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{{Short description|Order of divine beings in Greek mythology}}
{{About|the Titans of Greek mythology||Titan (disambiguation){{!}}Titan}}
[[File:Cornelis Cornelisz. van Haarlem - The Fall of the Titans - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|''[[The Fall of the Titans]]'' (1596-98), a mythological painting by [[Dutch people|Dutch]] artist [[Cornelis van Haarlem]].]]
{{Greek deities (Titans)}}

In [[Greek mythology]], the '''Titans''' ({{langx|grc|Τιτᾶνες}}, {{tlit|grc|Tītânes}}; {{small|[[Grammatical number|singular]]}}: Τιτάν, {{tlit|grc|Tītā́n}}) were the deities that preceded the [[Twelve Olympians|Olympians]].<ref>Hansen, p. 302; Grimal, p. 457 s.v. Titans; Tripp, p. 579 s.v. Titans; Rose, p. 1079 s.v. Titan; Smith, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0104%3Aalphabetic+letter%3DT%3Aentry+group%3D18%3Aentry%3Dtitan-bio-1 s.v. Titan 1.].</ref> According to the ''[[Theogony]]'' of [[Hesiod]], they were the twelve children of the primordial deities [[Uranus (mythology)|Uranus]] (Sky) and [[Gaia]] (Earth). The six male Titans were [[Oceanus]], [[Coeus]], [[Crius]], [[Hyperion (Titan)|Hyperion]], [[Iapetus]], and [[Cronus]], and the six female Titans (called the '''Titanesses'''; {{langx|grc|Τιτανίδες}}, {{tlit|grc|Tītânīdes}}; {{small|[[Grammatical number|singular]]}}: Τιτανις, {{tlit|grc|Tītā́nīde}}) were [[Theia]], [[Rhea (mythology)|Rhea]], [[Themis]], [[Mnemosyne]], [[Phoebe (Titaness)|Phoebe]], and [[Tethys (mythology)|Tethys]].

After Cronus married his sister Rhea, she bore the first generation of Olympians: the six siblings [[Zeus]], [[Hera]], [[Poseidon]], [[Demeter]], [[Hades]], and [[Hestia]]. Certain other children of the Titans, such as [[Prometheus]], [[Atlas (mythology)|Atlas]], [[Helios]], and [[Leto]], are sometimes also called Titans.

The Titans were the former gods: the generation of gods preceding the [[Twelve Olympians#Olympians|Olympians]]. They were overthrown as part of the Greek succession myth, which tells how Cronus seized power from his father Uranus and ruled the cosmos with his fellow Titans before being in turn defeated and replaced as the ruling pantheon of gods by Zeus and the Olympians in a ten-year war called the ''[[Titanomachy]]'' ('battle of the Titans'). As a result of this war, the vanquished Titans were banished from the upper world and held imprisoned under guard in [[Tartarus]]. Some Titans were apparently allowed to remain free.

==Genealogy==
[[File:Saturnus fig274.png|thumb|150px|left|Cronus armed with sickle; image derived from a [[Engraved gem|carved gem]] ([[Aubin-Louis Millin de Grandmaison]], ''Galerie mythologique'', 1811).]]

===Hesiod's genealogy ===
According to [[Hesiod]], the Titan offspring of Uranus and Gaia were  [[Oceanus]], [[Coeus]], [[Crius]], [[Hyperion (Titan)|Hyperion]], [[Iapetus (mythology)|Iapetus]], [[Theia]], [[Rhea (mythology)|Rhea]], [[Themis]], [[Mnemosyne]], [[Phoebe (Titaness)|Phoebe]], [[Tethys (mythology)|Tethys]], and [[Cronus]].<ref>[[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1:104-138 133&ndash;138].</ref> Eight of the Titan brothers and sisters married each other: Oceanus and Tethys, Coeus and Phoebe, Hyperion and Theia, and Cronus and Rhea. The other two Titan brothers married outside their immediate family. Iapetus married his niece [[Clymene (wife of Iapetus)|Clymene]], the daughter of Oceanus and Tethys, while Crius married his half-sister [[Eurybia (mythology)|Eurybia]], the daughter of Gaia and [[Pontus (mythology)|Pontus]]. The two remaining Titan sisters, Themis and Mnemosyne, became wives of their nephew [[Zeus]].

From Oceanus and Tethys came the three thousand [[River gods (Greek mythology)|river gods]], and three thousand [[Oceanid]] nymphs.<ref>[[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1:337-370 337&ndash;370].</ref> From Coeus and Phoebe came [[Leto]], another wife of Zeus, and [[Asteria]].<ref>[[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hes.+Th.+404 404&ndash;409].</ref>  From Crius and Eurybia came [[Astraeus]], [[Pallas (Titan)|Pallas]], and [[Perses (Titan)|Perses]].<ref>[[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]''  [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1:371-403 375&ndash;377].</ref> From Hyperion and Theia came the celestial personifications [[Helios]] (Sun), [[Selene]] (Moon), and [[Eos]] (Dawn).<ref>[[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1:371-403 371&ndash;374].</ref> From Iapetus and Clymene came [[Atlas (mythology)|Atlas]], [[Menoetius (mythology)|Menoetius]], [[Prometheus]], and [[Epimetheus (mythology)|Epimetheus]].<ref>[[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]''  [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hes.+Th.+507 507&ndash;511].</ref> From Cronus and Rhea came the Olympians: [[Hestia]], [[Demeter]], [[Hera]], [[Hades]], [[Poseidon]], and Zeus.<ref>[[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hes.+Th.+453 453&ndash;458].</ref> By Zeus, Themis bore the three [[Horae]] (Hours), and the three [[Moirai]] (Fates),<ref>[[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1:901-937 901&ndash;906], although at ''[[Theogony]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hes.+Th.+217 217] the Moirai are said to be the daughters of [[Nyx]] (Night).</ref> and  Mnemosyne bore the nine [[Muse]]s.<ref>[[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1:901-937 915&ndash;920].</ref>

While the descendants of the Titans Oceanus and Tethys, Cronus and Rhea, Themis, and Mnemosyne (i.e. the river gods, the Oceanids, the Olympians, the Horae, the Moirai, and the Muses) are not normally considered to be Titans, descendants of the other Titans, notably: Leto, Helios, Atlas, and Prometheus, are themselves sometimes referred to as Titans.<ref>Parada, p. 179 s.v. TITANS; Smith, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0104%3Aentry%3Dtitan-bio-2 s.v. Titan 2.]; Rose, p. 143 s.v. Atlas, p. 597 s.v. Leto, p. 883 s.v. Prometheus; Tripp, p. 120 s.v. Atlas, p. 266 s.v. Helius, p. 499 s.v. Prometheus.</ref>

