Were the TITANS More Powerful than ZEUS and the GODS? - Greek Mythology Explained

Hey everyone, welcome to Mythology Explained. In today's video, we're going to explore whether, despite losing the war, it was the titans who were actually more powerful than the gods. Let's get into it. The Greek creation myth was one defined by great conflicts. The primordial deities were succeeded by the titans, and subsequently, the titans were then superseded by the gods, who went on to trounce the giants, the Gigantomachy, and to defeat Typhon, unequivocally the most powerful monster in all of Greek mythology. Yes, the titans were defeated by the gods, and yes, all of the belligerent titans, with the exception of Atlas, were forever imprisoned in the great abyss beneath the earth, forever banished in the infernal depths of Tartarus. At the same time, though, it must be conceded that the strength of the gods was augmented by weapons and reinforcements brought into the mix by way of outside forces. For some time after Zeus made his existence known and rescued his five brothers and sisters trapped within Cronus, they took a trip down to Tartarus, slayed the dragon Campi, the jailer, and freed the three Cyclopes and the three Hecatonchires. Both of these trios sided with the gods and joined the war effort, but contributed in very different ways. The Cyclopes were great craftsmen, and so, they made three awesome weapons for the gods. Zeus received the lightning bolt, the most powerful weapon in all of Greek mythology. Poseidon received the trident, which could shake and sunder the earth, and Hades received the helm of darkness, which granted the wearer perfect invisibility. These weapons outclassed any the titans had enhancing their forces. Then there were the Hecatonchires, colossal in size, unimaginably strong. Fifty arms grew from each shoulder, and fifty heads surmounted their bodies. Of the monsters, only Typhon was more powerful. They joined the fray, unleashing a bombardment of projectiles, each one the size of a mountain. So, it was as if volleys comprising whole mountain ranges were raining down on the titans. Working in concert, the gods with their magnificent weapons, the Hecatonchires with their superlative strength, the titans were utterly overwhelmed and beaten into submission, at which point they were wrangled up and heaved into the black pit of Tartarus. Let's pause for a moment and unpack this. On the one hand, it can be argued that the titans, especially Cronus, by virtue of lacking the foresight to ally themselves with the Hecatonchires and the Cyclopes, committed a blunder of elephantine proportions that undermined their overall power by eliminating potential allies from their ranks and, not only that, but also effectively sowed the seeds of their own destruction, as the door to making reign-ending alliances was left wide open. A wide open door, it should be said, Zeus strolled right through. On the other hand, though, this war begs the question- what if the Cyclopes were neutral, or yet, worse for the gods, sided with the titans? If Atlas was running around invisible, his head clad in the helm of darkness, if Minotius was using his trident to create earthquakes, if Cronus was hurling lightning bolts. Compounding with this, the three Hecatonchires were launching an onslaught of mountains, wave after wave, it doesn't sound like it could be reasonably argued that the gods would stand the slimmest chance against an alliance forged by the titans, the Cyclopes, and the Hecatonchires teaming up. Given that the Cyclopes and the Hecatonchires give whichever side they join an overwhelming advantage that results in surety of victory, the only reasonable course is to make them neutral, keeping them out of the war altogether. That is, if we really want to understand which group, gods or titans, is more powerful. What's interesting about sidelining the Cyclopes and the Hecatonchires is that this iteration of the war actually played out. It's not something that can only be grasped through some abstract exercise of imaginary simulation. Per Apollodorus' account, the gods and the titans were at war for 10 long years. It was a protracted affair, a true battle attrition, neither side able to capture a meaningful advantage against the other. It wasn't until the end that Gaia prophesied that the gods could claim victory if they travelled to Tartarus, freed the Cyclopes and the Hecatonchires, and recruited them as allies. This proves that the gods and the titans were evenly matched if other parties aren't dragged into the conflict. With the Cyclopes and the Hecatonchires sidelined, the next point of consideration becomes numbers. How many gods fought in the Titanomachy? How many titans? If the gods were able to fight the titans to a draw with fewer combatants on their side, would that prove them to be more powerful? Would the opposite be true? Unfortunately, as far as I know, this question can't really be answered. Some of the titans are known to have remained neutral, like Tapis and Oceanus. Some of the titans defected, betraying their own kind and joining the gods, like Prometheus and his half-wit brother Epimetheus. Then there's the fact that none of the titan goddesses were imprisoned in Tartarus, which either indicates that none of them fought for the titans, or that Zeus was magnanimous. At least, he potentially was to gods of the female variety at the close of the war. Anyway, it's all a muddled mess, a hodgepodge of disparate accounts and information gaps. There isn't some comprehensive account, at least none that I know of, that delineates the gods and titans that fought for each side. If anyone has a good source for this information, please share it in the comments. As to whether a definite statement can be made about either the gods or the titans being more powerful, who can say? The gods won the war, so that has to count for something. But then it looks as though the titans would have won the war if outfitted in the same cyclops forged weapons and bolstered with the same 300 arms worth of Hecatonchires mountain hurling power. And that's it for this video! If you enjoy the content please LIKE the video and SUBSCRIBE to the channel. As always leave your video suggestions down below