| Rhea | |
|---|---|
| Title | |
| Titan Queen of the Heavens | |
| Titaness of Fertility, Generation and Blessing | |
| Titaness of Comfort and Motherhood | |
| Vital Statistics | |
| Gender | Female |
| Family | |
| Status | Immortal |
| Eye Color | Any color |
| Hair Color | Any color |
| Height | Any height |
| Other | |
| Affiliation | |
| Weapons |
Unknown |
| Species | Titaness |
| Home |
Unknown |
| Greek/Roman form | Ops (Roman) |
| Appearances |
None |
| Actor | None |
| Quests |
None |
Rhea (Ῥέα in Ancient Greek) is the mother of the Olympian gods, queen of the Titans, daughter to Gaea and Ouranos. Her Roman form is Ops. Rhea was the wife to Kronos and mother to Demeter, Hades, Hera, Hestia, Poseidon, and Zeus. Her fate is unknown after the First Olympian War.
History[]
Rhea was a daughter born to Gaea and Ouranos. Kronos, Rhea's Titan brother and husband, castrated their father, Ouranos, chopping him to peices and throwing him into the sea. After this, Kronos had the Hekatonkheires re-imprisoned, along with the Gigantes and the Cyclopes, and set the monster Kampe to guard them. He and Rhea took the throne as King and Queen of the Titans. This time was called the Golden Age. Kronos sired six children by Rhea in the exact order: Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades, Poseidon, and Zeus Zeus, her youngest son. but swallowed most of them as soon as they were born, since he had learned from Gaea that he was destined to be overcome by one of his own children as he had overthrown his own father.
When Zeus was about to be born, however, Rhea sought out Gaea to devise a plan to save him, so that Kronos would get his retribution for his acts against Ouranos and his own children. Rhea gave birth to Zeus in Crete, handing Kronos a stone wrapped in swaddling clothes, which he promptly swallowed. Then she hid Zeus in a cave on Mount Ida in Crete. He was brought there by his grandmother Gaea, and was raised there by nymphs until he was old enough to take on his father.
Zeus forced his father Kronos to disgorge his siblings in reverse order of swallowing: first the stone, then Zeus' siblings. In some versions, Zeus and Rhea concocted a potion and gave it to Kronos to make him to disgorge the babies or Zeus cut Kronos' stomach open. Then Zeus released the brothers of Kronos: the Gigantes, the Hekatonkheires, and the Cyclopes, who gave him thunder and lightning, which had previously been hidden by Gaea. Zeus and his siblings, together with the Gigantes, Hekatonkheires, and Cyclopes, began their decade long war against the Titans and overthrew Kronos and his siblings.
After the first war it's commonly said that Rhea made some demands to be kept as queen of gods and to have a throne in Mount Olympus. Zeus promtptly refused all of them and outraged she ran, with her hounds, to the woods, close to Mt. Othrys. Beyond that, nothing is known.
Most often Rhea's symbol is a pair of lions, the ones that pulled her celestial chariot, and were seen often, rampant, one on either side of the gateways through the walls to many cities in the ancient world. The one at Mycenae is most characteristic, with the lions placed on either side of a pillar that symbolizes the Titaness.
Appearance[]
Ops[]
Main Article: Ops
Personality[]
Trivia[]
- The stone that Kronos disgorged was set down at Pytho under the glens of Parnassus to be a sign to mortal men
- A moon of Saturn is named after Rhea. It is the ninth-largest moon in the Solar System.
- Rhea's daughter Hera's name is an anagram of hers.
- Rhea is the Grandmother of The Poseidon's Cabin, and Demeter's Cabin, Hades' Cabin, Zeus' Cabin, Hera's Cabin