Rough Notes:

Cronus

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 
 
Not to be confused with Chronos, the personification of time.
For other uses, see Cronus (disambiguation).
Cronus
Titan of the Harvest
Saturnus fig274.png
Abode Mount Othrys
Symbol Sickle, scythe, grain, snake, and harpe
Personal Information
Consort Rhea
Children Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Hades, Hestia, Demeter, Chiron
Parents Uranus and Gaia
Siblings
Roman equivalent Saturn

In Greek mythology, Cronus, Cronos or Kronos (/ˈkroʊnəs/ or /ˈkroʊnɒs/ from Greek: Κρόνος, krónos), was the leader and youngest of the first generation of Titans, the divine descendants of Uranus, the sky, and Gaia, the earth. He overthrew his father and ruled during the mythological Golden Age, until he was overthrown by his own son Zeus and imprisoned in Tartarus. According to Plato, the deities Phorcys, Cronus, and Rhea were the eldest children of Oceanus and Tethys.[1]

Cronus was usually depicted with a harpe, scythe or a sickle, which was the instrument he used to castrate and depose Uranus, his father. In Athens, on the twelfth day of the Attic month of Hekatombaion, a festival called Kronia was held in honour of Cronus to celebrate the harvest, suggesting that, as a result of his association with the virtuous Golden Age, Cronus continued to preside as a patron of harvest. Cronus was also identified in classical antiquity with the Roman deity Saturn. A star (HD 240430) was named after him in 2017 when it was reported to have swallowed its planets.[2]

Mythology[edit]

 

Painting by Peter Paul Rubens of Cronus devouring one of his children

In an ancient myth recorded by Hesiod's Theogony, Cronus envied the power of his father, the ruler of the universe, Uranus. Uranus drew the enmity of Cronus's mother, Gaia, when he hid the gigantic youngest children of Gaia, the hundred-handed Hecatonchires and one-eyed Cyclopes, in Tartarus, so that they would not see the light. Gaia created a great stone sickle and gathered together Cronus and his brothers to persuade them to castrate Uranus.[3]

 

Giorgio Vasari: The Mutilation of Uranus by Saturn (Cronus)

Only Cronus was willing to do the deed, so Gaia gave him the sickle and placed him in ambush.[4] When Uranus met with Gaia, Cronus attacked him with the sickle, castrating him and casting his testicles into the sea. From the blood that spilled out from Uranus and fell upon the earth, the Gigantes, Erinyes, and Meliae were produced. The testicles produced a white foam from which the goddess Aphrodite emerged. For this, Uranus threatened vengeance and called his sons Titenes (Τιτῆνες; according to Hesiod meaning "straining ones," the source of the word "titan", but this etymology is disputed) for overstepping their boundaries and daring to commit such an act. (In an alternate version of this myth, a more benevolent Cronus overthrew the wicked serpentine Titan Ophion. In doing so, he released the world from bondage and for a time ruled it justly.)

After dispatching Uranus, Cronus re-imprisoned the Hecatonchires, and the Cyclopes and set the dragon Campe to guard them. He and his sister Rhea took the throne of the world as king and queen. The period in which Cronus ruled was called the Golden Age, as the people of the time had no need for laws or rules; everyone did the right thing, and immorality was absent.

Cronus learned from Gaia and Uranus that he was destined to be overcome by his own sons, just as he had overthrown his father. As a result, although he sired the gods Demeter, Hestia, Hera, Hades and Poseidon by Rhea, he devoured them all as soon as they were born to prevent the prophecy. When the sixth child, Zeus, was born Rhea sought Gaia to devise a plan to save them and to eventually get retribution on Cronus for his acts against his father and children. (Cronus also fathered Chiron, by Philyra.)

Rhea secretly gave birth to Zeus in Crete, and handed Cronus a stone wrapped in swaddling clothes, also known as the Omphalos Stone, which he promptly swallowed, thinking that it was his son.

