WHY DID GREEK GOD CRONUS EAT HIS CHILDREN?

For those that have absolutely no idea who Cronus is, he was the father of Zeus (God of Thunder). To take over the throne, Cronus had overthrown his own father Uranus in a very disturbing way.

Cronus is said to have castrated and disposed off of his own father. Uranus, in a fit of anger cursed his own son, saying the same fate would befall him and he would also be overthrown by his offspring in a rather shameful way.

According to Greek Mythology, he turned out to be mighty afraid of turning out like his father and being overthrown from the throne by one of his children.

Cronus fathered six children with his wife Rhea but the paranoia of his father’s curse never let him be a good dad. Afraid of being overthrown by his own offspring, Cronus swallowed all his children, Hesitation, Cemetery, Hera, Hades and Poseidon very soon after they were born. (Well they were immortal and there was no way of killing them off so keeping them trapped inside his belly somewhat felt like a clever idea, right?)

Afraid to lose all her children, Rhea tricked Cronus into believing he had swallowed even the sixth Child she bore. Rhea hid away in the Island of Crete, with her pregnancy. Upon childbirth, she sent a stone wrapped in blankets to Cronus, claiming this was her sixth child.

Without a second thought, Cronus swallowed the rock, unaware of the deception. Little Zeus grew up healthy far from home and when he came of age, he returned home, forcing his father to vomit all his siblings!

The Greek god Cronus ate his children, or rather swallowed them whole for fear of his past mistakes coming back to haunt him. What goes around comes right back around, right? Cronus therefore was afraid of seeing the fate he had bestowed upon his father wiggling it’s way right back at him!

Or maybe it was fear of change? Fear of a new era? Maybe Cronus simply could not stand the thought of passing on his reign to a new leader, despite the fact that this leader was his own son.