The Titans- Second Generation

Atlas from God of War

Atlas- The son of Iapetus and the Okeanid Asia or Klymene, and brother to Prometheus, Epimetheus, and Menoetius. Hyginus made him a son of Gaia and Aether. He, with other Titans, fought against the Olympians in Titanomachy and as punishment he had to hold up the sky (Ouranos). It is a common misconception that he holds up the earth because he was pictured holding up the celestial sphere, a sphere which contained the universe.

One story says Atlas was turned to stone by Perseus carrying the head of Medusa when Atlas tried to drive him away because a prophecy told him that a son of Zeus would steal the golden apples he guarded. This is in contrast to a story when Perseus' descendant Heracles has to fetch the golden apples of the Hesperides as one of his labours. He encounters Atlas who fetches the apples and gets Heracles to hold the sky while he does. When he returns he refuses to take his burden back, Heracles tricks him into it by asking him to hold it whilst he fixes his cloak. Sometimes he helps Atlas by building two pillars to take the strain of Ouranos.

With the Okeanid Pleione he was father to the Pleiades, seven in number they followed Artemis and were pursued by Orion. They were either turned into doves then stars by Zeus to escape Orion or because they committed suicide at the loss of their father and/or their siblings Hyas and the Hyades. They were- Maia (Hermes' mother), Electra (mother to Dardanus and Iasion by Zeus), Taygete (mother to Lacedaemon by Zeus), Alcyone (mother to Hyrieus, Hyperenor and Aethusa by Poseidon), Celaeno (mother to Lycus and Eurypylus by Poseidon), Sterope/Asterope (mother of Oenomaus by Ares), and Merope (wife to Sisyphus).
The Hyades were his daughters by Pleione or Aethra, another Oceanid, they were nymphs of the rain and died in grief and were turned into stars after the death of their brother Hyas. They were- Aesyle/Phaesyle, Ambrosia, Cleeia, Coronis, Eudora, Pedile, Phaeo/Phaeote, Phyto, and Polyxo. They may have been tutors to Dionysus. Hyas was his son by Pleione or Aethra, he was an archer slain by a lion, boar or serpent, his sisters the Hyades died mourning him.
The Hesperides, the evening nymphs who tended Hera's garden of  golden apples with the dragon Ladon were sometimes thought to be daughters of Atlas. Alternatively, they were daughters of Nyx and Erebus, Zeus, Hesperius, Themis or Phorcys and Ceto. They were named- Aegle, Arethusa, Erytheia/Erytheis and Hesperia.
The nymph Calypso who held Odysseus on her island for years, wanting him to be her immortal husband, was thought to be a daughter, though she may have been a child of Okeanos and Tethys or Nereus and Doris. She sung and worked the loom and set Odysseus free only when Hermes bid her to do so.
The goddess Dione was another daughter. She was sometimes considered to be the mother of Aphrodite, with Zeus. She was also wife to Tantalus and with him mother to Pelops, who he killed and whom was resurrected by the Moirae, and Niobe who brought the wrath of Artemis and Apollo on her children through vanity, and the ugly hunter Broteas. Alternatively, Dione was a nymph.
Maera/Maira was another daughter, a nymph who married Lycaon's son Tegeates.

Prometheus- Another son of Iapetus and Asia or Klymene, brother to Atlas, Epimetheus and Menoetius. He is best known for giving man fire against Zeus' wishes. With his brother Epimetheus he turned on the Titans and sided with the Olympians during Titanomachy. He is viewed as a trickster and a Titan of forethought.

Hesiod says he tricked Zeus when it came to what mortals should sacrifice by putting beef inside an ox's stomach and wrapping its bones in fat and getting Zeus to choose between the two, which sacrifice he preferred. Zeus chose the latter and as a result mankind got to keep the better sacrifice for themselves. In anger Zeus kept fire back from them. Prometheus gave the fire to man and Zeus had him chained to a rock as a result with an eagle to daily eat his liver, which regenerated at night. He remained this way until Heracles saved him.

Some say Prometheus also created man from clay. He is also the brother-in-law of Pandora the first woman and he warned his brother Epimetheus in vain not to accept her.

He had a son, Deucalion, with an Okeanid, Hesione/Pronoea/Pronoia, or the Okeanid Asia/Asie, who married his cousin Pyrrha, Epimetheus and Pandora's daughter, and with her repopulated the earth after the deluge. He also had a daughter, Aidos/Aedos, the goddess of shame, modesty and humility, a companion of Nemesis.

