Rhea: Queen Supreme

My depiction of Rhea.

Rhea is undoubtedly one of the most important goddesses of the Titan generation. Aside from being known now as the 'Mother of the Gods', she was also Goddess of the Earth and at one time, a Queen of Heaven.

A 'Natural Woman'

One of the best songs by Aretha Franklin. One of the best phrases to describe Rhea, too.

As an original Titaness (the youngest of them), Rhea represented an aspect of her mother, Gaea, like her sisters. However, in contrast to their powers, she was affiliated with the earth and the natural world more than any one of them was.

Rhea was the goddess of fertility and fruitfulness: the unceasing producer of plant life, as well as the sustainer of the vegetable world. She became primarily responsible for the fertility of the soil-- a role which, I think, being the youngest daughter; she got as a favor from her mother.

Furthermore, she was also the goddess of fertility in womanhood. Her name means "flow" and "ease," Theoi Project says. In this guise, she represented the 'flow' of menstrual blood, birth waters (scientifically called Amniotic fluid, geek alert!), and of course, milk. A natural woman all the way!

In the Pelasgian myth, the goddess Eurynome even partnered Rhea with her brother Cronus (I think that became the start of their 'romantic?' relationship) to preside over the seventh day of the week, and the planet Saturn and its Essence, Peace. We will just have to find out later whatever happened to the two.

Aside from being a nature divinity and a keeper of peace, the goddess also did some part-time job during her single and carefree days. According to Paleothea, she:

... sat outside the house of Nyx beating a bronze drum and making sure all humans were paying attention the oracle of the goddess.

Lady Night must've allocated a lot of funds for the marketing of her oracle; having a Titan royalty for an endorser and all. Or, Rhea had just volunteered to help in her aunt's business. One of the perks of the job, though, is Nyx teaching her serious and secret magic.

Source: click here

How Rhea won Mrs. Universe

Rhea had traveled a long and rather 'wrong' road to the crown. Not that she wanted it; but it's what the situations called for. Let's recount the steps on how she became Queen of Heaven.

Her brother's marriage (with her) 

Rhea must have been in love with her youngest Titan brother Cronus for a long time already; but her marriage to him happened only after the infamous castration of Uranus. Back then, Cronus was everyone's hero, who battled for equality, and freed the world from prejudice. 

(That was in reference to Uranus' supposed hatred against his ugly sons--the Hecatonchires and the Cyclopes. If the Titans only knew, Cronus has his personal intentions as well.)

Naturally, all the girls wanted him; but Cronus (who I think was in love with Rhea as well) chose her to be his wife. Rhea thought it was destiny's will, and that dreams do come true. (In the end, it proved to be a nightmare rather than a dream.)

The two begot some beautiful and pretty powerful children:

1. Hestia, fire goddess;
2. Demeter, vegetation goddess;
3. Hades, god of riches;
4. Poseidon, god of earthquakes; and
5. Hera, air goddess.

(NOTE: Those, I believe, were their functions before they became known as the Great Olympians. I've found no reliable reference for this one, though. Just my idea.)

Because of them, Rhea came to be known as Meter Megale and Meter Theon; the Great Mother and the Mother of the Gods.

The family feud

(ANOTHER NOTE: This is my attempt--a rather desperate one--to reconcile conflicting myths about the lordship of the cosmos. Again, no reliable sources found. Be aware.)

The pair did not immediately become king and queen after they deposed Uranus. They still had to get rid of Eurynome, the A-list goddess who assumed the king's role after his 'accident' (it's MY idea. I really have to explain this soon), and her consort, Ophion. Cunning as he had always been, Cronus devised a plan to get the throne--a one on one battle against the couple:

CRONUS vs. OPHION

RHEA vs. EURYNOME

I don't know how Cronus persuaded Rhea to fight beside him against the two. But surely, Rhea had the guts to wrestle with a supreme goddess. Finally, the younger ones defeated the oldies and got hold of their positions as King and Queen of Heaven. As for the losers, they got thrown either to the Ocean or Tartarus.

Rhea must have learned to like the title for herself.

The Golden Age (or not?)

A manga depiction of Cronus and Rhea by Zelda Wang.  Read it here.

The reign of Cronus and Rhea was thereafter known as the GOLDEN AGE, a period of peace and plenty. I have read in Ancient Greek Beliefs by Perry Westmoreland that:

Men of the Golden Age live like gods in tranquility on earth, and they have good relations with the gods and each other...

And more good things were said after that. Blah... blah... blah... However, in Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, it is said that:

The Golden Age was described as just propaganda by Kronos (Cronus) as in truth he used humans as either cheap entertainment or as a light snack. It's said it was only after Zeus overthrew Kronos (Cronus) and Prometheus gave man fire that they began to rise into Western Civilization. (Source)

Everyone's got an opinion. How about you? What do you think of the Golden Age?

