Gigantomachia

Gigantomachia

Gigantomachia
A scene depicting the Gigantomachia where the Olympians waged a war against the Giants

Welcome everyone and all to this post on the topic Gigantomachia! Here, we will discuss the mythical struggle between the Olympian gods and the Earth-born Giants, the fourth and last generation of the descendants of Uranus and Gaia. Please note that the Titanomachia or the war against the Titans transpired  first prior to the Gigantomachia. Of course, I have got your guesses right! The Olympians won again this time. But guess what, they could’ve not won this time without the aid of a mortal. You know who is this mortal? I will not disclose yet this time. It is better if you read and discover yourself. It’s a sheer pleasure to know and as rewarding as a great victory after great adventure. What, you know it already? Please don’t spoil the others who don’t know yet. It is better if everybody else know it collectively, isn’t it? So, let us all join hands and figure out how this equally epic and mythic war transpired and learn how this mortal save the skins of these immortals. Off we go!

Intended learning outcomes (ILO)

After the completion of this topic, the students should be able to:

  1. discuss the parallel between the Biblical and mythological encounters against the Giants of the Earth.

Gigantomachia

Gigantomachia came from the Greek words “Gigantes” and “machia” which translates into “war or clash against the Giants.” In Greek mythology, the Giants or Gigantes (Greek: Gigantes, singular Gigas) were a race of great strength and aggression, though not necessarily of great size, known for the Gigantomachy (Gigantomachia), their battle with the Olympian gods. According to Hesiod, the Giants were the offspring of Gaia (Earth), born from the blood that fell when Uranus (Sky) was castrated by their Titan son Cronus.

Archaic and Classical representations show Gigantes as man-sized hoplites (heavily-armed ancient Greek foot soldiers) fully human in form. Later representations (after c. 380 BC) show Gigantes with snakes for legs. The Gigantes were more than just giants. These giants had tails of the serpents. The giants were said to have lived in Phlegra, most likely in Thrace, while other say Phlegra was located in Sicily.

Origins of the Giants

The name “Gigantes” is usually taken to imply “earth-born”, and Hesiod’s Theogony makes this explicit by having the Giants be the offspring of Gaia (Earth). According to Hesiod, Gaia mating with Uranus bore many children: the first generation called Hecatonchires (Hundred-handed and Fifty-headed Giants), the Cyclopes (Gigantic one-eyed craftsmen) and the Titans. But Uranus hated his children and, as soon as they were born, he imprisoned them inside of Gaia, causing her much distress. And so Gaia made a sickle of adamant which she gave to Cronus, the youngest of her Titan sons, and hid him (presumably still inside Gaia’s body) to wait in ambush. And when Uranus came to mate with Gaia, Cronus castrated his father, and “the bloody drops that gushed forth [Gaia] received, and as the seasons moved round she bore … the great Giants.”

From these same drops of blood also came the Erinyes (Furies) and the Meliai (ash tree nymphs), while the severed genitals of Uranus falling into the sea resulted in a white foam from which Aphrodite grew. The mythographer Apollodorus also has the Giants being the offspring of Gaia and Uranus, though he makes no connection with Uranus’ castration, saying simply that Gaia “vexed on account of the Titans, brought forth the Giants”

Cause of the Gigantomachia

The most detailed account of the Gigantomachy is that of the (first century or second century AD) mythographer Apollodorus. Some of the reasons listed include, but are not limited to:

  1. The rape attempt of the Giant Eurymedon to Hera
  2. Theft of the cattle of Helios by the Giant Alcyoneus
  3. Gaia’s grudge on the Olympians for the incarceration of the Titans in Tartarus.

The third reason suggests a mother’s revenge as the motive for the war, saying that Gaia bore the Giants because of her anger over the tyranny of Uranus who locked back to her womb the Hecatonchires and Cyclopes; then the greedy Cronus who devoured his children which caused Rhea to ask the help of Gaia; then, after the Olympians rule, the presence of tyranny, injustice and other crimes committed. And seemingly, as soon as the Giants are born they begin hurling “rocks and burning oaks at the sky”.

There was a prophecy that the Giants could not be killed by the gods alone, but they could be killed with the help of a mortal. Hearing this, Gaia sought for a certain plant  called pharmakon that would protect the Giants. But before Gaia or anyone else could find this plant, Zeus forbade Eos (Dawn), Selene (Moon) and Helios (Sun) to shine, and harvested all of the plant himself, then he had Athena summon Heracles.

The gods learned that they could only defeat the giants if a mortal aided them. The gods had to wait for centuries before they had a suitable hero to aid them in the war against the giants. This hero was Heracles. To prevent the giants from attacking them before Heracles was born; they caused the sun not to shine in Phlegra, the place designated where the giants will be born by Gaia.

The course of the war and its outcome

When the Giants were finally born, they begin hurling “rocks and burning oaks at the sky.” These Giants are far more fearsome enemies than the Titans. The Olympians led by Zeus were facing a different breed of enemies helped by no less than Gaia herself, who, formerly, was their staunch ally in the Titanomachia. The Giants are gifted with unique powers and abilities. Eurymedon was their leader, while Alcyoneus and Porphyrion were the strongest among the giants. Without the help of Heracles, the Olympians would be defeated.

