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The first ruler of the gods was Uranus, the personification of the sky. He was married to Gaia, the goddess of the earth. Uranus had twelve children with Gaia. The original ruler of the world hid his children inside their mother (earth), after a prophecy that his children would overthrow him. Gaia hated him for this. The children of the sky and the earth were known in the ancient sources as the Titans and the youngest of these was Cronus. He conspired with his mother to depose his father. Only he, among all the Titans, was brave enough to move against his father <ref>Hesiod, Theogony, 113</ref>. Gaia crafted a sickle for Cronus, and he sneaked upon his father and castrated him. Uranus was weakened and Cronus was able to imprison his father in Tartarus which is often mistakenly referred to as hell by many. Cronus imprisoned several monsters, the Hecatonchires and the Cyclopes with his father under the earth. He was regarded as the personification of time in the Classical sources. He along with his sister Rhea became the monarchs of the gods. His reign was considered to be a Golden Age when men did not require laws and where everything was shared equally. However, Cronus heard a prophecy that was made by his father Uranus and his mother Gaia, He was told that he too would be deposed like he had his father by his son. Cronus was naturally threatened by this prophecy and he decided to remove all his children so that they could not threaten him. Now the king of the gods had six children with his queen who was also his half-sister. Rhea bore him three daughters Demeter, Hestia and Hera and three sons Hades, Zeus, and Poseidon. Zeus, the future King of Olympus was the youngest of the children. Mindful of the prophecy Cronus came up with a strategy to make sure that his children could never threaten or depose him. When they were born, he swallowed them all whole. When Rhea was pregnant with Zeus, he also intended to swallow him, so he would not be a threat<ref>Hesiod, Theogony, 480</ref>.