Pindar, Pythian Ode 4. 290 ff (trans. Conway) (Greek lyric C5th B.C.) :

"Does not even now great Atlas struggle to bear up the weight of heaven, far from his fathers’ land and his possessions? But almighty Zeus set free the Titanes for as time passes and the breeze abates, the sails are set anew."

 

The Titans were an elder generation of gods who ruled the cosmos before the Olympians gods came to power. They were responsible for the original ordering of time and the establishment of fixed heavenly cycles.

 

The eldest of the Titans--Cronos and his four brothers, Crius, Coeus, Hyperion and Iapetus--were imprisoned in the stormy pit of Tartarus by Zeus after he was victorious in the War. Many of the younger Titan gods, however, allied themselves with Zeus and retained their divine rights under the new regime. Some of these allies later proved to be rebellious and were sentenced to harsh punishments, such as Atlas who was condemned to bear the heavens, and Prometheus, who was chained to a rock and an eagle set to feed on his liver.

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The female Titans or Titanides remained neutral in the War, and retained their positions as prophetic goddesses. Several of these goddesses became consorts of Zeus and received a place on Mount Olympos as mothers of the gods.