Rhea

Titaness, consort of Cronus, mother of the Olympians who saved Zeus.

Parentage

• father: UranusHesiod, Theogony 133–138 (primary)
• mother: GaiaHesiod, Theogony 133–138 (primary)

Children

• Demeter
• Hades
• Hera
• Hestia
• Poseidon
• Zeus

Domains

• motherhood
• wild nature
• sovereignty

Powers

• Bears the first Olympian gods to Cronus
• Conceals infant Zeus and tricks Cronus with a stone

Epithets

• Ῥέα Μήτηρ θεῶν greek · Rhéa Mḗtēr theôn'Rhea, Mother of the Gods' — her standing cult-identity, syncretized with CybeleHomeric Hymn 14 (To the Mother of the Gods) (primary)
• Μήτηρ θεῶν Greek · Mētēr theōn · cultMother of the GodsHomeric Hymn 14; Orphic Hymn to Rhea (primary)

Relations

• sibling: CoeusFull sibling — shares the same attested parentage (Uranus & Gaia) per the figures' cited genealogy.
• sibling: CriusFull sibling — shares the same attested parentage (Uranus & Gaia) per the figures' cited genealogy.
• sibling: CronusFull sibling — shares the same attested parentage (Uranus & Gaia) per the figures' cited genealogy.
• sibling: HyperionFull sibling — shares the same attested parentage (Uranus & Gaia) per the figures' cited genealogy.
• sibling: IapetusFull sibling — shares the same attested parentage (Uranus & Gaia) per the figures' cited genealogy.
• sibling: MnemosyneFull sibling — shares the same attested parentage (Uranus & Gaia) per the figures' cited genealogy.
• sibling: OceanusFull sibling — shares the same attested parentage (Uranus & Gaia) per the figures' cited genealogy.
• sibling: PhoebeFull sibling — shares the same attested parentage (Uranus & Gaia) per the figures' cited genealogy.
• sibling: TethysFull sibling — shares the same attested parentage (Uranus & Gaia) per the figures' cited genealogy.
• sibling: TheiaFull sibling — shares the same attested parentage (Uranus & Gaia) per the figures' cited genealogy.
• sibling: ThemisFull sibling — shares the same attested parentage (Uranus & Gaia) per the figures' cited genealogy.
• sibling: The ErinyesFull sibling; shares the same complete attested parentage.
• interpretatio: CybeleGreeks identified Matar Kubileya with Rhea, the Mother of the Gods (Strabo treats the names as one cult). Preserves the mountain Mother with lions; breaks on Rhea's Titan genealogy and Cybele's Attis-cult.Strabo, Geography 10.3.12-13 (primary); L. E. Roller, In Search of God the Mother (1999) (secondary)
• father: UranusHesiod, Theogony 133–138 (primary)
• mother: GaiaHesiod, Theogony 133–138 (primary)
• counterpart of: OpsLatin mythographic counterpart of the Greek record; identities and accounts remain distinct.Hyginus, Fabulae, Preface; Hesiod, Theogony 453–458, 912–939 (primary)
• counterpart of: RheaThe hymn addresses this deity in an Orphic ritual context; Greek genealogy is not imported.Orphic Hymns, 13 (Thomas Taylor numbering; modern hymn 14) (primary)

Sources

• existence: Hesiod, Theogony 453-458 (primary)