All Topics  
Gigantes

 
Gigantes

 
   Email Print
   Bookmark   Link
 

 

Gigantes
 
 
  Topics Gigantes Topic Home

In Greek mythology
Greek mythology

Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the Ancient Greece concerning their List of Greek mythological figures#Immortals and Greek hero cult, Cosmology#Metaphysical cosmology, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices....
, the Gigantes (G??a?te?; singular Gigas) or, commonly, Giants, were a race of giants, children of Gaia
Gaia (mythology)

Gaia Gaia is a Greek primordial gods and chthonic deity in the Ancient Greek Pantheon and considered a Mother Goddess or Great Goddess....
 or Gaea, who were fertilized by the blood of Uranus
Uranus (mythology)

Uranus is the Latinized form of Ouranos , the Greek language word for sky. In Greek mythology Uranus , or Father Sky, is personified as the son and husband of Gaia , Mother Earth ....
, after being castrated
Castration

Castration is any action, surgery, chemical castration, or otherwise, by which a male loses the functions of the testicles. In common usage the term is usually applied to males, although as a medical term it is applied to both males and females....
 by his son Cronus
Cronus

Cronus or Kronos, , was the leader and the youngest of the first generation of Titan , divine descendants of Gaia , the earth, and Uranus , the sky....
.

Cronus secured his power by re-imprisoning or refusing to free his siblings, the Hecatonchires
Hecatonchires

The Hecatonchires, or Hekatonkheires, were three gargantuan figures of an archaic stage of Greek mythology. According to Hesiod they were children of Gaia and Uranus , simply the issue of Earth and Sky, or of Earth and Sea thus part of the very beginning of things in the submerged prehistory of Greek myth, though they played no part...
 and Cyclopes
Cyclops

In Greek mythology and later Roman mythology, a cyclops , is a member of a primordial race of giant , each with a single eye in the middle of its forehead....
, and his (newly-created) siblings the Gigantes, in Tartarus
Tartarus

In classic Roman mythology, below Heaven, Earth, and Pontus is Tartarus, or Tartaros . It is a deep, gloomy place, a pit, or an abyss used as a dungeon of torment and suffering that resides beneath the Hades....
.






Discussion
Ask a question about 'Gigantes'
Start a new discussion about 'Gigantes'
Answer questions from other users
Full Discussion Forum



Encyclopedia


Dionysos Giant Louvre G434
In Greek mythology
Greek mythology

Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the Ancient Greece concerning their List of Greek mythological figures#Immortals and Greek hero cult, Cosmology#Metaphysical cosmology, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices....
, the Gigantes (G??a?te?; singular Gigas) or, commonly, Giants, were a race of giants, children of Gaia
Gaia (mythology)

Gaia Gaia is a Greek primordial gods and chthonic deity in the Ancient Greek Pantheon and considered a Mother Goddess or Great Goddess....
 or Gaea, who were fertilized by the blood of Uranus
Uranus (mythology)

Uranus is the Latinized form of Ouranos , the Greek language word for sky. In Greek mythology Uranus , or Father Sky, is personified as the son and husband of Gaia , Mother Earth ....
, after being castrated
Castration

Castration is any action, surgery, chemical castration, or otherwise, by which a male loses the functions of the testicles. In common usage the term is usually applied to males, although as a medical term it is applied to both males and females....
 by his son Cronus
Cronus

Cronus or Kronos, , was the leader and the youngest of the first generation of Titan , divine descendants of Gaia , the earth, and Uranus , the sky....
.

Cronus secured his power by re-imprisoning or refusing to free his siblings, the Hecatonchires
Hecatonchires

The Hecatonchires, or Hekatonkheires, were three gargantuan figures of an archaic stage of Greek mythology. According to Hesiod they were children of Gaia and Uranus , simply the issue of Earth and Sky, or of Earth and Sea thus part of the very beginning of things in the submerged prehistory of Greek myth, though they played no part...
 and Cyclopes
Cyclops

In Greek mythology and later Roman mythology, a cyclops , is a member of a primordial race of giant , each with a single eye in the middle of its forehead....
, and his (newly-created) siblings the Gigantes, in Tartarus
Tartarus

