Children of Kronos

In this illustration I wanted to exaggerate the scale of the figures to show the hierarchy of power. So on the right we have the most powerful current King of the cosmos, and giant head of Kronos, and his Wife, Rhea on the left. Then we have Zeus holding the poisoned chalice and the regurgitated Olympian children falling to earth. playing with scale is one of many tools in an illustrators toolbox to increase the drama and express the importance of objects or characters to the viewer. Sometimes its a matter of bringing a character into the foreground to make them larger within the picture plane, so by the amount of picture space they take up we make them a focal point. Conversely, an artist can make the figure small, and dwarfed by their environment, to portray a more helpless figure facing a daunting landscape.

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I am Rhea, a Titan, and the daughter of Ouranos (Sky) and Gaia (Earth). I am married to my Titan brother Kronos, the current King of Heaven. Together we bear six divine children: Hestia, Hades, Demeter, Poseidon, Hera, and Zeus.

But just as in the past, the father Ouranos was castrated by his son Kronos, here history repeats, and the son Kronos receives a prophecy that one of his sons will overthrow him, and in fear, he swallows the first five children. Stricken with grief, I trick Kronos to swallow a stone wrapped in cloth he thinks to be my youngest child, Zeus. In secret I hide the child on Mount Ida where nymphs and the mountain spirits, known as “Kouretes,” protect him by dancing and banging their spears and shields together to drown out his cries. When Zeus matures, we conspire to poison Cronos, making him regurgitate his swallowed children. Now united, and seeking justice, my children plan to wage war against the Titans who hold power.

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