Domain: Motherhood, generation, the flow of what comes next Symbol: The lion, the throne, the tympanon (hand drum) Roman Equivalent: Ops (and, by syncretism, Cybele the Great Mother)
Overview
Rhea is the Titaness of motherhood — daughter of Gaia and Uranus, sister and consort of Cronus, and mother of the first generation of Olympians: Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades, Poseidon, and Zeus. Where Gaia is the Earth itself, Rhea is generation in motion — the flow that keeps producing the next thing even when the present order is trying to stop it.
She is the quiet pivot of the whole succession myth. The men in the story seize and devour; Rhea is the one who hides what must survive.
Key Myths
Saving Zeus. When Cronus swallowed each child at birth to forestall the prophecy of his overthrow, Rhea — counselled by her parents — slipped away to Crete to bear Zeus in secret, and handed Cronus a stone wrapped in swaddling clothes to swallow in his place. The Olympian order exists because she refused to surrender the future. When Zeus came of age, it was the disgorging of his siblings that began the war that toppled the Titans.
Related
- Gaia — Mother
- Cronus — Brother and consort
- Zeus — Son she hid and saved
- Demeter — Daughter; the Great Mother's harvest aspect
- Greek Mythology Index