In Greek mythology, '''Kratos''', also known as '''Cratus''' or '''Cratos''', is the divine personification of strength. He is the son of Pallas and Styx. Kratos and his siblings Nike ('Victory'), Bia ('Force'), and Zelus ('Glory') are all the personification of a specific trait. Kratos is first mentioned alongside his siblings in Hesiod's ''Theogony''.

According to Hesiod, Kratos and his siblings dwell with Zeus because their mother Styx came to him first to request a position in his regime, so he honored her and her children with exalted positions.

Kratos and his sister Bia are best known for their appearance in the opening scene of Aeschylus' ''Prometheus Bound''. Acting as agents of Zeus, they lead the captive Titan Prometheus on stage. Kratos compels the mild-mannered blacksmith god Hephaestus to chain Prometheus to a rock as punishment for his theft of fire.

Kratos is characterized as brutal and merciless, repeatedly mocking both Hephaestus and Prometheus and advocating for the use of unnecessary violence. He defends Zeus' oppressive rule and predicts that Prometheus will never escape his bonds.

In Aeschylus' ''Libation Bearers'', Electra calls upon Kratos, Dike ("Justice"), and Zeus to aid her brother Orestes in avenging the murder of their father Agamemnon.

Kratos and Bia appear in a late fifth-century BC red-figure Attic ''skyphos'' of the punishment of Ixion, possibly based on a scene from a lost tragedy by Euripides. They also appear in late eighteenth and nineteenth-century Romantic depictions and adaptations of the binding of Prometheus.

In the preface to ''Fabulae'' by Gaius Julius Hyginus, Kratos is given the Roman name Potestas

*Hesiod's Theogony
*Aescylus's Prometheus Bond
*Aescylus'a Libation Bearers
*Gaius Julius Hygninus's Fabulae

*Not to be confused with more popular Kratos from the ''God of War'' franchise. Unaware of the actual mythological god named Kratos appearing in ''Prometheus Bound'', the creators coincidentally chose the name Kratos, the same Greek word meaning "Strength", of which the mythological figure Kratos is the personification.

*[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kratos_(mythology) Wikipedia]
*[https://comicvine.gamespot.com/kratos/4005-11941/ ComicVine]

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