Aeschylus wrote the tragedy Prometheus Unbound about him. In it he included Io visiting him on her wanderings as a cow, and Gaia telling him of a prophecy that Zeus would be overthrown by his son. Usually it is Themis who warns Zeus of this, and it is in reference to Thetis, who Zeus and Poseidon were courting.

Pseudo-Apollodorus says it was Prometheus who freed Athena from Zeus' skull, alternatively it was Hephaestus.

Epimetheus- Another son of Iapetus and Asia/Klymene and brother to Atlas, Prometheus and Menoetius. He was closest to Prometheus and was seen as the Titan of afterthought, a rather naive and foolish being. He fought with the Olympians during Titanomachy.

He and Prometheus gave animals their traits but lacking foresight he forgot humans, which was why Prometheus had to steal fire for them.

He married Pandora, the first woman, against Prometheus' warnings and with her had a daughter, Pyrrha, who married her cousin Deucalion. The pair were the only ones to survive the deluge and together repopulated the earth.

Ephyra was a daughter or another wife, in which case she was an Okeanid.

Prophasis the daemon of excuses was another daughter.

Menoetius/Menoitios- A son of Iapetus and Asia/Klymene and brother to Atlas, Prometheus and Epimentheus. Like his brother Atlas he fought against the Olympians during Titanomachy. As a result Zeus killed him with a lightning bolt. He is given as a Titan of rash actions and violent anger. He may have been the same Menoetius who was a herdsman of Hades' cattle.

Eos- Titan goddess of the dawn, daughter to Hyperion and Theia, and sister to Helios and Selene. She is described as having a saffron or flowery cloak, rosy fingers and wings and a crown. Her home was at the edge of Okeanos.

Homer gave her the title Erigeneia (early-born) and named her horses Firebright and Daybright. Quintus Smyrnaeus called her horses Lampos and Phaithon, and pictured her flying through the sky with the Horae leaving sparks of fire in her wake.

With Tithonus, son of the Trojan king Laomedon and brother to future king Priam, she had two sons- Memnon and Emathion. When she asked Zeus to grant the mortal Tithonus immortality he agreed but he did not given him youth, and so he aged and lost his mind. Eos then shut him away or turned him into a cicada. Memnon died in the Trojan War and Emathion was killed by Heracles.

She took Cephalus, son of Hermes and Herse, for a lover and with him had the sons Phaëthon, Tithonos, and perhaps Hesperus. Cephalus wanted to be returned to his wife Procris, Eos grudgingly returned him but only after implying that Procris had been unfaithful to him. He returned in disguise and successfully seduced her. She fled but returned with a javelin that would never miss its target and a hound, Laelaps, that would never miss its prey. Procris then thought Cephalus was being unfaithful as he took solitude to pray to Nephele, a cloud deity, and when he heard her rustling in the bushes spying on him, thinking it was a predator, he threw his javelin and she was killed. He remarried and eventually committed suicide.
Phaethon was kidnapped by Aphrodite as a child to be the night guard of her shrines. Hesperus is the evening star, and more likely a son of Cleitus as he is said to be the brother of Phosphorus the morning star. He fathered Ceyx the King of Thessaly who married Halcyone, they called themselves Zeus and Hera and were killed for their insolence. Alternatively, he died and warned Halcyone in the form of a ghost, the gods then turned them into halcyone birds. Daedalion was another son of Hesperus, he fathered Chione who Apollo and Hermes both loved, when Artemis killed her Daedalion threw himself of a cliff in grief and Apollo turned him into a hawk.

She also abducted Cleitus/Kleitos because he was beautiful and with him had Coeranus/Koiranos. Eos had Cleitus made immortal.

She is also thought to have taken Orion, Zeus and Ares as lovers. It is thought that the reason for her numerous lovers was punishment from Aphrodite for Eos having slept with Ares.

Eos married Astraeus, the Titan god of dusk, and with him sired the four wind gods Boreas, Notus, Eurus, and Zephyrus, the planets Phainon (Saturn), Phaethon (Jupiter), Pyroeis (Mars), Eosphoros/Hesperos/Hesperus (Venus), and Stilbon (Mercury) and the morning star Phosphorus.

Her Roman counterpart was Aurora, her siblings were Sol and Luna and she was usually the daughter of Hyperion, but sometimes Pallas. She was linked to the Latin dawn goddess Mater Matuta, she was associated with sea ports and harbours.


