Cronus

"On that day, I swore that I would become First Prime of Apophis, sworn enemy of Cronus."

- Teal'c

Cronus, or Kronos, was a Goa'uld, and one of the most influential of the System Lords. In Greek mythology, Cronus was one of twleve Titans, immortal beings of great strenght and power, who ruled before being overthrown by the Olympians. The twelve children of the Titans lead by Cronus's son Zeus engaged in a ten year war that placed them at it's end as the principal deities of the Greek pantheon.

Early history
Cronus, allying with the Supreme System Lord Ra and with Apophis&mdash;one of his mortal enemies&mdash;were among the main System Lords who allied to overthrow Sokar, with Cronus being the one to formally banish him. Following the death of Ra, Cronus was, along side Apophis and Heru'ur one of the Gou'uld who largely came to fill the void left by Ra's demise.

Cronus was also noted as being the first to use the kor mak bracelets. Ronac, the father of Teal'c, was his First Prime, but had ordered a retreat, for which Cronus killed him, crushing his prim'ta, causing a slow, agonizing death. Teal'c and his mother were banished to Chulak, where Teal'c vowed to become First Prime of Apophis so that he would be in a position to someday avenge his father. Cronus is described by Teal'c as being the most influential of the System Lords.

Cronus was also a bitter enemy of the Tok'ra. Upon learning that the Tok'ra Jolinar of Malkshur was on Nasya, he dispatched the Ashrak Edrekh to kill her. Apparently tired of waiting for Edrekh to act, he sent a Death Glider squadron down to attack the Nasyans, but they were evacuated by SG-1. The symbiote Anker, who replaced the Tok'ra Cordesh to act as a spy within the Tok'ra, later sent word to Cronus of the contact of the Tau'ri and the Tok'ra. Cronus sent two motherships to deal with them, but the Tok'ra were given advance warning, and Colonel Jack O'Neill discovered Anker's duplicity. Thus, Cronus bore indirect responsibility for the formation of the Tau'ri-Tok'ra alliance.

1999
When the Asgard sought to have Earth included in the Protected Planets Treaty, Cronus led the delegation, which included Yu and Nirrti. The System Lords agreed to allow Earth into the treaty, in return for surrendering both the Alpha and Beta Stargates. Nirrti opposed the plan, and used a cloaking device to conceal herself to attack Cronus, framing Teal'c. Nirrti then falsely tried to heal him, but Major Samantha Carter healed Cronus herself after her duplicity was exposed. In return, Cronus agreed to support the treaty, and allow Earth to retain its Stargates, but warned the Tau'ri that any who were captured would be dealt with harshly. Nirrti was then taken into his custody.

2001
Two years later, Cronus took the planet Juna, previously controlled by Heru'ur. When the robotic copies of SG-1 came through, he had the Daniel Jackson double executed. His surprise at their robotic appearance caused a weakness of his position among the People of Juna, who reasoned that a true God would have known about their true natures. When they learned that they had gone to Juna, the real SG-1 came to rescue them, and Cronus was confronted by both the robotic Teal'c and the real Teal'c. Cronus attempted to kill the real Teal'c by killing his prim'ta&mdash;the same way Cronus had killed his father Ronac&mdash;but the robotic Teal'c shot Cronus 3 times with a Staff weapon in his back. SG-1 received the added bonus of gaining control of Cronus's Ha'tak, which was used to destroy Apophis' fleet.

The death of Cronus, followed by the death of Apophis a few days later, caused the System Lords to enter into a war that the Tok'ra hoped would last for years. However, an adverse effect was that it allowed Nirrti to escape and resume her activities in searching for a hok'tar. Worse, it merely accelerated the events that resulted in the return of Anubis.

Alternate timeline

 * Cronus, like other System Lords, was in the service of Ba'al during an alternate timeline. He conspired with Ba'al's queen, Qetesh, to overthrow Ba'al, a plot which half-succeeded. Though Ba'al was killed and he and Qetesh took over, Qetesh was killed by SG-1. Though it is assumed Earth would have been destroyed and he would have taken control of the System Lords, it is unknown what his fate was, as history was restored.

Throne
In the Goa'uld mothership captured by SG1, the throne of Cronus sits in the mothership's main bridge. Its inscription reads, in Greek: ΑΝΤΙOΧΟΙ ΙΕΡΑΣ ΤΥΡΙΩΝ ΔΕΥΣ - ΧΡΩΝΩΣ - ΗΩΣΤΡΥΜ ΔΙΦΣ ΙΛΕΩΣ ΒΑΣΙΛΕΙ ΧΡΩΝΩΣ ΔΙΩ

Which translates as:

Holy Antiochus (???) god - Cronos - (???) (???) GRACIOUS EMPEROR FEAR CRONUS

ΤΥΡΙΩΝ, which has no translation, may be a partial mis-spelling of a case of Kyrie, which means "O Lord", in which case this line would render as "O Lord God." Alternatively it could be an alteration of ΤΥΡΑΝΝΟς, meaning tyrant.

ΔΙΦΣ, might be an alterration of ΔΙΟΣ, which means Zeus or god.

It is unclear if ΗΩΣΤΡΥΜ is one or more words.

When Apophis came to have possession of this mothership, he described the throne's decor as "Disgusting decoration".