{{chart top|The twelve Titans' parents, spouses, and children, according to Hesiod's ''Theogony'' <ref>[[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hes.+Th.+132 132&ndash;138], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hes.+Th.+337 337&ndash;411], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hes.+Th.+453 453&ndash;520], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hes.+Th.+901 901&ndash;906, 915&ndash;920]; Caldwell, pp. 8&ndash;11, tables 11&ndash;14.</ref>|collapsed=yes}}
{{tree chart/start}}
{{tree chart|}}
{{tree chart| | | | | | | | | | |URA |y|GAI |~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|y|~|PON|URA=[[Uranus (mythology)|Uranus]]|GAI=[[Gaia (mythology)|Gaia]]|PON=[[Pontus (mythology)|Pontus]]}}
{{tree chart|,|-|v|-|-|-|v|-|-|-|-|v|-|^|-|v|-|-|-|-|-|-|.| | | |!}}
{{tree chart|!|OCE |y|TET | | |COE |y|PHO | | | | |CRI |y|EUR|OCE='''[[Oceanus]]'''|TET='''[[Tethys (mythology)|Tethys]]'''|COE='''[[Coeus]]'''|PHO='''[[Phoebe (Titaness)|Phoebe]]'''|CRI='''[[Crius]]'''|EUR=[[Eurybia (mythology)|Eurybia]]}}
{{tree chart|!| |,|-|^|-|.| | | | |,|-|^|-|.| | | | |,|-|-|-|+|-|-|-|.}}
{{tree chart|!|RIV | |OCES | | |LET | |ASTE | | |ASTR | |PAL | |PER | RIV=<small>The&nbsp;[[River gods (Greek mythology)|Rivers]]</small>|OCES=<small>The&nbsp;[[Oceanids]]</small>|LET=[[Leto]]|ASTE=[[Asteria]]|ASTR=[[Astraeus]]|PAL=[[Pallas (Titan)|Pallas]]|PER=[[Perses (Titan)|Perses]]}}
{{tree chart|!| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |}}
{{tree chart|)|-|-|-|v|-|-|-|v|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|v|-|-|-|.| | | | }}
{{tree chart|!| | |HYP |y|THE | | | | | | | | | |IAP |y|CLY |HYP='''[[Hyperion (Titan)|Hyperion]]'''|THE='''[[Theia]]'''|IAP='''[[Iapetus (mythology)|Iapetus]]'''|CLY=[[Clymene (wife of Iapetus)|Clymene]]&nbsp;<ref>One of the [[Oceanid]] daughters of Oceanus and Tethys, at [[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hes.+Th.+351 351]. However, according to [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022%3Atext%3DLibrary%3Abook%3D1%3Achapter%3D2%3Asection%3D3 1.2.3], a different Oceanid, Asia was the mother, by Iapetus, of Atlas, Menoetius, Prometheus, and Epimetheus.</ref>}}
{{tree chart|!| |,|-|-|-|+|-|-|-|.| | | | | |,|-|-|-|v|-|^|-|v|-|-|-|.}}
{{tree chart|!|HEL | |SEL | |EOS | | | |ATL | |MEN | |PRO | |EPI | |HEL=[[Helios]]|SEL=[[Selene]]&nbsp;<ref>Although usually, as here, the daughter of Hyperion and Theia, in the ''[[Homeric Hymns|Homeric Hymn]] to Hermes'' (4), [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=HH+4+99&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0138 99&ndash;100], Selene is instead made the daughter of Pallas the son of Megamedes.</ref>|EOS=[[Eos]]|ATL=[[Atlas (mythology)|Atlas]]&nbsp;<ref>According to [[Plato]], ''[[Critias (dialogue)|Critias]]'', [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0059.tlg032.perseus-eng1:113d 113d&ndash;114a], Atlas was the son of [[Poseidon]] and the mortal [[Cleito]].</ref>|MEN=[[Menoetius (Greek mythology)|Menoetius]]|PRO=[[Prometheus]]&nbsp;<ref>In [[Aeschylus]], ''[[Prometheus Bound]]'' 18, 211, 873 (Sommerstein, pp. [http://www.loebclassics.com/view/aeschylus-prometheus_bound/2009/pb_LCL145.445.xml 444&ndash;445 n. 2], [http://www.loebclassics.com/view/aeschylus-prometheus_bound/2009/pb_LCL145.467.xml 446&ndash;447 n. 24], [http://www.loebclassics.com/view/aeschylus-prometheus_bound/2009/pb_LCL145.539.xml 538&ndash;539 n. 113]) Prometheus is made to be the son of [[Themis]].</ref>|EPI=[[Epimetheus (mythology)|Epimetheus]]}}
{{tree chart|!| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |}}
{{tree chart|)|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|v|-|-|-|.|}}
{{tree chart|!| | | | | | | | | |CRO |y|RHE | | | | | | | |CRO='''[[Cronus]]'''|RHE='''[[Rhea (mythology)|Rhea]]'''}}
{{tree chart|!| | |,|-|-|-|v|-|-|-|v|-|^|-|v|-|-|-|v|-|-|-|.|}}
{{tree chart|!| |HES | |DEM | |HER | |HAD | |POS | |ZEU | |HES=[[Hestia]]|DEM=[[Demeter]]|HER=[[Hera]]|HAD=[[Hades]]|POS=[[Poseidon]]|ZEU=[[Zeus]]}}
{{tree chart|!| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |}}
{{tree chart|`|-|-|-|-|v|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|.}}
{{tree chart| | | | |THE |~|~|y|~|~|ZEU |~|~|y|~|~|MNE |THE='''[[Themis]]'''|ZEU=(Zeus)|MNE='''[[Mnemosyne]]'''}}
{{tree chart| | | | | | | |,|-|^|-|.| | | | | |!}}
{{tree chart| | | | | | |HOR | |MOR | | | |MUS |HOR=<small>The&nbsp;[[Horae]]</small>|MOR=<small>The&nbsp;[[Moirai]]</small> <ref>Although, at [[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hes.+Th.+217 217], the Moirai are said to be the daughters of [[Nyx]] (Night).</ref>|MUS=<small>The&nbsp;[[Muse]]s</small>}}
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===Variations===
[[File:Rhea MKL1888.png|thumb|150px|[[Rhea (mythology)|Rhea]], both sister and wife to [[Cronus]].]]
Passages in a section of the  ''[[Iliad]]'' called the [[Deception of Zeus]] suggest the possibility that [[Homer]] knew of a tradition in which Oceanus and Tethys (rather than Uranus and Gaia, as in Hesiod) were the parents of the Titans.<ref>Fowler 2013, pp. [https://books.google.com/books?id=scd8AQAAQBAJ&pg=PA8 8], [https://books.google.com/books?id=scd8AQAAQBAJ&pg=PA11 11]; Hard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA36 pp. 36–37], [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA40 p. 40]; West 1997, p. 147; Gantz, p. 11; Burkert 1995, [https://books.google.com/books?id=cIiUL7dWqNIC&pg=PA91 pp. 91–92]; West 1983, pp. 119&ndash;120. According to [[Epimenides]] (see Fowler 2013, [https://books.google.com/books?id=scd8AQAAQBAJ&pg=PA7 pp. 7&ndash;8]), the first two beings, [[Nyx|Night]] and Aer, produced [[Tartarus]], who in turn produced two Titans (possibly Oceanus and Tethys) from whom came the [[world egg]].</ref> Twice Homer has [[Hera]] describe the pair as "Oceanus, from whom the gods are sprung, and mother Tethys", while in the same passage [[Hypnos]] describes Oceanus as "from whom they all are sprung".<ref>[[Homer]], ''[[Iliad]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-eng1:14.193-14.241 14.201], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0134%3Abook%3D14%3Acard%3D270 302] [= 201], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-eng1:14.242-14.269 245]. According to West 1997, p. 147, these lines suggests a myth in which Oceanus and Tethys are the "first parents of the whole race of gods." And, although Gantz, p. 11, points out that, "mother" may simply refer to the fact that Tethys was Hera's foster mother for a time, as Hera tells us in the lines immediately following, while the reference to Oceanus as "the ''genesis'' of gods" might be a "formulaic epithet" referring to the innumerable rivers and springs who were the sons of Oceanus (compare with ''Iliad'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0134%3Abook%3D21%3Acard%3D161 21.195–197]), Hypnos' description of Oceanus as "''genesis'' for all" is hard to understand as meaning other than that, for Homer, Oceanus was the father of the Titans.</ref>

[[Plato]], in his ''[[Timaeus (dialogue)|Timaeus]]'', provides a genealogy (probably Orphic) which perhaps reflected an attempt to reconcile this apparent divergence between Homer and Hesiod, with Uranus and Gaia as the parents of Oceanus and Tethys, and Oceanus and Tethys as the parents of Cronus and Rhea "and all that go with them", plus [[Phorcys]].<ref>Gantz, pp. 11–12, 743; West 1983, pp. 117&ndash;118;  Fowler 2013, [https://books.google.com/books?id=scd8AQAAQBAJ&pg=PA11 p. 11]; [[Plato]], ''[[Timaeus (dialogue)|Timaeus]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text;jsessionid=4DAC0911EDDE8F410A4FED46380ED2C0?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0180%3Atext%3DTim.%3Asection%3D40d 40d–e].</ref> In his  ''[[Cratylus (dialogue)|Cratylus]]'', Plato quotes Orpheus as saying that Oceanus and Tethys were "the first to marry", possibly also reflecting an Orphic theogony in which Oceanus and Tethys, rather than Uranus and Gaia, were the primeval parents.<ref>West 1983, pp. 118&ndash;120; Fowler 2013, [https://books.google.com/books?id=scd8AQAAQBAJ&pg=PA11 p. 11]; [[Plato]], ''[[Cratylus (dialogue)|Cratylus]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0059.tlg005.perseus-eng1:402b 402b] [= Orphic [https://archive.org/stream/orphicorumfragme00orphuoft#page/86/mode/2up fr. 15 Kern]].</ref> To Hesiod's twelve Titans, the mythographer [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], adds a thirteenth Titan, [[Dione (Titaness)|Dione]], the mother of [[Aphrodite]] by Zeus.<ref>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:1.1.3 1.1.3], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:1.3 1.3.1]. Dione is also the mother of Aphrodite by Zeus in the ''Iliad'', [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-eng1:5.363-5.415 5.370], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-eng1:3.340-3.380 3.374]; but in the ''Theogony'', [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1:173-206 191&ndash;200], Aphrodite was born from the foam which formed around Uranus' severed genitals when Cronus threw them into the sea.</ref>  Plato's inclusion of Phorkys, apparently, as a Titan, and the mythographer [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]]'s inclusion of [[Dione (Titaness)|Dione]], suggests an Orphic tradition in which the canonical twelve Titans consisted of Hesiod's twelve with Phorkys and Dione taking the place of Oceanus and Tethys.<ref>Gantz, p. 743.</ref>