Helios/Helius/Sol- son of Hyperion and Theia, brother to Eos and Selene. The Titan god of the sun. He wore a crown and drove a chariot pulled by the stallions Pyrois, Aeos, Aethon, and Phlegon. He was known as all seeing and told Hephaestus that his wife Aphrodite was cheating on him with Ares, and Demeter that Hades abducted Persephone.

When Odysseus' men ate his sacred cattle he beseeched Zeus to punish them and all but Odysseus were killed.

He turned Poseidon's lover Nerites into a shellfish either because he wanted Nerites to be his lover and was turned down, or because he was jealous of the charioteering skills Poseidon had gifted him with. Alternatively, Nerites was a lover of Aphrodite before she went to Olympus and when she ascended she tried to bring him with her but he refused so she gifted him with wings but he still refused so she turned him into a shellfish. He was a beautiful son of Nereus and Doris who was considered a minor sea deity.

Arge was a huntress who boasted she would catch a stag even if it ran as fast as Helios' chariot. In anger Helios turned her into a doe.

With the Naiad Aegle/Aigle he fathered the three Charites, Aglaea, Euphrosyne and Thalia.
With the Okeanid Clymene/Klymene he fathered the five Heliades, the ill-fated Phaëton and Astris, a nymph and one of the Heliadaes. Phaëton was bullied because his companions did not believe his father really was Helios, and after pressure from Clymene Helios finally agreed to let Phaëton take his chariot and pull the sun to prove his heritage. The chariot went out of control however and to stop the earth being singed, Zeus shot him down. The Heliades mourned him and were turned into poplar trees in their grief and their tears to amber.  Sometimes the Okeanid Ceto/Keto is given as the mother of Astris/Asteria, a star nymph.

Clymene was thought to be his wife, Nonnus said his nephew Eosphoros sung a bridal song and his sister Selene sent her beams to light the way at the wedding.

With the nymph Neaera/Neaira, he had two daughters, Phaethusa and Lampetia, who guarded his cattle.

With the Okeanid Rhode, he had the nine Heliadae, and Electryone/Elektryone, a daughter.

By the Okeanid Perse, he had Aegea, Aeëtes (father of Medea), Circe (a powerful sorceress goddess), Pasiphaë (Minos' wife and mother to the Minotaur), and Perses.

With the Okeanid Ocyrrhoe/Okyrhoe he fathered the river god Phasis.

He may have fathered Augeas/Aegeas/Augeias with the princess of Elis, Nausidame, alternatively Poseidon was his father or Phorbas and Hyrmine were his parents. Augeas was a king of Elis and possibly an Argonaut who owned divine cattle that numbered a thousand and had not had their stables cleaned in thirty years until Heracles had to do so for his Fifth Labour. Heracles accomplished this by diverting two rivers. Augeas had promised Heracles a tenth of his cattle in exchange for the stables being cleaned but he either refused to honour this without reason or because he learned that Heracles had already been instructed to clean the stables, and Heracles killed him.

Sometimes he is said to be the father of the Horai/Horae with Selene, but usually they are the daughters of Themis and Zeus.

Ichnaea/Ikhnaie was another daughter, a goddess of tracing who also had an oracle in Thessaly.

Aloeus was another son and king of Sicyon.

Phorbas was another son.


Anaxibia was a naiad who fled from his advances and was rescued by Artemis, who hid her in her sanctuary beneath Mount Koryphe.

Clytie/Clytia/Klytie/Klytia was an Okeanid who loved Helios or Apollo but her love was unrequited. She sat naked without food or water for nine days watching the sun. She was transformed into a sunflower or a Heliotropium/Heliotrope/Turnsole.

Leucothea/Leukothoe/Leukothea/Leucothoe was a princess of Persia loved by Helios who entered her chamber in disguise as her mother. Her sister Clytia was jealous and told their father Orchamus of the liaison. Orchamus buried Leucothea alive despite her claims that Helios had forced her to submit to him. Helios turned Leucothea into an incense plant and ignored Clytia's love, refusing to forgive her. Clytia then turned into a heliotrope plant. Whether Clytia was meant to be the same as the Okeanid or they just shared names is uncertain.

He lent his golden cup to Heracles when he needed to sail to Erytheia to get the cattle of Geryon. He did this after Heracles fired an arrow at him because of the heat but then apologised, Heracles awarded him his cup in admiration for his boldness.

When Orion was blinded by Oenopion for trying to rape his daughter Merope he was guided by Hephaestus' servant Cedalion to Helios who cured him of his blindness.

He carried his daughter Circe/Kirke in his chariot to Aeaena where she stayed.

