The Titans

The Titans

The Titans
Reading Level

	edHelper's suggested reading level:	grades 4 to 6
	Flesch-Kincaid grade level:	5.5

Vocabulary

	challenging words:		briareus, Brontes, cruelty, downfall, firstborns, popularity, rallying, red-hot, scary-looking, shapeless, sickle, tactic, unconquerable, wavered, generation, underworld
	content words:		From Chaos, And Gaea, But Uranus, When Gaea, Only Cronus, Golden Age, When Rhea, When Zeus, Mount Etna, Mount Olympus

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The Titans
By Vickie Chao

¹     The ancient Greeks believed that our world began with a shapeless and confused mass of elements. They called it Chaos. From Chaos, Nyx (Night), Erebus (Darkness), and Gaea (Earth) were born. Then, slowly, more things began to appear. For example, Nyx and Erebus jointly created Hypnos (Sleep), Thanatos (Death), and Moros (Doom). And Gaea made Uranus (Sky).

²     Gaea and Uranus were lovers. Together, they had many children. The twelve Titans -- six sons and six daughters -- were their firstborns. They were their parents' pride and joy. After the twelve Titans, Gaea gave birth to two sets of triplets, all sons. Brontes, Steropes, and Arges were from the first set. Each had only one eye in the middle of his forehead. Collectively, they were known as the Cyclopes. Briareus, Cottus, and Gyges were from the second set. Each had one hundred arms and fifty heads. Collectively, they were known as the Hecatonchires.

³     Gaea loved all her children equally. But Uranus did not. He favored only the Titans, for they were good-looking gods and goddesses. As he grew increasingly uncomfortable with his other children, he decided to cast them away. When Gaea heard of the plan, she was horrified. She tried to reason with her husband, but to no avail. Helplessly, she watched Uranus throw the Cyclopes and the Hecatonchires into Tartarus, the darkest pit in the underworld. She was mortified. She vowed that she would never forgive Uranus for his cruelty.

⁴     To rescue her children, Gaea made a sickle and presented the weapon to her six Titan sons. She urged them to use it to overthrow their father. Fear took hold of five of the Titans. The mere idea of standing up to Uranus made them tremble. So they refused. Only Cronus, the youngest and the strongest, took pity on his mother. He promised her that he would defeat Uranus and free his brothers. True to his words, he picked up the sickle and went after his father. Scared by the threat, Uranus fled and gave up his powers. Cronus occupied the now vacated throne. He became the new lord of the universe.

⁵     Cronus was a great ruler. Under his leadership, people lived in harmony. They called this happy, peaceful time their Golden Age. They had no idea that troubles were boiling beneath the surface. They did not know that Gaea was very upset with Cronus, for he had not freed his brothers from Tartarus. They did not know that she was planning for his downfall.

Paragraphs 6 to 14:
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