The Roman mythographer [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], in his somewhat confused genealogy,<ref>Bremmer, [https://books.google.com/books?id=YTfxZH4QnqgC&pg=PA5 p. 5], calls Hyginus' genealogy "a strange hodgepodge of Greek and Roman cosmogonies and early genealogies".</ref> after listing as offspring of [[Aether (mythology)|Aether]] (Upper Sky) and Earth (Gaia), Ocean [Oceanus], Themis, Tartarus, and Pontus, next lists "the Titans", followed by two of Hesiod's [[Hundred-Handers]]: Briareus and Gyges, one of Hesiod's three [[Cyclopes]]: Steropes, then continues his list with Atlas, Hyperion and Polus, [[Saturn (mythology)|Saturn]] [Cronus], [[Ops]] [Rhea], [[Moneta]], Dione, and the three [[Furies]]: [[Alecto]], [[Megaera]], and [[Tisiphone]].<ref>[[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''[[Fabulae]]''
''Theogony'' 3.</ref> The geographer [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], mentions seeing the image of a man in armor, who was supposed to be the Titan [[Anytos]], who was said to have raised the [[Arcadia (ancient region)|Arcadia]]n [[Despoina]].<ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.perseus-eng1:8.37.5 8.37.5].</ref>

==Former gods==
The Titans, as a group, represent a pre-Olympian order.<ref>Hansen, p. 302: "As a group the Titans are the older gods, the former gods, in contrast to the Oympians, who are the younger and present gods".</ref> Hesiod uses the expression "the former gods" ({{transliteration|grc|theoi proteroi}}) in reference to the Titans.<ref>West 2007, [https://books.google.com/books?id=ZXrJA_5LKlYC&pg=PA162 p. 162]; Hard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA35 p. 35]; West 1997, pp. 111, 298; [[Hesiod]], [[Theogony]] [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/hesiod-theogony/2018/pb_LCL057.37.xml 424], [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/hesiod-theogony/2018/pb_LCL057.41.xml 486]. As noted by Woodard, p. 154 n. 44, ''Theogony'' 486: ''Οὐρανίδῃ μέγ’ ἄνακτι, θεῶν προτέρων βασιλῆι'', which some interpret as meaning Cronus "former king of the gods" (e.g. [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1:453-491 Evelyn-White]), others interpret as meaning Cronus "king of the former gods" (e.g. Most, [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/hesiod-theogony/2018/pb_LCL057.41.xml pp. 40, 41]; Caldwell, p. 56; West 1988, p. 17), for an argument against "former king" see West 1966, p. 301 on line 486 θεῶν προτέρων.</ref> They were the banished gods, who were no longer part of the upper world.<ref>Hard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA35 p. 35]: "The essential point is that the Titans [are] the former ruling gods who were banished from the upper world when the present devine order was established."; West 1983, p. 164: "The Titans are by definition the banished gods, the gods who have gone out of the world"; West 1966, p. 200 on line 133.</ref> Rather they were the gods who dwelt underground in [[Tartarus]],<ref>Gantz, pp. 45&ndash;46; West 1966, p. 200 on line 133; [[Hesiod]], [[Theogony]] [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1:729-766 729 ff.], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1:807-819 807&ndash;814]; [[Homer]], ''[[Iliad]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-eng1:8.469-8.511 8.478&ndash;481], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-eng1:14.270-14.311 14.274], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-eng1:14.270-14.311 14.278&ndash;279]; [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-eng1:15.220-15.252 15.225]; [[Aeschylus]] (?), ''[[Prometheus Bound]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0085.tlg003.perseus-eng1:196-243 221].</ref>  and as such, they may have been thought of as "gods of the underworld", who were the antithesis of, and in opposition to, the Olympians, the gods of the heavens.<ref>Woodard, pp. 96&ndash;97; West 1966, p. 201.</ref> Hesiod called the Titans "earth-born" ([[chthonic]]),<ref>Woodard, p. 97; [[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1:687-728 697].</ref> and in the ''Homeric Hymn to Apollo'', [[Hera]] prays to the Titans "who dwell beneath the earth", calling on them to aid her against Zeus, just as if they were chthonic spirits.<ref>Gantz, p. 46; ''Homeric Hymn to Apollo (3)'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0013.tlg003.perseus-eng1:305-348 334&ndash;339].</ref> In a similar fashion, in the ''Iliad'', Hera, upon swearing an oath by the underworld river [[Styx]], "invoked by name all the gods below Tartarus, that are called Titans" as witnesses.<ref>Athanassakis and Wolkow, p. 140; Burkert 1985, p. 200, which gives the Titans as an example of "chthonic gods"; [[Homer]], ''[[Iliad]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-eng1:14.270-14.311 14.270&ndash;279].</ref>

They were not, as was once thought, the gods of an indigenous group in Greece, historically displaced by the new gods of Greek invaders. Rather, they were a group of gods whose mythology seems to have been borrowed from the [[Near East]] (see "Near East origins," below).<ref>Woodard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=TQyRX6WmMUMC&pg=PA92 p. 92]; Hard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA34 pp. 34&ndash;35]; Burkert 1995, [https://books.google.com/books?id=cIiUL7dWqNIC&pg=PA94 p. 94]; Caldwell, p. 36 on lines 133-137; West 1966, p. 200.</ref> These imported gods gave context and provided a backstory for the Olympian gods, explaining where these Greek Olympian gods had come from, and how they had come to occupy their position of supremacy in the cosmos. The Titans were the previous generation, and family of gods, whom the Olympians had to overthrow, and banish from the upper world, in order to become the ruling pantheon of Greek gods.

For Hesiod, possibly in order to match the twelve Olympian gods, there were twelve Titans: six males and six females, with some of Hesiod's names perhaps being mere poetic inventions, so as to arrive at the right number.<ref>West 1966 p. 36, which, concerning Hesiod's list of names, says: "Its very heterogeneity betrays its lack of traditional foundation. Rhea, Zeus' mother, must be married to Kronos, Zeus' father. Hyperion, as father of Helios, must be put back to that generation; so must ancient and venerable personages as Oceanus and Tethys, Themis and Mnemosyne. By the addition of four more colourless names (Koios, Kreios, Theia, and Phoibe), the list is made up to a complement of six males and six females";cf. West 1966, p. 200 on line 133.</ref> In Hesiod's ''Theogony'', apart from Cronus, the Titans play no part at all in the overthrow of Uranus, and we only hear of their collective action in the Titanomachy, their war with the Olympians.<ref>Hard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA34 p. 34].</ref> As a group, they have no further role in conventional Greek myth, nor do they play any part in Greek cult.<ref>Hard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA35 p. 35]; West 1966 pp. 200&ndash;201 on line 133.</ref>

As individuals, few of the Titans have any separate identity.<ref>Caldwell, p. 36 on lines 133-137.</ref> Aside from Cronus, the only other figure Homer mentions by name as being a Titan is Iapetus.<ref>West 1966 pp. 36, 157–158 on line 18.</ref> Some Titans seem only to serve a genealogical function, providing parents for more important offspring: Coeus and Phoebe as the parents of [[Leto]], the mother, by Zeus, of the Olympians [[Apollo]] and [[Artemis]]; Hyperion and Theia as the parents of [[Helios]], [[Selene]] and [[Eos]]; Iapetus as the father of [[Atlas (mythology)|Atlas]] and [[Prometheus]]; and Crius as the father of three sons [[Astraeus]], [[Pallas (Titan)|Pallas]], and [[Perses (Titan)|Perses]], who themselves seem only to exist to provide fathers for more important figures such as the [[Anemoi]] (Winds), [[Nike (mythology)|Nike]] (Victory), and [[Hecate]].

==Overthrown==
The Titans play a key role in an important part of Greek mythology, the succession myth.<ref>Hard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA65 pp. 65&ndash;69]; West 1966, pp. 18&ndash;19.</ref> It told how the Titan [[Cronus]], the youngest of the Titans, overthrew [[Uranus (mythology)|Uranus]], and how in turn Zeus, by waging and winning a great ten-year war pitting the new gods against the old gods, called the [[Titanomachy]] ("Titan war"), overthrew Cronus and his fellow Titans, and was eventually established as the final and permanent ruler of the cosmos.<ref>For a detailed account of Titanomachy and Zeus' rise to power see Gantz, pp. 44&ndash;56.</ref>

===Hesiod===
[[File:The Mutilation of Uranus by Saturn.jpg|thumb|300px|''The Mutilation of Uranus by Saturn'': fresco by [[Giorgio Vasari]] and [[Cristofano Gherardi]], c. 1560 (Sala di Cosimo I, [[Palazzo Vecchio]])]]