He gave his son Aeetes, Circe's brother, a golden palace, a golden chariot, and let him ride in his chariot.

After her husband Jason betrayed her and she killed their sons and Glauce, the woman he abandoned her for, Helios' granddaughter Medea escaped Corinth and Jason in a chariot pulled by dragons that Helios sent her.

When Zeus divided the land up amongst the gods he forgot Helios, when Helios voiced his rage Zeus either refused to recast lots because it would upset the other gods or Helios told him not to because he had already picked his land. This was the island Rhodes which had just risen out of the sea. The Colossus of Rhodes, one of the Ancient Seven Wonders of the World, was here, it was a statue of Helios.

He and Poseidon competed over Corinth, the Hecatonchire Briareos settled the dispute by awarding Helios the acropolis and Poseidon the Isthmus and the rest of the land.

Helios was depicted as a young man in purple robes with a radiant light or crown about his head. White horses, sheep and cattle were sacrificed to him and the rooster and wolf were sacred to him. The heliotrope, poplar tree and frankincense were his sacred plants.

His Roman counterpart was Sol Invictus, that is Sol Unconquered. Sol may have been a reinvention of the Syrian god Elagabalus. He was briefly known as Sol Indiges (the invoked sun). He was associated with the Roman god Janus and his counterpart was Jana the Moon, another version of Diana. He was linked to Mithras.

Selene/Luna- daughter of Hyperion and Theia, and sister to Helios and Eos. Sometimes she and Eos are said to be daughters of the Titan Pallas. She was the Titan goddess of the moon. She is most famous for falling in love with the mortal king of Elis Endymion, said to be a son of Zeus, and asking Zeus to grant him eternal sleep so that he would remain young and handsome and so that she could always look on him, Zeus consented. Alternatively, Endymion asked for this fate or Hypnos, who loved him, placed him in an eternal sleep. With Endymion she had fifty daughters, the Menae and possibly Narcissus/Narkissos who fell in love with himself and died of starvation and spurned Echo. Sometimes Narcissus is the son of Cephisus/Kephisos a river god and the Naiad Liriope.

With Zeus she had a daughter Pandia, a goddess of the full moon, Nemea, usually seen as a Naiad and the daughter of the river god Asopus/Asopos, and Herse/Ersa the goddess of dew, and perhaps a son, the Nemean lion, who may have been an offspring of the Chimera or Orthus and Echidna.
Sometimes she is said to be the mother of Horai/Horae with Helios, though usually their parents are Themis and Zeus.

Pan seduced her by wrapping himself in a sheepskin or turning into a white ram and gifted her with the white oxen that pull her chariot.

When Ampelos, the satyr lover of Dionysus, boasted to Selene of his ability to ride a wild bull she sent a gadfly to attack the bull. The bull went mad and gored Ampelos to death. Dionysus turned him into a grape vine. Alternatively, he slipped and died while picking grapes.

Typhon threw bulls at Selene causing the cows pulling her chariot to go of course. Selene grabbed the bull by the horns ending its attack. The bull left the crescent or horns on her head scarred. Typhon also flung stones at her chariot but they missed.

With Hecate and Artemis she was part of a trinity, a triple goddess.

Nonnus said she was a goddess of madness who aided Dionysus.

Selene was depicted as a beautiful woman with pale skin, long, dark hair, wings, a golden diadem and occasionally horns or a moon in the centre of her forehead. She rode a silver chariot pulled by two white oxen, horses, mules, or dragons. Sometimes she rode a mule, horse or cow and was veiled and had a crescent moon in the centre of her forehead.

Her Roman counterpart was Luna, who was part of a trinity with Trivia/Hecate and Proserpina/Persephone. She was linked to agriculture as well as the moon and was closely associated with the moon goddesses Juno and Diana. She was depicted on a two-yoke chariot pulled by horses or oxen.

Leto/Latona- was the daughter of Coeus and Phoebe, and sister to Asteria. A goddess of motherhood and either the night or the light of day. She is most famous for having Artemis and Apollo to Zeus. Hera made all lands shun her when she was pregnant, and it was only at Delos, which was a floating island, that she was able to give birth. Delos was said to be her sister Asteria who after plunging into the oceans in the form of a quail to escape Zeus then took the form of this island. She was pursued by the dragon Python who was later killed by Apollo at Delphi.

Niobe, a Theban queen, insulted her by saying she had more children, fourteen. Apollo killed her sons and Artemis her daughters in response to this insult to her daughters. Niobe's husband Amphion killed himself and Niobe turned to stone.

