The titanomachie (in Greek old Τιτανομαχία / Titanomakhía , literally “combat against the Titans”) is an episode of the Greek Mythologie telling us the fight between the Titan S, first generation of gods carried out by Cronos, and Zeus, combined with the Hécatonchires and the Cyclops.

Causes

After having divided the genitals of his/her father Ouranos, Cronos took its place, and precipitated in the Tartar his/her brothers and sisters, Hécatonchires and the Cyclops, formerly captive of their father. He married then his sister Rhéa, but swallowed the children who were born from this union, because his/her Ouranos father had thrown a curse to him: when the son of Cronos reaches the adulthood, it will be also turned over him against his father. It thus absorbs in the order Hestia, Déméter, Héra, Hadès and Poséidon. But the born last, Zeus, escaped this sad fate thanks to his/her mother, Rhéa, which took refuge in Crete to be confined. She entrusted the baby at a male community which lives the island of Crete, Curètes, which places the cradle in a oak, suspended with a branch if, by misfortune, Cronos would have had suspicions. Zeus is impossible to discover because it is really neither in the sky, nor on ground, even less in the sea or water. Only, the baby shouts very extremely, then to cover his cries, the Curètes make a terrible din while dancing around the tree.

It is in the middle of this noise that Zeus thanks to the milk of a goat grows, Amalthée, which will be rewarded later by the god. It is still today a constellation (the Capricorne) and its horn, filled up fruits and products of the ground, remained a symbol of prosperity: it is called the Horn of plenty. Rhéa, to hide the disappearance of new born, presented to her husband a surrounded stone the langes, that this last swallowed without realizing of trickery.

The confrontation

A few years later, large and strong Zeus become thinks more and more of releasing his/her brothers and sisters, and of being avenged for his/her father. It returns visit to his aunt or cousin Métis. The goddess advises to him to enter to the service of her father. This one, certain to be removed from all his/her children, engages Zeus as servant. One day, whereas it is used to him to drink, it gives him a good glassful of vomitory instead of wine. Cronos starts to vomit the famous stone, then his/her other children. Delivered, they revolt at once against their father: the war bursts. Cronos calls with its assistance the other Titans; Zeus, on its side, keep silent the guardian Camped and delivers of the Tartar Hécatonchires, the Cyclops and all the other prisoners of Cronos and is made allies of them. On its side, Ocean, the elder one of the Titans, guarantees its support with Zeus and its brothers by sending his daughter Styx and its grandchildren (among whom Nike, the goddess-Victoire) to join the army of wire of Cronos. Zeus profits moreover oracular gifts from his/her aunt THEMIS and her cousin Prométhée, both having envisaged as of the beginnings of the conflict the defeat of the Titans. The opposing parties thus made up, each group establishes its own camping, the Titans choosing the Mont Othrys, whereas Zeus and its allies are installed on the Olympe mount. To show their recognition, the Cyclops, excellent blacksmiths, manufactured for the Gods of the terrible weapons: the the lightning for Zeus, a three-pronged fork for Poséidon and the Kunée for Hadès, helmet which makes invisible. Thanks to this invaluable help, the victory for the Olympian ones is relatively fast, although Hésiode (Théogonie, 637) gives a report on a conflict having lasted " ten great years divines" (either several human centuries).

Zeus thus succeeded his/her father, with the head of a new generation of gods. It obtains the sky and absolute sovereignty, while his/her Hadès brother will direct the underground world and the kingdom of deaths, and Poséidon, will reign on the sea and water. Zeus is then occupied to organize the residence of the gods. It chooses more the high mountain of the world known at the time, the Olympe. At the end of Titanomachie, certain Titans were punished following their defeat: Cronos and its brothers (except notorious for Ocean, combined of Zeus, and according to some, of Hypérion) were sent in the Tartar, while Atlas was condemned to eternally hold the vault of the sky on its shoulders. Others, like Prométhée and Épiméthée, having been for an invaluable help with Zeus, were rewarded. Zeus saved the Titanides, remained neutral during all the duration of the conflict, and rewarded Styx by making for it the power governing the great oath of the gods (Hésiode, Théogonie, 397-401). In the majority of the post-hesiodic traditions, Zeus finishes nevertheless by slackening Cronos and the Titans of their underground prison and by sending them to reside at the Champs Elysées or in a mysterious island located in the North (various sources, of which Eschyle, Trilogie of Prométhée).

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