Names of the titans of ancient Greece. The meaning of the word titans in the dictionary-reference book myths of ancient Greece

The names of most of the gods are designed as hyperlinks, which can take you to a detailed article about each of them.

The main deities of Ancient Greece: 12 Olympian gods, their assistants and companions

The main gods in Ancient Hellas were recognized as those who belonged to the younger generation of celestials. Once upon a time, it took away power over the world from the older generation, who personified the main universal forces and elements (see about this in the article The Origin of the Gods of Ancient Greece). The gods of the older generation are usually called titans. Having defeated the Titans, the younger gods, led by Zeus, settled on Mount Olympus. The ancient Greeks honored the 12 Olympian gods. Their list usually included Zeus, Hera, Athena, Hephaestus, Apollo, Artemis, Poseidon, Ares, Aphrodite, Demeter, Hermes, Hestia. Hades is also close to the Olympian gods, but he does not live on Olympus, but in his underground kingdom.

Legends and myths Ancient Greece. Cartoon

Goddess Artemis. Statue in the Louvre

Statue of Virgin Athena in the Parthenon. Ancient Greek sculptor Phidias

Hermes with caduceus. Statue from the Vatican Museum

Venus (Aphrodite) de Milo. Statue approx. 130-100 BC.

God Eros. Red-figure dish, ca. 340-320 BC e.

Hymen- companion of Aphrodite, god of marriage. After his name, wedding hymns were also called hymens in Ancient Greece.

- daughter of Demeter, kidnapped by the god Hades. Inconsolable mother after long search found Persephone in the underworld. Hades, who made her his wife, agreed that she should spend part of the year on earth with her mother, and the other with him in the bowels of the earth. Persephone was the personification of grain, which, being “dead” sown into the ground, then “comes to life” and comes out of it into the light.

The abduction of Persephone. Antique jug, ca. 330-320 BC.

Amphitrite- wife of Poseidon, one of the Nereids

Proteus- one of the sea deities of the Greeks. Son of Poseidon, who had the gift of predicting the future and changing his appearance

Triton- the son of Poseidon and Amphitrite, a messenger of the deep sea, blowing a shell. By appearance- a mixture of man, horse and fish. Close to the eastern god Dagon.

Eirene- goddess of peace, standing at the throne of Zeus on Olympus. In Ancient Rome - the goddess Pax.

Nika- goddess of victory. Constant companion of Zeus. In Roman mythology - Victoria

Dike- in Ancient Greece - the personification of divine truth, a goddess hostile to deception

Tyukhe- goddess of luck and good fortune. For the Romans - Fortuna

Morpheus– ancient Greek god of dreams, son of the god of sleep Hypnos

Plutos- god of wealth

Phobos(“Fear”) – son and companion of Ares

Deimos(“Horror”) – son and companion of Ares

Enyo- among the ancient Greeks - the goddess of frantic war, who arouses rage in the fighters and brings confusion into the battle. In Ancient Rome - Bellona

Titans

Titans are the second generation of gods of Ancient Greece, generated by natural elements. The first Titans were six sons and six daughters, descended from the connection of Gaia-Earth with Uranus-Sky. Six sons: Cronus (Time among the Romans - Saturn), Ocean (father of all rivers), Hyperion, Kay, Kriy, Iapetus. Six daughters: Tethys(Water), Theia(Shine), Rhea(Mother Mountain?), Themis (Justice), Mnemosyne(Memory), Phoebe.

Uranus and Gaia. Ancient Roman mosaic 200-250 AD.

In addition to the Titans, Gaia gave birth to Cyclopes and Hecatoncheires from her marriage with Uranus.

Cyclops- three giants with a large, round, fiery eye in the middle of their forehead. In ancient times - personifications of clouds from which lightning flashes

Hecatoncheires- “hundred-handed” giants, against whose terrible strength nothing can resist. Incarnations of terrible earthquakes and floods.

