Myths and Legends of Ancient Greece and Rome | Page 6

death-bringing lightning,
whilst a blinding mist enveloped Cronus and his allies.
And now the fortunes of war began to turn, and victory smiled on Zeus.
Cronus and his army were completely overthrown, his brothers
despatched to the gloomy depths of the lower world, and Cronus
himself was banished from his kingdom and deprived for ever of the
supreme power, which now became vested in his son Zeus. This war
was called the Titanomachia, and is most graphically described by the
old classic poets.
[Illustration]
With the defeat of Cronus and his banishment from his dominions, his
career as a ruling Greek divinity entirely ceases. But being, like all the
gods, immortal, he was supposed to be still in existence, though
possessing no longer either influence or authority, his place being filled
to a certain extent by his descendant and successor, Zeus.
Cronus is often represented as an old man leaning on a scythe, with an
hour-glass in his hand. The hour-glass symbolizes the fast-fleeting
moments as they succeed each other unceasingly; the scythe is
emblematical of time, which mows down all before it.
SATURN.
The Romans, according to their custom of identifying their deities with

those of the Greek gods whose attributes were similar to their own,
declared Cronus to be identical with their old agricultural divinity
Saturn. They believed that after his defeat in the {18} Titanomachia
and his banishment from his dominions by Zeus, he took refuge with
Janus, king of Italy, who received the exiled deity with great kindness,
and even shared his throne with him. Their united reign became so
thoroughly peaceful and happy, and was distinguished by such
uninterrupted prosperity, that it was called the Golden Age.
Saturn is usually represented bearing a sickle in the one hand and a
wheat-sheaf in the other.
A temple was erected to him at the foot of the Capitoline Hill, in which
were deposited the public treasury and the laws of the state.
RHEA (OPS).
Rhea, the wife of Cronus, and mother of Zeus and the other great gods
of Olympus, personified the earth, and was regarded as the Great
Mother and unceasing producer of all plant-life. She was also believed
to exercise unbounded sway over the animal creation, more especially
over the lion, the noble king of beasts. Rhea is generally represented
wearing a crown of turrets or towers and seated on a throne, with lions
crouching at her feet. She is sometimes depicted sitting in a chariot,
drawn by lions.
The principal seat of her worship, which was always of a very riotous
character, was at Crete. At her festivals, which took place at night, the
wildest music of flutes, cymbals, and drums resounded, whilst joyful
shouts and cries, accompanied by dancing and loud stamping of feet,
filled the air.
This divinity was introduced into Crete by its first colonists from
Phrygia, in Asia Minor, in which country she was worshipped under
the name of Cybele. The people of Crete adored her as the Great
Mother, more especially in her signification as the sustainer of the
vegetable world. Seeing, however, that year by year, as winter appears,
all her glory vanishes, her flowers fade, and her trees become leafless,

they poetically expressed this process of nature under the figure of a
lost love. She {19} was said to have been tenderly attached to a youth
of remarkable beauty, named Atys, who, to her grief and indignation,
proved faithless to her. He was about to unite himself to a nymph called
Sagaris, when, in the midst of the wedding feast, the rage of the
incensed goddess suddenly burst forth upon all present. A panic seized
the assembled guests, and Atys, becoming afflicted with temporary
madness, fled to the mountains and destroyed himself. Cybele, moved
with sorrow and regret, instituted a yearly mourning for his loss, when
her priests, the Corybantes, with their usual noisy accompaniments,
marched into the mountains to seek the lost youth. Having discovered
him[6] they gave full vent to their ecstatic delight by indulging in the
most violent gesticulations, dancing, shouting, and, at the same time,
wounding and gashing themselves in a frightful manner.
OPS.
In Rome the Greek Rhea was identified with Ops, the goddess of plenty,
the wife of Saturn, who had a variety of appellations. She was called
Magna-Mater, Mater-Deorum, Berecynthia-Idea, and also Dindymene.
This latter title she acquired from three high mountains in Phrygia,
whence she was brought to Rome as Cybele during the second Punic
war, B.C. 205, in obedience to an injunction contained in the Sybilline
books. She was represented as a matron crowned with towers, seated in
a chariot drawn by lions.
* * * * *
DIVISION OF THE WORLD.
We will now return to Zeus and his brothers, who, having gained a
complete victory over their enemies,