According to the standard version of the succession myth, given in Hesiod's ''Theogony'', Uranus initially produced eighteen children with Gaia: the twelve Titans, the three [[Cyclopes]], and the three [[Hecatoncheires]] (Hundred-Handers),<ref>[[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1:104-138 132&ndash;153].</ref> but hating them,<ref>[[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1:139-172 154&ndash;155]. Exactly which of these eighteen children Hesiod meant that Uranus hated is not entirely clear, all eighteen, or perhaps just the Cyclopes and the Hundred-Handers. Hard,
[https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA67 p. 67]; West 1988, p. 7, and Caldwell, p. 37 on lines 154&ndash;160, make it all eighteen; while Gantz, p. 10, says "likely all eighteen"; and Most, [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/hesiod-theogony/2018/pb_LCL057.15.xml p. 15 n. 8], says "apparently only the ... Cyclopes and Hundred-Handers are meant" and not the twelve Titans. See also West 1966, p. 206 on lines 139&ndash;53, p. 213 line 154 '''γὰρ'''. Why Uranus hated his children is also not clear. Gantz, p. 10 says: "The reason for [Uranus'] hatred may be [his children's] horrible appearance, though Hesiod does not quite say this"; while Hard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA67 p. 67] says: "Although Hesiod is vague about the cause of his hatred, it would seem that he took a dislike to them because they were terrible to behold". However, West 1966, p. 213 on line 155, says that Uranus hated his children because of their "fearsome nature".</ref> he hid them away somewhere inside Gaia.<ref>[[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hes.+Th.+156 156&ndash;158]. The hiding place inside Gaia is presumably her womb, see West 1966, p. 214 on line 158; Caldwell, p. 37 on lines 154&ndash;160; Gantz, p. 10. This place seems also to be the same place as [[Tartarus]], see West 1966, p. 338 on line 618, and Caldwell, p. 37 on lines 154&ndash;160.</ref> Angry and in distress, Gaia fashioned a [[sickle]] made of [[adamant]] and urged her children to punish their father. Only her son Cronus was willing.<ref>[[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hes.+Th.+159 159&ndash;172].</ref> So Gaia hid Cronus in "ambush", gave him an adamantine sickle, and when Uranus came to lie with Gaia, Cronus reached out and castrated his father.<ref>[[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hes.+Th.+173 173&ndash;182]; according to Gantz, p. 10, Cronus waited in ambush, and reached out to castrate Uranus, from "inside [Gaia's] body, we will understand, if he too is a prisoner".</ref> This enabled the Titans to be born and Cronus to assume supreme command of the cosmos, with the Titans as his subordinates.<ref>Hard, p. 67; West 1966, p. 19. As Hard notes, in the ''Theogony'', although the Titans were freed as a result of Uranus' castration, apparently the Cyclopes and Hundred-Handers remain imprisoned (see below), see also West 1966, p. 214 on line 158.</ref>

[[File:Rhéa présentant une pierre emmaillotée à Cronos dessin du bas-relief d'un autel romain.jpg|thumb|175px|left| Rhea presenting Cronus the stone wrapped in cloth]]

Cronus, having now taken over control of the cosmos from Uranus, wanted to ensure that he maintained control. [[Uranus (mythology)|Uranus]] and [[Gaia (mythology)|Gaia]] had prophesied to Cronus that one of Cronus' own children would overthrow him, so when Cronus married Rhea, he made sure to swallow each of the children she birthed. This he did with the first five: [[Hestia]], [[Demeter]], [[Hera]], [[Hades]], [[Poseidon]] (in that order), to Rhea's great sorrow.<ref>[[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hes.+Th.+453 453&ndash;467].</ref> However, when Rhea was  pregnant with Zeus, Rhea begged her parents Gaia and Uranus to help her save Zeus. So they sent Rhea to [[Lyctus]] on Crete to bear Zeus, and Gaia took the newborn Zeus to raise, hiding him deep in a cave beneath Mount Aigaion.<ref>[[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hes.+Th.+453 468&ndash;484]. Mount Aigaion is otherwise unknown, and Lyctus is nowhere else associated with Zeus' birth, later tradition located the cave on [[Mount Ida (Crete)|Mount Ida]], or sometimes [[Dikti|Mount Dikte]], see Hard, pp. 74&ndash;75; West 1966, pp. 297&ndash;298 on line 477, p. 300 on line 484.</ref> Meanwhile, Rhea gave Cronus a huge stone wrapped in baby's clothes which he swallowed thinking that it was another of Rhea's children.<ref>[[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hes.+Th.+453 485&ndash;491].</ref>

[[File:Jacob Jordaens - La caída de los Gigantes, 1636-1638.jpg|thumb|right|"Fall of the Titans". Oil on canvas by Jacob Jordaens, 1638.]]

Zeus, now grown, forced Cronus (using some unspecified trickery of Gaia) to disgorge his other five children.<ref>Gantz, p. 44; [[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1:492-506 492&ndash;500].</ref> Zeus then released his uncles the Cyclopes (apparently still imprisoned beneath the earth, along with the Hundred-Handers, where Uranus had originally confined them) who then provide Zeus with his great weapon, the thunderbolt, which had been hidden by Gaia.<ref>[[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1:492-506 501&ndash;506]; Hard, pp. 68&ndash;69; West 1966, p. 206 on lines 139&ndash;153, pp. 303&ndash;305 on lines 501&ndash;506. According to [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:1.1.4 1.1.4-5], after the overthrow of Uranus, the Cyclopes (as well as the Hundred-Handers) were rescued from [[Tartarus]] by the Titans, but reimprisoned by Cronus.</ref> A great war was begun, the [[Titanomachy]], for control of the cosmos. The Titans fought from [[Mount Othrys]], while the Olympians fought from [[Mount Olympus]].<ref>Gantz, p. 45; West 1966, p. 340 on line 632; [[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1:617-653 630&ndash;634]. As noted by West, locating the Titan's on Othrys was "presumably  ... simply because it was the principal mountain on the opposite side of the [Thessalian] plain: There is no evidence that it was really a seat of gods as Olympus was. Elsewhere it is said that the Titans formerly occupied Olympus itself". For Titans on Olympus, see [[Hesiod]], ''[[Works and Days]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg002.perseus-eng1:109-139 110&ndash;111]; [[Aeschylus]] (?), ''[[Prometheus Bound]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0085.tlg003.perseus-eng1:144-151 148]; [[Apollonius of Rhodes|Apollonius Rhodius]], ''[[Argonautica]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/apollonius_rhodes-argonautica/2009/pb_LCL001.45.xml 1.503&ndash;508], [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/apollonius_rhodes-argonautica/2009/pb_LCL001.211.xml 2.1232&ndash;1233].</ref> In the tenth year of that great war, following Gaia's counsel, Zeus released the Hundred-Handers, who joined the war against the Titans, helping Zeus to gain the upper hand. Zeus cast the fury of his thunderbolt at the Titans, defeating them and throwing them into [[Tartarus]],<ref>[[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hes.+Th.+624 624&ndash;721]. This is the sequence of events understood to be implied in the ''Theogony'' by, for example, Hard, p. 68; Caldwell, p. 65 on line 636; and West 1966, p. 19. However according to Gantz, p. 45, "Hesiod's account does not quite say whether the Hundred-Handers were freed before the conflict or only in the tenth year. ... Eventually, if not at the beginning, the Hundred-Handers are fighting".</ref> with the Hundred-Handers as their guards.<ref>This is the usual interpretation of ''Theogony'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/hesiod-theogony/2018/pb_LCL057.63.xml 734&ndash;735] (e.g. Hard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA68  p. 68]; Hansen, pp. 25, 159, adding the caveat "presumably"; Gantz, p. 45). However according to West 1966, p. 363 on lines 734&ndash;5: "It is usually assumed that the Hundred-Handers are acting as prison guards (so Tz. ''Th.'' 277 ''τοὺς Ἑκατόγχειρας αὺτοῖς φύλακας ἐπιστήσας''). The poet does not say this&mdash;''πιστοὶ φύλακες Διὸς'' probably refers to their help in battle, cf. 815 ''κλειτοὶ ἐπίκουροι''". Compare with ''Theogony'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/hesiod-theogony/2018/pb_LCL057.69.xml 817&ndash;819].</ref>

===Homer===
Only brief references to the Titans and the succession myth are found in [[Homer]].<ref>Gantz, pp. 1, 11, 45.</ref> In the ''[[Iliad]]'', [[Homer]] tells us that "the gods ... that are called Titans" reside in Tartarus.<ref>Hard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA36 p. 36]; [[Homer]], ''[[Iliad]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-eng1:14.270-14.311 14.278&ndash;279]. Compare with ''Iliad'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-eng1:14.270-14.311 14.274]: "the gods that are below with Cronus", and repeated at ''Iliad'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-eng1:15.220-15.252 15.225].</ref> Specifically, Homer says that "Iapetus and Cronos ... have joy neither in the rays of Helios Hyperion [the Sun] nor in any breeze, but deep Tartarus is round about them",<ref>[[Homer]], ''[[Iliad]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-eng1:8.469-8.511 8.478&ndash;481].</ref> and further, that Zeus "thrust Cronos down to dwell beneath earth and the unresting sea."<ref>[[Homer]], ''[[Iliad]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-eng1:14.193-14.241 14.203&ndash;204].</ref>