Rhea kept Zeus hidden in a cave on Mount Ida, Crete. According to some versions of the story, he was then raised by a goat named Amalthea, while a company of Kouretes, armored male dancers, shouted and clapped their hands to make enough noise to mask the baby's cries from Cronus. Other versions of the myth have Zeus raised by the nymph Adamanthea, who hid Zeus by dangling him by a rope from a tree so that he was suspended between the earth, the sea, and the sky, all of which were ruled by his father, Cronus. Still other versions of the tale say that Zeus was raised by his grandmother, Gaia.

Once he had grown up, Zeus used an emetic given to him by Gaia to force Cronus to disgorge the contents of his stomach in reverse order: first the stone, which was set down at Pytho under the glens of Mount Parnassus to be a sign to mortal men, and then his two brothers and three sisters. In other versions of the tale, Metis gave Cronus an emetic to force him to disgorge the children,[5] or Zeus cut Cronus's stomach open. After freeing his siblings, Zeus released the Hecatonchires, and the Cyclopes who forged for him his thunderbolts, Poseidon's trident and Hades' helmet of darkness.

In a vast war called the Titanomachy, Zeus and his brothers and sisters, with the help of the Hecatonchires, and Cyclopes, overthrew Cronus and the other Titans. Afterwards, many of the Titans were confined in Tartarus. However, Atlas, Epimetheus, Helios, Menoetius, Oceanus and Prometheus were not imprisoned following the Titanomachy. Gaia bore the monster Typhon to claim revenge for the imprisoned Titans.

Accounts of the fate of Cronus after the Titanomachy differ. In Homeric and other texts he is imprisoned with the other Titans in Tartarus. In Orphic poems, he is imprisoned for eternity in the cave of Nyx. Pindar describes his release from Tartarus, where he is made King of Elysium by Zeus. In another version,[citation needed] the Titans released the Cyclopes from Tartarus, and Cronus was awarded the kingship among them, beginning a Golden Age. In Virgil's Aeneid,[citation needed] it is Latium to which Saturn (Cronus) escapes and ascends as king and lawgiver, following his defeat by his son Jupiter (Zeus).

One other account referred by Robert Graves[6] (who claims to be following the account of the Byzantine mythographer Tzetzes) it is said that Cronus was castrated by his son Zeus just like he had done with his father Uranus before. However the subject of a son castrating his own father, or simply castration in general, was so repudiated by the Greek mythographers of that time that they suppressed it from their accounts until the Christian era (when Tzetzes wrote).

 

The Fall of the Titans, Cornelis Cornelisz van Haarlem, 1596-1598

Libyan account by Diodorus Siculus[edit]

In a Libyan account related by Diodorus Siculus (Book 3), Uranus and Titaea were the parents of Cronus and Rhea and the other Titans. Ammon, a king of Libya, married Rhea (3.18.1). But Rhea abandoned Ammon, and married her brother Cronus, and at Rhea's urging, with the other Titans made war upon Ammon, who fled to Crete (3.71.1-2). But Cronus ruled harshly, and Cronus in turn is defeated by Ammon's son Dionysus (3.71.3-3.73), who appoints Cronus' and Rhea's son, Zeus, as king of Egypt (3.73.4). Dionysus and Zeus then join their forces to defeat the remaining Titans in Crete, and on the death of Dionysus, Zeus inherits all the kingdoms, becoming lord of the world (3.73.7-8).

Sibylline Oracles[edit]

Cronus is again mentioned in the Sibylline Oracles, particularly book three, which makes Cronus, 'Titan' and Iapetus, the three sons of Uranus and Gaia, each to receive a third division of the Earth, and Cronus is made king over all. After the death of Uranus, Titan's sons attempt to destroy Cronus's and Rhea's male offspring as soon as they are born, but at Dodona, Rhea secretly bears her sons Zeus, Poseidon and Hades and sends them to Phrygia to be raised in the care of three Cretans. Upon learning this, sixty of Titan's men then imprison Cronus and Rhea, causing the sons of Cronus to declare and fight the first of all wars against them. This account mentions nothing about Cronus either killing his father or attempting to kill any of his children.

