A Brief Overview of Olympians and Titans

On a recent trip I watched an OLD movie that featured the Olympic Gods.  It got me thinking that I didn’t know as much about the Olympians and the Titans as I thought I knew.  So, in the wee morning hours I did a bit of research.   

At left is an image of the mountain Mt. Olympus in Greece, the tallest mountain in Greece.

Here is a brief and incomplete overview of what I found.

First, let’s consider what a deity or a god is.  A deity or god is a “supernatural” entity considered to be sacred.  Now, supernatural describes something “exceptional”.  It is from Latin exceptionem meaning “an exception, restriction, limitation; an objection” and is derived from excipere meaning “to take out.”  Excipere is derived ex meaning “out” and capere meaning “to take.”  Anciently it is from an earliest word root *kap referring to “to grasp”, itself derived from an ancient root *grebh- meaning “to seize, reach.” 

A deity, or god, then is someone or thing so reaching, with such a grasp of knowledge, such a discernment of life, as to be supernatural.  Such entities were considered by humans to be sacred and this word describes something dedicated or set apart for the services of the “worthy ship” (worship) of such an entity.

Such a descriptor is similar to the concept of how magic appears to be.  Magic is often something that is just not yet known or discerned by an audience. It would seem magical to someone who has no knowledge of electricity to see a modern scientist produce “lightening” from a generator. It often seems “magical” how a younger generation can grasp and improve upon the technology of an older generation.  

In English, the word deity is derived from Latin words describing an ancient word root *deiwos indicating “to gleam, a shining one; things of high excellence, exalted, shining ones.”  Or stated in a less correct way, “something, or someone, so reaching with knowledge and discernment as to be supernatural.”

In the Greek pantheon (shrine of all the exalted persons) the Olympians were such a race.  It is said that they were a third and fourth generation of immortal beings who resided atop Mount Olympus, the highest mountain in Greece.  It is circled at the top of the map of the region in Greece, Thessaly, where it is located.

Immortal refers to In (Im) meaning “not, or the opposite of” added to the word mortalis meaning “rub away or harm.”  So an immortal is someone who is not rubbed away from or harmed in their existence.  While we may not physically perceive any current Olympic gods, it is certain that much of their existence has never been forgotten.

The Olympians became the “top dog” of these immortal beings following a ten-year long war of gods.  Zeus and his siblings were in a struggle with their elders, the Titans – the pre-Olympic gods of the region who resided in the south on Mt. Othrys (in the circle at the bottom of the map).  

Now a brief “family overview” of the Titans and the Olympians.  The primordial deities were considered to be Uranus and Gaia.  These were the fundamental forces and physical foundations of the world, not generally or actively worshiped.  They were, for the most part, not given human characteristics.  They were personifications of places or abstract concepts – they were the “first names” given by humans to the places or things they described.

From Uranus (from ouranos meaning heavenly) and Gaia (from ge meaning earth as opposed to heaven, or land as opposed to sea) were brought forth the Titans – twelve children of heaven and earth, or of land and sea.  There were six male Titans and six female Titans.  As this is but an overview I will not outline their “family tree”, but the Titans Cronus and Rhea (the youngest of the Titans and one of his older sisters) became the parents of the Olympians.

Cronus envied the power of his father, Uranus, the ruler of the universe.  When Gaia became hostile and averse to Uranus because his actions against some of “Gaia’s children” (a 100-handed being and the Cyclopian being) Gaia sought to castrate Uranus.  Cronus was the only one of Uranus’ sons willing to attempt the plan, which he successfully accomplished.  He and his older sister then overthrew a pair of Titans ruling Mount Olympus in the early age of the Titans and Cronus and Rhea took the throne of the world as king and queen.

Mount Olympus has 52 peaks and deep gorges.  Its highest peak is 9,572.60 feet tall and is one of the highest peaks in Europe.  The Titans Chronos mated with his older sister Rhea and had the first generation of Olympians: Zeus, Hades, Poseidon, Hestia, Demeter and Hera.  Each a personification of some aspect of the world or of human living.

In time, a ten-year series of battles, known as the War of the Gods or the Titanomachy, was fought in the region of Thessaly between most of the Titans in the south and the Olympians in the north.  Thessaly was a wide area from Mt. Olympus on the north to a major river south of Mt. Othrys.  The plains between the two mountain ranges were ideally suited for cultivating grains and cereals, while the foothills and mountains were suited to pastoralism.  Thessaly was home to extensive cultures in the Stone and Copper Ages some 6000-plus years ago.

The Titans were vanquished by the Olympians and were banished from the upper world and held imprisoned under guard in Tartarus (the subworld, or underworld), although apparently some Titans were allowed to remain free.  Thus the Titans “became” the gods of the subearthly or underworldly realms and the Olympians the gods of what exists above the earth, or heavenly realms.

Similarly, the An-unna-ki are a group of deities of the ancient Sumerians, Akkadians, Assyrians, and Babylonians.  In this pantheon they are descendants of An and Ki (An unna Ki) the god of the heavens and the goddess of earth whose primary function was to decree the fates of humanity.  

An overview of that bit of wisdom remains for another posting.

Want more on Greek Mythology?  Watch THIS 3 AND A HALF HOUR YOUTUBE  :-)