The Dark Origins of Mermaids and Other Mysterious Folk Lore

The Dark Origins of Mermaids and Other Mysterious Folk Lore

Khalid Elhassan - September 30, 2023

The Dark Origins of Mermaids and Other Mysterious Folk Lore
Rhea tricks Cronus by giving him a swaddled rock. Theoi

In Greek Lore, the Father of Their Gods Was One Mean Daddy

Cronus married his sister, Rhea, and the couple had multiple children, including the gods and goddesses Poseidon, Hera, Hesta, Hades, and Demeter. To thwart the prophecy of his father Uranus that he would be overthrown by his own children, Cronus ate his kids as soon as they were born. Rhea did not like that, and when their sixth child Zeus was born, she tricked her hubby and gave him a rock wrapped in swaddling clothes. Cronus assumed it was his latest newborn, and swallowed it whole.

Rhea hid Zeus, who grew up with understandably hostile feelings towards his father. When he came of age, Zeus forced his dad to vomit out the kids he had already swallowed, then led his siblings in a war against Cronus. Together, and with the help of other supernatural allies, they overthrew their father and the other Titans, and took over the world. By way of vengeance, they imprisoned Cronus and other Titans in Tartarus, a deep abyss where the wicked are tortured.

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