Crius, god of heavenly constellations
Crius (Krios, the Ram, Aries) was a Titan god of heavenly constellations and was also known as a Pillar of the south pole. Crius, which means "Ram", was often referred to as a starting season of the Greek year, because his constellation was called Aries which nowadays means the start of spring. Together with his other three brothers Coeus, Hyperion and Iapetus, they presided as the Pillars holding Heaven and Earth apart. He was one of six sons of Uranus and Gaea and is mentioned by Apollodorus as one of the five brothers, all but Oceanus, who participated in rebellion against Uranus and later attacked him. When they overcame him, the four brothers probably held him down, while Cronus castrated him.
According to Pausanias, Crius was the name of a man, unrelated to the Titan god, who had authority around Euboea and was the father of Python, the dragon slain by Apollo.
According to the same author, two of the rivers are named after Crius, the one on the side nearest to Aegeira which comes down from the mountains above Pellene and the one which rises in Mount Sipylus and is a tributary of the Hermus.
Myths of Crius, his family and titanomachy
The following grouped sections are available:
His descendants
In his time, he consorted with Eurybia, a daughter of Gaea and Pontus. Together they had three children:
Astraeus - Titan god of the stars and the art of astrology. He was also the god of the dusk and father of the Four Winds and the Stars of the Heaven by Eos (goddess of dawn). They also had children who are often associated with the time of twilight.
Pallas - Titan god of warcraft who was defeated during Titanomachy by the younger goddess Athena. He was a father of Rivalry, Victory, Strength and Power.
Perses - Titan god of destruction. He was married to Asteria with whom he fathered Hecate.
Titanomachy
In a time of war, he was mentioned siding with the Titans against the younger Olympian gods. After the war, where the Titans had lost, Crius was, along his brothers and many relatives, imprisoned in Tartarus beneath the underworld. Although there is no clear statement made, he was supposed to be condemned to eternal punishment. However, according to Aeschylus' lost play, he was later released by Zeus from Tartarus with the rest of the Titans.
Sources
To learn more, you may explore the sources and notes about Crius yourself