The titans of ancient Greek mythology are a set of twelve powerful deities that ruled the world before the age of the more commonly known Olympians. The Titans were known for their immense strength, connection to more primal forces, and their brutal nature
Being born directly from two primordial gods, the Titans are actually the third set of siblings born to Sky and Earth. The Titans are brothers and sisters to the three Hundred-Handed Giants known as the Hecatoncherries, and the three One-Eyed Cyclopes. They are said to be a set of 6 female and 6 male divinities who are offspring of the Great Earth Mother, Gaia, and Father Sky, Uranus.
Female Titans
Theia, Themis, Mnemosyne, Tethys, Phoebe, and Rhea
Male Titans
Hyperion, Coeus, Crius, Oceanus, Iapetus, and Cronus
Though they did not get along well with their one-eyed and hundred-handed siblings, the Titans are a more sophisticated take on what is considered a more barbaric and primitive time for the ancients. The Titans represent the raw powers of nature and manifestations of crucial components that not only make up the universe but also make up the human experience, such as wisdom and memory.
The existence of the Titans also comes from another aspect that defines what we know now as Greek mythology and that is the cultures that came before. Like many Olympian deities whose worship predates the writings of Greek myths, some titans, like Rhea, Hyperion, and Crius, might be remnants of previous cults, ancient cultures, tribesmen, or civilizations that were eventually integrated into the Greek mainstream belief. Some titans like Coeus and Iapetus, do little more than provide their name in the list of ancestry for more popular or wider worshipped gods. This is not to say that they were never important, but it is to remind one that their cults and worship and any written document might have been lost to time, or they were literary creations by the writers of the myths.
These are 12 Titans:
Oceanus – lord of the oceans, replaced Pontus as the main god of the oceans and the seas. He is eventually replaced by Poseidon. With his wife, Tethys they had thousands of sons and daughters in the form of water nymphs and river deities. In one myth Oceanus was considered not the brother of the Titans, but the father of them.
Tethys – goddess of the ancient seas. She was the successor of Thalassa the primordial sea goddess of Greek Myth. With her husband, they had thousands of children in the form of water nymphs of dryads and river gods knowns as the Potemoi. She is eventually replaced by Amphitrite, the wife of Poseidon as queen of the seas.
Hyperion – An ancient deity of the primitive sun, he is eventually replaced by his son Helios who in turn is eventually replaced by Apollo, a son of Zeus. As was customary for the ancient deities, Hyperion married or was paired with his sister Theia. Both deities are known as being bright and wide-shinning gods. He was widely respected by his brethren as a general and widely feared even by the Olympians during the great war of the gods, the Titanomachy. He appeared in book 5 of Percy Jackson and the Olympians, The Last Olympian, as the main general of the Titan army invading New York City.
Theia – An ancient goddess of illumination. She is the titan that married Hyperion and together they had Eos, the goddess of the dawn, Helios, the god of the sun and successor to the sun duties, and Selene, a moon goddess who eventually become part of the triple moon goddess with Hecate and Artemis.
Themis – Goddess of justice and wisdom, the sacred scale is her symbol. She is known as the first wife of Zeus and even aided the Olympians in the war against the Titans. She was spared punishment after the war and her statue is one of the most recognizable symbols of law-based institutions – the woman with the eyes covered holding the scales of justice.
Phoebe – Goddess of shining light. She was the goddess of insight and wisdom as well. Because of this, she was connected to prophesy and even helped and advised her grandchild, Apollo, several times.
Crius – Most famous for his daughters and grandchildren. His daughters are Astarte, mother of Hecate goddess of magic, and Leto, mother of Apollo and Artemis, the twin Olympians of the sun and moon.
Iapetus – A general, punished after the Titanomachy. He is most famous for his children Prometheus, Epimetheus, Meloetious, and Atlas most of whom had prominent roles in Greek stories.
Mnemosyne – Goddess of Memory courted by Zeus. He stayed with her for nine nights and the result was the birth of the nine Olympian Muses – Urania, Thalia, Terpsichore, Polyhymnia, Melpomene, Euterpe, Erato, Clio, and Calliope.
Coeus – god of the axis of the earth and connected with the constellations
Rhea – Rhea is an ancient Earth and mother goddess successor of her mother Gaia and considered a very powerful goddess. She was the mother of the first Olympians, Hestia, Hera, Demeter, Poseidon, Hades, and Zeus. Unable to save the first five from being devoured by her husband, Cronus, she takes Zeus in secret until he was ready to take down his father and the reign of the Olympians.
Cronus – The youngest of the lot and the king of the Titans, he castrated his father Uranus, and took on the role of ruler of the universe. He led his brothers and sisters into a great golden age that lasted for eons. Eventually, out of fear, he devours each of his children with Rhea for fear of being replaced. Until Zeus was hidden away from him. When Zeus came of age he came to the abode of the Titans as a cupbearer and there the revolution began. A ten-year war named the Titanomachy ended with the rise of the Olympians and the fall of the Titans, each punished in a different way for challenging the Olympians. Cronus was cut into pieces and sent to the depths of Tartarus. However, eventually, he reconstructed himself and lived out his existence as a simple agricultural god named Saturn in Italy
In Conclusion
While few titans have little to no role in the stories of Greek myths, each one contributed something in the grand scheme of the Greek theatre. Many of the Titans are remembered more for the children they had than for the attributes they once possessed. Some titans are ever present in our society, such as Themis, the hand of justice. Others are only known by name and their children, such as Crius and Iapetus. Many of them have celestial bodies named after them. Cronus is known as Saturn for the Romans, and the second largest planet in our solar system is named after this deity with many of the surrounding moons possessing the names of the Titans from either this generation or the second generation of Titans. Titan, Dione, Iapetus, Tethys, Hyperion, Epimetheus, Phoebe, and Rhea all have moons named after them.
For the most part after the golden age, after the war against the Titans, they did not play any major roles in Greek myth. As I said, for many of them, their role was completing the number 12 in the list and adding parentage for the ever-growing Greek mythology ancestry tree. Some titans, especially from the second generation, play very large and important roles in the myth, but these, the fathers and mothers of the gods, eventually fade away, live out their lives in Olympus, or are eternally punished in Tartarus.
PS: Who is Dione?
Often referred to as Aphrodite… the secret thirteenth Titan. The mystery of this titan dates back to lesser-known Greek Traditions where Oceanus, not Uranus, was the father of the titans, to keep the number of titans an even 12, Dione was considered a Titaness of affection. The connection of Dione with Aphrodite comes in the way Aphrodite was born. While most Olympians are children or grandchildren of Titans, Aphrodite was born from the sea foam that arose after the castration of Uranus. She had no mother to birth her and was born directly from the blood of an ancient primordial being.
Myths Reborn 