Uranus was a pre-Olympic Greek God and personification of the sky. Although mighty and well respected, he was not worshipped or considered significant. He also does not appear much in Greek mythology. Initially, his name was “Ouranos,” the word for sky or heaven. His mother and consort was Gaea, the Earth Goddess. He was eventually overthrown by his son, who also suffered the same fate as him.

1. Origin of Uranus

Although it is widely regarded that Uranus does not have a father, later records show that he was the son of an unknown “Akmon.” This could be why he was sometimes called “Akmonides.” Even later, records showed that his father was identified as Aether, the God of the shining light of the sky or the personification of the upper air.

However, it is mainly believed that Gaea is the only parent of Uranus. She created him to cover the Earth from all sides and to be a resting place for all the Gods. The Greeks imagined him to be a huge dome covering the world from all sides.

2. Children of Uranus

Uranus had 18 children with Gaea before he was castrated; these were the Titans, Cyclopes, and Hecatoncheires. After his castration by his son, Cronus, Gaea was pregnant again and gave birth to more of his children due to the drops of his blood that fell on her. The Erinnyes, Giants, and Meliads were born this way. His cut-off genitals, which fell into the ocean, then gave birth to Aphrodite.

Before his castration, Uranus hid all his children after they were born, as they were hideous, and he did not see their worth. He was also paranoid of his children turning against him, as they were mighty, which was another reason to hide them.

2.1. The Titans, Cyclopes, and Hecatoncheires

The Titans were the pre-Olympic Gods (the elder Gods). Cronus ruled the world after overthrowing his father, but he was eventually defeated by his son Zeus. There were twelve sons and six daughters, also called “titanides” or “titanesses.”

The cyclopes were giant, one-eyed creatures hidden away on the Earth by their father for their hideous looks. They were later released from the world by the Titans, only to be forced into Tartarus later by their brothers. Zeus and his siblings later released them after they had defeated their father, Cronus. As a thankful gesture for releasing them, they provided the Olympian Gods with their thunderbolts. This is how Poseidon got his trident and Hades his helm of invisibility.

The hecatoncheires were giant creatures with fifty heads and a hundred arms. Once again, Uranus despised their hideous appearance and feared their powers. Due to this, he hid them away in Tartarus, away from his sight. When Zeus and his siblings were fighting the Titans, they released these hecatoncheires from their prison, and in turn, they helped lock up the Titans in Tartarus. After this, they were tasked with being the prison wardens for eternity.

2.2. The Erinnyes, Giants, and Meliads

The Erinnyes, also called The Furies, were the three Goddesses who lived in the underworld. They were the Goddesses of Vengeance who brought justice to those wronged, as they were born after Uranus’s castration out of his vengeance.

The Giants were a race with incredible strength and were fearsome. They are well known for their battle against the Olympians. Despite what their name suggests, they were not necessarily gigantic. The giants, who often fought different Gods, were usually defeated with the help of a tool or weapon.

The Meliads (also known as Melia or Meliai) were the nymphs of the mountain ash tree. They were wives of the Silver Age and mothers of the Bronze Age. They fed their children honey sap and gave them spears made from mountain ash trees. However, the bronze age angered Zeus, and he destroyed them.

2.3. Aphrodite

His most beloved child, Aphrodite, was born from his genitals that were thrown into the sea. She rose from the foam formed by his cut-off genitals. She had no mother and was one of the most revered Goddesses.’

3. Siblings of Uranus

Gaea gave birth to Pontus and Ourea alongside Uranus. Pontus was a pre-Olympian personification of the sea, and it is widely believed that he did not have a father. However, just like Uranus, some records say he was also the son of Aether.

Although Ourea was born alongside Uranus and Pontus, there do not seem to be many sources that say they have a father. They are the children of Gaea, whom she had without Aether or another male deity. Ourea are the deities of the mountains, and there are ten of them, one for each hill.

4. Other Consorts of Uranus

He had other consorts besides Gaea, namely Hestia, Nyx, Hemera, and Clymene. There seems to be a lot of information about Clymene; it is unsure which of them would have been assumed to be his consort.

4.1. Hestia

Hestia was the Goddess of the hearth and an Olympian deity. She was also the daughter of Rhea and Cronus. She was swallowed by her father immediately after birth, and only when her brother Zeus defeated their father was she freed.

