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In Greek mythology, the Titans (Greek: Τιτάν - Ti-tan; plural: Τιτᾶνες - Ti-tânes), were a race of 12 powerful deities, sons and daughters of Gaia and Uranus, that ruled during the legendary Golden Age. The males were Atlas, Oceanus , Hyperion, Coeus, Kronos , Crius and Iapetus and the females were Mnemosyne, Tethys , Theia , Phoebe , Rhea and Themis . Their role as Elder Gods was overthrown by a race of younger gods, the Olympians, in the Titanomachy ("Battle with the Titans") which effected a mythological paradigm shift that the Greeks may have borrowed from the Ancient Near East.^[1]

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In Orphic sources

Hesiod is not, however, the last word on the Titans. Surviving fragments of Orphic poetry in particular preserve some variations on the myth.

In one Orphic text, Zeus does not simply set upon his father violently. Instead, Rhea spreads out a banquet for Cronus, so that he becomes drunk upon fermented honey. Rather than being consigned to Tartarus, Cronus is dragged — still drunk — to the cave of Nyx (Night), where he continues to dream throughout eternity.

Another myth concerning the Titans that is not in Hesiod revolves around Dionysus. At some point in his reign, Zeus decides to give up the throne in favor of the infant Dionysus, who like the infant Zeus is guarded by the Kouretes. The Titans decide to slay the child and claim the throne for themselves; they paint their faces white with gypsum, distract Dionysus with toys, then dismember him and boil and roast his limbs. Zeus, enraged, slays the Titans with his thunderbolt; Athena preserves the heart in a gypsum doll, out of which a new Dionysus is made. This story is told by the poets Callimachus and Nonnus, who call this Dionysus "Zagreus", and in a number of Orphic texts, which do not.

One iteration of this story, that of the Late Antique NeoPlationist philosopher Olympiodorus, recounted in his commentary of Plato's Phaedrus,^[2] affirms that humanity sprang up out of the fatty smoke of the burning Titan corpses; some scholars consider that Olympiodorus's report, the only surviving expression of this mythic connection, embodied a tradition that dated to the Bronze Age, while Radcliffe Edmonds has suggested an element of innovative allegorized improvisation to suit Olympiodorus's purpose.^[3] Other early writers imply that humanity was born out of the blood shed by the Titans in their war against Zeus.

Pindar, Plato and Oppian refer offhandedly to man's "Titanic nature". Whether this refers to a sort of "original sin" rooted in the murder of Dionysus is hotly debated by scholars. ^{[citation needed]}

In the 20th century

Some scholars of the past century or so, most eloquently Jane Ellen Harrison, have argued that an initiatory or shamanic ritual underlies the myth of Dionysus's dismemberment and cannibalism by the Titans.

She also points out that the word "Titan" comes from the Greek τιτανος, signifying white earth, clay or gypsum, and that the Titans were "white clay men", or men covered by white clay or gypsum dust in their rituals. Other scholars believe the word to be related to the Greek verb τέμνω (to stretch), a view which Hesiod himself appears to share: "But their father Ouranos, who himself begot them, bitterly gave to them to those others, his sons, the name of Titans, the Stretchers, for they stretched out their power outrageously." (Hesiod, Theogony, 207-210).^[4]

The scholar M.L. West also points this out in relation to shamanistic initiatory rites of early Greek religious practices.^[5]

The element titanium is named for the titans.

Out of confusion with the Gigantes, various large things have been named after the Titans, for their "titanic" size, for example the RMS Titanic or the giant predatory bird Titanis walleri.

In the Disney animated film Hercules there are but four Titans, each embodying one of the four classical elements. They terrorize the earth until Zeus imprisons them.

In the 1981 film Clash of the Titans, the Kraken, actually an entity from Norse mythology, is presented as "the last Titan".

