Greek monsters : Giants

MONSTERS OF THE GREEK MYTHOLOGY:

The world of Greek mythology is filled with creatures more vile than the other, and we’ll take a look at some of them. For our fist category, the giants :

GIANTS :
These creatures are, as their name suggests, gigantic. Their birth dates back before the existence of the Olympian gods; and most were born from Ouranos, the Sky, and Gaia, the Earth.

-Titans and Titanides:
The 1st generation of Ouranos and Gaïa's children. Cronos, the Titan leader, cut Ouranos' penis to free his brothers and sisters. Then, after having freed the Cyclops and the Hecatoncheires from Tartarus, all of them waged war against their father. But the vile Titan then betrayed the cyclops and the Hecatoncheires, and sent them back to the Tartarus.

After an epic fight, called "Titanomachy"; were they confronted the betrayed weird-eyed giants, the Olympian gods and some others beings, some titans were locked in this hellish place.
Other Titans, being neutral or having helped the gods, were rewarded by the gods.

-Hecatoncheires:
Humanoids beings with 100 arms and 50 heads. They were precious allies of the Olympians during the Titanomachy: in fact, enraged that the Titan Cronos betrayed them once Ouranos was defeated, they joined the camp of Olympians and cyclops to lock up the Titans traitors in Tartarus. Today, they are the guardians of this sinister place, seeing everything down here.

-Cyclops:
Gigantic characters with a single eye, also locked in Tartarus by Cronos, like their brothers with 100 arms. Cyclops are very good at forging legendary weapons, in fact they are the one behind the weapons of the Olympians during the Titanomachy, like the lightning of Zeus!
Their children will work as blacksmiths, builders; and less honorably, pastors who eat humans and sheep.

-Giants :
They are the only ones born not from the union of Gaia and Ouranos, but from the latter's blood after Cronos cut his penis.
These monsters, sent by Gaia, faced the Olympian gods and their allies after the Titanomachy, and were massacred despite their strength and resistance greater than that of the gods, during the Gigantomachy. Ruse is the key to defeat the one stronger than you !
As depicted by the picture, they sometimes have snake tail legs.

-Talos:
A giant made entirely of bronze. It is not known if he is the last survivor of the Bronze race (a race of Bronze Age men); or an automaton created by Hephaestus.
He protects the island of Crete and its king Minos.
This immense colossus threw rocks at the boats or scalded the intruders by pressing them on his bronze body heated by the sun.
His only weakness is his heel, which has a nail blocking his unique vein.
Medea enchanted his mind to drive him mad. In his frenzy, he tore off the nail on a rock and emptied himself of his ichor, the divine equivalent of blood, which each god possesses.
Hephaestus is known to build several automatons, most of them being inoffensive dogs, servants or even silly tripods, serving the meal at Olympus ! 

-Campe:
A hideous creature who watched cyclops and Hecatoncheires under the orders of Cronos.
She appears as a winged woman with bat wings, fish scales and snake hair; the bottom is also made of many vipers, its neck is decorated with many heads of ferocious beasts (wild boars, lions, dogs ...), it has sharp claws. Finally, a monstrous scorpion roams its body freely.
Zeus killed her when he delivered the cyclops and the Hecatoncheires

-Geryon:
A giant with three torsos attached to his pelvis. It is therefore a triple threat for herd thieves! Heracles confronted him after killing his two-headed dog, Orthos. Despite the giant’s 3 helmets, 3 spears and 3 shields, an arrow poisoned with Hydra’s venom struck him down.

-Typhon:
The ultimate threat from the Olympian gods. Its origin would be due to the union of Gaia and Tartarus.
This destructive monster represented as a donkey (yes) with bat wings, fingers and legs made of snakes and eyes filled with lava is a destructive, violent and beastly deity.
He is also the father of many deadly creatures, which he had by uniting with Echidna.
Typhoon grew in one day, until it reached the sky; the gods then fled to hide from him. Zeus, armed with the sickle used to cut the penis of Ouranos, tried to defeat the beast, but he lost; was then locked up in a cave without his tendons, under the supervision of Delphyny, an half woman half snake creature.
Hermes put the woman to sleep and stitched up the god, who then recovered his lightning.
The Moirais, meanwhile, deceived Typhon by offering him fruits supposed to make him stronger but, in reality, to make him weaker.
Zeus finished the monster and buried it under Etna, a volcano still active today.

The Underworld

But where do the men go once they died ?

Underworld awaits them, a kingdom ruled by Hades, an Olympian god. One important thing :

Greek Hell is not like the Christian one, a fiery place filled with tortured torturers, reserved for criminals and heretics.
No, the Greek Underworld is a place for all humans who have passed away, and the precise destination of a soul depends of its life. We will see the stages of progression in this dismal world :

The funeral:
The first crucial step to access the Underworld is a correct burial. It is necessary to bury the deceased and place a coin in his mouth (obolus). Those who are not buried properly are condemned to wander on Earth for decades, or to be stranded in front of the Archeron river.
Indeed, to cross this river, Charon, an old ferryman, must take them (at the cost of an obolus) to the gates of the Underworld.

The gates of the Underworld :
Once at the gates, the dead can no longer retreat, at the risk of being attacked by Cerberus, a terrible giant black dog with three heads, scolding breath and snakes around the neck.
Once you get trough the gate, you can “admire” the landscape of this desolate place :
Everything is the opposite of life on the surface: The night is eternal, it's cold, humid, dark. Only withered trees decorate the ground. The shadows of most people wail as they wander this place, frustrated with their ghastly condition...