The Cyclopes and Hecatoncheires were so strong that Uranus himself was horrified by their power. He tied them up and threw them deep into the earth, where they are still rampaging, causing volcanic eruptions and earthquakes. The presence of these giants in the belly of the earth began to cause terrible suffering. Gaia persuaded her youngest son, Cronus, to take revenge on his father, Uranus.

Ancient Greece - the gods of the second generation, preceding the gods of Olympus. These are the children of the first gods - Uranus (sky) and Gaia (earth). Twelve children came from Earth and Sky: six brothers - Hyperion, Iapetus, Kay, Krios, Kronos, Ocean, and six sisters - Mnemosyne, Rhea, Theia, Tethys, Phoebe, Themis.

One of the six titan brothers, Kronos, was the father of Zeus (the main god of Olympus). Zeus overthrew and castrated his father. After this, the titans stood up to protect their brother and started a war, which is called the “Titanomachy”. The war was lost by the titans after a ten-year battle. And the gods of Olympus emerged victorious. The Titans were thrown into the terrible Tartarus on the advice of Prometheus. Subsequently, reconciliation took place between the enemies and the Titans submitted to Zeus, recognizing his power as full power over them. For this, the Thunderer granted them freedom.

If the gods of the first generation represented cosmic forces (Chaos - the primordial emptiness and abyss), then the gods of the second generation - the Titans - were archaic creatures representing natural elements and disasters. They did not have wisdom and rationality, they did not know order and measure. They were distinguished by primitive savagery and rudeness, primitiveness and action. The main weapon for them was brute force and primordial power. They did not yet have that heroism, wisdom and cosmic harmony that later distinguished the gods of Olympus - Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, Hera, Hermes, etc.

Marriages and children of titans

All twelve Titans and Titanides married each other and gave birth to another generation of ancient gods.

Heperion and Theia gave birth to three heavenly children: Helios, personifying the sun, Selene, the image of the Moon, and Eos, the dawn. Eos became the wife of Astraeus and bore him a countless number of children - all the stars in the sky (including Phosphorus and Hesperus - the morning and evening star), all the winds on earth (Boreas, Noth, Eurus and Zephyr).

The ocean and Tethys gave birth to all the rivers on earth. And from the nymph Thetis, the Ocean gave birth to oceanid daughters.

Phoebus and Kay were not so prolific. They had only two daughters - the beautiful goddess Leto, who later became the mother of Apollo and Artemis, and Asteria, who later gave birth to the ominous Hecate, the goddess of moonlight and the underworld.

The Titanide Themis was associated with Zeus (the main god of Olympus) and bore him six daughters. The three daughters were Moirai (Parks among the Romans) - goddesses of fate. Atropos weaved the thread of fate, Clotho created a bizarre pattern from these threads, and Lachesis finished life path, cutting the thread of fate.

The other three daughters of Themis and Zeus were eternally young Ori. Eunomia represented legality, Dike was the spokesman for truth, and Eirene brought peace with her. These three sisters guarded the gates of Olympus in white robes and were part of the retinue of the goddess of love and beauty Aphrodite.

Titans in ancient greek mythology were the names of the deities who ruled the world before the arrival of the Olympians. The Titans beat children of Uranus and Rhea, and literally Heaven and Earth.

The same name is also used to name gods born from male titans by female titans (titanides), so there are two generations of these deities, older and younger. The exception is Olympian gods who fought against the elder titans.

The elder titans in the fight against the Olympians, which is called Titanomachy, lost and were thrown into Tartarars, and the younger ones remained gods of various elements and phenomena in the service of the Olympian winners.

According to Apollodorus, there were seven Titanides along with Diona, whereas Hesiod she is the daughter Oceana and Tethia. IN Apollodora also the word appears for the first time "Titanide".

Some researchers are inclined to believe that the Titans were originally considered born Uranus without the participation of Gaia. Homer called these creatures children Ocean and Teti who were the creators of the whole world. The older generation of gods were Kronos, Uranus, Gaia, Themis, Ocean and others.

