In either event, they soon joined their brother in his rebellion. Disguised as a cupbearer, he gave Cronos a purgative that caused him to swallow up the five newborn gods and the stone.Īncient writers were unclear as to whether Zeus’s siblings emerged from within their father fully-grown or if they grew to adulthood rapidly once disgorged. When he had grown, Zeus returned to Mount Ida to challenge his father’s rule. Zeus, the youngest of the six siblings, was raised in secret. Gaia helped her to give birth in secret on the island of Crete.Ĭronos was tricked into swallowing a stone instead of the baby. When the Titaness fell pregnant for the sixth time, she went to Gaia for help in sparing her latest child the same fate as its siblings. Poseidon was the eldest, followed by Hades. Hestia, Demeter, and Hera were all taken by Cronos in their turn. Their three daughters were born and swallowed first. To prevent this from happening, he swallowed each of his children on the day of its birth. Because of their father’s paranoia, however, all but one were prevented from growing into maturity after their birth.Ĭronos had been told by Gaia that, like his own father, he would be overthrown by one of his own offspring. The Titans Cronos and Rhea had six children. Zeus became the king of the Olympian gods, but unlike most kings he was actually the youngest of his siblings. Like the Greek religion itself, the gods of Mount Olympus added new members to their number. This new generation of gods was able to expand and grow because they welcomed the next generation into the power structure. Rather than horde power for himself, Zeus offered to share rule with his brothers and all who supported them. When they defeated their father, however, the siblings made decisions that would ensure the cycle of violent conquest would not continue.
He freed his siblings and he and his brothers challenged the old order of gods. Although Zeus was the youngest of the six, he was the first to grow to maturity because he had been hidden from his power-hungry father. Zeus was one of six gods born to the ruler of the Titans, Cronos, and his sister Rhea.