In Greek mythology, Uranus ( , also ), sometimes written Ouranos (, ), is the personification of the sky and one of the Greek primordial deities. According to Hesiod, Uranus was the son and husband of Gaia (Earth), with whom he fathered the first generation of Titans. However, no cult addressed directly to Uranus survived into classical times,"We did not regard them as being in any way worthy of worship," Karl Kerenyi, speaking for the ancient Greeks, said of the Titans (Kerenyi, p. 20); "with the single exception, perhaps, of Cronos; and with the exception, also, of Helios." and Uranus does not appear among the usual themes of Greek painted pottery. Elemental Earth, Sky, and Styx might be joined, however, in solemn invocation in Homeric epic.As at Homer, Iliad 15.36 ff., Odyssey 5.184 ff. The translation of his name in Latin is Caelus.Grimal, s.v. Caelus, pp. 83–84.Varro, De lingua Latina 5.58.Marion Lawrence, "The Velletri Sarcophagus", American Journal of Archaeology 69.3 (1965), p. 220.

Etymology Most linguists trace the etymology of the name to a Proto-Greek form *Worsanós (),. Originally reconstructed in: enlarged from *ṷorsó- (also found in Greek () 'to urinate', Sanskrit varṣá 'rain', Hittite ṷarša- 'fog, mist'). The basic Indo-European root is *ṷérs- 'to rain, moisten' (also found in Greek eérsē 'dew', Sanskrit várṣati 'to rain', or Avestan aiβi.varəšta 'it rained on'), making Ouranos the "rain-maker", or the "lord of rain".

A less likely etymology is a derivative meaning 'the one standing on high' from PIE *ṷérso- (cf. Sanskrit várṣman 'height, top', Lithuanian viršùs 'upper, highest seat', Russian verh 'height, top'). Of some importance in the comparative study of Indo-European mythology is the contested identification by Georges Dumézil (1934) of Uranus with the Vedic deity Váruṇa (Mitanni Aruna), god of the sky and waters, but the etymological equation is now considered untenable.

Genealogy In Hesiod's Theogony, which came to be accepted by the Greeks as the "standard" account,Hard, p. 21; Fowler 2013, p. 5. from Gaia (Earth), the first entity to come into existence after Chaos (Void), came Uranus, the Ourea (Mountains), and Pontus (Sea).Fowler 2013, p. 5; Hard, p. 24; Gantz, p. 10; Hesiod, Theogony 126–132.

Then, according to the Theogony, Uranus mated with Gaia, and she gave birth to the twelve Titans: Oceanus, Coeus, Crius, Hyperion, Iapetus, Theia, Rhea, Themis, Mnemosyne, Phoebe, Tethys and Cronus; the Cyclopes: Brontes, Steropes and Arges; and the Hecatoncheires ("Hundred-Handed Ones"): Cottus, Briareus, and Gyges.Hesiod, Theogony 132–153. Compare with Apollodorus, 1.1.1–3, which first mentions the Hecatoncheires, whom he names as Briareus, "Gyes" and Cottus, then the Cyclopes and the Titans.

Further, according to the Theogony, when Cronus castrated Uranus, from Uranus's blood, which splattered onto the earth, came the Erinyes (Furies), the Giants, and the Meliae. Also, according to the Theogony, Cronus threw the severed genitals into the sea, around which "a white foam spread" and "grew" into the goddess Aphrodite,Hesiod, Theogony 173–206. although according to Homer, Aphrodite was the daughter of Zeus and Dione.Homer, Iliad 3.374, 5.370–71, 20.105, Odyssey 8.308, 320; see Gantz, pp. 99–100.

Other accounts Other sources give Uranus other genealogies. In the lost epic poem the Titanomachy, Uranus was apparently the son of Aether,Gantz, p. 12; Grimal, s.v. Uranus; Eumelus fr. 1 (West 2003, pp. 222–225). while according to others Uranus was the son of one "Acmon".Brill's New Pauly, s.v. Acmon; Eumelus fr. 1 (West 2003, pp. 222–225); Callimachus fr. 498; Alcman fr. 61 Campbell [= Eustathius on Iliad 18.476]. According to Orphic texts, Uranus (along with Gaia) was the offspring of Nyx (Night) and Phanes.West 1983, pp. 70, 85; Gantz, p. 742; Meisner, pp. 37, 70, 197; Grimal, s.v. Uranus.

