 - Yes, date unknown
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| Name |
Rhea (Rheia) the Titan |
| Gender |
Female |
| Death |
Yes, date unknown |
| Notes |
- «b»http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhea_(mythology)
\b0«i»This page is about the Greek mythological figure. For the bird, see «u»Rhea (bird) «/u».«/i»
«b»Rhea«/b» (pronounced ; «u»ancient Greek«/u» ) was the «u»Titaness «/u» daughter of «u»Uranus «/u», the sky, and «u»Gaia «/u», the earth, in «u»classical Greek «/u» mythology. She was known as «b»"the mother of gods«/b»." In earlier traditions, she was strongly associated with Gaia and «u»Cybele «/u», the «u»Great Goddess «/u», and later seen by the classical Greeks as the mother of the «u»Olympian gods and goddesses «/u», though never dwelling permanently among them on Mount Olympus. In «u»Apollonius of Rhodes «/u»' \ul«i»Argonautica \ulnone«/i», the fusion of Rhea and Phrygian Cybele is complete. "Upon the Mother depend the winds, the ocean, the whole earth beneath the snowy seat of Olympus; whenever she leaves the mountains and climbs to the great vault of heaven, Zeus himself, the son of «u»Cronus «/u», makes way, and all the other immortal gods likewise make way for the dread goddess," the seer «u»Mopsus «/u» tells Jason in \ul«i»Argonautica \ulnone«/i»; Jason climbed to the sanctuary high on «u»Mount Dindymon «/u» to offer sacrifice and libations to placate the goddess, so that the Argonauts might continue on their way. For her \ul«i»temenos \ulnone«/i» they wrought an image of the goddess, a \ul«i»xoanon\ulnone«/i», from a vine-stump. There "they called upon the mother of Dindymon, mistress of all, the dweller in Phrygia, and with her «u»Titias «/u» and «u»Kyllenos «/u» who alone of the many «u»Cretan Daktyls of Ida «/u» are called 'guiders of destiny' and 'those who sit beside the Idaean Mother'." They leapt and danced in their armour: "For this reason the Phrygians still worship Rhea with tambourines and drums".«u»[1]«/u»
Rhea was wife to «u»Cronos «/u» and mother to «u»Demeter «/u», «u»Hades «/u», «u»Hera «/u», «u»Hestia «/u», «u»Poseidon «/u», and «u»Zeus «/u».
In art, Rhea is usually depicted seated in a throne flanked by «u»lions «/u» or on a «u»chariot «/u» drawn by two lions, and is not always distinguishable from Cybele. In «u»Roman mythology «/u», her counterpart Cybele was «u»Magna Mater deorum Idaea «/u» and identified with «i»Opis«/i» or «u»Ops «/u».
Cronus, Rhea's «u»Titan «/u» brother and husband, «u»castrated «/u» their father, Uranus. After this, «u»Cronus «/u» re-imprisoned the Hekatonkheires, the «u»Gigantes «/u» and the «u»Cyclopes «/u» and set the monster Kampê to guard them. He and Rhea took the throne as King and Queen of the gods. This «u»time «/u» was called the «u»Golden Age «/u».
Cronus sired several children by Rhea: «u»Hestia «/u», «u»Demeter «/u», «u»Hera «/u», «u»Hades «/u», and «u»Poseidon «/u», but swallowed them all as soon as they were born, since he had learned from «u»Gaia «/u» and «u»Uranus «/u» that he was destined to be overcome by his own child as he had overthrown his own father. When «u»Zeus «/u» was about to be born, however, Rhea sought «u»Uranus «/u» and «u»Gaia «/u» to devise a plan to save him, so that Cronus would get his retribution for his acts against Ouranos and his own children. Rhea gave birth to «u»Zeus «/u» in «u»Crete «/u», handing Cronus a stone wrapped in «u»swaddling «/u» clothes, which he promptly swallowed.
