| abstract | - Cronus secured his power by re-imprisoning or refusing to free his siblings, the Hecatonchires and Cyclopes, and his (newly-created) siblings, the Gigantes, in Tartarus. Afterwards, Cronus and his Titans lost the battle to his son Zeus. Gaea, incensed by the imprisonment of the Titans in Tartarus by the Olympians, incited the Gigantes to rise up in arms against them, end their reign, and restore the Titans' rule. Led on by Alcyoneus (the eldest) and Porphyrion, 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, Pelion, and Ossa, on top of each other. The Olympians called upon the aid of Heracles after a prophecy warned them that he was required to defeat the Gigantes. Athena, instructed by Zeus, sought out Heracles and requested his aid in the battle. Heracles responded to Athena's request by shooting an arrow dipped in the poisonous blood of the dreaded Hydra at Alcyoneus, which made the Giant fall to the earth. However, the Giant was immortal so long as he remained in Pallene. Athena advised Heracles to drag Alcyoneus outside Pallene to make the Giant susceptible to death. Once outside Pallene, he was beaten to death by Heracles. Heracles slew not only Alcyoneus, but dealt the death blow to the Gigantes who had been wounded by the Olympians. The Gigantes who died by the hero's hands were Alcyoneus, Damysos, Ephialtes, Leon, Peloreus, Porphyrion and Theodamas, giving Heracles the most kills of the Gigantomachy. The Olympians fought the Gigantes with the Moirae aiding them before the aforementioned prophecy was made, meaning the Gigantes would have overcome the combined efforts of both Olympus and the Sisters of Fate had Heracles not fought. "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 remarked of the Gigantomachy. This battle parallels the Titanomachy, a fierce struggle between the upstart Olympians and their older predecessors, the Titans (who lost the battle). In the Gigantomachy, however, the Olympians were already in power when the Gigantes rose to challenge them. With the aid of their powerful weapons, the Moirae and Heracles, the Olympians defeated the Gigantes and quelled the rebellion, confirming their reign over the earth, sea, and heaven, and confining the Gigantes into Tartarus. The only Giant not slain in the conflict was Aristaios, who was turned into a dung beetle by Gaea so the Giant might be safe from the wrath of the Olympains. Whether the Gigantomachy 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 Gigantes. According to the Greeks 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 BCE More impressive depictions of the Gigantomachy can be found in classical sculptural relief, such as the great altar of Pergamon, where the serpent-legged giants are locked in battle with a host of gods, or in Antiquity at the Temple of Olympian Zeus at Acragas. Some of the Gigantes identified by individual names were Alcyoneus slain by Heracles, Porphyrion wounded by Zeus with lightning bolts and finished off with an arrow by Heracles, Enceladus and Pallas killed by Athena, Polybotes crushed by Poseidon beneath the island of Nisyros, Hippolytus slain by Hermes with his sword and wearing the cap of invisibility, Ephialtes of the Aloadae shot by Apollo and Heracles with arrows, Gration slain by the goddess Artemis with her arrows, Eurytus slain by Dionysus with his pine-cone tipped thyrsos, Agrius and Thoon clubbed to death by the Moirae with clubs of bronze, Mimas slain by Hephaestus with a volley of molten iron and Clytius immolated by Hecate with flaming torches.
|
