Coeus

Coeus was one of the twelve Titans, a son of Uranus (Heaven) and Gaia (Earth). He is known above all as the husband of his sister Phoebe and the father of Leto, the mother of Apollo and Artemis, and of Asteria, the mother of Hecate. The ancient poets tell almost nothing else about him, and he appears as an individual only through his children.

Coeus' Name

In Greek his name is Koios, and the Latin poets write Coeus. Hesiod lists him second among the sons born to Gaia and Uranus, after Oceanus and before Crius, Hyperion and Iapetus (Hesiod, Theogony 133–136). Apollodorus gives the same six sons, with Coeus again second, but seven daughters, adding Dione (Library 1.1.3).

Coeus' Family

Parents and Siblings

His parents are Uranus and Gaia (Theogony 132–136; Apollodorus, Library 1.1.3). His brothers are Oceanus, Crius, Hyperion, Iapetus and Cronus, and his sisters Theia, Rhea, Themis, Mnemosyne, Phoebe and Tethys (Theogony 133–138).

Coeus' Children

Phoebe “came to the desired embrace of Coeus” and bore Leto and Asteria (Theogony 404–410; Apollodorus, Library 1.2.2). Leto was gentle to gods and men alike (Theogony 406–408). Zeus fathered Apollo and Artemis on her (Theogony 918–920). In the Homeric Hymn to Apollo the island of Delos calls Leto “daughter of great Coeus” when she asks for a place to give birth (Hymn to Apollo 62), and Apollonius of Rhodes calls her “Koiogeneia”, born of Coeus (Argonautica 2.710). Asteria married Perses and bore Hecate (Theogony 409–411). In another tradition Asteria, to escape Zeus, threw herself into the sea in the form of a quail, and a city called Asteria was later named Delos (Apollodorus, Library 1.4.1).

Coeus and the Overthrow of Uranus

Hesiod says that Gaia gave a sickle to her youngest son Cronus, who ambushed Uranus and cut off his genitals (Theogony 154–182). In Apollodorus, Gaia persuaded the Titans to attack their father and all of them except Oceanus did so, with Cronus wielding the sickle; they then took the throne and made Cronus king (Library 1.1.4). Coeus is therefore among the Titans who attacked Uranus in Apollodorus' account, though no ancient writer describes anything he did himself.

Coeus in Titanomachy

Coeus belonged to the Titans who fought Zeus and the younger gods. Hesiod does not name him in the battle, but says the Titans were defeated, bound in painful chains and sent beneath the broad earth, as far below as heaven is above it, to Tartarus (Theogony 717–721). They are hidden in misty gloom at the ends of the earth, behind bronze gates set up by Poseidon, with Gyes, Cottus and Briareos as guards (Theogony 729–735). Hesiod's Underworld is Tartarus, not Hades, and no ancient source says that Coeus tried to escape or that Cerberus stopped him. Virgil, in the Georgics, says that Earth in a monstrous birth bore Coeus, Iapetus and the savage Typhoeus, and the brothers sworn to tear down the sky, who tried three times to pile Ossa on Pelion before their father's thunderbolt scattered the mountains (Georgics 1.278–283).

Coeus Sources

Hesiod, Theogony 132–138, 154–182, 404–411, 717–735, 918–920; Homeric Hymn to Apollo 62; Apollonius of Rhodes, Argonautica 2.710; Apollodorus, Library 1.1.3, 1.1.4, 1.2.2, 1.4.1; Virgil, Georgics 1.278–283.

See Also: Titans, Uranus, Gaea, Phoebe, Leto, Asteria, Hecate, Cronus, Hyperion, Iapetus, Crius