Cronus was the youngest son of Uranus and Gaea, the leader of the first generation of Titans, and, for a brief period, the ruler of all gods and men. He successfully led the rebellion against his father, but soon grew as tyrannical as him, imprisoning both the Cyclops and the Hecatoncheires, and swallowing all of his children, save the last son; eventually, this child – Zeus – would be the one to overthrow him and lock him away in Tartarus.

Cronus was the son of Uranus and Gaea, the youngest one of the original Twelve Titans. This makes him the brother of five male siblings (Oceanus, Hyperion, Coeus, Crius, and Iapetus) and six Titanides (Mnemosyne, Tethys, Theia, Phoebe, Themis, and Rhea). Cronus eventually married his sister Rhea, with whom he fathered six children: Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades, Poseidon, and Zeus.

According to an isolated tale, Cronus was also the father of the centaur Chiron, whom he begot after transforming himself into a mare to mislead the jealous Rhea and secretly mating with Philyra, the daughter of Oceanus.

Because his name was often confused with the Greek word for time, Chronos, Cronus was often depicted as Old Father Time, with whom, conveniently, he did share few characteristics: mercilessness, a beard, and a scythe. In fact, in many cases, the two are visually indistinguishable.

Cronus played a crucial part in the creation of the known universe – first as a rebel against Uranus, then as the tyrant against whom Zeus led his rebellion.

This piece is in the intense and almost ‘masculine’ sounding ancient Greek Dorian Mode, which indeed, in “The Republic”, Book III (398-403), Plato himself considered to be the most manly sounding of all the music modes, capable even of inspiring bravely in battle – for me, this mode is the perfect ‘musical magic wand’ to conjure up the distinctive attributes of a mighty Titan of ancient Greek mythology.