Name and comparative mythology[edit]

Antiquity[edit]

During antiquity, Cronus was occasionally interpreted as Chronos, the personification of time.[7] The Greek historian and biographer Plutarch (1st century CE) asserted that the Greeks believed that Cronus was an allegorical name for χρόνος (time).[8] The Roman philosopher Cicero (1st C BCE) elaborated on this by saying that the Greek name Cronus is synonymous to chronos (time) since he maintains the course and cycles of seasons and the periods of time, whereas the Latin name Saturn denotes that he is saturated with years since he was devouring his sons, which implies that time devours the ages and gorges.[9] The philosopher Plato in his Cratylus (3rd C BCE) gives two possible interpretations for the name of Cronus. The first is that his name denotes "κόρος" (koros), the pure (καθαρόν) and unblemished (ἀκήρατον)[10] nature of his mind.[11] The second is that Rhea and Cronus were given names of streams (Rhea – ῥοή (rhoē) and Cronus – Xρόνος (chronos)).[12] Proclus, the Neoplatonist philosopher, makes in his Commentary on Plato's Cratylus an extensive analysis on Cronus; among others he says that the "One cause" of all things is "Chronos" (time) that is also equivocal to Cronus.[13] In addition to the name, the story of Cronus eating his children was also interpreted as an allegory to a specific aspect of time held within Cronus' sphere of influence. As the theory went, Cronus represented the destructive ravages of time which devoured all things, a concept that was illustrated when the Titan king ate the Olympian gods — the past consuming the future, the older generation suppressing the next generation.[14]

From the Renaissance to the present[edit]

 

Chronos and his child by Giovanni Francesco Romanelli, National Museum in Warsaw, a 17th century depiction of Titan Cronus as "Father Time," wielding a harvesting scythe

During the Renaissance, the identification of Cronus and Chronos gave rise to "Father Time" wielding the harvesting scythe. H. J. Rose in 1928[15] observed that attempts to give Κρόνος a Greek etymology had failed. Recently, Janda (2010) offers a genuinely Indo-European etymology of "the cutter", from the root *(s)ker- "to cut" (Greek κείρω (keirō), c.f. English shear), motivated by Cronus's characteristic act of "cutting the sky" (or the genitals of anthropomorphic Uranus). The Indo-Iranian reflex of the root is kar, generally meaning "to make, create" (whence karma), but Janda argues that the original meaning "to cut" in a cosmogonic sense is still preserved in some verses of the Rigveda pertaining to Indra's heroic "cutting", like that of Cronus resulting in creation:

RV 10.104.10 ārdayad vṛtram akṛṇod ulokaṃ he hit Vrtra fatally, cutting [> creating] a free path.

RV 6.47.4 varṣmāṇaṃ divo akṛṇod he cut [> created] the loftiness of the sky.

This may point to an older Indo-European mytheme reconstructed as *(s)kert wersmn diwos "by means of a cut he created the loftiness of the sky".[16] The myth of Cronus castrating Uranus parallels the Song of Kumarbi, where Anu (the heavens) is castrated by Kumarbi. In the Song of Ullikummi, Teshub uses the "sickle with which heaven and earth had once been separated" to defeat the monster Ullikummi,[17] establishing that the "castration" of the heavens by means of a sickle was part of a creation myth, in origin a cut creating an opening or gap between heaven (imagined as a dome of stone) and earth enabling the beginning of time (chronos) and human history.[18] A theory debated in the 19th century, and sometimes still offered somewhat apologetically,[19] holds that Κρόνος is related to "horned", assuming a Semitic derivation from qrn.[20] Andrew Lang's objection, that Cronus was never represented horned in Hellenic art,[21] was addressed by Robert Brown,[22] arguing that in Semitic usage, as in the Hebrew Bible qeren was a signifier of "power". When Greek writers encountered the Semitic deity El, they rendered his name as Cronus.[23]

Robert Graves remarks that "cronos probably means 'crow', like the Latin cornix and the Greek corōne", noting that Cronus was depicted with a crow, as were the deities Apollo, Asclepius, Saturn and Bran.[24]

El, the Phoenician Cronus[edit]

