Origin
According to Hesiod, Gaia, the Earth, gives birth on her own to Ouranos, the starry Sky, so that he may cover her entirely. Together they have the Titans, the Cyclopes and the hundred handed giants.
The story
Ouranos rejects his children and locks them deep inside the Earth. Exhausted and furious, Gaia fashions a sickle and asks her sons to avenge her. Only Cronus agrees: he mutilates his father and separates him from the Earth forever.
From the blood of Ouranos are born the Erinyes, goddesses of vengeance, and from the foam that forms in the sea, Aphrodite is born. Overthrown, Ouranos predicts that his son will suffer the same fate.
The symbol
Uranus is the first planet discovered with a telescope, by William Herschel in 1781. It is the only one that bears a Greek rather than a Latin name. It rotates lying on its side, its axis almost horizontal, and takes 84 years to go around the Sun.
In astrology, Uranus stands for change, freedom, originality and the unexpected. It is seen as the modern ruler of Aquarius.