The Rivers :
The underworld is crossed by 5 magical rivers: Archeron, Charon’s river; Phlegeton, river of fire; Cocyte, rivers of lamentation; the Lethe, river of Forgetfulness and finally the famous cold Styx.
It is on this river that the gods take an oath. If they break their word, they lose their divine privileges for a decade !

The suzerains of the Underworld :
Sinister deities are installed in the heart of this grim place.
There is Hades, god of the Underworld, considering shadows as his subjects; and his wife Persephone, who’s also the daughter of the goddess of agriculture.
There are the Furies, three old women, Alecto, Tisiphone and Megaera, called the Eumenides (benevolent) so as not to attract their anger. They torture some convicts by whipping them with snakes.
The harpies, a mix between old hags and vultures, also live here. These monsters sometimes take souls or children straight to the Underworld, and punish men by stealing or defecating on their food.
The Moirai fix the fate of each person: Clotho spins the thread on her distaff, Lachesis reels it to give them their lifespan and Atropos cut it to complete the life of the person.

Finally, the deceased will have to confront the three judges of the Underworld:
Minos, King of Crete, judges the false defendants. Aeacus, son of Zeus, judges the criminals known for their crimes, and finally Rhadamantus, son of Zeus too, takes care of those who have hidden their misdeeds.
Their terrible judgment fixes the fate of the dead, being sent to the Elysian Fields if he behaved well or was heroic;or in Tartarus if he was a terrible criminal, and staying here in the Asphodel Meadow otherwise.

The Elysian Fields :
The Greek equivalent of paradise. Valorous warriors, city founders, pious priests, and talented artists are gathered here, their dedication mankinds allow them to stay here. These fields resemble an improved version of the terrestrial grass fields, with fresh springs, beautiful vegetation, a mild and perfect climate ...
Residents know neither work nor the pain. They can play sports, dance or sing, or just rest.
However, this world is quite illusory, it is a non-real and material world, and for some characters like Achilles, reality, although sometimes cruel, remains preferable to this tasteless illusion. He will rather be a living enslaved peasant than the king of the Elysian residents.

The Tartarus:
The Greek equivalent of Hell. Convicts undergo torture or endless labor to punish them for their atrocious crimes.
It’s a dry, windy and dark desert surrounded by bronze grids. The tortured are tormented there for eternity: Traitors, tyrants and vile criminals will end here sooner or later.
Tantalus, for having served his son at the table of the gods, is condemned to eternal hunger and thirst while the water and the fruits are constantly retreating when he tries to approach them.
Sisyphus, for having deceived death twice, is condemned to push a rock at the top of a mountain, while this rock descends after each climb.
Ixion, for his perjury, his murder and his affront to Zeus, is condemned to the flaming wheel that never stop its race.
The giant Tityos, after attacking Apollo and Diane’s mother, is forced to lye on the ground, while is liver being eaten by vultures. His liver is obviously reconstituted after each bird meal !
The Danaïdes, 49 sisters who killed their husbands together, are condemned to fill a bottomless barrel for eternity.

The Olmypian gods

The Olympian are the gods currently ruling the world. Unlike the previous Titans, and other monstrous gigantic beings, each god represent an aspect of the nature and life of the Greek world, and minor divinities are often under their control; like Eros being serving his mother Aphrodite.

Now the first generation of Olympians they are born to the union between Cronos and Rhea. This union is very important because the gods come after will constitute a central cornerstone of the mythology Greek. Cronus later married his sister Rhea but became as bad a father as his father by swallowing each of his children. The only survivor of this terrible family murder: Zeus. He will grow up removed from his country without his father knowing about it. Once he grew up he ended up taking revenge by making his father vomit, which thus released his brothers and sisters the Olympians. You can imagine that this first generation of God is not really thrilled with their father’s behavior. Thus Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Poseidon, Hades and Zeus decide to rise up against their father. Many gods are famous had to the marriage between Cronos and Rhea, these gods are:

-Hestia is the goddess of home

-Demeter is the goddess of grain, agriculture, nourishment. She is the Persephone’s mother

-Hera is the goddess of marriage and she is the legitimate wife of Zeus

-Hades is the of hell and the dead persons. He is married to Persephone

-Poseidon is the god the sea and the oceans. He is often represented with his trident and where he triggered earthquakes. He is the brother of Zeus and Hades

-Zeus is king of gods. He is often represented with a lightning on this hand

Then Zeus had many relations with different goddess and humans. Zeus and the others gods create the next generation. The relations with goddess are most important here

Child with Metis

-Athena is the goddess of intelligence

Child with Demeter

-Persephone is the goddess of the hell like Hades and she is married with

Child with Maia (goddess of growth)

-Hermes is the messenger of gods and especially Zeus. He is the god of travel communication and thieves

Children with Hera

-Hephaestus is the god of blacksmith

-Ares is the god of war

-Hebe is the goddess of youth

-Heileithyia is the goddess of childbirth

Children with Leto

-Apollo is the god of beauty and medicine

-Artemis is the goddess of hunt

Child with Semele

-Dionysus is the god of wine and festivals

This is the case with Zeus' bonds and divine births. It should be noted that Zeus also had many relations with Mortals who therefore begot demigods.

 

QUIZ

-How many entities create the Chaos ?

-Why Gaia demand to Cronus to take the father’s place on the throne ?

-What did Rhea do to protect the last son to Cronus ?

-Poseidon and Hades, who are they ?

(Author : Aaaaa )