Joe Goering

Latin 1-6th hour

12-1-99

Mother Earth bore three sons and the father hated these ugly creatures. The father, Uranus, seized the creatures and flung the into Tartarus, the deepest, darkest pit under the earth. Mother Earth loved her children and told her sons, the Titans, to kill Uranus. Only Cronus had the courage to kill his father. Uranus fled from his strong son and gave up his powers.

After Cronus defeated his father, Cronus became the lord of the Universe. Cronus didn’t set his monstrous brothers free and Mother Earth was angry with him and plotted his downfall. Mother Earth knew that one of his sons would be stronger than Cronus. Cronus knew it also, so every time his wife Rhea gave birth, he took the newborn and swallowed it.

When Rhea expected her sixth child, she hid him. Then she wrapped the stone, and Zeus lived in a secret cave on the island of Crete. One the island of Crete, Zeus was raised by two nymphs and a goat named Amalthea. The goat, who was larger than a cow, gave food to Zeus and played with him. When Zeus was older, he left to overpower Cronus.

Young Zeus chose Metis for his wife. She went to Cronus and tricked him into eating a magic herb which caused him to vomit up all the five children and the stone. When Cronus saw the six gods against him, he surrendered his power and fled. After this occurrence, Zeus became the lord of the universe.

The lesson in this myth was: Even though Cronus tried to hide his children, in the end, the children defeated him and he had to give up his throne.

I told the greek version of how Zeus became the king of the gods. This tale has been brought down to generation and I am unsure of the original writer. I have found no modern counterpart to this myth.