In Greek mythology, Cronus was the son of Uranus and Gaea. He led his brothers and sisters the Titans in a revolt against their father and became ing of the Gods. He married his sister the Titan Rhea.

They had six children but Cronus had a bad habit of eating his new born offspring to prevent them overthrowing him as king. When his last son was born, Zeus (or Jupiter to the Romans), Rhea tricked him into eating a stone instead. Zeus finally overthrew his father and became King of the Gods.

Romans adopted Cronus as the God Saturn, originally an agricultural God. In Rome he presided over the Saturnalia, a festival the Christians later adopted and renamed Christmas.