When Hellenes encountered Phoenicians and, later, Hebrews, they identified the Semitic El, by interpretatio graeca, with Cronus. The association was recorded c. AD 100 by Philo of Byblos' Phoenician history, as reported in Eusebius' Præparatio Evangelica I.10.16.[25] Philo's account, ascribed by Eusebius to the semi-legendary pre-Trojan War Phoenician historian Sanchuniathon, indicates that Cronus was originally a Canaanite ruler who founded Byblos and was subsequently deified. This version gives his alternate name as Elus or Ilus, and states that in the 32nd year of his reign, he emasculated, slew and deified his father Epigeius or Autochthon "whom they afterwards called Uranus". It further states that after ships were invented, Cronus, visiting the 'inhabitable world', bequeathed Attica to his own daughter Athena, and Egypt to Taautus the son of Misor and inventor of writing.[26]

Roman mythology and later culture[edit]

Main article: Saturn (mythology)

 

4th-century Temple of Saturn in the Roman Forum.

While the Greeks considered Cronus a cruel and tempestuous force of chaos and disorder, believing the Olympian gods had brought an era of peace and order by seizing power from the crude and malicious Titans[citation needed], the Romans took a more positive and innocuous view of the deity, by conflating their indigenous deity Saturn with Cronus. Consequently, while the Greeks considered Cronus merely an intermediary stage between Uranus and Zeus, he was a larger aspect of Roman religion. The Saturnalia was a festival dedicated in his honour, and at least one temple to Saturn already existed in the archaic Roman Kingdom.

His association with the "Saturnian" Golden Age eventually caused him to become the god of "time", i.e., calendars, seasons, and harvests—not now confused with Chronos, the unrelated embodiment of time in general; nevertheless, among Hellenistic scholars in Alexandria and during the Renaissance, Cronus was conflated with the name of Chronos, the personification of "Father Time",[7] wielding the harvesting scythe.

As a result of Cronus's importance to the Romans, his Roman variant, Saturn, has had a large influence on Western culture. The seventh day of the Judaeo-Christian week is called in Latin Dies Saturni ("Day of Saturn"), which in turn was adapted and became the source of the English word Saturday. In astronomy, the planet Saturnis named after the Roman deity. It is the outermost of the Classical planets (those that are visible with the naked eye).

