Event

The Swallowing of the Children

Cronus swallows five children because of a succession prophecy, until Rhea and Zeus reverse the act.

MythWeave AI-assisted editorial illustration, portrait v2

Overview

Gaia and Uranus foretell that Cronus will lose royal honour to his own child, so he swallows each child Rhea bears. Rhea entrusts the youngest, Zeus, to Gaia for concealment and presents a swaddled stone instead. Hesiod attributes the release to Gaia’s counsels and Zeus’s arts and might; Pseudo-Apollodorus separately gives Metis’s drug.

Key facts

Preventing succession by swallowing

Because of Gaia and Uranus’s prophecy, Cronus swallows the children one by one as they are born.

Further spoiler details are available in the interactive atlas.

Relationships

Cronusswallows his children
Because of a succession prophecy, Cronus swallows five children as they are born.
Hestiais swallowed in
Hestia is the first child swallowed by Cronus.
Demeteris swallowed in
Demeter is swallowed by Cronus after her birth.
Herais swallowed in
Hera is swallowed by Cronus after her birth.
Hadesis swallowed in
Hades is swallowed by Cronus after his birth.
Poseidonis swallowed in
Poseidon is swallowed by Cronus after his birth.

Story appearances

Birth of the GodsEvent connecting prophecy, swallowing and reversal
It links five child victims, Rhea’s stone substitution and the release brought about by Zeus into one succession crisis.
The TitanomachySuccession crisis preceding the war
Succession crisis preceding the war within the struggle between the older Titans and Zeus' side.

Ancient sources

MythWeave distinguishes ancient-source evidence from later adaptations and modern interpretation.

Open in the interactive atlas →