Editing Rhea (mythology) (section)

== Mythology ==
=== Birth and children ===
Rhea was born to the earth goddess [[Gaia]] and the sky god [[Uranus (mythology)|Uranus]], one of their twelve (or thirteen<ref>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022%3Atext%3DLibrary%3Abook%3D1%3Achapter%3D1%3Asection%3D3 1.1.3].</ref>) [[Titans|Titan]] children.<ref>[[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0130%3Acard%3D104 135]; Gantz, p.&nbsp;10.</ref> According to [[Hesiod]], Uranus imprisoned all his children, while Apollodorus states he only imprisoned the [[Cyclopes]] and the [[Hecatoncheires]], not the [[Titans]]. With the help of Gaia, the youngest child, [[Cronus]], overthrew his father, became king in his place, freed his siblings, and took his sister Rhea to wife. [[Ophion]] and Eurynome, a [[Oceanids|daughter]] of [[Oceanus]], were said to have ruled snowy [[Mount Olympus]] in the early age. Rhea and Cronus fought them, and threw them into the waves of the Ocean, thus becoming rulers in their place.<ref>[[Apollonius Rhodius]], ''[[Argonautica]]'' [https://archive.org/details/argonautica00apoluoft/page/36/mode/2up?view=theater 503–507]; Tripp, s.v.&nbsp;Ophion; Grimal, s.v.&nbsp;Ophion; Smith, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0104:entry=ophion-bio-1&highlight=ophion s.v.&nbsp;Ophion].</ref> Rhea, skilled in wrestling, battled Eurynome specifically.<ref>[[Lycophron]], ''Alexandra'' [https://archive.org/details/alexandragreichi00lycouoft/page/150/mode/2up?view=theater 1189–1198].</ref>

[[File:Base with reliefs of the birth of Zeus (Rome Mus Cap 1944) 03.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|Rhea hands the swaddled stone to Cronus, 2nd century AD, [[Capitoline Museums]]]]
Gaia and Uranus told Cronus that just as he had overthrown his own father and become ruler of the cosmos, he was destined to be overcome by his own child; so as each of his children was born, he swallowed them.<ref>[[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0130%3Acard%3D453 459–467]; Caldwell, p. 9; cf. Orphic frr. 200–204 Bernabe; Meisner, p. 36.</ref> Rhea, Uranus, and Gaia devised a plan to save the last child, Zeus. Rhea gave birth to Zeus in a cavern on the island of [[Crete]] and gave Cronus a stone wrapped in [[swaddling]] clothes, which he promptly swallowed; Rhea hid Zeus in a cave on [[Mount Ida]]. Her attendants, the warrior-like [[Korybantes|Kouretes]] and [[Dactyl (mythology)|Dactyls]], acted as bodyguards for the infant Zeus, helping to conceal his whereabouts from his father.<ref>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022%3Atext%3DLibrary%3Abook%3D1%3Achapter%3D1%3Asection%3D7 1.1.7].</ref> In some accounts, by the will of Rhea a golden dog guarded a goat which offered her udder and gave nourishment to the infant Zeus. Later on, Zeus changed the goat into an immortal among the stars while the golden dog that guarded the sacred spot in [[Crete]] was stolen by [[Pandareus]].''<ref name=":0" />''

In an obscure version, attested only on the east frieze of a temple at [[Lagina]], the goddess of crossroads [[Hecate]] assisted Rhea in saving Zeus from his father. The frieze shows Hecate presenting to Cronus the swaddled stone while the real infant is being whisked away in safety.<ref>Johnston 1991, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=57MwDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA213 213]</ref><ref>''The Oxford Classical Dictionary'', p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=bVWcAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA650 650]</ref>

While Zeus was still an infant hidden in [[Crete]], Rhea caught her husband Cronus with his mistress the nymph [[Philyra (Oceanid)|Philyra]] in the act; Cronus then transformed into a horse and galloped away, in order not to be seen by his wife.<ref>[[Apollonius Rhodius]], ''[[Argonautica]]'' [https://archive.org/details/argonautica00apoluoft/page/186/mode/2up?view=theater 2.1231–1237]; [[Virgil]], ''[[Georgics]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0058%3Abook%3D3%3Acard%3D72 3.92–94]; [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''[[Fabulae]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/206#138 138]; Hard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA73 p.&nbsp;73]; Tripp, s.v. Philyra; Grimal, s.v. Philyra.</ref>

In some accounts, Rhea along with [[Metis (mythology)|Metis]] gave Cronus the potion that made him disgorge the children he had eaten.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hathaway |first=Nancy |title=The friendly guide to mythology: a mortal's companion to the fantastical realm of gods, goddesses, monsters, and heroes |date=2001 |publisher=Viking |isbn=978-0-670-85770-8 |location=New York}}</ref>

=== Olympian era ===
Following Zeus's ascension, Rhea withdrew from spotlight as she was no longer queen of gods, but remained an ally of her children and their families.

