Cronus or Kronus, was one of the sons of Uranus and Gaia. Uranus was said to have ruled over the Earth long before man. His wife, Gaia had a son, Cronus. Cronus ended up taking over Earth. He married Rhea and had children. Some of them who were Poseidon(Neptune), Hades(Pluto), Zeus(Jupiter)and Hera(Juno). To keep from his children overpowering them, he would swallow each one after they were born. When Rhea had Zeus, she buddled up a rock instead of the baby and gave it to Cronus. Then when Zeus ambushed Cronus, he forced him to cough up the other children, now fully grown. Later on Zeus and his brothers ended up banishing Cronus to an island...but that's another story. ^_~

The name Saturn comes in with the Romans. The Romans had different names for different greek gods, some of which are now planets. The Romans name Cronus Saturn.

Cronus was the God of Time. He was one of the twelve Titans. Each Titan had it's own day, Cronus's was Saturday(named after Saturn). Cronus also means 'crow'. That fits in if you look at the right angle at Sailor Saturn's staff, the symbol looks like a crow's beak.

See? It looks like a crows beak.

A Mix Up?

If Cronus is the God of Time, then why does Sailor Pluto have the God of Death? Good question. I think there was a mix up with naming the greek gods on the senshi. If you look at it closely, Hades is the God of Death, being that he is the ruler of Tartarus (the underworld where people went when they died). So why is Sailor Saturn based on Cronus? Another good question. Sailor Pluto is the Guardian of Time so she should have been named after Cronus. Though I like Sailor Saturn just the way she is. ^_^