The child in Rhea grew rapidly, and she was ready to give birth by the end of the month that she had conceived it. She summoned Cronus to her side, and the two of them retired to their chambers, where she gave birth to her first child, a daughter. Exhausted after the labour, Rhea looked down and was horrified to see Cronus swallowing their baby! She tried to stop him, but it was too late. She flew into a fit of rage, and lunged at Cronus in blind anger. He brushed her aside as if she were an insect, and drew the scythe that Gaia had fashioned for him, holding it to her throat. “Any child born from you from this moment on will follow that one” he said to her, watching the fear mingle with hatred in her eyes. Rhea didn’t know why Cronus was doing this to their child, and he never did tell her.
Four more children were born to Rhea through Cronus, and after every birth, he would swallow them up just as he had their first daughter. Two daughters and two sons were born, but never had the chance to open their eyes to the world. By the time that Rhea was pregnant with her sixth child, she went to Gaia for help in protecting this child from Cronus. Gaia knew why Cronus was doing this, and smiled grimly, telling Rhea how to protect her child. Gaia took her to isle of Crete, where she had prepared a cave for her daughter. She also offered Rhea the Goat-nymph Amalthea to suckle her baby when it was born, since she would not be able to. There were two attending nymphs with the goat that would look after the baby in Rhea’s absence. Gaia summoned a throng of wood sprites to set at the cave entrance. With the noises that they made, it would be impossible, even for a god, to hear the cries of a new-born infant. They then sat to form out a plan on what role this child would play once it was born.
On the day that Rhea was to give birth, she returned to her cavern. She lay in the bed against the solid stone, and began to give birth. The entire earth shook with her mighty labour; fissures opened and swallowed mountains and rivers. She dug her fingers into the earth, from her left hand sprang up ten mortal women, and from her right, ten mortal men. Once the baby was born, she wrapped it up in clothes, and presented him to the nymphs, introducing him as Zeus. Before she left the cave, she picked up a stone roughly the same size and weight of her baby, which she wrapped up in swaddling clothes. She returned to Mount Olympus with the stone, and sat in her bedchambers, holding it close to her chest humming softly. Cronus burst into the room, furious that she had given birth without him being there, snatched the stone up from her arms, and swallowed it, thinking it was his baby. Rhea apologised for her insolence, and smiled to herself as Cronus left the bedchambers.
She returned periodically to see Zeus as he was growing up. He was being suckled from the goat which produced ambrosia, rather than milk. With this diet, he was grown to man-hood in less than a year. On the day of his first birthday, Rhea returned to him and told him about his father, and everything that happened to Uranus, and the Cyclopses. She produced a potion to Zeus along with instructions for its use. Together Rhea and Zeus went to Olympus, where Zeus was presented to Cronus as their new cupbearer. Cronus was pleased with the boy’s beauty, and allowed him to stay. On the first night on Mount Olympus, Zeus prepared the potion in Cronus’ drink as Rhea had instructed, and gave it to Cronus. Immediately after consuming the potion, Cronus became violently sick, and began to vomit. Up came the stone, followed by the five children that Cronus had swallowed, which were all fully-grown and unharmed. They instantly sided with Zeus, and vowed to destroy Cronus. Cronus was forced to remember the prophecy, and realised that Zeus was his son. He called together the rest of his brothers and sisters to help him destroy the young gods, and the battle for Olympus began.
The first thing that Zeus did was to return to the deepest part of the world, and free the Cyclopses and Hecatoncheiries. Once freed, they all agreed to side with Zeus in the war against the Titans. For Zeus they made the lightning bolt, which became his symbol of authority. Poseidon received his Trident, which he used to raise the oceans to aid the young gods in their battle. Zeus and the others stood at the base of Olympus, and the Titans stood at the top. Out of nowhere, Cronus came charging down the mountain, followed by the other Titans. Zeus began blasting the Titans down with his lightning bolt, and Poseidon raised tidal waves to wash them out to sea. By slamming the end of his trident into the earth, Poseidon was able to open large fissures that cut deep into the earth. Titans falling into these fissures would be swallowed up into the earth and trapped there. The Hecatoncheiries lie in wait at the bottom of the mountain, and as the Titans neared the bottom, they stood up, holding a large boulder in each of their 100 hands. They hurled all of the boulders at once, and the Titans were forced to retreat from the storm of boulders that seemed to fall from the skies. Zeus assumed the role of the King of the Gods, and they made their home on Mount Olympus. It was never clear where the Titans went into hiding after the battle, but one Titan was taken prisoner. His name was Atlas, and as a punishment, he was to bear the weight of the sky upon his shoulders for the rest of eternity.
Once establishing his kingdom on Mount Olympus, Gaia gave birth to two hideous monsters, Typhon and Echidna. Typhon was an enormous man, with hundreds of serpents for legs, and fire for breath. Echidna was an ugly woman from the waist up and a bloated snake from the waist down. Typhon immediately began to destroy everything in his path, burning everything down to ashes with his fiery breath. In the distance he saw Mount Olympus, and the gods living in the summits. All of the gods trembled with fear; Zeus was the only one courageous enough to stand against Typhon. Typhon picked up an entire mountain, and flung it at the cowering gods. Zeus drew his lightning bolt and struck the underside of the mountain as it fell, sending it back the way it came. The full weight of the mountain landed squarely on Typhon, pinning him underneath. That mountain became known as Mount Etna of Sicily, and Typhon’s fiery breath can still be seen issuing forth from the top, melting the rock around it, sending that out as lava. Echidna fled to the other side of the world to hide from the wrath of Zeus. From her union with Typhon, she gave birth to the Nemean lion, The Hydra, The Sphinx, Cerberus, The Chimera and every other monster to have ever plagued ancient Greece.
