GRECIAN MYTHOLOGY. 87 
symbolizes his constant renovation; the staff denotes the measuring of the 
centuries and years, the beginning and end of which are indicated by the 
key; the cluster of grapes is expressive of the fertility caused by slime ; 
and the caduceus, the cock, the tongs and hammer at his feet testify that 
vigilance and industry which can improve time, but which cannot arrest 
its flight. 
The third is the Hesiodic Theogony. According to it the prime source 
of all things was Chaos, from which emanated the primitive forces and the 
gods as their rulers. Ga was the ancestress of the gods. She had sprung 
from chaos or from an egg, and first gave birth to Uranos (the firmament or 
starry heavens), the hegh mountains, and the watery world. After espous- 
ing Uranos she became the mother of the six Z%tans (Oceanos, Coivs, Crios, 
Japetos, Hyperion, and Cronos), the six Titanides (Lzheia or Rhea, Mne- 
mosyne, Themis, Phebe, Thetis, and Theta), and the Cyclopes and Heca- 
toncheire (the hundred-handed). 
Uranos becoming fearful that his children would grow too powerful and 
aspire to supreme dominion, chained them and then banished them to 
Tartaros, but Geea, provoked. at his cruelty, incited the Titans to conspire 
for his overthrow. Cronos the youngest, who alone had sufficient courage 
to make the attack, obtaining from his mother a diamond sickle as his 
weapon, dethroned his father. He now became ruler of the universe, 
and ascended the throne of Uranos (pl. 16, jigs. 11, 12). He married 
Rhea, one of the Titanides, by whom he had three sons, Ais, Poseidon, 
and Zeus, and three daughters, Hestza, Demeter, and Hera; but fearing 
the realization of the prophecy of Themis, that his sons would imitate his 
own example and rebel against him, he devoured all the children except 
Zeus, who escaped through the artifice of his mother. When he was born 
and seemed likely to perish like the rest, Rhea enveloped the stone Abadyr 
in a goat skin, and Cronos swallowed it (jig. 13) instead of the infant, 
which was sent to Gea, to be reared in Crete. He was suckled by 
the goat Amalthea (fig. 17), whose horn afterwards became the symbol 
of plenty. Rhea sits close by dejected, and apprehensive lest Cronos 
should discover the retreat, with her veil she wipes away her tears. Two 
Curetes (mysterious beings, supposed by some to be demons or servants of 
the gods, by others regarded as the children of Zeus) dressed in the chlamys 
or warrior’s cloak, and equipped in helmets and armor, practise the war- 
dance before Zeus, and by striking their swords upon their shields keep up 
a perpetual din, in order to prevent Cronos from hearing the cries of the 
child. According to another myth Zeus was nourished by the nymph 
Amalthea, daughter of king Minos, with nectar and ambrosia from two 
rams’ horns. As a mark of gratitude he afterwards placed one of the horns 
among the constellations, and changed the other, which Amalthea retained 
into the cornucopia or horn of plenty, containing every commodity that can 
be desired. After he grew up he resolved to dethrone his father, and thus 
avenge the injuries of his youth. This involved him in a war with the Titans. 
The latter had been consigned by Uranos to Tartaros, but were subsequently 
released by Cronos to assist him in the revolt against his father. Cronos 
307 