===Other early sources===
Brief mentions of the Titanomachy and the imprisonment of the Titans in Tartarus also occur in the [[Homeric Hymns|''Homeric Hymn to Apollo'']] and [[Aeschylus]]' ''[[Prometheus Bound]]''.<ref>Gantz, pp. 45&ndash;46.</ref> 
In the ''Hymn'', Hera, angry at Zeus, calls upon the "Titan gods who dwell beneath the earth about great Tartarus, and from whom are sprung both gods and men".<ref>[[Homeric Hymns|''Homeric Hymn to Apollo (3)'']], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0013.tlg003.perseus-eng1:305-348 334&ndash;339].</ref>

In ''Prometheus Bound'', [[Prometheus]] (the son of the Titan [[Iapetus]]) refers to the Titanomachy, and his part in it:
{{blockquote|When first the heavenly powers were moved to wrath, and mutual dissension was stirred up among them—some bent on casting Cronus from his seat so Zeus, in truth, might reign; others, eager for the contrary end, that Zeus might never win mastery over the gods—it was then that I, although advising them for the best, was unable to persuade the Titans, children of Heaven and Earth; but they, disdaining counsels of craft, in the pride of their strength thought to gain the mastery without a struggle and by force. ... That it was not by brute strength nor through violence, but by guile that those who should gain the upper hand were destined to prevail. And though I argued all this to them, they did not pay any attention to my words. With all that before me, it seemed best that, joining with my mother, I should place myself, a welcome volunteer, on the side of Zeus; and it is by reason of my counsel that the cavernous gloom of Tartarus now hides ancient Cronus and his allies within it.<ref>[[Aeschylus]](?), 
''[[Prometheus Bound]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0085.tlg003.perseus-eng1:196-243 201&ndash;223].</ref>}}

===Apollodorus===
The mythographer [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], gives a similar account of the succession myth to Hesiod's, but with a few significant differences.<ref>Hard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA68 pp. 68&ndash;69]; Gantz, pp. 2, 45; West 1983, p. 123; [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:1.1.1 1.1.1&ndash;1.2.1]. As for Apollodorus' sources, Hard, p. 68, says that Apollodorus' version "perhaps derived from the lost ''[[Titanomachy (epic poem)|Titanomachia]]'' or from the [[Orphism (religion)|Orphic]] literature"; see also Gantz, p. 2; for a detailed discussion of Apollodorus' sources for his account of the early history of the gods, see West 1983, pp. 121&ndash;126.</ref> According to Apollodorus, there were thirteen original Titans, adding the Titaness [[Dione (Titaness)|Dione]] to Hesiod's list.<ref>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:1.1.3 1.1.3].</ref> The Titans (instead of being Uranus' firstborn as in Hesiod) were born after  the three [[Hundred-Handers]] and the three [[Cyclopes]],<ref>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:1.1.1 1.1.1&ndash;1.1.2].</ref> and while Uranus imprisoned these first six of his offspring, he apparently left the Titans free. Not just Cronus, but all the Titans, except Oceanus, attacked Uranus. After Cronus castrated Uranus, the Titans freed the Hundred-Handers and Cyclopes (unlike in Hesiod, where they apparently remained imprisoned), and made Cronus their sovereign,<ref>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:1.1.4 1.1.4].</ref> who then reimprisoned the Hundred-Handers and Cyclopes in Tartarus.<ref>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:1.1.5 1.1.5]. The release and reimprisonment of the Hundred-Handers and Cyclopes, was perhaps a way to solve the problem in Hesiod's account of why the castration of Uranus, which released the Titans, did not also apparently release the six brothers, see Fowler 2013, [https://books.google.com/books?id=scd8AQAAQBAJ&pg=PA26 p. 26]; West 1966, p. 206 on lines on lines 139&ndash;53. In any case, as West 1983, pp. 130&ndash;131, points out, while the release is "logical, since it was indignation at their imprinsonment that led Ge to incite the Titans to overthrow Uranos," their reimprisonment is needed to allow for their eventual release by Zeus to help him overthrow the Titans.</ref>

Although Hesiod does not say how Zeus was eventually able to free his siblings, according to Apollodorus, Zeus was aided by Oceanus' daughter [[Metis (mythology)|Metis]], who gave Cronus an [[emetic]] which forced him to disgorge his children that he had swallowed.<ref>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:1.1.5 1.1.5&ndash;1.2.1].</ref> According to Apollodorus, in the tenth year of the ensuing war, Zeus learned from Gaia, that he would be victorious if he had the Hundred-Handers and the Cyclopes as allies. So Zeus slew their warder [[Campe]] (a detail not found in Hesiod) and released them, and in addition to giving Zeus his thunderbolt (as in Hesiod), the Cyclopes also gave [[Poseidon]] his [[trident]], and [[Hades]] his [[Cap of invisibility|helmet]], and "with these weapons the gods overcame the Titans, shut them up in Tartarus, and appointed the Hundred-handers their guards".<ref>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:1.2.1 1.2.1].</ref>

===Hyginus===
The Roman mythographer [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], in his ''[[Fabulae]]'', gives an unusual (and perhaps confused) account of the Titanomachy.<ref>Gantz, p. 45; West 1966, p. 308 on line 509; [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''[[Fabulae]]'' 150. According to Gantz: "Likely enough Hyginus has confused stories of Hera's summoning of the Gigantes to her aid (as in the ''Homeric Hymn to Apollo'') with the overthrow of the Titans."</ref> According to Hyginus the Titanomachy came about because of a dispute between [[Jupiter (mythology)|Jupiter]] and [[Juno (mythology)|Juno]] (the Roman equivalents of Zeus and Hera). Juno, Jupiter's jealous wife, was angry at her husband, on account of Jupiter's son [[Epaphus]] by [[Io (mythology)|Io]] (one of her husband's many lovers). Because of this Juno incited the Titans to rebel against Jupiter and restore [[Saturn (mythology)|Saturn]] (Cronus) to the kingship of the gods. Jupiter, with the help of [[Minerva]] ([[Athena]]), [[Apollo]], and [[Diana (mythology)|Diana]] ([[Artemis]]), put down the rebellion, and hurled the Titans (as in other accounts) down to Tartarus.

==After the Titanomachy==
[[File:Oceanus (Trevi fountain).jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|right|175px| [[Oceanus]], [[Trevi Fountain]], [[Rome]]]]

After being overthrown in the Titanomachy, Cronus and his fellow vanquished Titans were cast into Tartarus:
{{blockquote|That is where the Titan gods are hidden under murky gloom by the plans of the cloud-gatherer Zeus, in a dank place, at the farthest part of huge earth. They cannot get out, for Poseidon has set bronze gates upon it, and a wall is extended on both sides.<ref>[[Hesiod]], [[Theogony]] [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/hesiod-theogony/2018/pb_LCL057.61.xml 729&ndash;734], translation by [[Glenn W. Most]].</ref>}}

However, besides Cronus, exactly which of the other Titans were supposed to have been imprisoned in Tartarus is unclear.<ref>Gantz, pp. 45&ndash;46.</ref> The only original Titan, mentioned by name, as being confined with Cronus in Tartarus, is [[Iapetus]].<ref>[[Homer]], ''[[Iliad]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-eng1:8.469-8.511 8.478&ndash;481].</ref>

But, not all the Titans were imprisoned there. Certainly [[Oceanus]], the great world encircling river, seems to have remained free, and in fact, seems not to have fought on the Titans' side at all.<ref>Fowler 2013, [https://books.google.com/books?id=scd8AQAAQBAJ&pg=PA11 p. 11]; Hard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA37 p. 37]; Gantz, pp. 28, 46; West 1983, p. 119.</ref>  In Hesiod, Oceanus sends his daughter [[Styx]], with her children [[Zelus]] (Envy), [[Nike (mythology)|Nike]] (Victory), [[Kratos (mythology)|Kratos]] (Power), and [[Bia (mythology)|Bia]] (Force), to fight on Zeus' side against the Titans,<ref>[[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1:371-403 337&ndash;398]. The translations of the names used here follow Caldwell, p. 8.</ref> while in the ''Iliad'', Hera says that, during the Titanomachy, she was cared for by Oceanus and his wife the Titaness [[Tethys (mythology)|Tethys]].<ref>[[Homer]], ''[[Iliad]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-eng1:14.193-14.241 14.200&ndash;204].</ref> [[Aeschylus]]' ''[[Prometheus Bound]]'', has Oceanus free to visit his nephew [[Prometheus]] sometime after the war.<ref>[[Aeschylus]] (?), ''[[Prometheus Bound]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0085.tlg003.perseus-eng1:279-299 286&ndash;289].</ref> Like Oceanus, Helios, the Titan son of Hyperion, certainly remained free to drive his sun-chariot daily across the sky, taking an active part in events subsequent to the Titanomachy.<ref>Gantz, pp. 30&ndash;31.</ref> The freedom of Oceanus, along with Helios (Sun), and perhaps Hyperion (to the extent that he also represented the Sun), would seem to be the result of cosmological necessity, for how could a world encircling river, or the Sun, be confined in Tartarus?<ref>Gantz, p. 46; Hard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA37 p. 37].</ref>

[[File:La tortura de Prometeo, por Salvator Rosa.jpg|thumb|left|175px|''The Torture of Prometheus'', painting by [[Salvator Rosa]] (1646–1648).]]

