In
Nonnus's epic poem the ''
Dionysiaca'', Damasen (, derived from ''damazô'' or ''damasô'' "to subdue") is a
Lydia
Lydia (; ) was an Iron Age Monarchy, kingdom situated in western Anatolia, in modern-day Turkey. Later, it became an important province of the Achaemenid Empire and then the Roman Empire. Its capital was Sardis.
At some point before 800 BC, ...
n
giant
In folklore, giants (from Ancient Greek: ''wiktionary:gigas, gigas'', cognate wiktionary:giga-, giga-) are beings of humanoid appearance, but are at times prodigious in size and strength or bear an otherwise notable appearance. The word ''gia ...
. He is the son of
Gaia
In Greek mythology, Gaia (; , a poetic form of ('), meaning 'land' or 'earth'),, , . also spelled Gaea (), is the personification of Earth. Gaia is the ancestral mother—sometimes parthenogenic—of all life. She is the mother of Uranus (S ...
(the
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to Planetary habitability, harbor life. This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all ...
),
and was nursed by
Eris, the goddess of discord.
The story of Damasen is only recounted by the late antiquity epic poet
Nonnus in his poem, and he does not appear in any other text of the ancient Greek and Roman corpus.
''Dionysiaca''
At birth, Damasen was born with a spear and had a thick hairy beard that covered his chin.
Due to his large stature, he was described as "warlike".
In his childhood, he wielded
lance
The English term lance is derived, via Middle English '' launce'' and Old French '' lance'', from the Latin '' lancea'', a generic term meaning a wikt:lancea#Noun">lancea'', a generic term meaning a spear">wikt:lancea#Noun">lancea'', a generi ...
s and spears. The Greek goddess of childbirth,
Eileithyia, bestowed him with a shield.
When the hero Tylon or Tylus ('knot' or 'phallus') was fatally bitten by a poisonous serpent, his sister Moria appealed to Damasen to avenge her brother.
Damasen agreed to avenge Tylus and pulled a tree out of the ground to fight the serpent.
The serpent fought back by wrapping itself around Damasen and spitting poison into his face.
Despite the attack, the giant threw the serpent off of him and brought down the tree he was holding.
The tree collided with the serpent's head before it sunk its roots into the ground, taking the serpent into the ground with it.
Another serpent, a female one, then fetched 'the flower of
Zeus
Zeus (, ) is the chief deity of the List of Greek deities, Greek pantheon. He is a sky father, sky and thunder god in ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, who rules as king of the gods on Mount Olympus.
Zeus is the child ...
' from the woods, which was a painkilling herb.
She laid it on the lips of the dead serpent, bringing it to life. Moria saw this and also got the flower of Zeus to bring to her dead brother, Tylus.
The flower brought him back to life as he stood up again on both his feet.
See also
*
Glaucus
*
Porphyrion
*
Picolous
*
Orion
Notes
{{reflist
References
*
Nonnus of Panopolis, ''Dionysiaca'' translated by William Henry Denham Rouse (1863-1950), from the Loeb Classical Library, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press, 1940.
Online version at the Topos Text Project.* Nonnus of Panopolis, ''Dionysiaca. 3 Vols.'' W.H.D. Rouse. Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1940-1942
Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library
External links
Greek giants
Children of Gaia