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Ouranos is the Greek name of the sky, latinized as
Uranus. In Greek mythology it is personified as the son and
husband of Gaia, Mother Earth. The two of them were ancestral
to most of the Greek gods. His Roman equivalent was Coelus ("sky"). He was originally the same Indo-European god as the Hindu equivalent Varuna.
Uranus hid the youngest children of Gaia, the one-hundred armed giants (Hecatonchires) and the one-eyed giants, the Cyclopes, in
Tartarus so that they would not see the light, rejoicing in this evil doing. This
caused pain to Gaia (Tartarus was her bowels) so she created grey flint and shaped a great sickle and gathered together Cronus
and his brothers to ask them to obey her. Only Cronus was willing to do the deed, so Gaia gave him the sickle and set him in
ambush. Cronus jumped out and lopped off his father's testicles, casting them behind him. From his blood on the Earth came forth
the Gigantes, Erinyes and Meliae. From the testicles of Uranus in the sea came forth Aphrodite. For this, Uranus called his sons Titans, meaning "strainers" for they strained and did presumptuously a fearful deed, for which vengeance
would come afterwards. After Uranus was deposed, however, Cronus returned the Hecatonchires and Cyclopes to Tartarus.
From the blood of Uranus, Gaia later brought forth the Gigantes, who were
destroyed by the gods with the help of Heracles. His genitals also turned into the
goddess of beauty, Aphrodite.
Consorts/Children
- No mother
- Aphrodite
- Erinyes
- Alecto
- Megaera
- Tisiphone
- Gigantes
- Alcyoneus
- Athos
- Clytias
- Enceladus
- Echion
- Meliae
- With Gaia
- Cyclopes
- Brontes
- Oceanus
- Steropes
- Hecatonchires
- Briareus
- Cottus
- Gyes
- Titans
- Coeus
- Crius
- Cronus
- Hyperion
- Iapetus
- Mnemosyne
- Phoebe
- Rhea
- Tethys
- Theia
- Themis
- Unknown mother
- Aristaeus
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