Cronus's descendants[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. Jump up^ Plato. Timaeus 40e. Translated by W.R.M. Lamb. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1925.
  2. Jump up^ Sokol, Josh (21 September 2017). "Star nicknamed Kronos after eating its own planetary children". New Scientist. Retrieved 15 October 2017.
  3. Jump up^ Hesiod, Theogony 154–166.
  4. Jump up^ Hesiod, Theogony 167–206.
  5. Jump up^ Apollodorus, 1.2.1.
  6. Jump up^ GRAVES, Robert, Hebrew Myths.21.4
  7. ^ Jump up to:a b Κρόνος: Cronos — Later interpreted as chronos (time): LSJ entry Κρόνος
  8. Jump up^ These men [the Egyptians] are like the Greeks who say that Cronus is but a metaphorical name for χρόνος (time). Plutarch, On Isis and Osiris, 32
  9. Jump up^ Cicero, De Natura Deorum 25
  10. Jump up^ Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert (1940) [1843], "ἀκήρ-α^τος", A Greek-English Lexicon (revised and augmented throughout by Sir Henry Stuart Jones with the assistance of Roderick McKenzie ed.), Oxford: Clarendon Press, retrieved 9 August 2016 – via Perseus Digital Library
  11. Jump up^ Plato, Cratylus, 402b
  12. Jump up^ Plato, Cratylus, 402b
  13. Jump up^ Proclus, Commentary on Plato's Cratylus, 396B7
  14. Jump up^ Dronke, Peter. (edit.) Marenbon, John. Poetry and Philosophy in the Middle Ages, Leiden, The Netherlands. BRILL, 2001; pg. 316
  15. Jump up^ Rose, A Handbook of Greek Mythology 1928:43.
  16. Jump up^ Michael Janda, Die Musik nach dem Chaos, Innsbruck, 2010, 54-56.
  17. Jump up^ Fritz Graf, Thomas Marier, trans. Thomas Marier, Greek mythology: an introduction, 1996 ISBN 978-0-8018-5395-1, p. 88.
  18. Jump up^ Janda 2010, p. 54 and passim.
  19. Jump up^ "We would like to consider whether the Semitic stem q r nmight be connected with the name Kronos," suggests A. P. Bos, as late as 1989, in Cosmic and Meta-cosmic Theology in Aristotle's Lost Dialogues, 1989:11 note 26.
  20. Jump up^ As in H. Lewy, Die semitischen Fremdwörter in Griechischen, 1895:216. and Robert Brown, The Great Dionysiak Myth, 1877, ii.127. "Kronos signifies 'the Horned one'", the Rev. Alexander Hislop had previously asserted in The Two Babylons; or, The papal worship proved to be the worship of Nimrod and his wife, Hislop, 2nd ed. 1862 (p.46). with the note "From krn, a horn. The epithet Carneus applied to Apollo is just a different form of the same word. In the Orphic Hymns, Apollo is addressed as 'the Two-Horned god'".
  21. Jump up^ Lang, Modern Mythology 1897:35.
  22. Jump up^ Brown, Semitic Influence in Hellenic Mythology, 1898:112ff.
  23. Jump up^ "Philôn, who of course regarded Kronos as an Hellenic divinity, which indeed he became, always renders the name of the Semitic god Îl or Êl ('the Powerful') by 'Kronos', in which usage we have a lingering feeling of the real meaning of the name" (Brown 1898:116)
  24. Jump up^ Graves, Robert (1955). "The Castration of Uranus". Greek Myths. London: Penguin. p. 38. ISBN 0-14-001026-2.
  25. Jump up^ Walcot, "Five or Seven Recesses?" The Classical Quarterly, New Series, 15.1 (May 1965), p. 79. The quote stands as Philo Fr. 2.
  26. Jump up^ Eusebius of Caesarea: Praeparatio Evangelica Book 1, Chapter 10.
  27. Jump up^ This chart is based upon Hesiod's Theogony, unless otherwise noted.
  28. Jump up^ According to Homer, Iliad 1.570–579, 14.338, Odyssey 8.312, Hephaestus was apparently the son of Hera and Zeus, see Gantz, p. 74.
  29. Jump up^ According to Hesiod, Theogony 927–929, Hephaestus was produced by Hera alone, with no father, see Gantz, p. 74.
  30. Jump up^ According to Hesiod, Theogony 886–890, of Zeus' children by his seven wives, Athena was the first to be conceived, but the last to be born; Zeus impregnated Metis then swallowed her, later Zeus himself gave birth to Athena "from his head", see Gantz, pp. 51–52, 83–84.
  31. Jump up^ According to Hesiod, Theogony 183–200, Aphrodite was born from Uranus' severed genitals, see Gantz, pp. 99–100.
  32. Jump up^ According to Homer, Aphrodite was the daughter of Zeus (Iliad 3.374, 20.105; Odyssey 8.308, 320) and Dione (Iliad 5.370–71), see Gantz, pp. 99–100.

References[edit]

Cronus

Cronus is possibly the most famous of the TITANS as he was the King and leader of his brothers fighting against Uranus and eventually the OLYMPIAN GODS. Born of Uranus and GAIA, he was the wiliest and youngest of their offspring and perhaps the most powerful. Cronus would gain by power by overthrowing his father and eventually lose it by being beaten by his son ZEUS.

 

In Greek mythology, Cronus was the primordial God of time, in which time was described as a destructive, all-devouring force. With the help of his Titan brothers, Cronus was able to depose his father Uranus and rule the cosmos, ruling during the mythological Golden Age. Hesiod in his Theogony recorded this saga; Cronus envied the power of his father, the ruler of the universe. URANUS angered Gaia when he hid her children, the Hecatonchires and the CYCLOPES in Tartarus, and they were imprisoned unable to see the light. Gaia created a great stone sickle and persuaded Cronus and his Titan brothers to castrate Uranus.

Only Cronus was willing to commit the act, and when it was all over the blood that fell onto the Earth from Uranus created the Gigantes, Erinyes and Meliae. The blood that fell into the sea created white foam from which the goddess APHRODITE emerged.