In classic Roman mythology, below Heaven, Earth, and Pontus is Tartarus, or Tartaros . It is a deep, gloomy place, a pit, or an abyss used as a dungeon of torment and suffering that resides beneath the Hades....
. Afterwards, Cronus and his Titans
Titan (mythology)

In Greek mythology, the Titans ; were a race of powerful deities that ruled during the legendary golden age. Their role as Elder Gods was overthrown by a race of younger gods, the Twelve Olympians, effected a mythological paradigm shift that the Greeks borrowed from the Ancient Near East....
 lost the battle
Titanomachy

In Greek mythology, the Titanomachy, or War of the Titans , was the ten-year series of battles fought between the two races of deities long before the existence of mankind: the Titan , fighting from Mount Othrys, or Mount Etna and the Twelve Olympians, who would come to reign on Mount Olympus ....
 to his son Zeus
Zeus

Zeus in Greek mythology is the king of the gods, the ruler of Mount Olympus and the god of the sky father and List of thunder gods. His symbols are the thunderbolt, eagle, bull , and oak....
.

Gaea, incensed by the imprisonment of the Titans in Tartarus by the Olympians
Twelve Olympians

The Twelve Olympians or younger gods, also known as the Dodekatheon , in Greek mythology, were the principal Greek Godss of the Greek pantheon , residing atop Mount Olympus, having supplanted the Titan or older gods in the greek mythogical narrative....
, incited the Gigantes to rise up in arms against them, end their reign, and restore the Titans' rule. Led on by Alcyoneus
Alcyoneus

Alcyoneus or Alkyoneus was the eldest of the Thrace Gigantes of Greek mythology. He was born in full armor with a spear in his hand. He was the most prominent of the Gigantes who led a major rebellion against the Olympian Gods, and was said to be immortal in his homeland, Pallene....
 and Porphyrion
Porphyrion

In Greek mythology, Porphyrion was a Gigantes, one of the sons of Uranus and Gaia . He attempted to rape Hera. Hera set him against Dionysus, promising the giant Hebe 's hand in marriage if he would defeat the god....
, they tested the strength of the Olympians in what is known as the Gigantomachia or Gigantomachy. The Gigantes Otus and Ephialtes hoped to reach the top of Mount Olympus by stacking the mountain ranges of Thessaly
Thessaly

Thessaly is one of the 13 Peripheries of Greece of Greece, and is further sub-divided into 4 Prefectures of Greece. The capital of the periphery and traditional Regions of Greece is Larissa....
, Pelion
Pelion

Pelion or Pelium is a mountain at the southeastern part of Thessaly in central Greece, forming a hook-like peninsula between the Pagasetic Gulf and the Aegean Sea....
, and Ossa, on top of each other.

The Olympians called upon the aid of Heracles
Heracles

In Greek mythology, Heracles or Herakles meaning "glory of Hera", or "Glorious through Hera" Alcides or Alcaeus " was a hero, the son of Zeus and Alcmene, foster son of Amphitryon and great-grandson of Perseus....
 after a prophecy warned them that he was required to defeat the Gigantes. Heracles slew not only Alcyoneus
Alcyoneus

Alcyoneus or Alkyoneus was the eldest of the Thrace Gigantes of Greek mythology. He was born in full armor with a spear in his hand. He was the most prominent of the Gigantes who led a major rebellion against the Olympian Gods, and was said to be immortal in his homeland, Pallene....
, but dealt the death blow to the Gigantes who had been wounded by the Olympians.

"Power is latent violence, which must have been manifested at least in some mythological once-upon-a-time. Superiority is guaranteed only by defeated inferiors," Walter Burkert
Walter Burkert

Walter Burkert , a scholar of Greek mythology and Cult , is an emeritus professor of classics at the University of Zurich, Switzerland, and also has taught in the United Kingdom and the United States....
 remarked of the Gigantomachy.

