“We are the Titans the mighty mighty Titans! Everywhere we go people want to know who were is so we tell them! We are the Titans the mighty Titans.” This quote comes from the movie Remember the Titans. This movie starring Denzel Washington is a movie
that portrayed the hardships that an integrated football team went through and the struggles that they faced each and every day. However, the Titans football team was not the only Titans that are known throughout history. In fact, in Greek mythology there are many different groups of gods and consequently the most important groups would have to be the Titans. The Titans were the gods who started it all. The Titans were a very powerful group of gods. They were the first to rule in a time period that is known today as the golden age. The titan gods were the rulers of everything in the cosmos and they were over time and the regulation of heavenly cycles. There were originally twelve people that made up the titan gods. It would eventually spring to be more because the Titans had little gods called Olympian gods. These Gods greatly influenced Greek mythology by not only their rich history but also their fall from power as well as the representation that each god or goddess held. Everyone should in at least some way “remember the Titans”. They should remember or at least be able to recollect the war and the overthrow of power between the Titans and Olympian Gods. Readers should also be familiar with the things that the Titan gods represented for each god was reflective of something different in the world.
Readers should also know that All of the Titans were great but they all still had their own issues with all the temptations and murder and sleeping with deferent people. It was amazing how messed up the Titans were even though they were supposed to be the most powerful and great gods of all time.
The Titans were the first and most powerful group of gods in the universe. After a while of ruling with an iron fist the children of the Titans decided to overthrow them. These gods were called the Olympians. Zeus, the one child that Kronos, the god of all Titan god’s had failed to get rid of came back and destroyed his rule and overthrew him. He did this because when Zeus was an infant they tried to destroy him. Fortunately for Zeus his mother hid him in the caves to preserve him. When he grew up he gathered a large group of Titans and all the Olympians to overthrow his father and take over the universe. This eventually became known as a Great War. After a long and hard fight Zeus came out on top. After the war the eldest Titans were captured and imprisoned. Kronos, and his four brothers were put in the pit of Tartaros, which was located deep beneath the earth. Some of the younger Titans had allied themselves with Zeus which saved them from the harsh punishment of their elders. Not only did this save their lives but it was good for the young Titans for a while because they remained in wealth and held high positions in the government. However, after a while they tried to rebel against the Olympians. This caused t even harsher punishments to bestow upon them for betraying Zeus and his new government.
Unlike their males that went and fought in the Great War the female Titans remained as neutral as possible in the war. They all mostly remained in the positions they were in before as great goddesses and prophets. By doing this their position in government was passed down to their children who carried their out in the new government. Most of the women became really close to Zeus and moved to Mount Olympus with him and became mothers of all the young Olympian gods. Not only did Zeus rid the world of the Titans and obtain a victory but he was able to have any female that he wanted and an entire people to himself (the Titans).
Each of the titan gods that were destroyed by Zeus army represented some form of deity in the Greek society. They were all different but they were intertwined at the same time. In the ancient cosmogony the four brothers of Kronos represented the four great pillars which held earth and sky together. Hyperion was in the west, Iapetos was in the east, Koios was in the north and Krios was in the south. Kronos however stood in the centre, and was over all the rest of them. The sixth Okeanos, was all over the place, he flowed all around the world in the form of the ocean river and went wherever he pleased. The Titans also represented as gods of time in their mastery of Heaven. Each one of them seemed to be responsible for the first establishment of time. Kronos was established as time the destroyer; Krios was leader of the heavenly constellations, and regulator of the seasons; Koios was the god of the axis of heaven, around which the constellations revolve in a yearly cycle. Hyperion was the overlord of the cycles of day and night, sun and moon. Iapetos the piercer was the Titan-god of mortality and the measure of life-span; and Okeanos the earth-encircling river, who controlled and evened out the rising and setting of the heavenly bodies. All of these Gods represented as one can see the many aspects of Greek culture and it can be seen how much these beliefs influence not only their culture but the ancient Greek culture as a whole (Titanes).
However, despite all of the many things and how awesome they looked the Titan Gods had some issues that greatly influenced the Greek society. Their lifestyle and the problems that were present are very similar to most everything was in Greek mythology. Many of the gods struggled with their own problems such as murder and incest. Stories similar to that of Uranus and Prometheus story greatly portray what life was like back then for the typical ancient Greek.
Uranus was the first ruler of the Titans. He married the goddess Ghea and had the twelve Titans and his rule ended when he had Kronos. When Kronos got old enough Ghea encouraged him to kill his father. So obeying his mother’s wished he killed Uranus and married his mother. Now he and his wife Ghea had many kids. Strangely he ate e ate all of them but one. Little did her know that the one he did not eat would be the one that would cause him ruin. Zeus the child that was not eaten eventually rebelled against his father and took over the Titans and became the supreme ruler of the land.
Not only was their much incestuous and immoral behavior but there was also a great deal of betrayal in that day and age. In all of Titan history Prometheus is known as the betrayer. He ruled under Kronos during the golden age. However when Zeus overthrew the Titans he betrayed the Titans and went over to Olympian‘s side. By doing this he received many benefits. He was granted many gifts including the privilege of getting to create man. Despite all that was given to him he still pulled one over on Zeus. Prometheus gave the humans many gifts and comforts that left the humans better off than the gods for the most part. Zeus became infuriated by Prometheus actions and chained him up to let a bird eat his liver for all eternity. All of these actions were pretty messed up and crazy. Clearly, there was also a lot of immorality in the titan society. Not only was betrayal and incest as well as murder prevalent but also sexual immorality was rampant in this land.
When the war was going on, all of Titan men’s wives’ remained neutral in the war. After the war ended they went to Zeus and acted like nothing had ever happened. They became mistresses to Zeus and later they became the mothers to all of the Olympian gods.
The Titan gods regardless of all that happened are still the gods that started it all and are the greatest gods ever. They like all gods in Greek mythology had problems like, Kronos being overthrown by his son Zeus, whom he did not manage to eat. This fact sent the Titan world spinning and set the scene for one of the most colorful time periods in history. The titan history ended up in death for all of the titan gods and the start of a new government of gods. No matter how powerful all of the gods were and what the Titans represented they all had their share of living in sin, just like normal people in Greek life. They all had affairs and how some were sleeping with their moms and having tons wife’s because the war killed off the women’s husbands. There was deceit and incest and symbolism and a lot of other stuff tagged on to the titan gods but they are still the ones who started it all. Despite, all of the problems in the Titan society they will continue to be greatest god ever and everyone should always “remember the Titans”, “the mighty Titans!”
Work cited page
1. The Titans Hellas on Line – 15 Ionias Str. NEA Eritrea.
< https://www.hol.gr/greece/Titans.htm>
2. TITANES. Theoi Project Copyright © 2000 – 2006, Aaron Atsma. https://www.theoi.com/Titan/Titanes.html
3. Titian Mythology. 26 September 2006.