This story is one of castration, cannibalism, betrayal and a dysfunctional family. The worst father and son is the history of all literature probably goes to Kronos, the Titan of Time and, at one time, Ruler of the Universe. His role in Greek mythology is a sad one. Here is his tale.
Kronos is the youngest son of Ouranus and Gaea. He is the sibling to the 12 original Titans and the Cyclopes. He is the Titan of Time, Harvest, and Ruler of the Universe during the Golden Age. He is the father to Chiron and the six original Olympians, including Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades. His weapon and symbol is the sickle or scythe, depending on the myth. His Roman name is Saturn.
Kronos was born the youngest of the original 12 Titans from the Sky and Earth's love. He always stayed close to his mother, for they had a strong bond. He saw perfection in her and his siblings. He witnessed the birth of the Cyclopes and the Hundred-Handed, and recoiled in disgust at them. They looked nothing like him or his siblings, but he hid it because his mother loved them. Kronos wanted nothing more than to see his mother happy.
One day, Kronos walked with his siblings and saw their father approach them. Happy that their father was approaching them ,they rushed over to him. Ouranus, out of nowhere, attacked his children, screaming in madness and throwing lightning and winds at his own children. In fear, Kronos and his siblings ran deep into Gaea for protection. Gaea, upset and furious, hid her children from Ouranus.
Gaea looked at her children in sadness. She pondered over how to set them free so that they can take over. In her thoughts, a twisted rock grew from the ground and grew to a point, following Gaea's thoughts. Gaea grabbed hold of the stone and presented it to her children and said to use this rock as a tool for vengeance. Nobody took the stone because they feared Gaea's fury as much as Ouranus's madness. All except Kronos. He loved and fed off of Gaea's fury and took it as his will for vengeance. He took the scythe and 4 of his brothers and hatched a plan to get rid of Ouranus.
After Ouranus fell asleep one day, Kronos told his four brothers to hold onto each of Ouranus's limbs and to pull as far away from each other as possible, and each brother ran to the four corners of the earth, forming the directions of North, South, East and West. Kronos taunted his father and told him that he is going to rule the universe in place of him. Ouranus struggled for freedom, but Kronos raised the scythe and cut off his father's manhood, leading to the first castration, and causing him to bleed out to death.
Kronos proclaimed himself Ruler of the Universe, and he looked down to see his mother happy. he took his sister Rhea to be his wife and looked around at his universe and saw perfection until he saw his deformed brothers. Disgusted, he banished them to the Underworld prison Tartarus. When he returned he heard from his sister-wife that she was pregnant with six children. He was excited until he heard from the Fates that his child will kill him for power like he did.
Furious for his child's future betrayal, he took his first child, a girl with brown eyes and cute brown hair, and swallowed her whole, thinking that any child in him will never escape. He waited for Rhea to gave birth and ate each child as they came out. After Rhea gave birth to their sixth and final child, he rested with a full stomach.
Many years later, Kronos felt sick to his stomach and vomited up his six children and became deathly ill for a week. When he came to, he saw his six children in armor, all grown up, challenging him and his siblings to war. Furious, he led his siblings to battle against his children. He did not see them as his children, though. No, they were his opponents, his enemies. They betrayed him since birth. One will kill him and take his throne.
For the next 10 years, they fought nonstop. Kronos asked his mother for help, but she remained silent. He planned for another battle when he heard screams of fear erupt from his siblings as his children, led by his deformed brothers freed from Tartarus, charge him. They captured him and his siblings and destroyed his throne.
For punishment for eating his children at birth, his sons grabbed his sickle and used it to cut him up into a thousand pieces, and tossed him into the fiery pit of Tartarus, along with his siblings. To this day, Kronos burns in the pit, watching as his siblings suffer in Hell and his traitorous children rule his Kingdom with his Mother ignoring him.
The worst son and father has to go to Kronos. He killed his father for power, ate his children to keep his throne, entered a decade-long war for the same reason and blamed everything horrible in his life on somebody else. Don't be like Kronos. Make peace, not bad history.
