THE TITANES (Titans) were six elder gods named Kronos (Cronus), Koios (Coeus), Krios (Crius), Iapetos (Iapetus), Hyperion and Okeanos (Oceanus), sons of Ouranos (Uranus, Sky) and Gaia (Gaea, Earth), who ruled the cosmos before the Olympians came to power. When their father was king he imprisoned six giant brothers of the Titanes--the Kyklopes (Cyclopes) and Hekatonkheires (Hecatoncheires)--in the belly of Earth. Gaia was incensed and incited her Titan sons to rebel. Led by Kronos, five of the six brothers, laid an ambush for their father, seizing hold of him as he descended to lie upon Earth. Four of them--Hyperion, Krios, Koios and Iapetos--were posted at the four corners of the earth to hold Sky fast, while Kronos in the centre castrated him with an adamantine sickle. After they had seized control of the cosmos, the Titanes released their storm giant brothers from Gaia's belly, only to lock them away shortly afterwards in the pit of Tartaros (Tartarus).

Ouranos and Gaia prophesied that a son of Kronos would eventually depose the Titanes, and so the Titan-king, in fear for his throne, took to devouring each one of his offspring as soon as they were born. Only Zeus escaped this fate through the intervention of his mother Rhea, who deposited him in a cave on the island of Krete (Crete) and fed Kronos a substitute rock. Upon reaching adulthood, Zeus forced Kronos to disgorge his siblings, and with an army of divine-allies, made war on the Titanes and cast them into the pit of Tartaros (Tartarus). According to some (e.g. Pindar and Aeschylus) Kronos and the Titanes were later released from this prison, and the old Titan became king of Elysion (Elysium).

The sisters of the six Titanes--Rhea, Theia, Phoibe (Phoebe), Mnemosyne, Themis and Tethys--were titled Titanides (or female Titanes). Many of their sons and daughters also received the appelation of Titan including Atlas, Prometheus and Helios.