Younger generation Titans include the gods Helios, Selene, Eos, Lelantos, Leto, Astraea, Atlas, Prometheus, Epimetheus, Menoetius, Metis, Astraeus, Pallanthus and Persian.

The Titanomachy lasted ten years, while with the help of chthonic creatures, which, on the advice of Hera, Zeus freed from the abyss Tartara, elder titans were defeated.

Cyclopes were previously driven to Tartarus by Kronos, therefore they sincerely desired to overthrow his power. As punishment, the male Titans who did not serve Zeus were thrown into Tartarus, and the Titanides, at the request Metis and Rhea were pardoned.

For Atlanta Zeus determined another punishment - forced to forever support the sky. The younger titans remained in charge of the spheres of existence assigned to them and submitted to the Olympians, otherwise chaos would have reigned in the world.

According to legends of the later period, the titans made peace with Zeus who released them from Tartarus and together with Kronos moved the blessed to the islands.

Junior Titan Prometheus, which gave people fire, taught them cultivate the land, build ships and sacrifice bones and fat to the gods(instead of the meat that people kept for food), Zeus later punished him by chaining him to a rock.

However, Prometheus was known who will overthrow Zeus, so Zeus sent gods and goddesses for a long time to persuade him to reveal the secret, but to no avail. He only told it Hercules, who freed Prometheus at a time when Zeus was already began to rule wisely and did not harm people.

So Zeus escaped the predicted fate, and Prometheus remained on earth, died instead centaur Chiron, to free yourself from suffering.

Hesiod believed that the Titans brought only misfortune with them, so Zeus had to throw them off. Later researchers, on the contrary, found a basis in the names of the titans with the meaning “kings”, “owners”, personifications of light and good forces.

Some researchers draw parallels between the struggle of the titans with the Olympian gods And war between the asuras and devas of Hindu mythology. Also, the myth of the Titanomachy may reflect the struggle between two cultures of ancient Greece. The gods of the displaced culture were identified with the Titans defeated by the Olympians.

There is an opinion based on information from the works Homer that the titans' name comes from their mother Aunts, and the myths about them reflect memories of the original matriarchal society, which was replaced by a patriarchal one.

According to the works Alexey Losev, the titans personified powers of absorption, coverage, collection together of the chaotic world. Therefore, they oppose the Olympians, who order the world by separating parts from it. In particular, this explains the devouring Kronos his children, since Kronos did not tolerate anything generated outside himself.

The movement got its name from the mythological titans "Titanism" the main features of which are fight against the established order, as well as recognition of the omnipotence of man.

From there, titans are called outstanding figures of the Renaissance and people in general outstanding in intelligence and talent. From the titan Prometheus comes the concept “ Prometheism" How political movement and as a love of freedom, rebellion.

Many techniques that were distinguished by their large size and power were named after the titans, for example, the ship " Titanic or the Titan family of launch vehicles. Chemical element titanium got its name because it is extremely high temperature melting.

Satellites of the planet Saturn named after different titans ( Rhea, Hyperion, Iapetus), especially the largest of which is named after these gods in general – Titanium.

Creatures called titans are often appear in science fiction works and usually differ great size or power.

The ancient Greek state existed for several thousand years; the history of this world is rich in events, inventions and discoveries that were fateful for humanity. Much that is now familiar to us was invented in this country: the basics of medicine, politics, astrology, philosophy and literature. And the images of the gods, the stories of their lives and the struggle for power are still present to one degree or another in the culture of all countries. Most people can easily answer which gods lived on Olympus, who the Titans or Cyclops were.

First ideas about the world

The entire mythology of the ancient Greeks is a desire to understand and explain natural phenomena. The gods of Mount Olympus known to most of us - Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Ares, Artemis, Apollo and others - were already the embodiment of the ideas of the later period of the existence of Greece. At a time when the people had already formed statehood, comfortable cities appeared, science and thought were developing.

