Why did Saturn devour his son?

Question

i just saw an art work by goya about saturn devouring his son. and i need some background but i cant seem to figure out why he did it.

Answer 1

The reason is that the Delphi(?) oracle (or maybe the Fates?) told him that one of his sons would eventually defeat him and take over his kingdom of heaven. So, rather than resort to birth control, he decided to just eat his children as soon as they came out the womb. Of course, his wife was not so keen on this, so she hid her last child, Jupiter/Zeus, and fed Saturn/Cronus a stone wrapped in baby clothes instead. Jupiter was raised on the island of Crete, and eventually conquered heaven from Saturn and his band of cronies, the Titans.

Before that, however, he devised a plan to get Saturn to give up his other siblings: He gave him a potion (similar to castor oil, apparently) which made Saturn vomit all of Jupiter's "eaten" siblings intact from his belly: These included Neptune, who became God of the sea; and Pluto, who became God of the underworld. Jupiter, as we all know, reigns today as God of all Things, and we must all pay homage to his brilliant and wonderful ways by making little popcorn necklaces, bean-filled noisemakers, and macaroni pictures.

Answer 2

SATURN takes its name from the Roman god (Kronos in Greek), the Titan who was the father of the Olympians and the original king of the gods. In legend, Saturn was told of a prophecy that one of his children would one day rise up and overthrow him as king. As a result of this, he woudl regularly devour his children. One day, his wife Ops (Rhea in Greek) tricked Saturn into swallowing a stone instead of his son. Eventually, this son Jupiter (Zeus in Greek myth) rose up to overthrow Saturn and became the king of the gods.

ADDITIONAL/GENERAL INFORMATION -

Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun in our Solar System, as well as the second-largest. Its delicate system of rings are one of its most remarkable and distinguishing features.

Saturn appears as a bright object in the night sky, and can thus be easily seen by the naked eye under the right conditions. To see its rings generally requires a telescope or other optical aid with a magnification power of at least 20X.-

Answer 3

In the Greek mythology, Saturn overthrew his father, Uranus. Fearing his fate would be the same, Satrun devoured his children so it wouldn't happen. When Zeus was born, his mother hid him in a cave. Later on, Zeus did overthrow his father and the rest is history.

Answer 4

Cronus learned from Gaia and Uranus that he was destined to be overcome by his own son, just as he had overthrown his father. As a result, although he sired the gods Demeter, Hera, Hades, and Hestia, by Rhea, he swallowed them all as soon as they were born to preempt the prophecy. When the fifth and six children were born, Poseidon and Zeus, Rhea sought Gaia to devise a plan to save them and to eventually get retribution on Cronus for his acts against his father and children. Rhea secretly gave birth to Zeus in Crete, and handed Cronus a stone wrapped in swaddling clothes, also known as the Omphalos Stone, which he promptly swallowed, thinking that it is his son. The same happened with Poseidon, though Cronus swallowed a goat as opposed to a rock, thinking it to be his son.

Answer 5

According to mythology, Saturn was told one of his children would overthrow him so he ate them all!

Saturn's wife secretly hid her sixth child, Jupiter, who eventually did overthrow Saturn.