#01-216: Meet the Titans - Part II

Uranus, father of the gods, is castrated by the Titan Cronus (Saturn)
(Wikipedia)

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Note: Let's meet the balance--eight more--of the twelve Titans, along with some info about their names and relationships.

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Get Ready: If you were to choose one natural phenomenon to be a "god" or "Titan," which one would it be?

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Let's continue with the Titans, the children of Father Sky and Mother Earth in the Greek myths recorded in Hesiod's Theogony. Remember, if the Roman (Latin) name is different from the Greek, it is given in parenthesis.

• Hyperion: As the god of light, he controlled months and days. His children were Helios the Sun (hence "days"), Selene the Moon (hence "months"), and Eos the Dawn. His name means "he who watches from above," and he was married to Theia.
• Theia: Her name may mean simply "goddess" (as in "theology"), or it may come from the word for "sight." She was goddess of sight and of the clear blue sky, from which shone her children (by Hyperion) the sun and the moon. She also gave the brightness to gold, silver and jewels.
• Kronos (Saturn): Although they are often confused, this is not "Chronos," the general god of time (as in "chronology" and "chronicle"), though the Romans made Kronos a god of "human time" (calendars, etc.). Kronos (also spelled "Cronus") is the last-born of the Titans, who led a revolt against their father Ouranos (see Lesson #01-217). He was married to Rhea.
• Rhea (Opis): Meaning "flow," Rhea is the mother of some later gods such as Zeus. She represents the flow of time, birth, and generations. (See her name in "rheostat" which regulates electrical flow; and "diarrhea," meaning "flowing through.") Her Latin name "Opis" (or sometimes "Ops") means "plenty," and is related to the English word "opulent."
• Mnemosyne (Moneta): Do you remember the mother of the Nine Muses? Her name means "memory." If you wanted to perform a play or recite a poem (from the Muses) in the days before writing, "Memory" was your only resource. The same root is found in "mnemonic" (a memory devise) and "amnesia" (an inability to remember).
• Themis: Her name means "natural law" or "custom." The word "theme," meaning "a subject that has been set down" is related to her name, as laws and customs were given or "set down" from the past.
• Krios (Crius): His name means "Ram," and he is also known as Aries, the Ram of the Zodiac (roughly March 21 to April 21). As this was the beginning of the ancient year, Krios is thought to have ordered the course of years (as his brother Hyperion ordered months and days).
• Iapetos (Iapetus): His name means "pierce" (as with a spear), so he is thought to be the one who ends the life of a person, setting the lifespan. His wife Klymene (not a Titan) is also called Asia, from which the historian Herodotus says this continent gets its name.

Along with the four we met in Lesson #01-215, that's all twelve Titans. In Lesson #01-217 we'll see how the Titans revolted against their father, and were in turn overthrown by their children.

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Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titans

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Practice: Match the name to its description below:

1. Hyperion
2. Iapetos
3. Krios
4. Kronos
5. Mnemosyne
6. Opis
7. Rhea
8. Saturn
9. Theia
10. Themis

1. the Roman (Latin) name for Kronos
2. father of the Sun, the Moon, and the Dawn
3. this Latin name is related to an English word meaning "luxurious" or "lavish"
4. her name is related to the idea of "a subject that has been set down"
5. "memory," she's the mother of the Nine Muses
6. youngest of the Titans, he led a revolt against their father
7. mother of Zeus, among others
8. may have been in charge of the course of years
9. perhaps the Titan who sets the lifespan of humans
10. wife of Hyperion, and goddess of the clear blue sky

Answers are in the first comment below.

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Submitted to the Shenzhen Daily for February 5, 2009