But in the so-called dark times, during the period of the Aegean civilization, man was still completely dependent on the whims of nature, they worshiped it, tried to appease it with offerings and sacrifices. According to researchers, it was at this time that myths about the origin of the world arose. The basis of the belief is stories about Chaos, the universe from which everything came: light and darkness, the first goddess of the earth Gaia, and the ruler of the sky - Uranus. Some are starting to get confused in history here, forgetting who the titans are and identifying them with the rest

Six brothers

In fact, this is not true at all. The Titans are the children of Uranus and Gaia, gods of the second generation. The images of these first monsters were far from the aesthetic perfection that we are accustomed to seeing in the literature of Ancient Greece. The six giant brothers were the embodiment of human fears, instilling horror.

In fact, who the titans are is difficult to understand unambiguously from Ancient Greek mythology. Thanks to the works of Homer, Hesiod, and the tragedies of Aeschylus, we know their names and sphere of activity.

• The ocean is the ruler of the world's rivers, personifying the element of water.
• Kay (Koi) is a god who embodies the axis of the sky.
• Krios is Astraeus' father.
• Iapetus - according to one version, the progenitor of the Aryan tribe, his sons were Atlas and Prometheus.
• Hyperion - sun god, father of Helios.
• Kronos is the main titan. Greece is an ancient country, its history cannot be understood without knowledge of traditions, customs, culture, and a huge layer of the latter is mythology, tales and legends, including about this character. There are several options for identifying it. Most likely, it is identified with time - chronos. Father of the first Olympians.

Six sisters

In addition to the male gods, Gaia and Uranus gave birth to the same number of Titanides, who were destined to become the wives of their brothers:

• Tethys. In their marriage with the Ocean, three thousand sons were born - these are rivers, and the same number of daughters. Later in literature it acquired the meaning of one of the epithets of the ocean.
• Rhea is the mother of the Olympian gods, both the sister and wife of Kronos.
• Theia is the wife of Hyperion, the ruler of the night luminary. In the union of the Sun and Moon, Helios, Eos and Selene appeared.
• Themis is traditionally considered the patroness of truth, justice and observance of the law.
• Mnemosyne - memory, personified with the universal understanding of existence, the parent of the nine Muses.
• Phoebe is the wife of Coy, the mother of Leto and Asteria.

War

All gods were distinguished by one essential feature - the struggle for power. Great Uranus saw in the offspring a threat to himself and his sole rule, and therefore decided to overthrow the offspring back into the earth. What their mother, Gaia, opposed. To protect the children, she persuaded her youngest son Kronos to take a sickle and castrate his murderous father.

From this story it is easy to understand who the titans are; this is a symbol of the victory of the new over the old, in a word, the triumph of progress.

Moreover, this practice of inheriting the world continued with the gods of the third generation. As noted earlier, the host of Olympian rulers is a more mature attempt to understand the surrounding reality among the Greeks.

Like his father Uranus, Kronos, having become king, did not want to give up rule to anyone, so he swallowed all the children born to his sister Rhea immediately after their birth. The mother managed to save one of her sons, Zeus. He was raised in secret from his parents on the island of Crete. Having come into power, the new god planned to overthrow the cruel king.

Knowing who the Titans were and how dangerous they were, Zeus called upon all his brothers and sisters, whom he freed from the womb of Kronos, to help. For ten years there was a battle for power over the world, the future head of Olympus emerged victorious, and overthrew the old titan to Tartarus.

Embodiment in art

The history of the struggle of three generations of ancient gods is described in the epic “Titanomachy” by an unknown author; this work itself has not survived to this day, but according to some sources its content has been partially restored. During the classical period of the development of Greece, many famous writers and poets reproduced certain legends in their books.

In the Middle Ages, a whole cult of worship of ancient Greek history and mythology formed in Europe. Hundreds of authors around the world have looked for inspiration in the legends of this country; there are an endless number of versions, assumptions about who the gods, cyclops, giants are, and what the titans are.

Now the legends of Ancient Greece are experiencing a new round of popularity. Dozens of films on this topic are produced around the world every year.

