Battle+of+the+gods+and+titans+(Titanomochy)

Titanomochy- The Battle of the Gods and Titans The Titanomochy was a 10 year war between the Gods and the Titans before the existence of man-kind. Even though this war happened right before the human race was created, the reason it stared began many years previous to it, very near Creation. Kronos was born from Uranos, heaven, and Gaia, mother earth. Because Uranos threw his other children, Hecatonchires and Cyclopse, into Tartarus, Gaia sought for revenge, and came up with a Sickle so Kronos could fight his father, and when he won, he took over power. From Uranos's blood, Aphrodite sprang out of the foam of the sea. Kronos vowed that his children would never rebel on him like he did to his father, so whenever he and his wife, Rhea, had children, he swallowed them. However, Rhea didn't like this because she wanted babies to play with, so when a child named Zeus was born, she hid him on the island of Crete, until he would grow up so they could get revenge on his father. When Zeus was old enough, his mother told him of what happened, and together they devised a plan. Rhea gave Kronos an strong dose of medicine so he would throw up all of Zeus' other brothers and sisters. The siblings then battled against their father Kronos, just as he had done to his own father. There were many battles that were fought in Thessaly, and eventually, Kronos lost the war. He was cast down into Tartarus, a place down in the underworld where he could not escape. Atlas, a titan leader, had the buden of holding up the sky, which he did for a long time. The gods then reined on Mount. Olympus with their newly assumed power. They soon became known as The Twelve Olympian Gods, which was the new generation after the Titans.



Relation to The Lightning Thief The Titanomochy was mentioned in the Lightning Thief some because it was what made the gods come to be, and the book is all about gods and demi-gods. It is also the foundation for at the end why Kronos is in Tartarus, and why Zeus has his lightning bolt, because at the end of the war he was made god of the sky. Since Percy is "The Lightning Thief," and supposedly stole Zeus' master bolt, this relates to the story line.

Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titanomachy  Riordan, Rick. //The Lightning Thief//. New York: Hyperion Books, 2006. Rouse, WHD. //Gods, Heroes, and Men of Ancient Greece//. New York: New American Library, 2001**.**