Why Rhea never loved Cronus anymore

Cronus Devouring One Of His Sons
Goya, oil on canvas, 1820-23
Prado Museum, Madrid

Titan marriages have been proven work really well (say Oceanus and Tethys, Hyperion and Theia, Coeus and Phoebe) but Rhea's was an isolated case. And it involved the fate of the world and her children.

The case. Cronus heard through the grapevine about Themis' prophecy concerning the fall of the Titans. Of course, as the top Titan, he didn't at all like the sound of the word fall. He had nightmares about it; he overthought about it; and it drove him nuts. To have his peace of mind, he finally ordered Rhea to bring all of their children to him to devour their Essences (their life force).

(I opted for a milder version because I am still disgusted with the father-eats his-children thing. Just look at the picture. Yuck.)

After that, all five children became nothing but limp vegetables whose bodies were caged in different parts of the cosmos. Here's what I think:

• Hestia in Othrys (the Titans' palace);
• Demeter on Earth;
• Hades in the Underworld;
• Poseidon in the Sea*; and
• Hera in the Ocean*.

*I pointed out in my Tethys article my invented difference between the realms of the Sea and Ocean; the former being marine and the latter estuarine.

Rhea's resolve. Rhea got really mad with what her husband did to their children. When she became pregnant with Zeus, her sixth child, she must have thought,

"I've had enough! Screw him and his glycerin rich diet"

So, she went to ask her mother Gaea to ask for help. And the two goddesses were on their way to raising the supreme god of Greek mythology.

There are so many variations to this myth and so many characters, too. But here's the gist I got from greekgods.org:

Rhea was very much like her mother and loved her children unconditionally, but unfortunately Cronus was like his father, jealous of his children`s powers and in fear of being overthrown. She became mad when Cronus forced her to give him their children to swallow upon their birth. She started plotting against him and by the time he had swallowed Hestia, Hera, Poseidon, Hades, and Demeter, Rhea decided that enough is enough. She gave birth to her last child Zeus in secrecy and gave Cronus a rock, wrapped in a blanket, to swallow instead. Cronus was pleased, not knowing that Zeus was still out there, and thought he was safe from the prophecy. Zeus however, when grown up, came to Mount Othrys as a cupbearer and mixed a potion into Cronus` drink which made him to vomit all of his children. Later in a ten-year war, Zeus and Olympians defeated Cronus and the Titans. They became the next rulers, just like Cronus and his brothers had overthrown Uranus. Rhea in the end was the main reason that history repeated itself.

It is not mentioned there that Rhea enlisted the Curetes, shield clashing daemons, and the nymphs (whose names greatly differ) to help in the baby sitting. I am also guessing that the youthful Zeus went under the alias Welchanos during his service to Cronus as a cupbearer. (Source)

When Cronus learned of Rhea's trick; he exiled her from the heavenly realms FOREVER and got himself a concubine, the Oceanid Philyra, with whom he begot the wise centaur Chiron.

As events showed, Zeus defeated Cronus in a ten year battle and the top Titan was... (poof!)... gone.

Good goddess gone 'wild'?

As a result of Cronus' curse on her, she can't be with her now bigwig children up on Mount Olympus. With nothing else to do, she wandered the mountains and glens losing her care for the world.  She stayed on caverns, which thereafter became sacred to her, and exercised unbounded sway over all animal creation, especially the lions. It is in this guise that the Phrygians came to know her as the goddess Cybele.

She finally retired to her own fabulous palace at the peak of Mount Dindymene in Phrygia, apart from the gods. The Curetes, who were her son's babysitters, served as her attendants. Clashing their cymbals, they partied every night with the Corybantes, Rhea-Cybele's orgiastic dancers.

Once when she had her house warming party where all the gods were invited, her daughter Hestia ALMOST got raped by the pervy Priapus! But that will be on another article.

A second chance in love? A looooong time after the Titanomachy, Rhea (as Cybele or Agdistis) met the beautiful long-haired godling Attis. The two were quite into each other but the foster parents of Attis sent him to Pessinos, where he was to wed the king's daughter. Just as the marriage-song was being sung, Cybele appeared in her transcendent power, and Attis went mad and cut off his genitals. Attis' father-in-law-to-be, the king who was giving his daughter in marriage, followed suit, prefiguring the self-castrating Corybantes who devoted themselves to Cybele. But Cybele repented and saw to it that the body of Attis should neither rot at all nor decay.

And thus ends her short-lived second love story.

Oops, her name is Ops. Sorry for the bad pun. Hehe. Rhea still remained one of the top gods in spite of her not joining the others' company. In Rome, she was known as Ops, the goddess of plenty and fertility. In this guise, she was attended to by the very Roman god Consus (because he has no definite Greek counterpart, that is).

Finally, Rhea in Saturn

Source: click here

Of all the possible means and mediums, it was modern science that finally got to reunite the original couple.

Rhea became the name of Saturn's (Cronus) second largest moon, discovered by Cassini. Read more about it here.

(And should I also mention that rhea also became the name of a bird, a frog and a plant? Makes so much sense for an earth goddess.)