Dharma and the Gods (Part 4)

Test 4 test result names - Helios, Crius, Atlas, Oceanus, Cronus

Helios - the ancient sun god, son of the Titans Hyperion and Thea, and brother of Selene, goddess of the moon, and Eos, goddess of the dawn.

Helios was believed to ride his golden chariot across the heavens daily, giving light to gods and mortals. At evening he sank into the western ocean, from which he was carried in a golden cup back to his palace in the east.

Helios alone could control the fierce horses that drew his fiery chariot. When his son Phaëthon persuaded Helios to let him drive the chariot across the sky, Phaëthon was killed.

Helios was widely worshiped throughout the Greek world, but his principal cult was at Rhodes. One of the Seven Wonders of the World, the Colossus of Rhodes was a representation of Helios. He is often identified with Apollo, the later Greek god of the sun. (Encarta)

Rick note - as a reminder, the combination to the safe in Ben's house was the same as the latitude where the Colossus of Rhodes stood - leading me to link it to 4-toe.

Crius - one of the Greek Titans, the principal gods of early Greek mythology.

Crius and his siblings were the children of Uranus (Sky) and Gaia (Earth). He had five brothers; Coeus, Cronus, Hyperion, Lapetus, Oceanus; and six sisters; Mnemosyne, Phoebe, Rhea, Tethys, Theia, and Themis.

The Titans were best known for their war against the Olympian gods. Many of these gods were captive within the stomach of their father, Cronus.

After Zeus, king of the Olympian gods, freed his siblings the war with the Titans began. After ten long years of battle Zeus asked Gaia for help. She told him to release the Cyclopes and the hundred-handed ones. This led to Crius and the other Titans losing the long war. (pantheon.org)

Atlas - one of the second-generation Titans. He personified the quality of endurance (atlaô).

In one tradition, Atlas led the Titanes in a rebellion against Zeus and was condemned to bear the heavens upon his shoulders. In another, he was said to have been appointed guardian of the pillars which held earth and sky asunder.

He was also the god who instructed mankind in the art of astronomy, a tool which was used by sailors in navigation and farmers in measuring the seasons. These roles were often combined and Atlas becomes the god who turns the heaven on their axis, causing the stars to revolve.

Herakles encountered the Titan during his quest for the Golden Apples of the Hesperides. He agreed to take the heavens upon his shoulders while Atlas fetched the apples. The hero also slew the Hesperian Drakon, which in vase painting appears as the Titan's tormentor, and built two great pillars at the ends of the earth, perhaps to relieve the Titan of his labour.

In a late myth, Atlas was transformed into the stony Atlas mountain by Perseus using the Gorgon's head. The Titan was also the constellation Kneeler. (theoi.com)

Oceanus - one of the Titans, the son of Uranus and Gaea.

With his wife, the Titan Tethys, he ruled over Ocean, a great river encircling the earth, which was believed to be a flat circle. The nymphs of this great river, the Oceanids, were their daughters, and the gods of all the streams on earth were their sons.

In later legends, when Zeus, chief of the Olympian gods, and his brothers, Poseidon and Hades, overthrew the Titans and assumed their power, Poseidon and his wife, Amphitrite, succeeded Oceanus and Tethys as rulers of the waters. (Encarta)

Cronus - ruler of the universe during the Golden Age. He was one of the 12 Titans and the youngest son of Uranus and Gaea, the personifications of heaven and earth.

The first sons of his parents were the three Hecatonchires, the 100-handed, 50-headed monsters whom Uranus had imprisoned in a secret place. Gaea sought to rescue them and appealed for help from her other offspring, including the Cyclopes. Cronus alone accepted the challenge. He attacked Uranus and wounded him severely; Cronus thus became the ruler of the universe.

Cronus and his sister-queen, Rhea, became the parents of 6 of the 12 gods and goddesses known as the Olympians.

Cronus had been warned that he would be overthrown by one of his children, and he swallowed each of his first five children as soon as it was born. Rhea, however, substituted a stone wrapped in swaddling clothes for their sixth child, Zeus.

Zeus was hidden in Crete (Kríti), and when he was grown, with the aid of Gaea, forced Cronus to disgorge the other five children together with the stone. The stone was later removed to Delphi.

Zeus and his five brothers and sisters waged war on Cronus and the other Titans. Zeus was aided by the Hecatonchires and the Cyclopes, whom he freed from the prison where they were kept by Cronus. Cronus and the Titans were thereafter confined in Tartarus, a cave in the deepest part of the underworld. (Encarta)