Editing Theogony (section)

==The succession myth==
[[File:The Mutilation of Uranus by Saturn.jpg|thumb|300px|''The Mutilation of Uranus by Saturn'': fresco by [[Giorgio Vasari]] and [[Cristofano Gherardi]], {{Circa|1560}} (Sala di Cosimo I, [[Palazzo Vecchio]])]]

One of the principal components of the ''Theogony'' is the presentation of what is called the "succession myth", which tells how [[Cronus]] overthrew [[Uranus (mythology)|Uranus]], and how in turn Zeus overthrew Cronus and his fellow [[Titan (mythology)|Titans]], and how Zeus was eventually established as the final and permanent ruler of the cosmos.<ref>Hard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA65 pp. 65&ndash;69]; West 1966, pp. 18&ndash;19.</ref>

Uranus (Sky) initially produced eighteen children with his mother [[Gaia]] (Earth): the twelve Titans, the three [[Cyclopes]], and the three [[Hecatoncheires]] (Hundred-Handers),<ref>''Theogony'' 132&ndash;153 (Most, [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/hesiod-theogony/2018/pb_LCL057.13.xml pp. 12, 13]).</ref> but hating them,<ref>''Theogony'' 154&ndash;155 (Most, [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/hesiod-theogony/2018/pb_LCL057.15.xml pp. 14, 15]). Exactly which of these eighteen children Hesiod meant that Uranus hated is not entirely clear, all eighteen, or perhaps just the Cyclopes and the Hundred-Handers. Hard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA67 p. 67]; West 1988, p. 7, and Caldwell, p. 37 on lines 154&ndash;160, make it all eighteen; while Gantz, p. 10, says "likely all eighteen"; and Most, [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/hesiod-theogony/2018/pb_LCL057.15.xml p. 15 n. 8], says "apparently only the ... Cyclopes and Hundred-Handers are meant" and not the twelve Titans. See also West 1966, p. 206 on lines 139&ndash;53, p. 213 line 154 '''γὰρ'''.  Why Uranus hated his children is also not clear. Gantz, p. 10 says: "The reason for [Uranus'] hatred may be [his children's] horrible appearance, though Hesiod does not quite say this"; while Hard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA67 p. 67] says: "Although Hesiod is vague about the cause of his hatred, it would seem that he took a dislike to them because they were terrible to behold". However, West 1966, p. 213 on line 155, says that Uranus hated his children because of their "fearsome nature".</ref> he hid them away somewhere inside Gaia.<ref>''Theogony'' 156&ndash;158 (Most, [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/hesiod-theogony/2018/pb_LCL057.15.xml pp. 14, 15]). The hiding place inside Gaia is presumably her womb, see West 1966, p. 214 on line 158; Caldwell, p. 37 on lines 154&ndash;160; Gantz, p. 10. This place seems also to be the same place as [[Tartarus]], see West 1966, p. 338 on line 618, and Caldwell, p. 37 on lines 154&ndash;160.</ref> Angry and in distress, Gaia fashioned a [[sickle]] made of [[adamant]] and urged her children to punish their father. Only her son Cronus, the youngest Titan, was willing to do so.<ref>''Theogony'' 159&ndash;172 (Most, [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/hesiod-theogony/2018/pb_LCL057.17.xml pp. 16, 17]).</ref> So Gaia hid Cronus in "ambush" and gave him the adamantine sickle, and when Uranus came to lie with Gaia, Cronus reached out and castrated his father.<ref>''Theogony'' 173&ndash;182 (Most, [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/hesiod-theogony/2018/pb_LCL057.17.xml pp. 16, 17]); according to Gantz, p. 10, Cronus waited in ambush, and reached out to castrate Uranus, from "inside [Gaia's] body, we will understand, if he too is a prisoner".</ref> This enabled the Titans to be born and Cronus to assume supreme command of the cosmos.<ref>Hard, p. 67; West 1966, p. 19. As Hard notes, in the ''Theogony'' apparently, although the Titans were freed as a result of Uranus' castration, the Cyclopes and Hundred-Handers remain imprisoned (see below), see also West 1966, p. 214 on line 158.</ref>

