![]() ![]() In Greek and Roman art it is variously depicted, but it seems that originally it was a khopesh-like sickle-sword from Egypt. ![]() Perseus depicted carrying a sickle on a collage vase. It is from these exchanges that the harpe got nicknames such as the Scythe of Cronus or the Sickle of Zeus. Of Zeus's children, Hermes had also used the harpe to slay the titan Argus, and Heracles had defeated the Hydra with the same weapon. Perseus was provided with such a sword by his father, Zeus (Cronus' youngest son and later overthrower), who also used the harpe to battle Typhon. Perseus, a grandson of Cronus, is also regularly depicted in statues and sculpture armed with a harpe sword in his quest to slay the Gorgon, Medusa, and recover her head to use against Ceto. Thus, the blade (whether harpe, sickle or scythe) became a symbol of Cronus's power. So, Gaia provided him with the weapon, and when Uranus next came to lie with Gaia, Cronus leapt up into action and castrated his father, overthrowing him and driving him away forever. She beseeched each of her sons to rise up against Uranus but was refused by all but the youngest, Cronus. The enraged Gaia plotted Uranus' downfall. According to an ancient myth recorded in Hesiod's Theogony, Uranus had cast his and Gaia's children, the Cyclopes and Hecatonchires, down into Tartarus. The harpe, scythe or sickle was either a flint or adamantine ( diamond) blade, and was provided to Cronus by his mother, Gaia. Alternately, that weapon is identified as a more traditional sickle or scythe. The harpe sword is most notably identified as the weapon used by Cronus to castrate and depose his father, Uranus. Perseus with the Head of Medusa by Benvenuto Cellini depicts Perseus armed with a harpe sword when he beheaded Medusa. ![]()
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