Kronos - Eats Gods

His proud papa smile faded. This kid could not be allowed to grow up, or the prophecy of Ouranos would come true. Kronos had to act fast. He knew Rhea would never agree to have her child killed, and she’d brought those stupid lions with her as usual. He couldn’t have a fight in the throne room. Besides, he couldn’t reach for his scythe while holding the baby. He had to get rid of Hestia immediately and irreversibly.
He opened his mouth—super, super wide, wider than he even realized he could. His lower jaw was hinged like on one of those massive snakes that can eat a cow. He stuffed Hestia in his mouth and swallowed her whole.
Just like: GULP. She was gone.
As you can imagine, Rhea completely freaked.
“My baby!” she screamed. “You—you just—”
“Oh, wow.” Kronos belched. “My bad. Sorry.”

[...]

So Rhea had another baby—a little girl even cuter than the first. Rhea named her Demeter.
Rhea dared to hope. Demeter was so adorable, maybe she would melt Kronos’s heart. He couldn’t possibly feel threatened by this little bundle of joy.
Kronos took the child in his arms and saw right away that Demeter was another goddess. She glowed with an aura even more powerful than Hestia’s. She was trouble with a capital tau.
This time he didn’t hesitate. He opened his jaws and swallowed her down.
Cue the screaming fit from Mom. Cue the apologies.

[...]

“The next child will be better,” he promised. “No more swallowing babies!”
The third kid? Also a girl. Rhea named her Hera, and she was the least Titan-ish, most godly yet. Rhea was indeed the Great Mother. In fact, she was a little too good at it. Every child she had was better and more powerful than the one before.
Rhea didn’t want to take little Hera to Kronos, but it was a tradition back then. Dad got to hold the baby. It was one of those natural laws that Themis always insisted on. (There was also a natural law against eating your kids, but Themis was too afraid to mention that to Kronos.)
And so Rhea mustered her courage. “My lord, may I present your daughter Hera.”
GULP.
This time, Rhea left the throne room without throwing a fit. She was too numb with pain and misery and disbelief. She had married a pathological liar who was also a murderer and a cannibal baby-eater.
Could things be any worse?
Oh, wait! He was also the king of the universe with lots of powerful henchmen, so she couldn’t fight back or run away.
Yeah. Things were worse.
Two more times she gave birth to perfect, lovely god babies. The fourth child was a boy named Hades. Rhea hoped Kronos would let him live, because every dad wants a son to play catch with, right? Nope. Down the hatch, matey!
The fifth child was another boy, Poseidon. Same story. SNARF.

[...]

Kronos snarled. “Give me that child!”
“No!”
Kronos roared. He unhinged his jaw and showed his extreme mouth-opening skills. “NOW!”
He snatched up the swaddled boulder and stuffed it down his throat without even looking at it, just as Rhea had hoped.
In Kronos’s belly, the five undigested young gods heard the rock rolling down the esophagus.
“Incoming!” yelled Poseidon.
They shifted—as much as they could in the cramped space—and Rocky landed in their midst.
“This is not a baby,” Hades noticed. “I think it’s a rock.”
He was observant that way.

***

Greek Gods, The Golden Age of Cannibalism