Omphalos Stone: the rock Cronos swallowed instead of the infant Zeus

The Omphalos Stone is the stone the Titaness Rhea gave the Titan Cronos to swallow instead of the newly born Zeus. Two generations later it turns up again in the stomach of that same Titan, and Kratos cuts it out in Tartarus at the request of a smith god who wants him dead.

What is the Omphalos Stone?#

It is the stone that stood in for a god: the rock handed to Cronos at the sacrifice altar in place of the infant Zeus, swallowed whole by a Titan who never noticed the difference. Cronos had overthrown his father Ouranos, and he remembered the prophecy Ouranos left him with, that one of his own sons would do the same to him. So he swallowed every one of Rhea's children whole: Hestia, Hades, Demeter, Poseidon and Hera.

When Zeus was due, Rhea could not stand the thought of losing another child. As Cronos approached the sacrifice altar she took a stone, wrapped it in swaddling clothes and gave it to him. He swallowed it whole. An eagle carried Zeus away to safety, Gaia raised him, and he eventually bested his father and released his brothers and sisters. After the Titanomachy the Omphalos was set up on display at Delphi, where it remains.

Gaia tells the same story to Kratos in God of War II, with one difference worth noting: in her account it was Rhea who was forced to watch her children eaten and who commanded the eagle, but it was Gaia herself who took a rock, wrapped it in cloth and offered it up on the sacrificial altar.

Where do you get the Omphalos Stone in God of War III?#

Hephaestus sends you for it, and he does so hoping the errand kills you rather than because he has any use for the rock at the end of it. Once it became clear to the smith god that his daughter Pandora's life might be in danger, he settled on killing Kratos with the stone as his pretext. He offered help, told the Spartan to travel to the Pit of Tartarus and find the Omphalos Stone so that a weapon could be made from it. Kratos had weapons enough already. Hephaestus insisted this one would be special.

In Tartarus Kratos found the Titan Cronos. He worked out where the stone was, killed the Titan and pulled the Omphalos from his stomach. He came back furious, certain he had been sent to his death. Hephaestus pleaded innocence and said he had known the Ghost of Sparta could handle himself.

Then the god took the stone and crafted the Nemesis Whip from it with his bare hands. He gave the new weapon to Kratos and made one last attempt on his life, trying to electrify him with his ring. Kratos shook off the effect and impaled Hephaestus on his own anvil.

Loose ends#

The stone that saved Zeus in his first hours ended up as one supporting factor in his death. Both Hephaestus and Rhea used it in schemes to protect their own child, and both of those children, Pandora and Zeus, died at the hands of the same man.

In mythology, Cronos most likely spat the stone back out. Zeus put sand in his water, Cronos drank it and vomited up the children he had swallowed. God of War III still has the stone lodged in the Titan's stomach, which may simply mean it stayed stuck there until Kratos opened him with the Blade of Olympus. Whether the rock ever had any genuine significance is unknown, given that Hephaestus wanted it purely as a ruse. The green glow of the Nemesis Whip may be a nod to the Kronos Stone from Xena: Warrior Princess and Hercules: The Legendary Journeys.