InGreek mythology, Crius (/ˈkraɪəs/; Ancient Greek: Κρεῖος[1] or Κριός, Kreios/Krios) was one of the Titans, children of Uranus and Gaia.[2] Like other Titans, Crius lacks much characterization, with no unique domain or mythology of his own; instead, he apparently served a purely genealogical function in mythology, to provide parentage for other figures.
Although "krios" was also the ancient Greek word for "ram",[3] the Titan's chthonic position in the underworld means no classical association with Aries, the ram of the zodiac, is ordinarily made.[citation needed] At the time of Ancient Greece, Aries was the first visible constellation in the sky at the spring season, marking the start of the new year in the ancient Greek calendar.
Joined to fill out lists of Titans to form a total matching the Twelve Olympians, Crius was inexorably involved in the ten-year-long[5] war between the Olympian gods and Titans, the Titanomachy, though without any specific part to play. When the war was lost, Crius was banished along with the others to the lower level of Hades called Tartarus.
As the least individualized among the Titans,[6] he was overthrown in the Titanomachy. M. L. West has suggested how Hesiod filled out the complement of Titans from the core group—adding three figures from the archaic tradition of Delphi, Coeus, and Phoibe, whose name Apollo assumed with the oracle, and Themis.[7] Among possible further interpolations among the Titans was Crius, whose interest for Hesiod was as the father of Perses and grandfather of Hecate, for whom Hesiod was, according to West, an "enthusiastic evangelist".
^Etymology uncertain: traditionally considered a variation of κρῑός "ram"; the word κρεῖος was also extant in Ancient Greek but only in the sense of "type of mussel" [1]Archived 2012-02-19 at the Wayback Machine[2][permanent dead link].
^"About the other siblings of Kronos no close inquiry is called for," observes Friedrich Solmsen, in discussing "The Two Near Eastern Sources of Hesiod", Hermes117.4 (1989:413–422) p. 419. "They prove useful for Hesiod to head his pedigrees of the gods", adding in a note "On Koios and Kreios we have to admit abysmal ignorance."
^M.L. West, "Hesiod's Titans," The Journal of Hellenic Studies105 (1985), pp. 174–175.
