Which Titaness was the mother of the Olympian gods? Rhea was the mother of the Olympian gods.
Rhea was one of the Titans, the children of Gaia, the earth, and Uranus, the sky. She became the sister and wife of Cronus. According to Hesiod’s genealogy, their children were Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades, Poseidon, and Zeus—the six principal children who form the older generation of Olympian deities.
Cronus feared a prophecy that one of his children would overthrow him, just as he had overthrown Uranus. He therefore swallowed each child immediately after birth. When Zeus was born, Rhea hid him in Crete and gave Cronus a stone wrapped in swaddling clothes instead. Cronus swallowed the stone, allowing Zeus to survive.
When Zeus later forced Cronus to disgorge the swallowed gods, the siblings joined him in overthrowing the Titans. Rhea is consequently remembered as the “mother of the gods.” She was later associated with the Anatolian mother goddess Cybele and with the Roman goddess Ops.