Uranus (Ouranos, Caelus)'s Clique: Bad Kids

Uranus (Ouranos, Caelus)'s Clique: Bad Kids

These kids are always in detention: it seems like no matter what they do, they end up irritating a teacher and getting sent to the principal's office. Uranus got in tons of trouble with his wife, Gaia, when he buried their gigantic children, the Cyclopes and Hekatonkheires, deep under the Gaia herself. For this infraction, Gaia had Kronos chop off Uranus's man-parts. (We bet he wishes he'd gotten in-school-suspension instead.)

Kronos

Kronos might've been the one who punished his father, Uranus, for locking up his brothers, the Cyclopes and the Hekatonkheires, but then he went and did the same thing. Oops. This guy had a nasty habit of eating his own children, which he did because Uranus had prophesied that one of his kids would kick him off the throne just like Kronos had done to Uranus. All of Kronos's no-nos blew up in his face when his wife Rhea hid his youngest son, Zeus, away from him. As soon as Zeus was big enough, he launched a little rebellion called the War of the Titans, freed his brothers and sisters from Kronos's belly and from Tartarus, and took his father's throne. Zeus then threw Kronos down in Tartarus so he could think about all the bad things he'd done. Eventually, though, Zeus let his Dad out of the black pit and allowed him to rule over Elysium, the land of the blessed dead.

Atlas

Atlas was one of Kronos's Titans who helped him fight the fight against Zeus. Just like Kronos, Atlas got in mad trouble after the War of the Titans was over. But instead of getting thrown into Tartarus like Kronos and the rest of the Titans, Atlas was forced to hold up the sky for all eternity. Hmmm. Who got the better end of the stick?

Prometheus

Atlas's brother Prometheus also had to put up with a seriously nasty punishment from Zeus. Even though Prometheus sided with Zeus during the War of the Titans, he later did something just awful: he taught mankind the secret of fire. Gasp! Fire?! Oh wait, that doesn't actually sound like a bad thing. Unfortunately, Zeus wasn't psyched about it. And for the offense, Prometheus was bound to a rock where birds came every day to feast on his liver. Each night, his liver would regenerate so that the birds would have a tasty snack for the next day.

Loki

In Norse mythology, the trickster god Loki managed to make all the other gods angry by helping to cause the death of Balder—and by insulting the other gods to boot. For that, he is tied to a rock while a snake drips burning venom on his face. Ouch. His torment is eased a bit by his wife, Sigyn, who catches most of the venom in a bowl. But when the bowl gets full, she empties it, and Loki can't help but get a face full of venom. For the whole scoop, see what Shmoop has to say. In a way, Loki's torment is like a combination of Prometheus', who was tied to a rock, and Atlas', who some say was also tormented by a snake or dragon.

Satan

Satan is the main adversary of God in Christianity. There is a mountain of stories and conflicting opinions about the particulars of this evil deity. One widely accepted story is that he was once a chief angel of God, but that he became dissatisfied and led a rebellion against the big guy. After Satan was defeated, he and the other rebel angels were cast out of Heaven. Now, Satan spends most of his time tempting people away from God.