Kronos was the son of Uranus (or Ouranus) and Gaia, goddess of the earth. Uranus was jealous of his own offspring, so he imprisoned them. Gaia asked her children, the Titans, to castrate Uranus and Kronus obliged. Unfortunately, Kronos later became afraid that his own children would seize his power, so he consumed each child as soon as his wife, Rhea, gave birth to them. Upset, Rhea finally substituted a rock wrapped in a blanket for her last newborn son, Zeus, and took the real baby to Crete to be raised there in safety by Amaltheia, a cave-dwelling goat nymph.