As for other male offspring of the Titans, some seem to have participated in the Titanomachy, and were punished as a result, and others did not, or at least (like Helios) remained free. Three of Iapetus' sons, [[Atlas (mythology)|Atlas]], [[Menoetius]], and Prometheus are specifically connected by ancient sources with the war. In the ''Theogony'' both Atlas and Menoetius  received punishments from Zeus, but Hesiod does not say for what crime exactly they were punished.<ref>Gantz, pp. 46, 154.</ref> Atlas was famously punished by Zeus, by being forced to hold up the sky on his shoulders, but none of the early sources for this story (Hesiod, Homer, [[Pindar]], and [[Aeschylus]]) say that his punishment was as a result of the war.<ref>Gantz, p. 46.</ref> According to Hyginus however, Atlas led the Titans in a revolt against Zeus (Jupiter).<ref>Gantz, p. 45; West 1966, p. 308 on line 509; [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''[[Fabulae]]'' 150.</ref> The ''Theogony'' has Menoetius struck down by Zeus' thunderbolt and cast into [[Erebus]] "because of his mad presumption and exceeding pride".<ref>[[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]''  [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1:507-544 514&ndash;516].</ref> Whether Hesiod was using Erebus as another name for Tartarus (as was sometimes done), or meant that Menoetius's punishment was because of his participation in the Titanomachy is unclear, and no other early source mentions this event, however Apollodorus says that it was.<ref>Gantz, pp. 40, 154; West 1966, p. 308 on line 510; [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:1.2.3 1.2.3].</ref> Hesiod does not mention Prometheus in connection with the Titanomachy, but Prometheus does remain free, in the ''Theogony'', for his [[Trick at Mecone|deception of Zeus at Mecone]] and his subsequent [[theft of fire]], for which transgressions Prometheus was famously punished by Zeus by being chained to a rock where an eagle came to eat his "immortal liver" every day, which then grew back every night.<ref>Gantz, pp. 40, 154&ndash;166; [[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1:507-544 521&ndash;534].</ref> However [[Aeschylus]]'s ''[[Prometheus Bound]]''  (as mentioned above) does have Prometheus say that he was an ally of Zeus during the Titanomachy.<ref>[[Aeschylus]] (?), ''[[Prometheus Bound]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0085.tlg003.perseus-eng1:196-243 201&ndash;223].</ref>

[[File:Apollo Tityos Leto Louvre G375.jpg|thumb|175px|Apollo piercing with his arrows Tityos, who has tried to rape his mother Leto (c. 450–440 BC)]]
The female Titans, to the extent that they are mentioned at all, appear also to have been allowed to remain free.<ref>Gantz, p. 46.</ref> Three of these, according to the ''Theogony'', become wives of [[Zeus]]: [[Themis]], [[Mnemosyne]], and [[Leto]], the daughter of the Titans [[Coeus]] and [[Phoebe (Titaness)|Phoebe]].<ref>[[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1:901-937 901&ndash;906, 915&ndash;920].</ref> [[Themis]] gives birth to the three [[Horae]] (Hours), and the three [[Moirai]] (Fates), and [[Mnemosyne]] gives birth to the nine [[Muses]]. Leto, who gives birth to the Olympians [[Apollo]] and [[Artemis]], takes an active part on the side of the Trojans in the ''Iliad'', and is also involved in the story of the giant [[Tityos]].<ref>Gantz, pp. 38&ndash;39; [[Homer]], ''[[Iliad]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-eng1:5.416-5.459 445&ndash;448], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-eng1:20.54-20.85 20.72], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-eng1:21.468-21.501 21.497&ndash;501], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-eng1:21.502-21.536 21.502&ndash;504], ''[[Odyssey]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg002.perseus-eng1:11.567-11.600 576&ndash;581].</ref> Tethys, presumably along with her husband Oceanus, took no part in the war, and, as mentioned above, provided safe refuge for Hera during the war. Rhea remains free and active after the war:<ref>Gantz, p. 44.</ref> appearing at Leto's delivery of Apollo,<ref>''Homeric Hymn to Apollo (3)'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0013.tlg003.perseus-eng1:89-130 93].</ref> as Zeus' messenger to [[Demeter]] announcing the settlement concerning [[Persephone]],<ref>''Homeric Hymn to Demeter (2)'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0013.tlg002.perseus-eng1:398-448 441&ndash;444].</ref> bringing [[Pelops]] back to life.<ref>[[Bacchylides]], fr. 42 Campbell, [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/bacchylides-fragments/1992/pb_LCL461.295.xml pp. 294, 295].</ref>

===Possible release===
While in Hesiod's ''Theogony'', and Homer's ''Iliad'', Cronus and the other Titans are confined to Tartarus&mdash;apparently forever<ref>Gantz, p. 46;  Burkert 1985, p. 221; West 1966, p. 358.</ref>&mdash;another tradition, as indicated by later sources, seems to have had Cronus, or other of the Titans, being eventually set free.<ref>Gantz, pp. 46&ndash;48.</ref> [[Pindar]], in one of his poems (462 BC), says that, although Atlas still "strains against the weight of the sky ... Zeus freed the Titans",<ref>[[Pindar]], ''Pythian'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0033.tlg002.perseus-eng1:4 4.289&ndash;291].</ref> and in another poem (476 BC), Pindar has Cronus, in fact, ruling in the [[Isles of the Blessed]], a land where the Greek heroes reside in the afterlife:<ref>Gantz, p. 47; West 1978, p. 195 on line 173a.</ref>
{{blockquote|Those who have persevered three times, on either side, to keep their souls free from all wrongdoing, follow Zeus' road to the end, to the tower of Cronus, where ocean breezes blow around the island of the blessed, and flowers of gold are blazing, some from splendid trees on land, while water nurtures others. With these wreaths and garlands of flowers they entwine their hands according to the righteous counsels of [[Rhadamanthys]], whom the great father, the husband of Rhea whose throne is above all others, keeps close beside him as his partner.<ref>[[Pindar]], ''Olympian'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0033.tlg001.perseus-eng1:2 2.69&ndash;77].</ref>}}

''Prometheus Lyomenos'', an undated lost play by [[Aeschylus]] (c. 525 &ndash; c. 455 BC), had a chorus composed of freed Titans. Possibly even earlier than Pindar and Aeschylus, two papyrus versions of a passage of Hesiods' ''[[Works and Days]]'' also mention Cronus being released by Zeus, and ruling over the heroes who go to the Isle of the Blessed; but other versions of Hesiod's text do not, and most editors judge these lines of text to be later interpolations.<ref>Gantz, pp. 46&ndash;47; West 1988, p. 76, note to line 173; West 1978, pp. 194&ndash;196, on lines 173a&ndash;e.</ref>

==Near East origins==
[[File:Yazilikaya B 12erGruppe.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|Ancient Hittite relief carving from chamber B of [[Yazılıkaya]], a sanctuary at [[Hattusa]],<ref>Beckman, pp. 155&ndash;156, 162 fig. 7.7.</ref> possibly depicting the twelve underworld gods, which the [[Hittites]] called the "former gods" (''karuilies siunes''), and identified with the [[Babylonia]]n [[Anunnaki]].<ref>Rutherford, [https://books.google.com/books?id=bBqrBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA51 pp. 51&ndash;52]; West 2007, [https://books.google.com/books?id=ZXrJA_5LKlYC&pg=PA162 p. 162];  West 1997, p. 299; Archi, pp. 114&ndash;115.</ref>]]

