The Titans: Rulers before the OlympiansThe Titans were also known as the elder gods, they ruled before being overthrown by the Olympians (Hunt) . Gaea was the goddess of the Earth and the mother of all Titans (Atsma). She created Ouranos alone, then the two together created the Cyclopes, the Hecatonchires, and the twelve Titans (Hunt). The twelve Titans or Titanides, the female Titans were Cronos, Coeus, Crius, Iapetus, Hyperion, Oceanus, Mnemosyne, Themis, Rhea, Theia, Phoibe, Tethys and Gaea. Each had its own specific role in the world (Atsma). Titanides are the female versions of the Titans, the original gods of time, the cosmic inverse of heaven, and the deities of both heaven and the Tartar Pit. Each titanide represents a different piece or part of mother Gaea, and they represent different aspects of human and animal traits. Many of them also resembled different pieces and parts of nature (Atsma, Aaron). Thetis was the nourishing waters of underground springs and the nurse of all life. She gave humans and animals their maternal and nursing aspects. Rhea was the fertile mother of nature and the mistress of all the wild lands, she gave men and animals female fertility (Atsma, Aaron). She was known as the mother of the gods, the goddess of the powers of nature and the arts of cultivation (Struck). Themis was Earth's natural order and prophetic voice and honored the nature of Delphi, Dodona and Ikinai. Natural order and custom, something instinctive or reactionary was given by her (Atsma, Aaron) to humans and animals. She was represented as a woman with an imposing and majestic presence, holding scales and a cornucopia, a symbol of blessing and order (Struck, Peter T.) Themis's......middle of paper......g Durante the golden age ruled the cosmos (Atsma). Kronos knew that one day, one of his sons would attempt to overthrow him to become ruler of the Titans. He then devoured all his children after they were born so that they could not attempt to overthrow him. By devouring his children he disturbed his wife Rhea. She took revenge by giving Cronus a rock to swallow in place of their last son Zeus, and hid Zeus in a cave (Atsma). His plan worked, when Zeus reached adulthood he made his father surrender to his brothers, and then used his army to overthrow Kronos. . Cronus and his army were thrown into Tartarus and Zeus became the Titan king (Atsma). Throughout the overthrow the Titanides remained neutral or were passive supporters of the Olympian gods. Since they were always neutral most of the time, they were never thrown into the Tartar Pit (Atsma, Aaron).