Gaea (Ge), the earth, and her son Uranus, the heavens, produced the Titans, among other beings. The Titans were the old gods who were supplanted by the Olympian gods. Their mother Gaea was probably a neolithic earth-mother who was pushed into the background by the patriarchal gods of the Indo-Europeans who invaded Greece during the second millennium B.C., but her worship persisted even into the Classical Age.
Cronus was the chief Titan, a ruling deity who obtained his power by castrating his father Uranus. Cronus married his sister Rhea, and together they produced the Olympian gods, whom Cronus swallowed at birth to prevent them from seizing the throne. His son Zeus defeated him and the other Titans and bound them in the underworld. Cronus' Latin name was Saturn.
Rhea was Cronus' wife. Vexed at having him swallow their children, she hid Zeus from him and gave him a stone to swallow instead.
Oceanus was the unending stream that encircled the world, a Titan, who with his wife Tethys produced the rivers and the three thousand ocean nymphs.
Hyperion was the Titan of light, the father of the sun, the moon, and the dawn.
Mnemosyne was the Titaness of memory and the mother of the Muses. Zeus fathered the Muses.
Themis was the Titaness of justice and order. She gave birth to the Fates and the seasons.
Iapetus was the Titan who fathered Prometheus, Epimetheus, and Atlas.
Other Titans include Coeus and Crius. Other Titanesses include Phoebe and Thea. Their attributes and functions were either forgotten or insignificant.
Like the original twelve Titans, their children and grandchildren were also called Titans.
Prometheus was the wisest Titan, a benefactor to mankind, whom he created. His name means "forethought." Originally an ally of Zeus, he later tricked Zeus and was chained in the Caucasus Mountains, where an eagle fed upon his liver daily.
Epimetheus was a stupid Titan whose name means "after-thought." He accepted the gift of Pandora from Zeus; and Pandora, the first woman, unleashed all the evils of the world on mankind.
Atlas, for warring against Zeus, was forced to bear the vault of the heavens upon his shoulders at the edge of the world.