This battle parallels the Titanomachy
Titanomachy

In Greek mythology, the Titanomachy, or War of the Titans , was the ten-year series of battles fought between the two races of deities long before the existence of mankind: the Titan , fighting from Mount Othrys, or Mount Etna and the Twelve Olympians, who would come to reign on Mount Olympus ....
, a fierce struggle between the upstart Olympians and their older predecessors, the Titans (who lost the battle). In the Gigantomachia, however, the Olympians were already in power when the Gigantes rose to challenge them. With the aid of their powerful weapons and Heracles
Heracles

In Greek mythology, Heracles or Herakles meaning "glory of Hera", or "Glorious through Hera" Alcides or Alcaeus " was a hero, the son of Zeus and Alcmene, foster son of Amphitryon and great-grandson of Perseus....
, the Olympians defeated the Gigantes and quelled the rebellion, confirming their reign over the earth, sea, and heaven, and confining the Gigantes to the Netherworld
Netherworld

Netherworld is a synonym for Underworld. It may also refer to:*Netherworld *Netherworld *Netherworld *Netherworld *Netherworld *Netherworld ...
.

Whether the Gigantomachia was interpreted in ancient times as a kind of indirect "revenge of the Titans" upon the Olympians — as the Gigantes' reign would have been in some fashion a restoration of the age of the Titans — is not attested in any of the few literary references. Later Hellenistic poets and Latin ones tended to blur Titans and Giants. According to the Greeks of southern Italy, the Gigantes were buried by the gods beneath the earth, where their writhing caused volcanic activity and earthquakes.

In iconic representations the Gigantomachy was a favorite theme of the Greek vase-painters of the 5th century BC.

More impressive depictions of the Gigantomachy can be found in classical sculptural relief, such as the great altar of Pergamon
Pergamon Altar

The Great Altar of Pergamon, a massive stone podium about one hundred feet long and thirty-five feet high, was originally built in the 2nd century BCE in the Ancient Greece city of Pergamon in north-western Anatolia, 25.74 kilometers from the Aegean Sea....
, where the serpent-tailed giants are locked in battle with a host of gods, or in Antiquity at the Temple of Olympian Zeus
Temple of Olympian Zeus (Agrigento)

The Temple of Olympian Zeus in Agrigento, Sicily was the largest Doric order temple ever constructed, although it was never completed and now lies in ruins....
 at Acragas
Agrigento

Agrigento , is a city on the southern coast of Sicily, Italy, and capital of the province of Agrigento. It is renowned as the site of the ancient Greek city of Akragras , one of the leading cities of Magna Graecia during the golden age of Ancient Greece....
.

The Gigantes identified by individual names were Alcyoneus
Alcyoneus

Alcyoneus or Alkyoneus was the eldest of the Thrace Gigantes of Greek mythology. He was born in full armor with a spear in his hand. He was the most prominent of the Gigantes who led a major rebellion against the Olympian Gods, and was said to be immortal in his homeland, Pallene....
 slain by Heracles
Heracles

In Greek mythology, Heracles or Herakles meaning "glory of Hera", or "Glorious through Hera" Alcides or Alcaeus " was a hero, the son of Zeus and Alcmene, foster son of Amphitryon and great-grandson of Perseus....
, Porphyrion
Porphyrion

In Greek mythology, Porphyrion was a Gigantes, one of the sons of Uranus and Gaia . He attempted to rape Hera. Hera set him against Dionysus, promising the giant Hebe 's hand in marriage if he would defeat the god....
 wounded by Zeus
Zeus

Zeus in Greek mythology is the king of the gods, the ruler of Mount Olympus and the god of the sky father and List of thunder gods. His symbols are the thunderbolt, eagle, bull , and oak....
 with lightning bolts and finished off by Heracles, Enceladus
Enceladus (mythology)

In Greek mythology, Enceladus was one of the Gigantes, the enormous children of Gaia fertilized by the blood of castrated Ouranos. With the other Gigantes, Enceladus appeared in one particular region—either Phlegra, the "burning plain" in Thrace, or Pallene....
 and Pallas
Pallas (Giant)

In Greek mythology, Pallas was one of the Gigantes born of the blood which spilled onto Gaia when Cronus castrated his father Uranus .  Pallas confronted Athena during the Gigantomachy, where she killed him and turned his skin into a shield .  Pallas is sometimes referred to as being goat-like....
 killed by Athena
Athena

In Greek mythology, Athena is the shrewd companion of Hero and the goddess of Hero endeavour. She is the virgin patron of Athens, which built the Parthenon to worship her....
, Polybotes crushed by Poseidon
Poseidon

