Chronos is ... God Chronos

As a result of the fact that there was no proper agreement between the ancient Greek mythographers - writers who put on myths of antique Hellas - in the artistic form, to this day there were very contradictory information about what its inhabitants imagined the immortal inhabitants of Olympus. For example, two different celestials received the name of Chronos (or Kronos), which already for several thousand years gives rise to considerable confusion.

The founder of the world, born out of chaos

One of them, which is the epitome of time, was born out of the primordial chaos - a formless collection of space and matter. He is ranked among the founders of the world. It was he who then spawned the three elements - fire, air and water. Subsequently, as a result of their merger, land was formed.

If you believe the ancient Greek historian and philosopher Ferekid Syrosky, the god of time Chronos is the father of the first generation of the immortals, whose history was not filled with any dramatic upheavals. The destiny of his namesake was completely different.

A son who had his father

The second Chronos known to us is one of the titans that became the product of the sky god Uranus and his wife Gaia, who embodied the earth. Their marriage was very fruitful and gave the world many offspring. But the trouble is that, according to ancient prophecy, Uranus was to fall by the hand of one of his sons. Not wanting to test fate, all the male children - the Titans and Cyclops, who barely emerged from the mother's womb - he sent straight to the bowels of the earth.

In this way Uranus plunged his wife into deep despair, and one day Gaia decided to stop the series of murders. Having produced the twelfth son, she managed to hide him for a while from the infamous child-killer, thanks to which Chronos (it was he) grew and grew stronger. His Gaia also chose as his tool revenge, instructing the young man to castigate his hated husband.

The ancient sculptures that have survived often represent Chronos with a sickle or a scythe in his hands, because of what he is mistaken for an agricultural deity. In fact, everything is different. One of these instruments harmless in appearance, the god Chronos, at the instigation of his mother, oskopil his father, peacefully resting on the matrimonial bed. The aforementioned Pherecydes of Syrosi further states that the son was thrown into the sea by the cut off organs, and then the goddess of love Aphrodite (she Venus) was born, so marvelously sung on the immortal canvas of Botticelli.

New ruler of the world

The next feat accomplished by Chronos is a victory in the battle with the Great Serpent and Titian Lord Ophion, as a result of which he was crowned as the supreme ruler of the world. As for Uranus, after all that happened to him, the poor fellow lost interest in life and retired, predicting, however, that the evil done by Chronos will not go unpunished, and one of his future children will overthrow him from the throne.

During the reign of Chronos, the Greeks called the Golden Age of Ancient Greece. Not yet born into the world of great gods, poured out their anger at people and plunged them into the bloody depths of war. Everywhere reigned peace and prosperity - everywhere, except the family of the ruler himself. The fact is that, fearing the predictions of his father, the god of time (by the similarity of names, Greeks identified the two Chronos) swallowed all the children that his wife Ray had produced, which led to constant family scandals. In addition, the gluttonous spouse still walked on the side, having got from nymph Filiria illegitimate centaur.

The Birth of Zeus

Finally, Rhea's patience collapsed. Once in his belly were barely born, Hades, Poseidon, Hera, Demeter and Hestia (in the future great gods), desperate, was, the wife decided to save the life of even a single baby. Secretly resolved from the burden in one of the distant caves, she brought to her husband instead of a child a crocked stone, and he swallowed it without noticing the dirty trick. However, soon the heaviness in the stomach caused suspicion in Chronos, and he forced Ray to confess to the deed.

The frenzied Chronos rushed to search, but all his efforts were in vain. The servant's wives - clever and quick-witted demon-smokers - each time pounding their shields with their spears, drowning out the child's crying and not letting their father discover it. This rescued baby was the newborn Zeus, who in time became the master of the earth and sky. He was destined to fully fulfill the prediction of Uranus.

The overthrow to Tartarus

Growing up and gaining strength, he declared war on Chronos and fought with him for ten years until he won. Flogging the foot of the belly of the defeated father to the ground, Zeus forced him to belch his brothers and sisters swallowed once. After they safely appeared in the light, the winner found each of them a worthy destination. So, Demeter became the goddess of fertility, Hestia - the guardian of the home, Hera - his own wife, and consequently the queen of all other gods. He also did not offend the male part, giving Aida the kingdom of the dead, and making Poseidon king of the seas.

After that, no matter how the defeated god called for mercy, he was thrown down by his son in Tartarus - a dark and gloomy abyss, located below the underworld of Hades. There he was guarded by a hundred beastly monsters-giants of Gekatonheyra, born in his time by his father Uranus, and consequently, who were his own brothers. This is how his story is described in one of the many variants of the myth that has come down to us from the depths of centuries.

Merging of two mythical characters

Since in the later mythology Chronos is a compilation of two initially different characters (as mentioned above), then as objects of worship they merged together. They were also often identified with the Phoenician god Moloch, who in ancient times was sacrificed to children. It is not difficult to guess that the reason for this was the myth about how Chronos devoured his offspring.

The fact that the temple dedicated to Chronos (he was erected in Olympia) was adorned simultaneously with sculptures depicting three elements - fire, air and water, as well as the figure of an old man preparing to swallow an infant, testifies to the fusion of two, in fact, different gods. In a later period, the ancient Greek Chronos found its embodiment in the image of the Roman god Saturn, who also devoured his children and commanded time.

Already in the modern history, the name of the ancient god Chronos (or Kronos) was given to a prehistoric reptile that lived 140 million years ago. According to the contents of the stomach of this scientifically found fossilized twelve-meter-long sea monster, it was possible to determine that it used to swallow everything that came to its eyes, including its own offspring. For such a similarity with the ancient Greek god, a reptile was called a kronosaur.