The wealth of images and pictures of the special beliefs of the Greek people somewhat overshadow the more ancient myths; perhaps now not everyone knows who the titans are, but they are the beginning of the history of this amazing imaginary world.

- the son of Kronos, or Saturn and Rhea, brother of Zeus, ruler of the underworld, where he reigns over the shadows with his wife Persephone, or Proserpina. In Roman mythology, Pluto.

Atlas is a Titanide in Greek mythology, the son of the Titan Iapetus and the Oceanid Clymene. He maintained the firmament near the Garden of the Hesperides as punishment for participating in the battle with Zeus on the side of the Titans.

Apollo is the son of Zeus and Leta (Latona), the patron of poetry, music and singing, and also the patron of flocks. As the messenger of the will of Zeus, Apollo was the god of predictions and oracles.

Coy - Greek mythology Titan, son of Uranus and Gaia, brother and husband of the Titanide Phoebe, who gave birth to Leto and Asteria. Participated in the Titanomachy and was thrown into Tartarus by Zeus along with his brothers.

Ares is the god of war, the son of Zeus and Hera. In early myths, the birth of Ares occurred without the participation of his father from the touch of Hera to a magic flower. In later myths, Ares appeared as the son of Zeus.

Kronos is the son of the sky god Uranus and the earth goddess Gaia. He succumbed to his mother’s persuasion and castrated his father Uranus in order to stop the endless births of his children.

Hermes is the Arcadian god of pastures, executor of the will of Zeus. Hermes, the great inventor, patron of industry, god of roads, guide and guide of the dead. In Roman mythology it corresponds to Mercury.

Ocean - ancient god water element, the forefather of the gods of the sea, rivers, streams and springs. Titan, son of Uranus and Gaia. From him came a large generation of water deities who made up a special water Olympus.

Dionysus is the eternally young god of the fruitful forces of the earth, vegetation, viticulture and winemaking, known as the “god with bull horns,” the son of Zeus and the Theban princess Semele.

Pallant is the son of Gaia and Uranus. During the Gigantomachy, Athena crushed the lustful Pallant with a piece of rock, and then tore off his skin, while still alive, to make herself an aegis.

Zeus is the son of Kronos (Saturn) and Rhea, the husband of Hera, the most powerful and highest of the gods of the Greek people, the sovereign ruler of the world, the father of gods and people. In Roman mythology, Jupiter.

Prometheus is the son of the Titan Iapetus and the Oceanid Clymene, or, according to another version, Asia or the goddess of justice Themis. Gave people divine fire, hidden by the thunderer Zeus.

Mars is the god of war in Roman mythology, the oldest deity of Rome, who was part of the triad of gods that originally headed the Roman pantheon - Jupiter, Mars and Quirinus.

Uranus is the most ancient of the Greek gods. Personification of the sky in Greek myths. The progenitor of the giants, goddesses of vengeance Erinyes, nymphs, hecatoncheires, giant cyclops, Aphrodite and the titan Kronos.

Mercury is the god of trade, profit and enrichment in Roman mythology, the patron of travelers, the son of Maya.

Neptune is one of the most ancient gods of the Roman pantheon. He was identified with the Greek mythological god Poseidon.

Pan is a field and forest god, the patron saint of herds grazing in the forest and field, possessed the gift of prophecy, and was considered the son of the prophetic Peak and the grandson of Kronos (Saturn). Among the Romans - Faun

Poseidon is the son of Kronos, or Saturn, and Rhea, brother of Zeus; after the victory over the titans, during the division of dominion over the world, he became the ruler of the sea. In Roman mythology, Neptune.

Jupiter is in Roman mythology the almighty god of the sky, the king of the gods. Jupiter was revered as the supreme deity, the lord of thunder and lightning.

Janus – Roman god of doors; as such had two faces. He was also the god of contracts and alliances. Janus commanded the beginnings. Before the advent of the cult of Jupiter, Janus was the deity of sky and light.