Greek Titans?

[Lightray]

I'm considering using the 12 Greek titans in my Champions game, but am having problems finding enough information to flesh them out -- they're rather minor figures in mythology for the most part.

Can anyone add to the following?

- Cronos & Rhea - agricultural/pastoral, father & mother
- Oceanos & Tethys - ocean & sea
- Hyperion & Phoebe - sun & moon
- Iapetus & Themis - artifice (?) & the earth
- Coeus & Mnemosyne - ??? & memory
- Crius & Theia - ??? & ???

I know Prometheus is the son of Iapetus and (probably) Themis, so father may be like son.

And Coeus is the father of Hecate, which is why I'd arbitrarily matched him with Mnemosyne.

But these two and Crius & Theia don't seem to show up in any myth I'm aware of.

Can anybody help out here?

[Enforcer84]

What about Atlas? Wasn't he a titan?
Didn't Prometheus have a brother, who was nice but dumb, dubbed Afterthought to Prometheus's Forethouught?
Prometheus brought fire to man
Hyperion was the Sun Titan (and father of Helios)
the rest I am not sure of.

[assault]

Try a search engine...

Google gave some interesting responses, though none that were too terribly useful.

I'm intrigued by "Thea". A goddess named "Goddess". In the absence of more useful information, I would stick some of the attributes of Hera, Demeter or someone on to her.

Hmm. Probably Demeter.

Alan

[Lightray]

Atlas was another son of Iapetus. Confusingly, the children of the titans are called titans -- except when they're the gods (i.e., the children of Cronos + Rhea).

AFAIK, Epimetheus only shows up in the Pandora myth.

I think there were a few other, minor, titans mentioned here and there, too. It may have been titans who piled one mountain on top of another in order to rival Olympus and defy Zeus.

[Blue]

There wre Twelve titans, children of Uranus and Gaia

Men: Coeus, Crius, Oceanus, Hyperion, Iapetus, Cronus
Women: Thea, Rhea, Themis, Mnemosyne, Phoebe, and Tethys.

Oceanus - Water
Chronus - Time
Mnemosyne - Memory? (Ironically, I can't recall)
Phoebe - Moon

[Zaratustra]

Coeus
Titan of intelligence. Father of Leto.

Thea
The wife of her brother Hyperion, Theia gave birth to Helios (sun), Eos (dawn), and Selene (moon). She is the goddess from whom light emanates and considered especially beautiful.

Epimetheus
Epimetheus was a stupid Titan, whose name means "afterthought". He was the son of Iapetus. In some accounts he is delegated, along with his brother Prometheus by Zeus to create mankind. He also accepted the gift of Pandora from Zeus, which lead to the introduction of evil into the world.

Atlas
Atlas was the son of Iapetus. Unlike his brothers Prometheus and Epimetheus, Atlas fought with the other Titans supporting Cronus against Zeus. Due to Cronus's advance age Atlas lead the Titan's in battle. As a result he was singled out by Zeus for a special punishment and made to hold up the world on his back.

Best I could find on Crius was an entry that state him and Mnemosyne are 'Titans of memory'. So they had a backup.

[Derek Hiemforth]

Lots of good info is to be had at Encyclopaedia Mythica. http://www.pantheon.org/articles/t/titans.html

[Agent Escafarc]

If possible check out back issues of DC's Titans (Teen/New Teen, etc.) They play a promedent role in the origin of Donna Troy/Wonder Girl/Troia

[Lightray]

Should have throught to google individual titans...

Theia - light
Themis - justice, order
Coeus - wisdom, knowledge, intelligence ("thought" to Mnemosyne's "memory")

Still can't find much on Iapetus and Crius. I'll probably make Iapetus a firebringer-type like his son.

Crius was grandfather of the Winds and Stars -- maybe I'll make him the successor to Uranus.

As far as Cronos = Time, that is evidently a later accretion. He was clearly an agricultural figure, as evidenced by his sickle (used on his father), and the fact that mankind had no need to till or harvest during his reign.

Thanks, all.

[Celt]

Just hit the Encyclopedia Mythica (Derek did a more specific link for Titans above). Use the handy search function contained therein.

[Brandi]

Epithemus wasn't so much stupid as rather absent-minded: the classic myth with him is that he helped fashion all the creatures of the world but by the time he got to man, whoops! he'd already doled out every talent (strength, speed, claws, flight) to the animals and didn't know what to do. Brother Prometheus ('Forethought') was then wise enough to give man intelligence and more importantly, the powerful tool of fire.

[ZootSoot]

Cronos is Death, the reaper with his scythe. Interestingly he deposed Ouranos not by slaying his father but by castrating him so that he would father no more children, and that father role is the central role of the leader god. Look at Zeus and and note how many gods were fathered by anyone else.

The Titans are fascinating because they are a fully developed pantheon of gods who are overthrown by new gods and generally (with the exception of Zeus who having survived to adulthood is essentially omnipotent) are more powerful than their successors (which follows the classic notion of time being a process of decline). The titans names are their portfolio, their names are words with specific meaning and should give you a handle on their abilities.

[Prometheus]

I'd like to just take a moment to thank my adoring fans. You've all stuck with me, even after the debacle with with my brother, Pandora, and that box. The doctors say my liver should be in tip top shape in no time- thank you to everyone who sent their love and support.

Let me just say that it's great to be back, and if you thought fire was great, wait 'til you see what I've got lined up for this millenium.

Pax.

[Rage]

Originally posted by ZootSoot
Cronos is Death, the reaper with his scythe.

Are you sure? I had read that Thanatos was Death, and that they may have been melded later to create the reaper of later mythology

[Lightray]

Thanatos = Death. He didn't have a scythe. Neither did Chronos. Cronos had a sickle, which is what the Greeks used agriculturally. Thanatos was a rather nebulous figure, essentially usurped in role by Hades.

The Grim Reaper was quite a later development, originating from the Dark Ages, IIRC (post-Roman, anyway). I've never seen any good arguements to link Cronos/Thanatos/Hades to the Grim Reaper.