The poet Sappho () was said to have made Uranus the father of Eros, by either Gaia, according to one source, or Aphrodite, according to another.Gantz, p. 3; Sappho fr. 198 Campbell [= 198 LP] [= 132 Bergk].

The mythographer Apollodorus, gives a slightly different genealogy from Hesiod's. Without mentioning any ancestors, he begins his account by saying simply that Uranus "was the first who ruled over the whole world."Apollodorus, 1.1.1 According to Apollodorus, the Titans (instead of being Uranus's firstborn as in Hesiod) were born after the three Hundred-Handers and the three Cyclopes,Apollodorus, 1.1.1–1.1.2 and there were thirteen original Titans, adding the Titanide Dione to Hesiod's list.Apollodorus, 1.1.3

Passages in a section of the Iliad called the Deception of Zeus suggest the possibility that Homer knew a tradition in which Oceanus and Tethys (rather than Uranus and Gaia, as in Hesiod) were the parents of the Titans.Fowler 2013, pp. 8, 11; Hard, pp. 36–37, p. 40; West 1997, p. 147; Gantz, p. 11; Burkert 1995, pp. 91–92; West 1983, pp. 119–120; Homer, Iliad 14.201, 302 [= 201], 245. Plato, in his Timaeus, provides a genealogy (probably Orphic) which perhaps reflected an attempt to reconcile this apparent divergence between Homer and Hesiod, with Uranus and Gaia as the parents of Oceanus and Tethys, and Oceanus and Tethys as the parents of Cronus and Rhea and the other Titans.Gantz, pp. 11–12, 743; West 1983, pp. 117–118; Fowler 2013, p. 11; Plato, Timaeus 40d–e.

In Roman mythology, Uranus's counterpart was Caelus (Sky). Cicero says Caelus was the offspring of Aether and Dies (Day),Cicero, De Natura Deorum 3.44. and that Caelus and Dies were the parents of Mercury (Hermes).Cicero, De Natura Deorum 3.56. Hyginus says that, in addition to Caelus, Aether and Dies were also the parents of Terra (Earth), and Mare (Sea).Hyginus, Fabulae Theogony 1–2 (Smith and Trzaskoma, p. 95).

Mythology Castration and overthrow

As Hesiod tells the story, Gaia "first bore starry Heaven [Uranus], equal to herself, to cover her on every side, and to be an ever-sure abiding-place for the blessed gods."Hard, p. 24; Gantz, p. 10; Hesiod Theogony 126–128. Then, with Gaia, Uranus produced eighteen children: the twelve Titans, the three Cyclopes, and the three Hecatoncheires (Hundred-Handers),Hesiod, Theogony 132–153. but hating them,Hesiod, Theogony 154–155. Exactly which of these eighteen children Hesiod meant that Uranus hated is not entirely clear: all eighteen, or perhaps just the Cyclopes and the Hundred-Handers. Hard, p. 67; West 1988, p. 7, and Caldwell, p. 37 on lines 154–160, make it all eighteen; while Gantz, p. 10, says "likely all eighteen"; and Most, p. 15 n. 8, says "apparently only the ... Cyclopes and Hundred-Handers are meant" and not the twelve Titans. See also West 1966, p. 206 on lines 139–53, p. 213 line 154 γὰρ. Why Uranus hated his children is also not clear. Gantz, p. 10 says: "The reason for [Uranus'] hatred may be [his children's] horrible appearance, though Hesiod does not quite say this"; while Hard, p. 67 says: "Although Hesiod is vague about the cause of his hatred, it would seem that he took a dislike to them because they were terrible to behold". However, West 1966, p. 213 on line 155, says that Uranus hated his children because of their "fearsome nature". he hid them away somewhere inside Gaia.Hesiod, Theogony 156–158. The hiding place inside Gaia is presumably her womb, see West 1966, p. 214 on line 158; Caldwell, p. 37 on lines 154–160; Gantz, p. 10. This place seems also to be the same place as Tartarus, see West 1966, p. 338 on line 618, and Caldwell, p. 37 on lines 154–160. Angry and in distress, Gaia fashioned a sickle made of adamant and urged her children to punish their father. Only her son Cronus, the youngest Titan, was willing to do so.Hesiod, Theogony 159–172. So Gaia hid Cronus in "ambush", giving him the adamantine sickle, and when Uranus came to lie with Gaia, Cronus reached out and castrated his father, casting the severed testicles into the sea.Hesiod, Theogony 173–182; according to Gantz, p. 10, Cronus waited in ambush, and reached out to castrate Uranus, from "inside [Gaia's] body, we will understand, if he too is a prisoner". Uranus's castration allowed the Titans to rule and Cronus to assume supreme command of the cosmos.Hard, p. 67; West 1966, p. 19.

