Cronus – Devouring father of Zeus
I did not reduce them [dreams] to personal factors, as Freud does….
I compared them with the symbols from mythology and the history of religion, in order to discover the meaning they were trying to express.
Francisco Goya
1819–1823. Oil mural transferred to canvas
143cm x 81cm.
Museo del Prado, Madrid
Continuing the amplification of the myth of Hercules — note that Zeus that was quite heroic here, saving the his brothers and sisters who had been gobbled up. Note also that he Rhea gave Cronus a stone to swallow instead of Zeus; stones have been mentioned before.
Jung writes at great length about the archetype of the mother — including the devouring mother – in Archetypes of the Collective Unconscious; Cronos is an archetypal devouring father. Dark, shadowy stuff. Needs a hero to deal with it.
from www.Theo.com
Cronus was the Titan god of time and the ages, especially time where regarded as destructive and all-devouring. He ruled the cosmos during the so-called Golden Age, after castrating and deposing his father Ouranos (the Sky). In fear of a prophecy that he would be in turn be overthrown by his own son, Kronos swallowed each of his children as soon as they were born. Rhea managed to save the youngest, Zeus, by hiding him away on the island of Krete, and fed Kronos a stone wrapped in the swaddling clothes of an infant. The god grew up, forced Kronos to disgorge his swallowed offspring, and led the Olympians in a ten year war against the Titanes, before driving them defeated into the pit of Tartaros.
Many human generations later, Zeus released Kronos and his brothers from this prison, and made the old Titan king of the Elysian Islands, home of the blessed dead.
Peter Paul Rubens
1636
180 cm x 87 cm
Prado Museum
From Encyclopedia Mythica
Cronus
Ron Leadbetter
The son of Uranus and Gaia and the youngest of the twelve Titans. His wife was also one of the Titans, since he married his sister Rhea. Their offspring were Demeter, Hestia, Hera, Hades, Poseidon and Zeus.
It is written that Uranus, who in one version, hid his children away in the bowels of the earth (Tartarus) as he was aghast at the sight of them, in reality he was fearful of their great strength and power. Gaia found her offspring uncomfortable and also painful and when she found the discomfort too much to bear she hatched a plan, which was to end the passions of Uranus, so no more offspring could be produced and that would be the ending of her hurt. But to achieve this she required the help from one of her children. She asked them all, but only her youngest child Cronus would heed her call. To help Cronus accomplish his task Gaia gave him a adamantine sickle to serve as his weapon.
Cronus lay in wait hidden from view, and when Uranus came to lay with Gaia Cronus struck. With one mighty blow from the sickle Cronus severed the genitals from Uranus’ body. From the blood which fell to the earth (Gaia) where born the Erinyes (Furies), the Giants and also the Meliae (Nymphs of the manna ash trees). In other versions Aphrodite was born from the foam created from the sex organs of Uranus, after they had been thrown into the sea by Cronus.
Once Cronus had castrated Uranus, he and his wife Rhea took the throne. Under their power a time of harmony and prosperity began, which became known as the “Golden Age”; a time when it was said that people lived without greed or violence, and without toil or the need for laws. But not all was well for Cronus, as it was fated that he would be overthrown by one of his own children. To prevent this from happening he began to swallow his newborn, taking them at birth then swallowing them whole, retaining them inside his own body where they could do him no harm.
Rhea did not like the thoughts of losing all her children, and with the help of Gaia she saved Zeus from this fate. Rhea wrapped a stone in Zeus’ swaddling clothes which Cronus took and immediately swallowed thinking it was the child. Gaia and Rhea’s plan worked well and the baby Zeus was taken to Crete, and there, in a cave on Mount Dicte, the divine goat Amaltheia suckled and raised the infant Zeus. When Zeus had grown into a young man he returned to his fathers domain, and with the help of Gaia, compelled Cronus to regurgitate the five children he had previously swallowed. (In some versions Zeus received help from Metis who gave Cronus an emetic potion, which made him vomit up Zeus’ brothers and sisters). Zeus led the revolt against his father and the dynasty of the Titans, defeated and then banished them.
The Romans compared Cronus with their Saturn, who was to the Romans a corn god. This is from the association of the “Golden Age”. In Athens on the 12th day of the month Hekatombaion a festival was held in honour of Cronus, which was known as the “Kronia”. It was a celebration of the harvest. In art, Cronus was depicted carrying a sickle used to gather the harvest, but this was also the weapon he used to castrate his father.
The name may derive from the verb kreno, which means ‘to exercise sway’, ‘to reign over’, ‘to govern’.
From Godchecker:
CRONUS: Father of the Gods and one of the TITANS. He’s known as the Castrator, definitely a no-no.
His mighty father URANUS was terrified of the great ugly kids pregnant GAIA was producing and had them banished to the bowels of the Earth. In other words, GAIA’s bowels.
She found this so painful (and not just emotionally) that she enlisted the aid of youngest son CRONUS to put an end to URANUS’s machinations.
With a well-aimed swipe of a sickle, CRONUS cut his father off in his prime. With URANUS out of the way, CRONUS became Top God and ruled a Golden Age of peace and prosperity. With his wife RHEA he fathered all the other Top Gods.
But it was a case of like father, like son. He was so fearful of his own powerful children, he gobbled them all up and only baby ZEUS escaped to save the day.