordan, Rick. Percy Jackson’s Greek Gods. Los Angeles: Disney, 2014. Print.