At Lycia she tried either to drink from a pond or bathe her children off it but the peasants there either stirred the mud at the bottom to prevent her or shooed her off so that their cattle could drink there. She was guided to the river Xanthos by wolves to drink/bathe her children there. She then returned to the peasants and turned them into frogs.

The giant Tityus/Tityos tried to assault her on her way to Delphi and was slew by Apollo's arrows. In Tartarus two vultures fed from his liver, which regenerated.

She is usually seen accompaning her daughter Artemis on hunting trips.

When Apollo killed the Cyclopes who made Zeus' lightning bolts in retaliation for Zeus killing his son Asclepius who was keeping too many from the Underworld with his healing powers, it was Leto who begged Zeus to show Apollo leniency. So Apollo was made King Admetus' servant for a year instead of being banished to Tartarus.

Galatea was told by her husband Lamprus when she was pregnant that if it was female he would not accept it. Galatea had a daughter while he was tending cattle but raised her, Leucippus, as a boy. When it became too difficult to conceal her gender as she grew, Galatea went to Leto's temple and prayed to her to turn her daughter into a son. Leto answered her prayers and transformed Leucippus into a male.

Leto was said to dress conservatively with a veil and the cockerel was sacred to her. The Romans renamed her Latona.

Asteria- the daughter of Coeus and Phoebe, and sister to Leto. The Titan goddess of prophetic dreams and astrology, with the Titan Perses, she had one daughter, Hecate/Hekate. She became a quail to avoid Zeus' advances. She supposedly became the island Delos that Leto gave birth on.

Metis- a daughter of Oceanus/Okeanos and Tethys and therefore an Okeanid. A goddess of wisdom she was Zeus' first consort and was seen as his equal, and advised him during Titanomachy. When she became pregnant he feared that she would birth a son to overthrow him, so he turned her into a fly and swallowed her. Inside him, their daughter Athena grew until she came out fully grown and armoured from his head when Hephaestus split it open to ease his pain. Inside Zeus she made a helmet and cloak for her daughter.

Plato gives her another child, Porus/Poros the daemon of expediency. Plato says he got drunk at Aphrodite's birthday and Penia (famine), wanting a child, took advantage of him and conceived Eros by him.

Astraeus/Astraeos/Astraios- a son of Crius and Eurybia, he was the brother of Pallas and Perses. The Titan god of the dusk, the starts and planets. He was married to Eos, Titan goddess of the dawn, and with her had many children- the four winds Boreas, Notus, Eurus, and Zephyrus; the Astra Planeta (Wandering Stars)- Phainon (Saturn), Phaethon (Jupiter), Pyroeis (Mars), Eosphoros/Hesperos (Venus), and Stilbon (Mercury), and possibly a daughter Astraea/Astrea, a justice goddess, though usually she is a daughter of Zeus and Themis. Hyginus said he was a Gigante and the child of Tartarus and Gaia. As winds swelled in dusk and he was father to the winds he was said to be a wind god and linked to Aeolus/Aiolos, the wind keeper.

As his sons were depicted as horses and his brother Perses like a dog and his brother Pallas like a goat and his father Crius like a ram, he was probably horse like too.

Pallas- a son of Crius and Eurybia, or of Megamedes, the brother of Perses and Astraeus and a titan god of war. He was partnered with Styx and with her had the children Zelus/Zelos (Zeal, rivalry, envy), Nike (Victory), Kratos/Cratus (Strength, might), and Bia (Force, power), who all stood in attendance at Zeus' throne. Sometimes he was thought to be father to Eos and Selene. He was killed by Athena, which may have led to her being called Pallas Athena/Athene. Alternatively, another Pallas, a female friend/foster sister, is mentioned who Athena accidentally killed.

Pallas was thought to be goat like and Athena's goatskin came from him, his brothers were also animal like- Perses dog like, and Astraeus probably equine, whilst his father Crius was ram like.
Sometimes he is said to have been a Gigante slain by Athena rather than a Titan.

Perses- a son of Crius and Eurybia, the brother of Astraeus and Pallas. A titan god of destruction. With Asteria he had Hecate/Hekate. The nymph Chariclo/Khariklo was sometimes his daughter, she was married to the centaur Chiron and fostered Achilles, Peleus, Aristaeus and Asclepius. Alternatively Apollo or Okeanos was her father.

He was thought to be dog like as his daughter was sometimes described that way and his siblings were animal like (Pallas-goat, and Astraeus- horse) and his father like a ram. He was also linked to the dog star Sirius.