It is generally accepted that the Greek succession myth was imported from the [[Ancient Near East|Near East]], and that along with this imported myth came stories of a group of former ruling gods, who had been defeated and displaced, and who became identified, by the Greeks, as the Titans.<ref>Woodard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=TQyRX6WmMUMC&pg=PA92 p. 92]; Hard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA34 pp. 34&ndash;35]; Burkert 1995, [https://books.google.com/books?id=cIiUL7dWqNIC&pg=PA94 p. 94]; Caldwell, p. 36 on lines 133-137; West 1966, p. 200. Although the Titan's mythology seems certainly to have been imported, whether the Titans were originally a group of gods native to Mycenean Greece, upon whom this borrowed mythology was simply overlaid is unknown. According  to West 1966, p. 200: "it is probable that the Titans were taken over from the Orient as part of the Succession Myth, or else that they were gods native to Mycenean Greece but similar enough to the ‘older gods’ of the Near East to be identified with them"; while according to Hard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA35 p. 35]: "There may have been an early group of native gods of that name who were identified with the former gods of the imported myth; or else the name Titan was simply a title that was applied by the Greeks to gods of eastern origin. There is no way of telling which alternative is true, and it makes no practical difference in any case, since we know nothing whatever of the original nature of the Titans if they had once enjoyed a separate existence in Greece".</ref> Features of Hesiod's account of the Titans can be seen in the stories of the [[Hurrians]], the [[Hittites]], the [[Babylonia]]ns, and other Near Eastern cultures.<ref>For detailed discussions of the parallels of the Greek succession myth in Near East mythology, see Woodard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=TQyRX6WmMUMC&pg=PA92 pp. 92&ndash;103]; West 1997, pp. 276&ndash;333; West 1966, pp. 19&ndash;31.</ref>

The [[Hurrians|Hurro]]-[[Hittites|Hittite]] [[Hittite texts|text]] ''[[Song of Kumarbi]]'' (also called ''Kingship in Heaven''), written five hundred years before Hesiod,<ref>West 1997, p. 278; West 1966, p. 20.</ref> tells of a succession of kings in heaven: [[Anu]] (Sky), [[Kumarbi]], and the storm-god [[Teshub]], with many striking parallels to Hesiod's account of the Greek succession myth. Like Cronus, Kumarbi castrates the sky-god Anu, and takes over his kingship. And like Cronus, Kumarbi swallows gods (and a stone?), one of whom is the storm-god Teshub, who like the storm-god Zeus, is apparently victorious against Kumarbi and others in a war of the gods.<ref>Woodard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=TQyRX6WmMUMC&pg=PA92 pp. 92&ndash;98]; West 1997, pp. 278&ndash;280; West 1966, pp. 20&ndash;21; Burkert 1985, p. 127.</ref>

Other Hittite texts contain allusions to "former gods" ({{transliteration|xhu|karuilies siunes}}), precisely what Hesiod called the Titans, {{transliteration|grc|theoi proteroi}}. Like the Titans, these Hittite {{transliteration|xhu|karuilies siunes}}, were twelve (usually) in number and end up confined in the underworld by the storm-god Teshub, imprisoned by gates they cannot open.<ref>West 2007, [https://books.google.com/books?id=ZXrJA_5LKlYC&pg=PA162 p. 162]; West 1997, p. 298; Archi, p. 114.</ref> In Hurrian, the Hittite's {{transliteration|xhu|karuilies siunes}} were known as the "gods of down under" ({{transliteration|xhu|enna durenna}}) and the Hittites identified these gods with the [[Anunnaki]], the [[Babylonia]]n gods of the underworld,<ref>Rutherford, [https://books.google.com/books?id=bBqrBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA51 pp. 51&ndash;52]; West 2007, [https://books.google.com/books?id=ZXrJA_5LKlYC&pg=PA162 p. 162]; West 1997, p. 299; Archi, pp. 114&ndash;115.</ref> whose defeat and imprisonment by the storm-god [[Marduk]], in the Babylonian poem ''[[Enûma Eliš]]'' (late second millennium BC or earlier),<ref>Woodard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=TQyRX6WmMUMC&pg=PA99 p. 99]; West 1983, p. 102.</ref> parallels the defeat and imprisonment of the Titans.<ref>West 1997, p. 139; West 1966, p. 200.</ref> Other collectivities of gods, perhaps associated with the Mesopotamian Anunnaki, include the  Dead Gods (''Dingiruggû''), the Banished Gods (''ilāni darsūti''), and the Defeated (or Bound) Gods (''ilāni kamûti'').<ref>West 1997, p. 299; Burkert 1995, [https://books.google.com/books?id=cIiUL7dWqNIC&pg=PA94 p. 94], with p. 203 n. 24.</ref>

==Orphic literature==

===The ''sparagmos''===
[[File:Gaziantep Zeugma Museum Dionysos Triumf mosaic 1921.jpg|thumb|Dionysus in a mosaic from the House of Poseidon, [[Zeugma Mosaic Museum]]]]
In Orphic literature, the Titans play an important role in what is often considered to be the central myth of [[Orphism (religion)|Orphism]], the ''[[sparagmos]]'', that is the dismemberment of [[Dionysus]], who in this context is often given the title [[Zagreus]].<ref>Nilsson, [https://www.jstor.org/stable/1508326?seq=1 p. 202] calls it "the cardinal myth of Orphism"; Guthrie, [https://books.google.com/books?id=-C6wNyrxUO8C&pg=PA107 p. 107], describes the myth as "the central point of Orphic story", Linforth, [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015008294699;view=1up;seq=333 p. 307] says it is "commonly regarded as essentially and peculiarly Orphic and the very core of the Orphic religion", and Parker 2002, [https://books.google.com/books?id=dsOEAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA495 p. 495], writes that "it has been seen as the Orphic 'arch-myth'.</ref> As pieced together from various ancient sources, the reconstructed story, usually given by modern scholars, goes as follows.<ref>West 1983, pp. 73–74, provides a detailed reconstruction with numerous cites to ancient sources, with a summary on p. 140. For other summaries see Morford, p. 311; Hard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA35 p. 35]; March, [https://archive.org/stream/March.Jenny_Cassells.Dictionary.of.Classical.Mythology#page/n787/mode/2up s.v. Zagreus, p. 788]; Grimal, s.v. Zagreus, p. 456; Burkert 1985, pp. 297–298; Guthrie, [https://books.google.com/books?id=-C6wNyrxUO8C&pg=PA82 p. 82]; also see Ogden, [https://books.google.com/books?id=FQ2pAK9luwkC&pg=PA80 p. 80]. For a detailed examination of many of the ancient sources pertaining to this myth see Linforth, [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015008294699;view=1up;seq=333 pp. 307–364]. The most extensive account in ancient sources is found in [[Nonnus]], ''[[Dionysiaca]]'' [https://archive.org/stream/dionysiaca01nonnuoft#page/206/mode/2up 5.562–70], [https://archive.org/stream/dionysiaca01nonnuoft#page/224/mode/2up 6.155 ff.], other principle sources include [[Diodorus Siculus]], [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/3E*.html 3.62.6–8] (= Orphic [https://archive.org/stream/orphicorumfragme00orphuoft#page/316/mode/2up fr. 301 Kern]), [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/3E*.html#64 3.64.1–2], [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/4A*.html#4 4.4.1–2], [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/5D*.html#75 5.75.4] (= Orphic [https://archive.org/stream/orphicorumfragme00orphuoft#page/316/mode/2up fr. 303 Kern]); [[Ovid]], ''[[Metamorphoses]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0959.phi006.perseus-eng1:6.87-6.145 6.110–114]; [[Athenagoras of Athens]], ''Legatio'' 20 [https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Ante-Nicene_Fathers/Volume_II/A_Plea_for_the_Christians#cite_ref-66 Pratten] (= Orphic [https://archive.org/stream/orphicorumfragme00orphuoft#page/138/mode/2up fr. 58 Kern]); [[Clement of Alexandria]], '' [[Protrepticus (Clement)|Protrepticus]]'' [https://archive.org/stream/clementofalexand00clem#page/36/mode/2up 2.15 pp. 36–39 Butterworth] (= Orphic [https://archive.org/stream/orphicorumfragme00orphuoft#page/110/mode/2up frs. 34, 35 Kern]); [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''[[Fabulae]]'' 155, 167; ''[[Suda]]'' s.v. [http://www.stoa.org/sol-bin/search.pl?db=REAL&search_method=QUERY&login=guest&enlogin=guest&user_list=LIST&page_num=1&searchstr=zeta,4&field=adlerhw_gr&num_per_page=1 Ζαγρεύς]. See also [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.perseus-eng1:7.18.4 7.18.4], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.perseus-eng1:8.37.5 8.37.5].</ref> Zeus had intercourse with Persephone in the form of a serpent, producing Dionysus. He is taken to [[Mount Ida]] where (like the infant Zeus) he is guarded by the dancing [[Korybantes|Curetes]]. Zeus intended Dionysus to be his successor as ruler of the cosmos, but a jealous Hera incited the Titans&mdash;who apparently unlike in Hesiod and Homer, were not imprisoned in Tartarus&mdash;to kill the child. The Titans whiten their faces with gypsum, and distracting the infant Dionysus with various toys, including a mirror, they seized Dionysus and tore (or cut)<ref>West 1983, p. 160 remarks that while "many sources speak of Dionysus' being 'rent apart' ... those who use more precise language say that he was cut up with a knife".</ref> him to pieces. The pieces were then boiled, roasted and partially eaten, by the Titans. But Athena managed to save Dionysus' heart, by which Zeus was able to contrive his rebirth from Semele.

