How the King of the Titans Escaped from Tartarus

Hey everyone, welcome to Mythology Explained. In today’s video, we’re going to discuss Cronus’s escape from Tartarus, this followed by him becoming the king of the Isles of the Blessed, Greek Mythology’s version of heaven. We’re going to begin with a recap of how Cronus ended up in Tartarus in the first place, and then we’re going to see how Cronus extricated himself from perpetual punishment and landed himself a cushy job in paradise, hanging out in bliss with the rapturous dead.

Alright, let’s get into it.

The fall of Cronus and the triumph of Zeus is one of Greek Mythology’s best known stories. At the behest of Gaia, Cronus ambushed and castrated Uranus, his own father, the primordial deity who personified the sky. By severing his father’s sex and then casting the bloody mess into the sea, Cronus became the new king of creation. Unfortunately, though, like his father before, he proved a tyrant, unfit for this loftiest of thrones.

A prophecy divulged to him revealed that he was fated to be usurped by one of his children, repeating yet again the cycle of son supplanting father. To forestall such an eventuality, he decided to devour all six of his children at the moment of their births, forcing Rhea, his sister and wife, to promptly proffer her sons and daughters for said devourment only mere moments after each labor. This happened five times. Rhea became more sorrowful and more resolved with each loss. When it came time for the sixth child to be devoured, she instead swaddled a stone in a blanket and gave it to Cronus, thus sparing her youngest child the awful fate suffered by the previous five. The youngest child was Zeus, and though he had avoided his father’s stomach for the time being, he was still in constant danger.

Watch the video for the rest!

Видео How the King of the Titans Escaped from Tartarus канала Mythology Explained