When Poseidon and Apollo fell in love with her, she would not have them and instead went to her brother Zeus and expressed her wish to remain a virgin forever. After this, her brother honored her to preside over all the sacrifices.

It isn’t apparent because if she remained a virgin, she couldn’t have been Uranus’s consort. She was also born after Uranus was cast in Tartarus. This is sometimes the case with mythology, as different accounts have wildly contrasting facts.

4.2. Nyx

Nyx was the female personification of the night. She was one of the creators and was even feared by Zeus, the King of Gods. She was the daughter of Chaos and the mother of several primordial powers, including sleep, death, nemesis, old age, and fates.

It is also said that her son is Uranus, whom she had with Phanes, a creator God (also her father). This again conflicts with our knowledge about Uranus and his parents.

4.3. Hemera

Hemera was the personification of the day. She was the daughter of Erebus, who was the personification of darkness, and Nyx, the personification of night. She was also the sister of Aether. Hesiod’s theogony identifies her with Eos, the personification of dawn.

According to some sources, like the Titanomachy, Hemera was the mother of Uranus, whom she had with Aether. Some sources also say she was the daughter of Helios, the personification of the Sun, and an unknown mother.

5. Depiction of Uranus

There are no depictions of Uranus in early Greek art, but the Greeks believed the sky to be a dome of brass, covering the Earth entirely on all sides. In the Roman era, he was depicted as the God of eternal time, Aion. He would hold the zodiac wheel while standing over Gaea (or Earth) while she was lying down.

However, based on depictions of Nut, the Goddess of the sky in Egyptian mythology, we can assume they would have imagined him covered with stars and arched over the Earth on all fours, forming a dome completely covering it.

6. Castration of Uranus

Every time Gaea gave birth, Uranus stole her children and hid them away on the Earth, thus returning them to the womb. This caused much pain and distress for Gaea, and she decided to do something about it. She created an adamantine sickle and tasked her children with destroying their father so they could be free.

All her children, except Cronus, hesitated to do the job. But Cronus managed to convince some of his brothers, who agreed to help, and Gaea prepared him for an ambush so that he could strike Uranus when he came to lie with her. Unaware of any of these plans, Uranus went to lie with his wife. Four titans came out and held him down while Cronus swung the sickle and castrated his father.

The blood that fell from his cut genitals fell on Gaea, and she conceived yet again and gave birth to many more races. And his severed genitals fell into the ocean, and from the foam came Aphrodite, the Goddess of love and fertility, who had no mother.

7. Bound By Fate: The Prophecy

After the castration, Cronus crowned himself as the world’s king. He imprisoned his father in Tartarus, the cyclopes in caves, and the hecatoncheires in caves. He took control of the Earth, the sky, and the ocean from their respective deities and ruled alone, trusting no one. His rule was called the Golden Age, as his subjects were happy and had no disease, sickness, or hardships.

His father had prophesied that Cronus’ children would be his downfall, just like how he caused his father’s downfall. He later married his sister, Rhea, and was haunted by the prophecy; he swallowed five children right after they were born.

Rhea was distraught by all of this and looked to her parents for help, as she did not want to lose another child. They advised her to travel to Crete, away from Cronus, and give birth. This is how she gave birth to Zeus, who eventually overthrew his father, thus fulfilling Uranus’ prophecy.

7.1. How Cronus met his fate

As Cronus feared the prophecy he heard from his father, he swallowed all his children right after they were born. A distressed Rhea looked to her parents for help, who advised her to travel to Crete to give birth to her child. Gaea also instructed her to look for a particular stone, which she did find. On the island, she met the she-goat Amalthea and the Melia, the nymphs of the ash tree, who were also Uranus’s children, who sprang from his blood.

Cronus traveled all over Greece to meet his brothers to ensure they would not plan to overthrow him. After he returned from one of these trips, Gaea pretended to give birth and gave the stone to Cronus, who, unaware that it was not her child, swallowed it. It was the particular stone that she wrapped in towels.

After this, she went to Crete and gave birth to Zeus. She left him in the care of the she-goat and the meliae and swore that Zeus would overthrow his father. She visited him often on Crete, and along with her friend Metis, the daughter of Oceanus and Tethys, they helped Zeus with preparations to overthrow his father.

