Concept in Definition ABC

Saturn is one of the gods of the civilization Roman, whose denomination served to name one of the planets of the Solar system, in such a way that there are two perspectives that we analyze of the concept. First, the vision of it in mythology, and second, as a planet found by Galileo in 1609.

Saturn as a divinity from Roman mythology

Sky is the oldest of the gods and he married the goddess Earth, who had two daughters, Cibles and Themis, as well as several children, including Saturn. According to narration mythological, Heaven was suspicious of the bravery of his children and punished them severely, causing the attitude rebel from his son Saturn, who attacked his father and made him a slave and thus ended up taking the throne of the world. However, Saturn was not the firstborn of the family, but this privilege had his brother Titan.

Faced with this situation, Titan resigned from power due to the pressure of his mother, but in exchange Saturn was forced to exterminate all male children so that royalty would fall back into the hands of the Titans. Saturn kept the covenant and devoured his male children. Saturn's wife, Cybele, could not bear this situation and made her son Jupiter hide on the island of Crete to avoid his death. Saturn discovered the deception, which caused his brother Titan to declare war on him and finally Saturn was defeated and taken prisoner.

Years passed and Jupiter could not bear the situation of submission of his father, so he decided to free him and thus Saturn returned to occupy the throne. However, he was afraid that his son Jupiter would dethrone him, just as he had predicted fate. The fear of losing power led Saturn to fight against Jupiter but he defeated him and made the decision to ignore his father and expel him from the throne forever. Saturn took refuge in Italy and King Janus allowed the two to share the sovereignty of his kingdom. The generous attitude of King Janus moved the heart of Saturn and began a work of teaching the useful arts to the inhabitants of the kingdom, which led to a period of abundance and splendor. This prosperity caused Saturn to become the god of farming in Roman mythology. On the other hand, Saturn is also the symbol of time, since he was the one who initiated the tradition culture of Roman civilization.

Saturn is represented as a old man emaciated and hunched over, he carries an hourglass in his hand, a symbol that expresses that time destroys everything. The Romans honored him in the Saturnalia festivals that were celebrated in December with three days of festivities that symbolized the golden age brought about by Saturn.

Saturn as a planet

The planet Saturn was discovered by Galileo in 1609 in one of the first observations of it with the telescope. The days of this planet last 10 hours and 14 minutes and a Saturn year is equivalent to 29 Earth years. Due to its rapid rotation it is flattened by the poles.

Astronomers estimate that its characteristic rings are made up of particles from an ancient moon that was destroyed in a collision 50 million years ago, so it is believed that the rings could disappear in a future.

As for its atmosphere, it is composed mainly of hydrogen, helium and methane. It is the only planet in the solar system whose density is less than that of water on Earth.

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