Shownotes Transcript
Hey everyone, welcome to Mythology Explained. In today's video, we're going to discuss the all-out war between the gods and the titans, a war so devastating that it remade the face of the earth, a war so important that it decided who would sit highest and rule the cosmos. Let's get into it.Just as important as the war itself were the events that lead up to it, so we're going to spend a little time setting the stage by exploring the preamble. First there were the primordial deities, who were succeeded by the Titans, who were, in turn, superseded by the gods. Cronus, the youngest and boldest of the titans, learnt of a prophecy that foretold his downfall at the hands of one of his children, and he must have been especially paranoid of such an eventuality; for it was he who overthrew his own father, Uranus, the personification of the sky, by castrating him. The strategy Cronus employed was to swallow his children whole as soon as they were born, but his consort, the titan goddess rhea, grew more distraught with each child she lost, until she reached her tipping point and resolved to save her youngest child. She swaddled a stone in baby's wrappings and proffered it to Cronus in Zeus' stead, and Cronus, not suspecting even an inkling of trickery, promptly swallowed the stone.Unbeknownst to Cronus, though, Zeus was whisked away and raised in secret, where he grew into a paragon of power, strong of body and keen of mind. Once the bloom of manhood was upon him, he made a triumphant return with the goal of casting his father down from his lofty seat, but to accomplish this, he would need allies, so Zeus' first move was to free his siblings.Now, there are multiple accounts that detail exactly how Zeus was able to force Cronus to disgorge the five gods - Zeus' five siblings - he had swallowed. Per Apollodorus' account, Zeus enlisted the aid of Metis, who contrived for Cronus to imbibe an emetic, which purged the titan's stomach and brought up all who were imprisoned within. First came the stone, which was swallowed in Zeus' stead, then the gods in this order: Poseidon, Hades, Hera, Demeter, and finally, Hestia.