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TITANS (Gr. Ttraaves)

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Originally appearing in Volume V26, Page 1019 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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TITANS (Gr. Ttraaves) , in See also:Greek See also:mythology, the See also:children of See also:Uranus and Gaea. According to See also:Hesiod (Theog. 133), the male Titans were See also:Oceanus, Coeus, Crius, See also:Hyperion, See also:Iapetus and Cronus; the See also:female, Thea, See also:Rhea, See also:Themis, Mnemosyne, See also:Phoebe and Tethys, to whom See also:Apollodorus adds See also:Dione. At the instigation of Gaea they rebelled against their See also:father, who had shut them up in the bowels of the See also:earth, and set up as ruler their youngest See also:brother, Cronus, who in turn was dethroned by his son See also:Zeus. A struggle then ensued between Zeus and Cronus, in which the Titans took different sides. The opponents of Zeus were finally defeated, and imprisoned in See also:Tartarus (Theog. 1J3-210, 617 sqq.). The rebellious Titans are the representatives of the See also:wild, disorderly forces of nature, who are defeated by the Olympian deities, who stand for See also:law and See also:order. The name Titans is usually explained as " See also:avengers," referring to the vengeance taken by Cronus on his father Uranus, but A. Dieterich (Rheinisches Museum, 1893, xlviii., and J. E.

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Harrison (Prolegomena to Greek See also:Religion) connect it with riravos (See also:gypsum). According to See also:Harpocration (s.v. 'Airoparrwv), the Titans, when they mutilated See also:Dionysus Zagreus (see DIONYSUS), besmeared themselves with gypsum tp conceal their identity, as See also:Artemis daubed her See also:face with mud to See also:escape the See also:river-See also:god See also:Alpheus. The See also:custom was practised at Bacchic and purificatory See also:rites (See also:Demosthenes, De See also:corona, p. 313) as among See also:savage tribes at the See also:present See also:day. The Titan See also:story is probably an See also:attempt to explain the fact that the Orphic worshippers, when about to See also:tear the sacred See also:animal, daubed themselves with gypsum. L. Weniger, in an See also:article " Feralis exercitus " in Archiv See also:fur Religionsgeschichte (May 1906, See also:February and See also:March 1907), while regarding the " See also:white colouring " as an See also:original feature, does not accept the derivation of Ttraves from riravos. According to him, Zagreus is the divine See also:hunter, in turn pursued and slain by others mightier than himself, the " See also:snow-clad" (white) giants dwelling on See also:Parnassus. These Titans, whose original is to be found in See also:Pentheus and See also:Lycurgus (for whom see DioNYsus), had nothing to do with the Titans of Hesiod's Theogony. The whole has reference to the See also:winter festival of Dionysus, when the god arrived with his Thyiades (the See also:wind See also:spirits) on the heights of Parnassus, there to be murdered by the Titans, to be buried and come to See also:life again. The See also:standard See also:work on the subject is M.

See also:

Mayer, See also:Die Giganten and Tilanen in der antiken See also:Sage and Kunst (1887).

End of Article: TITANS (Gr. Ttraaves)

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