29. The Olympian Gods Came From a Seriously Dysfunctional Family
The Greek gods’ mean streak and taste for vengeance is perhaps unsurprising, considering their origins. If they had been mortals, we would describe them as the products of traumatic childhoods and dysfunctional families where horrific abuse was rife. The chain of dysfunction and cycle of vengeance began with their father Cronus, leader of the Titans who preceded the Olympian gods as masters of the world. Cronus envied the power of his father Uranus, Father Sky, the primal Greek god who ruled the universe. So he plotted with his mother, Gaia, Mother Earth, who was angry at her hubby for some slight.
Gaia gave Cronus a sickle or scythe with which he castrated his father Uranus, then threw away the testicles. An understandably upset Uranus vowed vengeance upon his son, and cursed him – probably in high soprano. He prophesied that just like he had overthrown his own father, Cronus would someday be overthrown by his own children. As seen below, Cronus went to extraordinary lengths of divine child abuse to ensure that his kids did not do to him what he had done to his own Dear Papa.