Some of the Giants identified by name are:
  1. Agrius: According to Apollodorus, he was killed by the Moirai (Fates) with their bronze clubs.
  2. Alcyoneus: According to Apollodorus, he was (along with Porphyrion), the greatest of the Giants; immortal while fighting in his native land, he was dragged from his homeland and killed by Heracles.Representations of Heracles fighting Alcyoneus are found on many sixth century BC and later works of art.
  3. Aristaeus: According to the Suda, he was the only Giant to “survive,” fighting Hephaestus.
  4. Asterius: A Giant, also called Aster, killed by Athena, whose death, according to some accounts, was celebrated by the Panathenaea.
  5. Clytius: According to Apollodorus, he was killed by Hecate with her torches.
  6. Enceladus: Euripides has Athena fighting him with her “Gorgon shield” (her aegis). According to Apollodorus, he was crushed by Athena under the Island of Sicily.
  7. Ephialtes: According to Apollodorus he was blinded by arrows from Apollo and Heracles.
  8. Euryalus: He is named on a late sixth century red-figure cup (Akropolis 2.211) and an early fifth century red-figure cup (British Museum E 47) fighting Hephaestos.
  9. Eurymedon: According to Homer, he was possibly the Eurymedon who attempted to rape Hera and killed by Zeus.
  10. Eurytus: According to Apollodorus, he was killed by Dionysus with his thyrsus.
  11. Gration: According to Apollodorus, he was killed by Artemis.
  12. Hippolytus: According to Apollodorus, he was killed by Hermes, who was wearing Hades’ helmet, which made its wearer invisible.
  13. Lion: He is mentioned by Photius as having been challenged to single combat by Heracles and killed. Lion-headed Giants are shown on the Gigantomachy frieze of the Pergamon Altar.
  14. Mimas: According to Apollodorus, he was killed by Hephaestus.
  15. Pallas: According to Apollodorus, he was flayed by Athena, who used his skin as a shield.
  16. Pelorus: According to Claudian, he was killed by Ares.
  17. Polybotes: According to Apollodorus, he was crushed under Nisyros, a piece of the island of Kos broken off and thrown by Poseidon.
  18. Porphyrion: According to Apollodorus, he was (along with Alcyoneus), the greatest of the Giants, he attacked Heracles and Hera but Zeus “smote him with a thunderbolt, and Hercules shot him dead with an arrow.”
  19. Thoas: According to Apollodorus, he was killed by the Moirai (Fates) with bronze clubs.
  20. Antaeus: A Giant son of Gaia who was invincible as long as he touches the ground (Earth) his mother, but was crushed by Hercules by lifting him up.

Zeus’ battle with Typhon

Although, Zeus and the Olympians defeated the Titans, they were faced with an even mightier foe, the Typhon (Typhoeus). Typhon is considered the “Father of All Monsters” with Echidna, his wife, the “Mother of All Monsters.” Gaea had conceived the new offspring from her brother Tartarus. Apollodorus gave a wonderful description of Typhon, in his work called the Library.

Typhoeus was a winged giant, said to be so huge that his head brushed the stars. He was man-shaped from the waist up with two coiled serpents in place of legs. He had a hundred serpent-heads for fingers, a filthy, matted beard, pointed ears, and eyes flashing fire. According to some mythographers,  he had two hundred hands consisting of fifty serpent-headed fingers on each hands and a hundred heads proper–one was human, the other ninety-nine bestial (of bulls, boars, serpents, lions and leopards). As a volcano-demon Typhoeus hurled red-hot rocks at heaven and fire boiled forth from his mouth.

Typhon was father to many monstrous offspring: Cerberus, Chimaera, Orthus, the Hydra, Nemean Lion, Sphinx, the Caucasian Eagle, the Crommyonian Sow and vultures.

According to Ovid and Hyginus, when Typhon came and attacked the heaven, all the Olympians fled south from Typhon, to Egypt. The Olympians had transformed themselves into various animals to escape from the monster. Apollo had disguised himself into a crow, his sister Artemis into a cat, while Dionysus had changed into a goat, as did Pan (where he was known as Aeocerus; the goat was later immortalised as the constellation Capricorn). Hera turned into a snowy cow, Hermes into ibis, Aphrodite and Eros into fishes; the fishes were later commemorated as the constellation Pisces.

Only Zeus dared to confront Typhon. Zeus hurled his deadly thunderbolts, but as the monster drew closer, Zeus would attack Typhon with the adamantium sickle. Wounded, the Typhon fled to Mount Casion in Syria.

Zeus, seeing that the monster had been seriously wounded, he became over-confident. Typhon trapped Zeus in his massive coils, and with Zeus’ sickle, Typhon managed to cut the sinews and tendons of Zeus’ hands and had the god imprisoned in the Corycian cave in Cilicia. According to Apollodorus, Typhon had set a she-dragon Delphyne to guard this cave, and the sinews were hidden under a bear’s skin. Without his sinews, Zeus was helpless and could not wield the thunderbolts.

Hermes, wearing the helmet of invisibility, had somehow retrieved the sinews and rescued Zeus. After Zeus was restored of his sinews, Zeus regained the use of the thunderbolts. Zeus wielded his mighty thunderbolts against Typhon, pursuing the monster to Sicily. Zeus defeated Typhon, and buried the monster under Mount Etna or the entire island of Sicily. The volcanic eruptions of Mount Etna were the result of Typhon’s spewing out his fire.

Result of the Gigantomachia

The vanquished Giants were said to be buried under volcanoes, and to be the cause of volcanic eruptions and earthquakes. Gaia was finally pacified but she sometimes stir the imprisoned giants to struggle to break free (earthquakes and volcanic eruptions) when injustice happens. Since the last threat to the reign and power of the Olympians, Typhon, was defeated, a reign of peace and prosperity followed.

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