In some traditions, Rhea disapproved of her children [[Hera]] and Zeus getting married, so the two had to elope in order to be together.<ref>[[Homer]], the ''[[Iliad]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0134%3Abook%3D14%3Acard%3D270 14.295-299]; [[scholia]] on [[Theocritus]]' ''Idylls'' [https://sententiaeantiquae.com/2021/08/21/explaining-the-cuckoo-women-know-everything-4/ 15.64]</ref> Rhea was present in the birth of her grandson [[Apollo]], along with many other goddesses, the most notable exceptions being Hera and [[Eileithyia]], the goddess of childbirth, whose absence left [[Leto]] in terrible agony.<ref>''[[Homeric Hymn]]'' 3 ''to [[Apollo]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0138%3Ahymn%3D3%3Acard%3D89 97]; Gantz, p.&nbsp;43.</ref> Rhea was said to be a goddess who eased childbirth for women.<ref>[[Pseudo-Oppian]], ''Cynegetica'' [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2008.01.0489%3Abook%3D3 3.7].</ref>

After [[Demeter]] reunited with her daughter [[Persephone]], Zeus sent Rhea to persuade Demeter to return to [[Mount Olympus|Olympus]] and rejoin the gods.<ref>''[[Homeric Hymns|Homeric Hymn]]'' 2 ''to [[Demeter]],'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0138%3Ahymn%3D2%3Acard%3D398 441–443]; Gantz, p.&nbsp;43.</ref>

Rhea raised another one of her grandsons, [[Dionysus]], after the fiery death of his mother, the mortal princess [[Semele]].<ref>[[Nonnus]], ''[[Dionysiaca]]'', [https://topostext.org/work/529#9.132 9.132–200 ff.].</ref> Later on she went on to heal Dionysus' raging madness, which had been inflicted on him by the jealous Hera, causing him to wander around aimlessly for some time.<ref>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.+3.5.1&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022 3.5.1].</ref> Rhea gave Dionysus the [[amethyst]], which was thought to prevent drunkenness.<ref>[[Nonnus]], ''[[Dionysiaca]]'', [https://topostext.org/work/529#12.382 12.380 ff.].</ref> Rhea sometimes joined Dionysus and his [[Maenads]] in their frenzy dances.<ref>[[Strabo]], ''[[Geographica]]'' [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Strab.+10.3.13&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0239 10.3.13].</ref>

According to [[Bacchylides]], it was Rhea herself who restored [[Pelops]] to life after his father [[Tantalus]] cut him down.<ref>[[Scholia]] on [[Pindar]]'s ''Olympian Odes'' [https://scaife.perseus.org/reader/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg5034.tlg001a.perseus-grc1:1.40 1.40]; Gantz, p.&nbsp;43.</ref>

Rhea and [[Aphrodite]] rescued [[Creusa of Troy|Creusa]], the wife of [[Aphrodite]]'s son [[Aeneas]], from the slavery the Greeks would have subjected her to after the [[Trojan War|fall of Troy]].<ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+10.26.1&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160 10.26.1].</ref> As for Aeneas, when he landed in [[Italy]], a local warlord named [[Turnus]] set his pine-framed vessels ablaze. Rhea (or [[Cybele]]<ref>[[Virgil]], ''[[Aeneid]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/245#9.77 9.77].</ref>), remembering that those hulls had been crafted from trees felled on her holy mountains, transformed the vessels into sea nymphs.<ref>[[Ovid]], ''[[Metamorphoses]]'' [https://ovid.lib.virginia.edu/trans/Metamorph14.htm#487618615 14.527–565].</ref>

After [[Melanion]] won the hand of [[Atalanta]] in marriage thanks to the help he received from [[Aphrodite]], he neglected to thank her. Thus the goddess inflicted them with great passion for each other when they were near a temple of Rhea. The two then proceeded to have sex inside the temple. In anger, Rhea turned them into lions.<ref>[[Ovid]], ''[[Metamorphoses]]'' [https://ovid.lib.virginia.edu/trans/Metamorph10.htm#484521430 10.681–707].</ref>

At some point, a mortal man named Sangas offended the goddess, and she turned him into a river that bore his name; [[Sangarius (mythology)|Sangarius]] (now [[Sakarya River]]) in [[Anatolia|Asia Minor]].<ref>[[Scholia]] on [[Apollonius Rhodius]]'s ''[[Argonautica]]'' 2.722; [[William Smith (lexicographer)|Smith]], s.v. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0104:entry=sangarius-bio-1 Sangarius])</ref> In a similar manner a Phrygian man named [[Pyrrhus (mythology)|Pyrrhus]] tried to rape her, but the goddess changed him into stone for his hubris.<ref>[[Nonnus]], ''[[Dionysiaca]]'' [https://archive.org/details/dionysiaca01nonnuoft/page/402/mode/2up?view=theater 12.81-83]</ref>

In one [[Orphism (religion)|Orphic]] myth, Zeus was filled with desire for his mother and pursued her, only for Rhea to refuse him and change into a serpent to flee. Zeus also turned himself into a serpent and raped her.<ref name=":meis">Meisner, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=ethjDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA134 134]</ref> The child born from that union was their daughter [[Persephone]], and afterwards Rhea became [[Demeter]].<ref>[[Proclus]], ''Commentary on Plato's Cratylus'' 403 e (90, 28 Pasqu.) [= Orphic [https://archive.org/details/orphicorumfragme00orphuoft/page/188/mode/2up?view=theater fr.&nbsp;145 Kern]; West 1983, p.&nbsp;217; Kerényi 1976, p.&nbsp;112. Demeter was usually said to be the daughter of [[Cronus]] and Rhea.</ref> The child, Persephone, was born so deformed that Rhea ran away from her frightened, and did not breastfeed her daughter.<ref name=":meis" />