===The anthropogony===
Commonly presented as a part of the myth of the dismembered Dionysus Zagreus, is an Orphic anthropogony, that is an Orphic account of the origin of human beings. According to this widely held view, as punishment for their crime, Zeus struck the Titans with his [[thunderbolt]], and from the remains of the destroyed Titans humankind was born, which resulted in a human inheritance of ancestral guilt, for this original sin of the Titans, and by some accounts "formed the basis for an Orphic doctrine of the divinity of man."<ref>Linforth, [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015008294699;view=1up;seq=333  pp. 307&ndash;308]; Spineto, [https://books.google.com/books?id=jpIJ64a5alUC&pg=PA34 p. 34]. For presentations of the myth which include the anthropogony, see Dodds, [https://books.google.com/books?id=Lz7LNak21AQC&pg=PA155 pp. 155–156]; West 1983, pp. 74–75, 140, 164–166; Guthrie, [https://books.google.com/books?id=-C6wNyrxUO8C&pg=PA83 p. 83]; Burkert 1985, pp. 297–298; March, [https://archive.org/stream/March.Jenny_Cassells.Dictionary.of.Classical.Mythology#page/n787/mode/2up s.v. Zagreus, p. 788]; Parker 2002, [https://books.google.com/books?id=dsOEAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA495 pp. 495–496]; Morford, p. 313.</ref> However, when and to what extent there existed any Orphic tradition which included these elements is the subject of open debate.<ref>See Spineto [https://books.google.com/books?id=jpIJ64a5alUC&pg=PA37 pp. 37–39]; Edmonds [http://www.brynmawr.edu/classics/redmonds/zagreus.pdf 1999] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110414032311/http://www.brynmawr.edu/classics/redmonds/zagreus.pdf |date=2011-04-14 }}, 2008, 2013 chapter 9; Bernabé 2002, 2003; Parker [http://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2014/2014-07-13.html 2014].</ref>

The 2nd century AD biographer and essayist [[Plutarch]] makes a connection between the ''sparagmos'' and the punishment of the Titans, but makes no mention of the anthropogony, or Orpheus, or Orphism. In his essay ''On the Eating of Flesh'', Plutarch writes of "stories told about the sufferings and dismemberment of Dionysus and the outrageous assaults of the Titans upon him, and their punishment and blasting by thunderbolt after they had tasted his blood".<ref>[[Plutarch]], ''On the Eating of Flesh'' [http://www.loebclassics.com/view/plutarch-eating_flesh/1957/pb_LCL406.559.xml?result=108&rskey=XXmYuB 1.996 C]; Linforth, [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015008294699;view=1up;seq=360 pp. 334 ff.] Edmonds 1999, [http://www.brynmawr.edu/classics/redmonds/zagreus.pdf pp. 44–47] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110414032311/http://www.brynmawr.edu/classics/redmonds/zagreus.pdf |date=2011-04-14 }}.</ref> While, according to the early 4th century AD [[Christian apologist]] [[Arnobius]], and the 5th century AD Greek epic poet [[Nonnus]], it is as punishment for their murder of Dionysus that the Titans end up imprisoned by Zeus in Tartarus.<ref>[[Arnobius]], ''Adversus Gentes'' [https://archive.org/stream/thesevenbooksofa00arnouoft#page/n269/mode/2up 5.19 (p. 242)] (= Orphic [https://archive.org/stream/orphicorumfragme00orphuoft#page/110/mode/2up fr. 34 Kern]); [[Nonnus]], ''[[Dionysiaca]]'' [https://archive.org/stream/dionysiaca01nonnuoft#page/228/mode/2up 6.206&ndash;210].</ref>

The only ancient source to explicitly connect the ''sparagmos'' and the anthropogony is the 6th century AD [[Neoplatonism|Neoplatonist]] [[Olympiodorus the Younger|Olympiodorus]], who writes that, according to Orpheus, after the Titans had dismembered and eaten Dionysus, "Zeus, angered by the deed, blasts them with his thunderbolts, and from the sublimate of the vapors that rise from them comes the matter from which men are created." Olympiodorus goes on to conclude that, because the Titans had eaten his flesh, we their descendants, are a part of Dionysus.<ref>Edmonds 1999, [http://www.brynmawr.edu/classics/redmonds/zagreus.pdf p. 40] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110414032311/http://www.brynmawr.edu/classics/redmonds/zagreus.pdf |date=2011-04-14 }}; Olympiodorus, ''In Plato Phaedon'' 1.3 (= Orphic [https://archive.org/stream/orphicorumfragme00orphuoft#page/238/mode/2up fr. 220 Kern]); Spineto [https://books.google.com/books?id=jpIJ64a5alUC&pg=PA34 p. 34]; Burkert 1985, p. 463 n. 15; West 1983, pp. 164–165; Linforth, [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015008294699;view=1up;seq=352 pp. 326 ff.].</ref>

===Modern interpretations===
Some 19th- and 20th-century scholars, including [[Jane Ellen Harrison]], have argued that an initiatory or [[Shamanism|shamanic]] ritual underlies the myth of the dismemberment and cannibalism of [[Dionysus]] by the Titans.<ref>Harrison, [https://archive.org/details/prolegomenatostu00harr/page/490/mode/2up?view=theater p. 490].</ref> [[Martin Litchfield West]] also asserts this in relation to shamanistic initiatory rites of early Greek religious practices.<ref>West 1983.</ref>

==Etymology==
The etymology of ''Τiτᾶνες'' (''Titanes'') is uncertain.<ref>Woodard, p. 97; Hard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA35 p. 35]; West 1966, p. 200; Rose, p. 1079 s.v. Titan.</ref> Hesiod in the ''Theogony'' gives a double etymology, deriving it from {{transliteration|grc|titaino}} [to strain] and {{transliteration|grc|tisis}} [vengeance], saying that Uranus gave them the name Titans: "in reproach, for he said that they strained and did presumptuously a fearful deed, and that vengeance for it would come afterwards".<ref>Caldwell, p. 40 on lines 207-210; [[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1:207-239 207&ndash;210]. For a discussion see West 1966, p. 225&ndash;226 on line 209 '''τιταίνοντας'''.</ref> But modern scholars doubt Hesiod's etymology.<ref>Rose, p. 1079 s.v. Titan, calls Hesiod's derivation "fanciful", while Hard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA35 p. 35], describes it as "obviously factitious", adding that "there is some ancient evidence to suggest that it may have meant 'princes' or the like"; while West p. 225 on line 209 '''τιταίνοντας''', says that "it is not clear how or why the Titans 'strained{{'"}}.</ref>

[[Jane Ellen Harrison]] asserts that the word "Titan" comes from the Greek τίτανος, signifying white "earth, clay, or gypsum", and that the Titans were "white clay men", or men covered by white clay or gypsum dust in their rituals.<ref>Harrison, [https://archive.org/details/prolegomenatostu00harr/page/490/mode/2up?view=theater pp. 491 ff.]</ref>

==In astronomy==
The planet [[Saturn]] is named for the Roman equivalent of the Titan Cronus. Saturn's largest moon, [[Titan (moon)|Titan]], is named after the Titans generally, and the other [[moons of Saturn]] are named after individual Titans, specifically [[Tethys (moon)|Tethys]], [[Phoebe (moon)|Phoebe]], [[Rhea (moon)|Rhea]], [[Hyperion (moon)|Hyperion]], and [[Iapetus (moon)|Iapetus]]. Astronomer [[William Henry Pickering]] claimed to have discovered another moon of Saturn which he named [[Themis (hypothetical moon)|Themis]], but this discovery was never confirmed, and the name Themis was given to an asteroid, [[24 Themis]]. Asteroid [[57 Mnemosyne]] was also named for the Titan.

A proto-planet [[Theia (planet)|Theia]] is hypothesized to have been involved in a collision in the early solar system, forming the Earth's moon.

==See also==
*[[Annunaki]]
*[[Asura]]
*[[Elohim]]
*[[Giants (Greek mythology)]]
*[[Greek primordial deities]]
*[[Jötunn]]
*[[Titans in popular culture]]
*[[Vanir]]

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==References==
{{refbegin|30em}}
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* [[Martin Litchfield West|West, M. L.]] (1966), ''Hesiod: Theogony'', Oxford University Press. {{ISBN|0-19-814169-6}}.
* [[Martin Litchfield West|West, M. L.]] (1978), ''Hesiod: Works and Days'', Clarendon Press. {{ISBN|0-19-814005-3}}.
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{{refend}}

== External links ==
* {{Commons category-inline|Titans}}
* {{Wikisource-inline|Theogony|The Theogony of Hesiod}}

{{Greek mythology (deities)|state=collapsed}}
{{Greek religion}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Titans (mythology)| ]]
[[Category:Characters in Book VI of the Aeneid]]
[[Category:Condemned souls in Tartarus]]
[[Category:Children of Gaia]]
[[Category:Deeds of Zeus]]
[[Category:Types of deities]]