After dispatching Uranus, Cronus once again incarcerated his youngest siblings, the Hecatonchires and the Cyclopes and commanded the dragon Campe to guard them. He and his sister Rhea took the throne as King and Queen and ruled during a Golden Age, as the people of the time had no need for laws and immorality were absent. Cronus had many famous children, one of them was born through his infidelity with Philyra, daughter of Oceanus, when upon being found out by his wife Rhea, Cronus leapt out of bed and galloped off in the form of a stallion. Philyra in shame retreated to the Pelasgian ridges where she gave birth to Chiron, the wise and half divine centaur.

A prophecy, predicted by Uranus, decreed Cronus would be overthrown by his son, to prevent this from occurring Cronus swallowed each of his children; DEMETER, HESTIA, HERA, HADES and POSEIDON, as they were born. Rhea, his sister and wife, managed to save the youngest, Zeus, by hiding him away on the island of Crete and feeding Cronus a stone swaddled in cloth. Some versions of the story have Zeus raised by a goat named Amalthea or the nymph Adamanthea on Mount Ida. When Zeus was full-grown he forced Cronus to vomit up his siblings and led the Olympians in a ten-year way against the Titans; Zeus was based on Mount Olympus and the Titans on Mount Othrys. The stone that had been disguised as baby Zeus was set in the earth at Pytho, under the glens of Parnassus, to be a sign and a marvel to mortal men. Eventually, the Olympians were successful and drove their opponents into the pit of Tartarus. After freeing his siblings, Zeus also released the Hecatonchires and the Cyclopes; who forged for him his lighting bolts, Hade’s helmet and Poseidon’s’ trident.

Cronus is often depicted with a scythe or a sickle, which was what he used to castrate and overthrow Uranus. He is also associated in Athens with the twelfth day of the Attic month when a festival called Kronia was held in his honour to celebrate the harvest. This celebration is likely due to his association with the virtuous Golden Age of his rule. Thus he continued to preside as a patron of the harvest even though he was ousted from power.

The fate of Cronus differs across texts, in Homeric text, Cronus is imprisoned with the other Titans in Tartarus. In Orphiv’s poems, he is incarcerated in the cave of Nyx, a cave of night or darkness. In later myths, according to Pindar, Zeus was said to have released Cronus and his brothers from their prison and make his father the King of the Elysian Islands, home of the blessed dead in the Underworld. This was the final resting place of the souls of heroes and virtuous men such as Orpheus and Lycus, and the Trojan War heroes like Achilles, Patroclus, Ajax and Menelaus. This list is exhaustive as in ancient Greece it was presumed that any hero who possessed a hero cult would be transferred to Elysian.

Other Interesting Facts About Cronus

  • In Roman mythology, Cronus is depicted as their deity named Saturn, his period of rule was honoured every year by the Saturnalia feast
  • Saturn was worshipped far more widely, as the God of Agriculture, by the Romans than Cronus had ever been
  • During the Renaissance, the depiction of Cronus gave rise to ‘Father Time’ wielding a harvesting scythe
  • There have been no temples dedicated to Cronus found in Greece
 

Saturn

The Roman god Saturn has a long history and a festival all of his own.

 

The Romans generally borrowed their gods from the ancient Greeks, and almost EVERY ROMAN GOD HAD A GREEK COUNTERPART. Saturn’s original counterpart in Greece was CRONUS.

Cronus was a Titan. In Greek mythology, THE TITANS were the children of the earth mother Gaia and the sky father URANUS. There were six of them, and Cronus was the youngest. Cronus wanted to rule the universe, so he overthrew his father Uranus, and, so his children wouldn’t overthrow him, Cronus ate them. However, his son Zeus escaped and became the chief Greek god.

Cronus means “time” in Greek, so he’s connected with the seasons and harvest time. Cronus became ruler of a Golden Age in Greece and god of agriculture and the harvest. So you see his Roman counterpart Saturn was off to a good start.

Saturn was worshiped by the Romans as far back as the 6th century BCE. The Romans liked anything Greek and thought the Greeks were cultured and well-educated. They often had Greek tutors for their children. So they adopted the GREEK GODS at a very early stage. Saturn remained a god of agriculture to the Romans and was often pictured holding a scythe.

Like the Greeks, the Romans also believed that Saturn once ruled a Golden Age. The legend was that Saturn fled from his angry father and came to Latium, where Rome would later be built. There he taught the people how to farm and cultivate grapes. He also encouraged them to settle their differences by discussions and not by violence. This fits in with the Romans’ ideas of the Greeks as being more civilized.

