In Greek mythology, Cratos (Ancient Greek: Κράτος, also Kratos or Cratus) is the divine personification of strength and power. He is the son of the Titan Pallas and the river goddess Styx, and the brother of Nike (Victory), Bia (Force), and Zelus (Glory). Together with his siblings he was honored as a constant attendant of Zeus after the Titanomachy. He is best known from Aeschylus's tragedy Prometheus Bound, in which he and Bia bind the Titan Prometheus on Zeus's orders.
Adapted from Wikipedia, "Kratos (mythology)" · CC BY-SA 4.0
I.Family
Cratos is the son of the Titan Pallas and the goddess Styx. His three siblings are likewise personifications of related concepts: Nike (Victory), Bia (Force), and Zelus (Glory or Zeal).
According to Hesiod's Theogony, Styx brought her four children to Olympus first when Zeus called the gods to his side against the Titans. As a reward, Zeus granted Styx's children permanent places of honor at his side, so that Cratos and his siblings dwell ever after with Zeus and never leave his presence.
II.Role in mythology
Cratos's most significant appearance is in Aeschylus's tragedy Prometheus Bound. In the opening scene he and his sister Bia act as agents of Zeus, escorting the Titan Prometheus to a remote place in Scythia where he is to be chained as punishment for giving fire to humankind. Cratos compels the smith god Hephaestus to forge and fasten the bonds despite Hephaestus's reluctance, and he is portrayed as harsh and merciless, mocking both the captive Titan and the reluctant smith.
In the play Cratos equates rule with fear and dismisses pity as a pointless waste, presenting a worldview in which only Zeus is truly free. The pairing of Cratos and Bia in this scene — without Nike and Zelus — is read as emblematic of Zeus's tyrannical authority rather than his benevolent governance. He is also briefly invoked alongside Dike (Justice) and Zeus in Aeschylus's Libation Bearers, where Electra calls on them to aid her brother Orestes.
III.Artistic depictions
Surviving depictions of Cratos in ancient Greek art are extremely rare. The only securely identified representation appears on a fragmentary red-figure skyphos of the late fifth century BC showing the punishment of Ixion, where Cratos and Bia are present, possibly reflecting a lost tragedy by Euripides.
Cratos has no fixed traditional symbols or attributes; he embodies brute force and authoritarian power and is consistently associated with violence, coercion, and the enforcement of hierarchy.