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In Greek mythology, Cratos (also spelled with a "K" as in Greek, Kratos, Κράτος) was a son of Pallas and Styx, and he was the personification of strength and power. Cratos and his siblings, Nike ("victory"), Bia ("force") and Zelus ("zeal"), were all companions of Zeus. The name is derived from the common noun κράτος, meaning "force', "strength" or "power". The latin form "Cratus" is also used.

Cratos simply accepts Zeus's orders completely. Zeus's justice, for Cratos, is the only possible justice. Cratos cannot understand how someone might fail to hate an enemy of Zeus. He shows an absolute identification of a slave with his master, taking Zeus's thoughts as his thoughts and Zeus's orders as his maxims. Unlike Hephaestus and Oceanus, Cratos experiences no friendship or pity because he has no value system outside the one imposed on him by Zeus. In another strand of myth, Cratos is a Titan who binds Prometheus on order of Hephaestus.

[edit] Popular culture

• In the video game series God of War, Kratos is a Spartan warrior who is revealed to be a son of Zeus.
• In the final volume of the manga series Because I'm the Goddess, Cratos (mistransliterated as "Clatos" in the English printing) appears as a smiling, gigantic brute whom Zeus orders to kill the goddess Pandora.
• In the Dark-Hunter novel "Dream Warrior" by Sherrilyn Kenyon, Cratos has been stripped of his god powers and cast out of Olympus for defying Zeus' orders to kill an infant. He is punished by being killed every night for all eternity, only to rise the next morning.
• In the video game Tales of Symphonia, Kratos is a main character with both the techniques of a sword and the ability to use magic, making him rather versatile. He is also the narrator in the sequel game, "Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World," and appears as a special boss in the game Tales of Vesperia.

[edit] External links

• Theoi Project - Kratos