Pallas was a Titan of the second generation, son of Crius and Eurybia, husband of Styx the underworld river. By her he was father of four children whose names are themselves a roster of the powers that attend victorious force: Zelus (Zeal), Nike (Victory), Cratos (Strength), and Bia (Might). When Zeus called for allies in the Titanomachy, Styx came with her four children to his side and was rewarded — they thereafter stood beside Zeus's throne as his constant attendants. Pallas himself fought on the Titans' side and was, by some traditions, killed by Athena, who then took his name as her epithet ("Pallas Athena"); the etymology is doubtful but ancient. He should not be confused with the giant Pallas (a Gigantomachy figure, killed by Athena, whose skin she made into the aegis) or with the Athenian hero Pallas (uncle of Theseus).
Before thisAstraeus
Next on the wallPerses
Curator’s note
What the sources say, and what later tradition added. The sources for this bay
Hesiod, Theogony 375, 383–388. The Athena/Pallas etymology is offered by various ancient mythographers (most notably the Hellenistic compendia) but is one of several proposed origins for Athena's epithet; the Indo-European etymology of Pallas is uncertain.
Kin in the sources
Each tie is quoted from the entry that states it.
Child ofCriusson of Crius and Eurybia, husband of Styx the underworld river
Child ofEurybiason of Crius and Eurybia, husband of Styx the underworld river
Consort ofStyxson of Crius and Eurybia, husband of Styx the underworld river
Parent ofNikeZelus (Zeal), Nike (Victory), Cratos (Strength), and Bia (Might)
Slain byAthenaby some traditions, killed by Athena, who then took his name as her epithet
- Sibling ofPerses
son of Crius and Eurybia, brother of Astraeus and Pallas
When the sources speak
Dated witnesses for The Titans and Their Children. A date marks when the evidence was written down, not when the belief began. The whole timeline
- c. 1600–1100 BCE
- Mycenaean palace tablets in Linear B record offerings and divine names, but little continuous myth.
- c. 1100–800 BCE
- Post-palatial oral traditions and changing cult landscapes precede the surviving alphabetic epics.
- late 8th–7th centuries BCE
- The Iliad, Odyssey, Hesiodic Theogony and Works and Days give influential but non-exclusive divine orders.
- 7th–6th centuries BCE
- Homeric Hymns, lyric poetry, colonization, and local sanctuary traditions multiply regional narratives.
- 6th–5th centuries BCE
- Orphic, Pythagorean, and mystery materials develop alternative cosmogonies and afterlife doctrines.
- 5th century BCE
- Athenian tragedy and comedy recast heroic houses and divine justice for civic audiences.
- 4th century BCE
- Philosophers, antiquarians, and local historians interpret or criticize inherited myth.
- 323–31 BCE
- Hellenistic poets and scholars systematize variants across an enlarged Greek world.