Comments on: An Ancient Atheist?

By: Cobwebs

Cobwebs — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 16:01:05 +0000

Kronos was a Titan, who were kind of proto-gods. Zeus imprisoned most of them in Tartarus after the Twelve Olympians (which sounds like a superhero organization) overthrew them.

By: ATL-Apostate

ATL-Apostate — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 13:05:46 +0000

Do god-babies taste better than your average, run-of-the-mill human babies? Any experience out there on this?

By: Christophe Thill

Christophe Thill — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 12:31:12 +0000

Kronos is the embodiment of Time (and Ouranos is the starry sky). Kronos eating his children is just some kind of primitive metaphor (or, more accurately, allegory: representing abstract things through the interaction of mythical people) for time devouring everything in the end.

Now, the interesting thing is: I don’t think that Kronos himself was a god, but his children definitely were, as they were later known as the Olympians. Can you have divine children when you’re not a god yourself?

By: jedipunk

jedipunk — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 11:26:48 +0000

Follow this link and tell me who should be blamed: baby eaters or those that make babies look so tasty. Link Here

By: Arnoc

Arnoc — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 07:56:14 +0000

Ate-Theis-t? :]

By: Sanguinity

Sanguinity — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 02:10:13 +0000

I’m too lazy to look this up, but is Hera the same Hera who’s married to Zeus?

Yep. And Rhea, the mother of all these children that Cronos ate, was Cronos’ sister.

And Cronos’ father, Ouranos, was the son of Gaia, who was the mother of Cronos. So, Ouranos was Cronos’ father and half-brother.

There’s a bit less of that in the next few generations — Hades married his niece Persephone — but those first few generations are fairly tangled.

By: SarahH

SarahH — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 01:39:15 +0000

I believe they made Cronus vomit out the siblings (who conveniently didn’t digest after years and years). The god-popping-out-of-head thing you’re thinking of is Athena popping out of Zeus’s head.

I’m too lazy to look this up, but is Hera the same Hera who’s married to Zeus? I didn’t know they were siblings. I don’t think gods had birth defects to deal with though, considering they weren’t real.

By: Jason H.

Jason H. — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 01:19:09 +0000

The best depiction of this is the Goya painting “Cronos Devouring his Young”. When I saw this canvas on display at Madrid’s El Prado it truly made me proud to be an atheist.

By: Jennifurret

Jennifurret — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 00:50:45 +0000

I believe they made Cronus vomit out the siblings (who conveniently didn’t digest after years and years). The god-popping-out-of-head thing you’re thinking of is Athena popping out of Zeus’s head.

I love my crazy Greek ancestors <3

By: Seth C.

Seth C. — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 00:43:15 +0000

Doesn’t the myth ending with the “eaten” gods busting out of his head after Zeus defeats Cronus? I also recall something about Cronus swallowing them whole and not in pieces like the statue seems to depict.