Cronus, having now taken over control of the cosmos from Uranus, wanted to ensure that he maintained control. Uranus and Gaia had prophesied to Cronus that one of Cronus' own children would overthrow him, so when Cronus married [[Rhea (mythology)|Rhea]], he made sure to swallow each of the children she birthed: [[Hestia]], [[Demeter]], [[Hera]], [[Hades]], [[Poseidon]], and [[Zeus]] (in that order), to Rhea's great sorrow.<ref>''Theogony'' 453&ndash;467 (Most, [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/hesiod-theogony/2018/pb_LCL057.39.xml pp. 38, 39]).</ref> However, when Rhea was pregnant with Zeus, Rhea begged her parents Gaia and Uranus to help her save Zeus. So they sent Rhea to [[Lyctus]] on Crete to bear Zeus, and Gaia took the newborn Zeus to raise, hiding him deep in a cave beneath Mount Aigaion.<ref>''Theogony'' 468&ndash;484 (Most, [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/hesiod-theogony/2018/pb_LCL057.41.xml pp. 40, 41]). Mount Aigaion is otherwise unknown, and Lyctus is nowhere else associated with Zeus' birth, later tradition located the cave on [[Mount Ida (Crete)|Mount Ida]], or sometimes [[Dikti|Mount Dikte]], see Hard, pp. 74&ndash;75; West 1966, pp. 297&ndash;298 on line 477, p. 300 on line 484.</ref> Meanwhile, Rhea gave Cronus a huge stone wrapped in baby's clothes which he swallowed thinking that it was another of Rhea's children.<ref>''Theogony'' 485&ndash;491 (Most, [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/hesiod-theogony/2018/pb_LCL057.41.xml pp. 40, 41]).</ref>

[[File:Cornelis Cornelisz. van Haarlem - The Fall of the Titans - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|300px|''[[The Fall of the Titans]]'' by [[Cornelis Cornelisz van Haarlem]] (1596–1598)]]

Zeus, now grown, forced Cronus (using some unspecified trickery of Gaia) to disgorge his other five children.<ref>''Theogony'' 492&ndash;500 (Most, [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/hesiod-theogony/2018/pb_LCL057.43.xml pp. 42, 43]).</ref> Zeus then released his uncles the Cyclopes (apparently still imprisoned beneath the earth, along with the Hundred-Handers, where Uranus had originally confined them) who then provide Zeus with his great weapon, the thunderbolt, which had been hidden by Gaia.<ref>''Theogony'' 501&ndash;506 (Most, [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/hesiod-theogony/2018/pb_LCL057.43.xml pp. 42, 43]); Hard, pp. 68&ndash;69; West 1966, p. 206 on lines 139&ndash;153, pp. 303&ndash;305 on lines 501&ndash;506. According to [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:1.1.4 1.1.4&ndash;5], after the overthrow of Uranus, the Cyclopes (as well as the Hundred-Handers) were rescued from [[Tartarus]] by the Titans, but reimprisoned by Cronus.</ref> A great war was begun, the [[Titanomachy]], between the new gods, Zeus and his siblings, and the old gods, Cronus and the Titans, for control of the cosmos. In the tenth year of that war, following Gaia's counsel, Zeus released the Hundred-Handers, who joined the war against the Titans, helping Zeus to gain the upper hand. Zeus then cast the fury of his thunderbolt at the Titans, defeating them and throwing them into [[Tartarus]],<ref>''Theogony'' 624&ndash;733 (Most, [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/hesiod-theogony/2018/pb_LCL057.53.xml pp. 52&ndash;61]). This is the sequence of events understood to be implied in the ''Theogony'' by, for example, Hard, p. 68; Caldwell, p. 65 on line 636; and West 1966, p. 19. However according to Gantz, p. 45, "Hesiod's account does not quite say whether the Hundred-Handers were freed before the conflict or only in the tenth year. ... Eventually, if not at the beginning, the Hundred-Handers are fighting".</ref> thus ending the Titanomachy.

A final threat to Zeus' power was to come in the form of the monster [[Typhon]], son of Gaia and Tartarus. Zeus with his thunderbolt was quickly victorious, and Typhon was also imprisoned in Tartarus.<ref>''Theogony'' 820&ndash;868 (Most, [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/hesiod-theogony/2018/pb_LCL057.69.xml pp. 68, 69]).</ref>

Zeus, by Gaia's advice, was elected king of the gods, and he distributed various honors among the gods.<ref>''Theogony'' 881&ndash;885 (Most, [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/hesiod-theogony/2018/pb_LCL057.73.xml pp. 72, 73]).</ref> Zeus then married his first wife [[Metis (mythology)|Metis]], but when he learned that Metis was fated to produce a son which might overthrow his rule, by the advice of Gaia and Uranus, Zeus swallowed Metis (while still pregnant with [[Athena]]). And so Zeus managed to end the cycle of succession and secure his eternal rule over the cosmos.<ref name="pp. 74, 75">''Theogony'' 886&ndash;900 (Most, [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/hesiod-theogony/2018/pb_LCL057.75.xml pp. 74, 75]).</ref>