Coeus

In Greek mythology, Coeus (/ˈsiːəs/;[1] Ancient Greek: Κοῖος, Koios, "query, questioning" or "intelligence"[2]) was one of the Titans, the giant sons and daughters of Uranus (Sky) and Gaia (Earth). His equivalent in Latin poetry—though he scarcely makes an appearance in Roman mythology[3]—was Polus,[4] the embodiment of the celestial axis around which the heavens revolve.

Coeus or Koios
Member of Titans
Abode	Tartarus
Battles	Titanomachy
Personal information
Parents	Uranus and Gaia
Siblings	Titans Crius Cronus Hyperion Iapetus Oceanus Mnemosyne Phoebe Rhea Tethys Theia Themis Hekatonkheires Briareos Cottus Gyges Cyclopes Arges Brontes Steropes Other siblings Gigantes Erinyes (the Furies) Meliae
Consort	Phoebe
Offspring	Leto, Asteria
Roman equivalent	Polus

Mythology

Like most of the Titans he played no active part in Greek religion—he appears only in lists of Titans[5]—but was primarily important for his descendants.[6] With his sister, "shining" Phoebe, Coeus fathered Leto[7] and Asteria.[8] Leto copulated with Zeus (the son of fellow Titans Cronus and Rhea) and bore Artemis and Apollo.

Given that Phoebe symbolized prophetic wisdom just as Coeus represented rational intelligence, the couple may have possibly functioned together as the primal font of all knowledge in the cosmos. Along with the other Titans, Coeus was overthrown by Zeus and the other Olympians in the Titanomachy. Afterwards, he and all his brothers were imprisoned in Tartarus by Zeus. Coeus, later overcome with madness, broke free from his bonds and attempted to escape his imprisonment, but was repelled by Cerberus.[9]

Genealogy

Coeus' family tree [10]
Uranus Gaia Pontus Oceanus Tethys Hyperion Theia Crius Eurybia The Rivers The Oceanids Helios Selene [11] Eos Astraeus Pallas Perses Cronus Rhea COEUS Phoebe Hestia Hera Poseidon Zeus Leto Asteria Demeter Hades Apollo Artemis Hecate Iapetus Clymene (or Asia) [12] Themis (Zeus) Mnemosyne Atlas [13] Menoetius Prometheus [14] Epimetheus The Horae The Muses

Notes

1. Gardner, Dorsey (1887). Webster's Condensed Dictionary. George Routledge and Sons. p. 714. Retrieved 19 December 2018.
2. Robert Graves. The Greek Myths, section 14 s.v. Births of Hermes, Apollo, Artemis, and Dionysus
3. Ovid in Metamorphoses (VI.185) alludes to Coeus' obscure nature: "Latona, that Titaness whom Coeus sired, whoever he may be." (nescio quoque audete satam Titanida Coeo): M. L. West, in "Hesiod's Titans" (The Journal of Hellenic Studies 105 [1985:174–175]) remarks that Phoibe's "consort Koios is an even more obscure quantity. Perhaps he too had originally to with Delphic divination", and he suspects that Phoebe, Koios and Themis were Delphic additions to the list of Titanes, drawn from various archaic sources.
4. Specifically in the surviving epitome of Hyginus' Preface to the Fabulae; the name of Coeus is repeated in the list of Gigantes.
5. Such as Hesiod. Theogony, 133; Pseudo-Apollodorus. Bibliotheke, 1.1.3; Diodorus Siculus. Bibliotheca historica, 5.66.3 & Clement of Alexandria. Recognitions, 31
6. Hesiod included among his descendants Hekate, daughter of Asteriē, as Apostolos N. Athanassakis, noted, correcting the OCD, noted (Athanassakis, "Hekate Is Not the Daughter of Koios and Phoibe" The Classical World 71.2 [October 1977:127]); R. Renehan expanded the note in "Hekate, H. J. Rose, and C. M. Bowra", The Classical World, 73.5 (February 1980:302–304).
7. Homeric Hymn to Delian Apollo, 61; in the Orphic Hymn to Leto she is Leto Koiantes, "Leto, daughter of Koios".
8. Hesiod. Theogony, 404 ff; Pseudo-Apollodorus. Bibliotheke, 1.2.2
9. Valerius Flaccus, "Argonautica" 3. 224 ff
10. Hesiod, Theogony 132–138, 337–411, 453–520, 901–906, 915–920; Caldwell, pp. 8–11, tables 11–14.
11. Although usually the daughter of Hyperion and Theia, as in Hesiod, Theogony 371–374, in the Homeric Hymn to Hermes (4), 99–100, Selene is instead made the daughter of Pallas the son of Megamedes.
12. According to Hesiod, Theogony 507–511, Clymene, one of the Oceanids, the daughters of Oceanus and Tethys, at Hesiod, Theogony 351, was the mother by Iapetus of Atlas, Menoetius, Prometheus, and Epimetheus, while according to Apollodorus, 1.2.3, another Oceanid, Asia was their mother by Iapetus.
13. According to Plato, Critias, 113d–114a, Atlas was the son of Poseidon and the mortal Cleito.
14. In Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound 18, 211, 873 (Sommerstein, pp. 444–445 n. 2, 446–447 n. 24, 538–539 n. 113) Prometheus is made to be the son of Themis.

References

• Anonymous, The Homeric Hymns and Homerica with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White. Homeric Hymns. Cambridge, MA.,Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Greek text available from the same website.
• Clement of Alexandria, Recognitions from Ante-Nicene Library Volume 8, translated by Smith, Rev. Thomas. T. & T. Clark, Edinburgh. 1867. Online version at theoi.com.
• Diodorus Siculus, The Library of History translated by Charles Henry Oldfather. Twelve volumes. Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd. 1989. Vol. 3. Books 4.59–8. Online version at Bill Thayer's Web Site
• Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca Historica. Vol 1-2. Immanel Bekker. Ludwig Dindorf. Friedrich Vogel. in aedibus B. G. Teubneri. Leipzig. 1888-1890. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
• Gaius Valerius Flaccus, Argonautica translated by Mozley, J H. Loeb Classical Library Volume 286. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1928. Online version at theoi.com.
• Gaius Valerius Flaccus, Argonauticon. Otto Kramer. Leipzig. Teubner. 1913. Latin text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
• Hesiod, Theogony from The Homeric Hymns and Homerica with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White, Cambridge, MA.,Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Greek text available from the same website.
• Historiae Romanorum: Coeus
• Hyginus, Fabulae from The Myths of Hyginus translated and edited by Mary Grant. University of Kansas Publications in Humanistic Studies. Online version at the Topos Text Project.
• Pseudo-Apollodorus, The Library with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Greek text available from the same website.
• Publius Ovidius Naso, Metamorphoses translated by Brookes More (1859-1942). Boston, Cornhill Publishing Co. 1922. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
• Publius Ovidius Naso, Metamorphoses. Hugo Magnus. Gotha (Germany). Friedr. Andr. Perthes. 1892. Latin text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
• The Hymns of Orpheus. Translated by Taylor, Thomas (1792). University of Pennsylvania Press, 1999. Online version at theoi.com
• Stewart, Michael. "People, Places & Things: Coeus", Greek Mythology: From the Iliad to the Fall of the Last Tyrant.