5But he bound them once again and imprisoned them in Tartaros, and married his sister Rhea; and since both Ge and Ouranos had prophesied to him that he would be stripped of his power by his own son, he swallowed his children as they were born. He swallowed his first-born, Hestia, and then Demeter and Hera, and after them, Pluto and Poseidon.
The birth of Zeus and his war against Cronos and the Titans
6Angered by this, Rhea went to Crete while she was pregnant with Zeus, and brought him to birth in a cave on Mount Dicte.* She gave him to the Curetes* and to the nymphs Adrasteia and Ida, daughters of Melisseus, to rear. 7So the nymphs fed the child on the milk of Amaltheia* while the Curetes, fully armed, guarded the baby in the cave, beating their spears against their shields to prevent Cronos from hearing the childs voice. And Rhea wrapped a stone in swaddling clothes and passed it to Cronos to swallow as if it were the newborn child.
1When Zeus was fully grown, he enlisted the help of
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Metis,* the daughter of Oceanos, and she gave Cronos a drug to swallow, which forced him to disgorge first the stone and then the children whom he had swallowed; and with their aid, Zeus went to war against Cronos and the Titans. When they had been fighting for ten years, Ge prophesied that the victory would go to Zeus if he took as his allies those who had been hurled down to Tartaros. So he killed Campe, who was guarding them, and set them free. And the Cyclopes then gave Zeus thunder, lightning, and a thunderbolt, and they gave a helmet* to Pluto, and a trident to Poseidon. Armed with these weapons, they overpowered the Titans, and imprisoned them in Tartaros, appointing the Hundred-Handers as their guards; and they shared power* between themselves by casting lots. Zeus was allotted sovereignty over the heavens, Poseidon over the sea, and Pluto over the halls of Hades.*
Descendants of the Titans
2The Titans had the following offspring: to Oceanos and Tethys were born the Oceanids,* Asia, Styx, Electra, Doris, Eurynome, [Amphitrite,]
and Metis; to Coios and Phoebe were born Asteria and Leto; to Hyperion and Theia were born Dawn and the Sun and Moon; to Creios and Eurybia, daughter of Pontos, were born Astraios, Pallas, and Perses; 3and to Iapetos and Asia were born Atlas who bears the sky on his shoulders, and Prometheus, and Epimetheus, and Menoitios, whom Zeus struck with a thunderbolt during the battle with the Titans and hurled down to Tartaros. 4To Cronos and Philyra, Cheiron was born, a Centaur of twofold form. To Dawn and Astraios were born the winds and stars, and to Perses and Asteria, Hecate; and to Pallas and Styx were born Nice, Cratos, Zelos, and Bia.*
5Zeus caused oaths* to be sworn by the waters of Styx, which flow from a rock in Hades. He bestowed this honour on Styx in return for the help that she and her children had brought to him in his war against the Titans.
Descendants of Pontos and Ge
6To Pontos* and Ge were born Phorcos, Thaumas, Nereus, Eurybia, and Ceto. To Thaumas and Electra were born Iris and the Harpies, Aello and Ocypete; and to Phorcos and Ceto, the Phorcides and the Gorgons, who will be considered below when we tell the story of Perseus. 7To Nereus and Doris were born the Nereids,* whose names are Cymothoe, Speio, Glauconome, Nausithoe, Halie, Erato, Sao, Amphitrite, Eunice, Thetis, Eulimene, Agave, Eudore, Doto, Pherousa, Galatea, Actaie, Pontomedousa, Hippothoe, Lysianassa, Cymo, Eione, Halimede, Plexaure, Eucrante, Proto, Calypso, Panope, Cranto, Neomeris, Hipponoe, Ianeira, Polynome, Autonoe, Melite, Dione, Nesaie, Dero, Evagore, Psamathe, Eumolpe, lone, Dynamene, Ceto, and Limnoreia.
Various children of Zeus and Hera; children of the Muses
1Zeus married Hera and fathered Hebe, Eileithuia, and Ares;*
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but he had intercourse with many other women, both mortal and immortal. By Themis, daughter of Ouranos he had some daughters, the Seasons, namely, Eirene, Eunomia, and Dice,* and the Fates, namely, Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos; by Dione he had Aphrodite;* by Eurynome, daughter of Oceanos, the Graces, namely, Aglaie, Euphrosyne, and Thaleia; by Styx,Persephone;* and by Mnemosyne the Muses, firstly Calliope, and then Cleio, Melpomene, Euterpe, Erato, Terpsichore, Ourania, Thaleia, and Polymnia.
2Calliope bore to Oiagrosor really, it is said, to Apollo a son, Linos,* who was killed by Heracles, and Orpheus, who practised the art of singing to the lyre, and set rocks and trees in motion by his singing. When his wife, Eurydice, died from a snake-bite, he went down to Hades in the hope of bringing her up, and persuaded Pluto* to send her back to earth. Pluto promised to do so, provided that on the way up Orpheus never looked round until he had arrived back at his house. But Orpheus failed to obey him, and turning round, he caught sight of his wife, and she had to return below. Orpheus also in vented the mysteries of Dionysos. He was torn apart by the Maenads,* and is buried in Pieria.