Titan (nonfiction)

In Classical Greek mythology, the Titans (Greek: Τιτάν Titán; plural: Τiτᾶνες Titânes) and Titanesses (or Titanides; Greek: Τιτανίς Titanís; plural: Τιτανίδες Titanídes) were members of the second order of divine beings, descending from the primordial deities and preceding the Olympian deities.

Based on Mount Othrys, the Titans most famously included the first twelve children of the primordial Gaia (Mother Earth) and Uranus (Father Sky). They were giant deities of incredible strength, who ruled during the legendary Golden Age, and also composed the first pantheon of Greek deities.

Among the first generation of twelve Titans, the females were Mnemosyne, Tethys, Theia, Phoebe, Rhea, and Themis and the males were Oceanus, Hyperion, Coeus, Cronus, Crius, and Iapetus.

The second generation of Titans consisted of Hyperion's children Helios, Selene, and Eos; Coeus' children Lelantos, Leto, and Asteria; Iapetus' sons Atlas, Prometheus, Epimetheus, and Menoetius; Oceanus' daughter Metis; and Crius' sons Astraeus, Pallas, and Perses.

Like Cronus overthrowing his father Uranus, the Titans were overthrown by Cronus' children (Zeus, Hades, Poseidon, Hestia, Hera and Demeter), in the Titanomachy (or "War of the Titans").

The Greeks may have borrowed this theme from the Ancient Near East.

In the News

• 

  Fabergé egg recently commissioned by Dysprosium Titanate made from Spin Ice, may be trap for Roger Zelazny.

Fiction cross-reference

• Dysprosium Titanate

Nonfiction cross-reference

External links:

• Titan (mythology) @ Wikipedia