For this "fearful deed", Uranus called his sons "Titans (Strainers) in reproach" and said that "vengeance for it would come afterwards."Hesiod, Theogony 207–210. According to Hesiod, from the blood that spilled from Uranus onto the Earth came forth the Giants, the Erinyes (the avenging Furies), and the Meliae (the ash-tree nymphs). From the genitals in the sea came forth Aphrodite.Hesiod, Theogony 183–199. According to some accounts, the mythical Phaeacians, visited by Odysseus in the Odyssey, were also said to have sprung from the blood of Uranus's castration.Lane Fox, p. 274 with n. 37; Acusilas fr. 4 Fowler [= FGrHist 2 F4]; Alcaeus fr. 441 Campbell; Apollonius of Rhodes, Argonautica 4.981–992.

Various sites have been associated with Cronus's sickle, and Uranus's castration.Grimal, s.v. Uranus. Two of these were on the island of Sicily. According to the Alexandrian poet Callimachus (c. 270 BC), Cronus's sickle was buried at Zancle in Sicily, saying that it was "hidden in a hollow under the ground" there.Lane Fox, p. 270; Callimachus, Aetia (On Origins) 2, fr. 43.68–72. For a discussion of this sickle of Zancle see Lane Fox, pp. 270–273. The other Sicilian site is Drepanum (modern Trapani), whose name is derived from the Greek word for "sickle". Another Alexandrian poet, Lycophron (c. 270 BC), mentions "rounding the Cronos' Sickle's leap", an apparent reference to the "leap" of the sickle being thrown into the sea at Drepanum.Lane Fox, pp. 270–271; Lycophron, Alexandra 869.

However, other sites were also associated with the sickle. The geographer Pausanias, reports that the sickle was said to have been thrown into the sea from the cape near Bolina, not far from Argyra on the coast of Achaea, and says that "For this reason they call the cape Drepanum".Lane Fox, p. 273; Pausanias, 7.23.4. The historian Timaeus located the sickle at Corcyra, which the islanders claimed to be Phaeacia, the island home of the Phaeacians, who (as noted above) were said to have been born from the blood of Uranus's castration.Lane Fox, p. 274 with n. 36, citing the scholiast on Apollonius of Rhodes's Argonautica, 4.984 ff. Compare with Apollonius of Rhodes, Argonautica 4.981–992.

After his castration, Uranus recedes into the background. Uranus plays no further role in Greek mythology beyond the tradition that he and Gaia (now reconciled?)Gantz, p. 41. warned their son Cronus that he was destined to be overthrown by one of his children, advised their daughter Rhea, Cronus's wife, to go to Lyctus on Crete to give birth to Zeus, so that Zeus would be saved from Cronus, and advised Zeus to swallow his first wife Metis, so that Zeus would not in turn be overthrown by his son.Grimal, s.v. Uranus; Hesiod, Theogony 463–464, 886–900. For a discussion of Uranus's prophesying, see West 1966, p. 295, on line 463. He is, however, identified on the Gigantomachy frieze on the Pergamon Altar, bearded and winged, fighting against the Giants with a sword, not too far from his daughter Themis, who is seen attacking another Giant.LIMC Ouranos ; Honan, p. 21

The sky (ouranos)