Saturn was a complex god with differing sides. For a while he ruled Latium with the Roman god Janus. Janus was a figure who looked two ways, representing the past and the future. So Saturn, as god of agriculture and the seasons, was also concerned with the past and the future. Saturn had two aspects, represented by his two wives. His one wife Ops was a goddess of wealth and abundance. But his other wife Lua was a goddess of war and destruction. And, although Saturn tried to civilize the people of Latium, as Cronus he did violence to his father Uranus.

The Romans built a temple to Saturn that was located near the Capitoline Hill in Rome. The Capitoline Hill was formerly called Saturnius Mons, or Saturn’s Mountain. The temple was first begun in the 6th century BCE, and it was consecrated in 497 BCE. Even today eight of its tall, imposing columns are still standing near the Roman Forum. The Romans were devoted to Saturn and his temple, and it was restored periodically throughout the centuries. Roman senator Lucius Munatius Plancus fixed it in 42 BCE, and, after it caught on fire, it was repaired during the 4th century CE. Never ones to waste space, the Romans also used the temple as their treasury building.

The Romans believed that if they prayed and made sacrifices to their gods, the gods would do favors for them. Saturn was a popular god and received many sacrifices of animals, wine, cheese and bread in his temple. Unlike the other Roman gods, sacrifices to Saturn were made by the Greek rite; that meant that the people conducting the ritual had their head uncovered. Usually the Romans worshiped their gods with their heads covered. Saturn’s statue was draped with a white veil during the ritual. The Greek writer Plutarch said this was because Saturn was the father of truth.

All year long, the Romans looked forward to Saturn’s festival, called Saturnalia. It was originally celebrated on December 17, but later it was expanded to seven days. Saturnalia was a harvest celebration and also recalled the time when Saturn ruled the Golden Age. During Saturnalia, there were banquets, drinking, games and gladiatorial contests as well as the exchange of gifts. The merrymaking was presided over by a mock King of Misrule who wore funny clothes and told jokes. Also, people were allowed to wear casual clothes and the masters and slaves reversed roles, the masters waiting on the slaves. It was all in good fun, and people enjoyed being released from the usual strict rules of Roman society.

If some of the customs of Saturnalia sound a little like our Christmas, it’s not a coincidence. The first Roman Christian leaders replaced Saturnalia with Christmas and carried over some practices, like feasting and exchanging gifts. Both Christmas and Saturnalia are near the gloomy days of the winter solstice. And during the Middle Ages, people also celebrated Christmas with a King of Misrule.

The god Saturn is still with us today, as a planet and a weekend day. The planet Saturn might be named because it’s the slowest one to orbit the sun, and Saturn is connected with time and Cronus. Another theory is that, in ancient times, Saturn was the farthest known planet from the sun. So the Greeks made it sacred to Cronus, and the Romans made it sacred to Saturn.

The Romans named Saturday after their beloved god sometime before the 2nd century CE. It’s the only day name in English that retains its Roman origin. So, although the days of Roman rule are long gone, we still have reminders of Saturn that have comes down to us through the centuries.

Here’s a quick list of facts about Saturn:

1. Saturn was the Roman god of agriculture, also of wealth and war.

2. Saturn’s Greek counterpart was Cronus.

3. Saturn’s two wives were Ops, goddess of plenty, and Lua, goddess of destruction.

4. The temple to Saturn was built on the Capitoline Hill in Rome.

5. Saturn was worshiped with the Greek rite, which meant worshipers’ heads were uncovered.

6. Saturn’s feast was called Saturnalia and was held in December.

7. The planet Saturn and the day Saturday are both named for Saturn.

Saturn

Definition

 
 
by  
published on 16 October 2015

Kronos/Saturn (Luis Fernández García)

Saturn (Saturnus) was a Roman god with a similar history to Cronus from Greek mythology. Often depicted in art wielding a scythe he was considered an agricultural god, especially associated with seed-corn. The Saturnalia festival, named after him, was one of the most important and lively events in the Roman calendar and the god also had a major temple dedicated to him in the Roman Forum of Rome.

