Why did rhea marry cronus

When Zeus was about to be born, however, Rhea sought Uranus and Gaia to devise a plan to save him, so that Cronus would get his retribution for his acts against Uranus and his own children.

Rhea gave birth to Zeus in Crete, handing Cronus a stone wrapped in swaddling clothes, which he promptly swallowed. Zeus forced Cronus to disgorge the other children in the reverse order in which they had been swallowed, the oldest becoming the last, and youngest: first the stone, which was set down at Pytho under the glens of Parnassus to be a sign to mortal men, then the rest.

In some versions, Metis gave Cronus an emetic to force him to disgorge the babies, or Zeus cut Cronus' stomach open. Then Zeus released the brothers of Cronus, the Gigantes, the Hecatonkheires, and the Cyclopes, who gave him thunder and lightning, which had previously been hidden by Gaia. Zeus and his siblings, together with the Gigantes, Hecatonkheires, and Cyclopes, overthrew Cronus and the other Titans. Similarly, in later myths, Zeus would swallow Metis when she was pregnant with Athena, because of a prophecy that said she would later give birth to one who would be more glorious than the father.

She became mad when Cronus forced her to give him their children to swallow upon birth. She started plotting against him and by the time he had swallowed Hestia , Hera , Poseidon , Hades , and Demeter , Rhea decided that enough is enough. She gave birth to her last child Zeus in secrecy and gave Cronus a rock, wrapped in a blanket, to swallow instead.

Cronus was pleased, not knowing that Zeus was still out there, and thought he was safe from the prophecy. Gaea then guided him to the secret cave beneath Mount Aegeum or Mount Dicte.

Zeus was raised there and, when grown up, came to Mount Othrys as a cupbearer and mixed a potion into Cronus' drink which made him vomit all of his children. Later, in a ten-year war, Zeus and Olympians defeated Cronus and the Titans. They became the next rulers, just like Cronus and his brothers had done in the past, when overthrowing Uranus. Rhea also known as Rheia is an ancient Greek goddess belonging to an earlier generation of deities. She's a fertile, crafty maternal figure and the mother of some of the most well-known Greek gods and goddesses , yet she is often forgotten.

Rhea was married to Kronos also spelled Cronus who feared that his own child would replace him as King of the Gods, just as he had done with his own father Ouranos. So when Rhea gave birth, he gobbled up the children. They did not die but remained trapped in his body. Rhea finally grew tired of losing her children in this way and managed to get Kronos to swallow a wrapped rock instead of her most recent baby, Zeus. Zeus was raised in a cave on Crete by the goat nymph Almatheia and guarded by a group of militant men called the kouretes, who concealed his cries by banging together their shields, keeping Kronos from learning of his existence.

Zeus ultimately fought and defeated his father, freeing his brothers and sisters. Rhea is considered to be one of the Titans , the generation of gods preceding the Olympians of which her son Zeus became the leader. Once she bore her children, she had little to do with their later myths.

She walked down a carpet of flowers. Her two loyal lions accompanied her at the reception, which was served with nectar and ambrosia.

Kronos , her husband and father of her six children. The newlyweds enjoyed a wonderful honeymoon together. A few weeks later, Rhea gave birth to their first child: a beautiful girl named Hestia. At first, Kronos seemed willing to be a good father and not to resemble Ouranos. However, the Titan King suddenly realized that Hestia wasn't a Titaness, but rather, a more powerful and beautiful immortal. Fearing that Hestia might one day overpower him, Kronos quickly swallowed her whole, to the horror of Rhea.

Rhea thought many plans to free Hestia, but she feared to harm her in the process. Trying to calm his wife, Kronos would give Rhea many gifts and invite her to magnificent dinners.

She would give birth to two even more powerful, beautiful daughters Demeter and Hera , and two strong, handsome sons Hades and Poseidon , all of whom were gods, not Titans. As before, Kronos feared that any one of them might one day overpower him and swallowed all of them whole. Rhea pleaded with Kronos to spare their children but with no success, since even Kronos' love for Rhea wasn't enough to overpower his selfish and cruel nature.

A distraught Rhea soon heard the voice of her sleeping mother, who advised her to give birth to her final child on the island of Crete and that he would save his other siblings. Claiming that Koios advised her to do so, Rhea successfully departed for Crete. There, in a cave at the base of Mount Ida, Rhea gave birth to her sixth and final child, who she named Zeus. She gave her newborn son to the nine nymphs that attended his birth and returned to Mount Orthys.

Using a huge smooth boulder from Gaea, Rhea deceived Kronos by wrapping the boulder up in swaddling clothes and pretending that it was her final child. As his body was struggling with the young gods inside himself all of them had been growing undigested in Kronos' stomach, being powerful immortals , Kronos swallowed the rock without even looking. Rhea would secretly visit Zeus on Crete and helped the nymphs to raise him. While he was growing, he suckled the milk of the magical goat Amaltheia.

When Zeus grew to adulthood, Rhea advised her son to turn into a Titanic version of himself. She took him to Kronos on Mount Othrys , where she introduced Zeus to him as a young Titan who wished to become his royal cup bearer. Kronos, who was very impressed by Zeus' excellent singing, dancing and joking skills, promptly hired him. Shortly thereafter, Zeus encouraged the Titans to participate in drinking contests.

As the Titan King, Kronos would always win since he couldn't let his siblings or nephews overcome him in anything. Kronos eventually began trusting Zeus, which is exactly what the latter was waiting for.

One evening when Kronos was dining together with his brothers and nephews, Zeus prepared a special set of drinks for them all. Zeus prepared nectar mixed with sleeping potion to Kronos' guests, while he prepared an extremely powerful emetic for Kronos himself.