In Greek mythology, Poseidon was the god of the sea and, as "Earth-Shaker," of earthquakes. The name of the god Nethuns in Etruscan mythology was adopted in Latin for Neptune in Roman mythology: both were sea gods analogous to Poseidon....
 beneath the island of Nisyros
Nisyros

Nisyros is a Volcano Greece island and Communities and Municipalities of Greece located in the Aegean Sea. It is part of the Dodecanese group of islands, situated between the islands of Kos and Tilos....
, Hippolytus
Hippolytus (mythology)

In Greek mythology, Hippolytus was a son of Theseus and either Antiope or Hippolyte. He was identified with the Roman mythology forest god Virbius....
 slain by Hermes
Hermes

Hermes is the messenger of the gods in Greek mythology. An Twelve Olympians, he is also the patron of boundaries and of the travelers who cross them, of shepherds and cowherds, of thieves and road travelers, of orators and wit, of literature and poets, of athletics, of weights and measures, of invention, of general commerce, and of the cunni...
 with his sword and wearing the cap of invisibility, Ephialtes of the Aloadae
Aloadae

File:Gustave_Dor?_-_Dante_Alighieri_-_Inferno_-_Plate_65_.jpgIn Greek mythology, the Aloadae were Otus and Ephialtes , sons of Iphimedeia, queen of Aloeus, by Poseidon, whom she induced to make her pregnant by going to the seashore and disporting herself in the surf or scooping seawater into her bosom....
 shot by Apollo
Apollo

In Greek mythology and Roman mythology, Apollo , is one of the most important and many-sided of the Twelve Olympians. The ideal of the kouros , Apollo has been variously recognized as a god of light and the sun; truth and prophecy; archery; medicine and healing; music, poetry, and the arts; and more....
 with arrows, Gration slain by the goddess Artemis
Artemis

In Greek mythology, Artemis was the daughter of Zeus and Leto, and the twin sister of Apollo. She was the Hellenic goddess of forests and hills, child birth/virginity/fertility, the hunt and was often depicted as a huntress carrying a bow and arrows.....
 with her arrows, Eurytos slain by Dionysos with his pine-cone tipped thyrsos, Agrios and Thoon clubbed to death by the Moirae
Moirae

The Moirae or Moerae , in Greek mythology, were the white-robed personifications of destiny . The Greek word moira literally means a part or portion, and by extension one's portion in life or destiny....
 with clubs of bronze, Mimas
Mimas (giant)

Mimas was one of the Gigantes of Greek mythology. Like the other giant sons of Gaia , Mimas had serpents for legs and was born fully armoured. Mimas was slain by Hephaestus during the war against the Olympian Gods....
 slain by Hephaestus
Hephaestus

Hephaestus was a Greek god whose Roman equivalent was Vulcan . He was the god of technology, blacksmiths, craftsmen, artisans, sculpture, metals, metallurgy, Fire and volcanoes....
 with bolts of metal and Clytius
Clytius

Clytius is the name of many people in Greek mythology:#A son of Laomedon, brother of Priam, and an elder of Troy. Also spelled Klythios, Klytios, Clytios, and Klytius....
 by Hecate
Hecate

Hecate Hekate , or Hekat was originally a goddess of the wilderness and childbirth, naturalized early in Mycenaean Greece or in Thrace, but originating among the Carians of Anatolia, the region where most theophoric names invoking Hecate, such as Hecataeus or Hecatomnus, progenitor of Mausollus, are attested, and where Hekate re...
 with flaming torches.

See also

Encelade Versailles
*Pergamon Altar
Pergamon Altar

The Great Altar of Pergamon, a massive stone podium about one hundred feet long and thirty-five feet high, was originally built in the 2nd century BCE in the Ancient Greece city of Pergamon in north-western Anatolia, 25.74 kilometers from the Aegean Sea....
  • Adamastor
    Adamastor

    Adamastor is a Greek-type mythological character invented by the Portugal poet Lu?s de Cam?es in his epic poem Os Lus?adas , as a symbol of the forces of nature Portuguese navigators had to overcome during their Portugal in the period of discoveries....


Sources

  • Burkert, Walter
    Walter Burkert

    Walter Burkert , a scholar of Greek mythology and Cult , is an emeritus professor of classics at the University of Zurich, Switzerland, and also has taught in the United Kingdom and the United States....
    . Greek Religion (1977) 1985.