Metis prepared a mixture of poppy juice, copper sulfate, and manna syrup, which he gave to his father. Once Cronus started drinking this, he threw up the stone and then his children, after which he passed out. Zeus attempted to behead his father but did not have the strength to wield his sickle. His siblings thanked him for freeing them and swore to be on his side.

Together, they overthrew their father, and thus Cronus met the same fate as his father, Uranus, and the prophecy was fulfilled. This is also how the Olympian age came to be.

8. Symbols

Uranus’s symbols were the zodiac wheel and the man. He was given the symbol of the zodiac wheel because he controlled the stars and, by extension, the zodiac. The symbol of the man was attributed to masculinity. This symbol was attributed to him until his fall, after which Ares, the God of war, took it up.

The other well-known symbol is the circle with the arrow and the dot in the middle. It is a combination of the symbols representing the Sun and Mars. It shows the masculine aspects of Mars and the light of the Sun, which falls from the heavens.

9. The Roman God Caelus

In Roman mythology, Caelus was the God of the sky. He was a primordial deity of great significance and power. He was also Uranus’s Roman counterpart. His name was similar to the Latin word Caelum, which means “heaven” or “sky,” which is where we get the English word “celestial” from. He was the son of Aether and Dies, which means day or daylight.

He was also castrated by his son, Saturn, who wanted to overthrow his father and gain power. However, it does not seem like he hid his children after they were born, nor does it seem like his consort, Tellus, the Earth Goddess, was involved in all of this. His castration led to the separation of the heavens and the Earth.

9.1. Depictions of Caelus

He was represented as a man holding a sky mantle, closely related to other celestial bodies, like the constellations and other phenomena. A cult also depicted him as an eagle covering the Earth, representing the starry sky.

9.2. The children of Caelus

Caelus was coupled with Terra, the Earth goddess, much like Uranus and Gaea. They are also called the “great deities.” Caelus and Dies were the parents of Mercury, who was the messenger of the Gods. He was also the father of Saturn (the Roman counterpart of Cronus), Janus, and Ops.

He was also the father of one of the forms of Jupiter; the others were Aether and Saturn. According to some sources, he is also the father of the Muses, along with Tellus, another personification of the Earth.

After Saturn castrated him, his cut-off genitals, which were thrown into the sea, gave rise to Venus, the Roman counterpart of Aphrodite.

10. His Egyptian counterpart

In Egyptian mythology, Nut is the personification of the sky. She is also the Goddess of the stars, cosmos, universe, and mothers. She is the daughter of Shu, the personification of air, and Tefnut, the personification of moisture. Her siblings are Isis, Osiris, Se, and Nephthys.

She was also the barrier between the Chaos and the cosmos. She was believed to have been arched over the Earth, and her feet and hands were positioned at the four cardinal points.

Initially, she was called the Goddess of the night sky, and later, she was referred to as the sky Goddess. She is also considered one of the oldest deities in Egyptian mythology. She is usually depicted with stars on her body, covering the Earth. She was also sometimes described as a cow with a water-pot on her head.

Her husband and brother Geb personified the Earth. Compared to other mythologies, this is an exciting switch, where the female deity usually represents the Earth and the male deity the sky.

10.1. Nut and Ra

Ra had ruled that Nut could give birth on any day of the year, and the year used to consist of only 360 days. Nut, who was not disheartened by all of this, consulted Thoth, the God of wisdom and made a plan. Thoth gambled with Khonsu, the God of the moon, whose light was as great as the light of Ra, the Sun God.

Every time the moon God lost, he had to give Nut peace of his moonlight. In this way, she collected enough moonlight to make five extra days, and as these days did not fall under the rule of Ra, she had five children on these days.

When Ra learned about this plan, he was infuriated. He forever separated Nut from her husband, Geb, and tasked her father, Shu, with keeping them apart. Even after all this, she never regretted her actions.

11. Conclusion

The creation myths of Greek, Roman, and Egyptian mythology are a world of knowledge waiting to be explored! It is exciting to see how so many different aspects of mythology connect and relate to each other!

There is so much more to ancient mythologies that is not mentioned here, and once you start looking them up, you will find yourself going down the rabbit hole of mythology!

Last Updated on March 23, 2024 by Khushahal Malakar