GREEK ORIGINS

Greek and Roman mythology are interwoven, and to many, they appear to be one and the same. While the names of the gods and goddesses may be different - Zeus morphed into Jupiter while Hades became Pluto - their diverse roles and positions in society are fairly consistent. From the time the Romans first made contact with the Greeks, their society would never be the same,  becoming Hellenized, albeit reluctantly. The Romans admired all that was Greek. The wealthiest and most powerful families of Rome would even hire Greek tutors for their male children. The Republic’s (and later Roman Empire’s) literature, art, philosophy and foremost, religion would be changed forever. One of the best and earliest examples of this religious transformation would revolve around an outcast - a god driven out of Greece but finding a home on the hills of Rome. His name was Saturn.

Some authors believe Saturn existed in Roman mythology long before the “invasion” of Greek religion and associate him with the Etruscan god Satre; however, whether this is true or not is entirely speculative. As the Greek religion became more Romanized, Saturn or Saturnus, often pictured holding a scythe, became more closely associated with the Greek god Cronus, the lord of the universe and the god who devoured his own children. He was son of Uranus (sky) and Gaea (earth). After Zeus and his brothers (Poseidon and Hades) became victorious over the Titans, Saturn was expelled from the home of the Greek gods, Mt. Olympus. 

ACCORDING TO ANCIENT MYTH, SATURN RULED LATIUM WISELY DURING ITS GOLDEN AGE.

SATURN & LATIUM

According to legend, Saturn settled in Latium on the future site of Rome. His arrival was welcomed by the Roman god Janus, the two-faced deity, the god of the beginnings and ends. Saturn quickly established himself there, even founding the nearby city of Saturnia. According to ancient myth, Saturn ruled Latium wisely during its golden age, a time of great prosperity and peace.  It was during this time that he became more closely associated with agriculture (as a god of seed-corn) - hence the reason for his typical depiction in art holding a scythe. He instructed the people on the basic principles of farming and viticulture (the production of grapes). He also helped the locals to rid themselves of their “barbaric” customs and instead adopted a more civic and moral lifestyle.

THE SATURNALIA

While historians argue over the origins of Saturn and his role in Roman mythology, his place in Roman history is remembered for two items: his temple and his festival - the latter being one of the most anticipated festivals of the many on the Roman calendar.  His temple, built around 498 BCE, was located at the foot of Capitoline Hill and housed the Roman treasury as well as the records and decrees of the Roman Senate.  Falling into disrepair, it would be rebuilt during the reign of Emperor Augustus. His festival, the Saturnalia, was celebrated in December from the 17th to the 23rd and was connected to the winter grain sowing. (There are some who place the festival in August). Although Emperor Augustus reduced the length of the festival to three days - Caligula and Claudius later raised it to five - most people ignored the decrees and still celebrated it for the full seven days. As part of the calendar of Numa, the second king of Rome, the festival immediately preceded the festival of Ops, Saturn’s partner or consort and the goddess of the harvest - she became associated with the Greek goddess Rhea. Saturn was also linked to another ancient Italian deity, Lua.

Temple of Saturn, Rome

Temple of Saturn, Rome

The festival was like many others where time was spent eating, drinking, and gaming - there were plenty of games and banquets (Christian historians question whether or not there were gladiators and human sacrifice). Presiding over the festival was a mock king, the King of Misrule, or Saturnalicius princeps. Gifts were exchanged, usually candles or pottery figurines. However, during the week of celebration, slaves were awarded a unique opportunity. They were given a limited amount of freedom. For one, they did not have to wear the traditional felt hat or pilleus. Leisure attire was also permitted and, uniquely, the master and slaves reversed roles. Slaves gave orders to the masters, and masters waited on slaves. The festival would endure into the Christian era when it would assume a new identity and name - Brumalia.

Today the festivals and celebration are long gone and, like many of the other Greek and Roman deities, their names belong only on the pages of a dusty, old book.  However, a few, like Saturn have achieved some sense of immortality.  We remember Saturn in two ways, for one he ends our busy work week - Saturday.  And, as we look to the sky, on occasion, we can see the sixth planet from the sun - Saturn.