Then she hid Zeus in a cave on «u»Mount Ida «/u» in «u»Crete «/u». According to varying versions of the story:
He was then raised by «u»Gaia «/u»,
He was suckled by a goat named «u»Amalthea «/u», while a company of «u»Kouretes «/u», soldiers, or smaller gods, shouted and clashed their swords together to make noise so that Cronus would not hear the baby's cry,
He was raised by a nymph named «u»Adamanthea «/u», who fed him goat milk. Since Cronus ruled over the earth, the heavens, and the sea and swallowed all of the children of Rhea, Adamanthea hid him by dangling him on a rope from a tree so he was suspended between earth, sea, and sky and thus, invisible to his father. Later Rhea married and had two children with the god Olympous.
He was raised by Rhea during the time she had alone
Zeus forced the «u»Titan «/u» Cronus to disgorge the other children in reverse order of swallowing: first the stone, which was set down at «u»Pytho «/u» under the glens of «u»Parnassus «/u» to be a sign to mortal men, then the rest. In some versions, «u»Metis «/u» gave Cronus an «u»emetic «/u» to force him to disgorge the babies, or Zeus cut Cronus' stomach open. Then Zeus released the brothers of Cronus, the «u»Gigantes «/u», the Hecatonkheires and the «u»Cyclopes «/u», who gave him thunder and lightning, which had previously been hidden by Gaia. «u»Zeus «/u» and his siblings, together with the Gigantes, Hecatonkheires, and Cyclopes, «u»overthrew «/u» Cronus and the other Titans. Similarly, in later myths, Zeus would swallow «u»Metis «/u» to prevent the birth of her child, «u»Athena «/u», but she was born unharmed, out of a wound made in his head by one of the other gods.
In «u»Homer «/u», Rhea is the mother of the gods, though not a universal mother like «u»Cybele «/u», the «u»Phrygian «/u» «u»Great Mother «/u», with whom she was later identified. The original seat of her worship was in «u»Crete «/u». There, according to myth, she saved the new-born Zeus, her sixth child, from being devoured by Cronus, by substituting a stone for the infant god and entrusting him to the care of her attendants the «u»Curetes «/u». These attendants afterwards became the bodyguard of Zeus and the priests of Rhea, and performed ceremonies in her honor. In historic times, the resemblances between Rhea and the Asiatic Great Mother, Phrygian «u»Cybele «/u», a manifestation of the «u»Great Goddess «/u», were so noticeable that the Greeks accounted for them by regarding the latter as their own Rhea, who had deserted her original home in Crete and fled to the mountain wilds of «u»Asia Minor «/u» to escape the persecution of Cronus.«u»[2]«/u» A reverse view was held by,«u»[3]«/u» and it is probably true that cultural contacts with the mainland brought to Crete the worship of the Asiatic Great Mother, who became the Cretan Rhea.
Most often Rhea's symbol is a pair of «u»lions «/u», the ones that pulled her celestial «u»chariot«/u» and were seen often, rampant, one on either side of the «u»gateways «/u»through the walls to many cities in the ancient world. The one at «u»Mycenae «/u» is most characteristic, with the lions placed on either side of a pillar that symbolizes the goddess.
The «u»second largest moon «/u» of the planet «u»Saturn «/u» is named after her.
«b»
References
«u»1. ^\ulnone«/b» (Apollonius of Rhodes), Richard Hunter, tr., 1993. «i»Jason and the Golden Fleece«/i» (Oxford: Clarendon Press), Book II, p. 29f.
\ul«b»2. ^\ulnone«/b» «u»Strabo «/u». «i»Geography«/i», 469, 12.
\ul«b»3. ^\ulnone«/b» «u»Virgil «/u». «i»Aeneid«/i», iii.
\ul«b»4. ^\ulnone«/b» N. Hopkinson. "Rhea in Callimachus' Hymn to Zeus". «i»The Journal of Hellenic Studies«/i», «b»104«/b» (1984:176-1770 p. 176; the evidence was marshalled by O. Grupp[e, «i»Griechische Mythologie und Religionsgeschichte«/i»(Munich) 1906, vol. II:1524, col. II.
\ul«b»5, ^\ulnone«/b» Plato. «i»Cratylus«/i» 402b-c.
- (Research):http://fabpedigree.com/s037/f000602.htm
Mother of the GODS; aka Cybele (Cibele); aka Ops (Roman); aka Tellus (GODDESS of Earth); aka Flow
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| Person ID |
I61436 |
Glenn Cook Family |
| Last Modified |
1 May 2015 |
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