Notes

^ See Walter Burkert, The Orientalizing Revolution: Near Eastern Influence on Greek Culture in the Early Archaic Age (Harvard University Press) 1992:94f, 125-27.
^ Olympiodorus, In Plat. Phaededr. I.3-6.
^ M.L. West, The Orphic Poems (Oxford, 1983); Albert Bernabé, "La toile de Pénélope: a-t-il existé un mythe orphique sur Dionysos et les Titans?", Revue de l'histoire des religions (2002:401-33), noted by Radcliffe G. Edmonds III, "A Curious concoction: tradition and innovation in Olympiodorus' creation of mankind".
^ Jane Ellen Harrison, Themis, p. 16ff. "The Titans then, the white-clay-men, are real men dressed up as bogies to perform initiation rites. It is only later when their meaning is forgotten that they are explained as Titanes, mythological giants."[1]
^ West, The Orphic Poems 1983.

References

Jane Ellen Harrison, Themis: A Study of the Social Origins of Greek Religion, 1912. [2]
Smith, William, Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, 1870, article on "Titan".
Martin Litchfield West, The Orphic Poems, 1983.

External links

Theoi Project, Titans references to Titans in classical literature, in translation
Greek Mythology Link, Titans summary of the Titans myth

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 The males were [[Atlas (mythology)|Atlas]], [[Oceanus]] , [[Hyperion (mythology)|Hyperion]], [[Coeus]], [[Kronos]] , [[Crius]] and [[Iapetus (mythology)|Iapetus]] and the females were [[Mnemosyne]], [[Tethys (mythology)|Tethys]] , [[Theia]] , [[Phoebe (mythology)|Phoebe]] , [[Rhea (mythology)|Rhea]] and [[Themis]] . Their role as [[Elder Gods]] was overthrown by a race of younger gods, the [[Twelve Olympians|Olympians]], in the [[Titanomachy]] ("Battle with the Titans") which effected a mythological [[paradigm shift]] that the Greeks may have [[Elder Gods|borrowed]] from the [[Ancient Near East]].<ref>See [[Walter Burkert]], ''The Orientalizing Revolution: Near Eastern Influence on Greek Culture in the Early Archaic Age'' (Harvard University Press) 1992:94f, 125-27.</ref>
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-==Titanomachy==
-{{Main|Titanomachy}}
-Greeks of the classical age knew of several [[poem]]s about the war between the gods and many of the Titans, the [[Titanomachy]] ("War of the Titans"). The dominant one, and the only one that has survived, was in the ''[[Theogony]]'' attributed to [[Hesiod]]. A lost epic ''Titanomachy'' attributed to the blind Thracian bard [[Thamyris]], himself a legendary figure, was mentioned in passing in an essay ''On Music'' that was once attributed to [[Plutarch]]. The Titans also played a prominent role in the poems attributed to [[Orpheus]]. Although only scraps of the [[Orphic]] narratives survive, they show interesting differences with the Hesiodic tradition. Cronos was eventually cut up into pieces with his own scythe and later scattered into the Tartarus.
-These Greek myths of the Titanomachy fall into a class of similar myths of a War in Heaven throughout [[Europe]] and the Near East, where one generation or group of gods largely opposes the dominant one. Sometimes the Elder Gods are supplanted. Sometimes the rebels lose, and are either cast out of power entirely or incorporated into the [[pantheon (gods)|pantheon]]. Other examples might include the wars of the [[Æsir]] with the [[Vanir]] and [[Jötunn|Jotuns]] in [[Scandinavian mythology]], the [[Babylonian]] epic [[Enuma Elish]], the [[Hittites|Hittite]] "Kingship in Heaven" narrative, the obscure generational conflict in [[Ugarit]]ic fragments, and the rebellion of [[Lucifer]] in [[Christian mythology]].
 ==In Orphic sources==

Greek deities series
Primordial deities Titans Olympians Water deities Chthonic deities Personified concepts
Titans
The Twelve Titans Oceanus and Tethys, Hyperion and Theia, Coeus and Phoebe, Cronus and Rhea, Mnemosyne and Themis, Crius and Iapetus Children of Cronus Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Hades, Hestia, Demeter, Chiron Children of Oceanus Oceanids, Potamoi Children of Hyperion Helios, Selene, Eos Daughters of Coeus Leto, Asteria Sons of Iapetus Atlas, Menoetius, Prometheus, Epimetheus Sons of Crius Astraeus, Pallas, Perses
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