Unchanged by any teller — how the centuries since have seen Rhea.
The gallery
Rhea Presents the Swaddled Stone to Cronus (relief)
Unknown (Roman), c. 2nd century AD
Roman-era relief depicting the pivotal trick of the succession myth as told in Hesiod's Theogony. Rhea hands her husband Cronus a stone swaddled in cloth in place of the newborn Zeus; the deceived Titan swallows the stone, and the future king of the gods is spirited away to be raised in secret.
Rhea Handing the Swaddled Stone to Cronus
Nausicaä Painter (attr.), c. 460–450 BC
Attic red-figure pelike: Rhea offers Cronus the omphalos stone wrapped as an infant while Zeus is hidden in Crete. The Nausicaä Painter freezes the trick that saves the Olympian succession. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Base with Reliefs of the Birth of Zeus
Unknown (Roman), 2nd century AD
Marble statue base in the Capitoline Museums: on one face Rhea gives Cronus the swaddled stone; on another the Curetes clash shields while Amalthea nurses the infant Zeus. Rome's sculptural summary of the mother who outwitted Time.