Greek mythology Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of ancient Greek folklore, today absorbed alongside Roman mythology into the broader designation of classical mythology. These stories conc ...

, Porphyrion () was one of the Gigantes (

Giants A giant is a being of human appearance, sometimes of prodigious size and strength, common in folklore. Giant(s) or The Giant(s) may also refer to: Mythology and religion *Giants (Greek mythology) * Jötunn, a Germanic term often translated as 'g ...

), who according to Hesiod, were the offspring of Gaia, born from the blood that fell when

Uranus Uranus is the seventh planet from the Sun. It is a gaseous cyan-coloured ice giant. Most of the planet is made of water, ammonia, and methane in a Supercritical fluid, supercritical phase of matter, which astronomy calls "ice" or Volatile ( ...

(Sky) was castrated by their son Cronus. In some other versions of the myth, the Gigantes were born of Gaia and Tartarus.

Sources

According to the mythographer Apollodorus, Porphyrion was (along with Alcyoneus), the greatest of the Giants, and during the Gigantomachy, the battle between the Giants and the Olympian gods, Porphyrion attacked

Heracles Heracles ( ; ), born Alcaeus (, ''Alkaios'') or Alcides (, ''Alkeidēs''), was a Divinity, divine hero in Greek mythology, the son of ZeusApollodorus1.9.16/ref> and Alcmene, and the foster son of Amphitryon.By his adoptive descent through ...

and

Hera In ancient Greek religion, Hera (; ; in Ionic Greek, Ionic and Homeric Greek) is the goddess of marriage, women, and family, and the protector of women during childbirth. In Greek mythology, she is queen of the twelve Olympians and Mount Oly ...

, but Zeus caused Porphyrion to become enamoured of Hera, whom Porphyrion then tried to rape, but Zeus struck Porphyrion with his thunderbolt and Heracles killed him with an arrow. According to Pindar, who calls him "king of the Giants", he was slain by an arrow from the bow of

Apollo Apollo is one of the Twelve Olympians, Olympian deities in Ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek and Ancient Roman religion, Roman religion and Greek mythology, Greek and Roman mythology. Apollo has been recognized as a god of archery, mu ...

Aristophanes Aristophanes (; ; ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek Ancient Greek comedy, comic playwright from Classical Athens, Athens. He wrote in total forty plays, of which eleven survive virtually complete today. The majority of his surviving play ...

' comedy '' The Birds'', contains two brief mentions of Porphyrion. Porphyrion is also mentioned, in the company of other Giants, by the Latin poet

Horace Quintus Horatius Flaccus (; 8 December 65 BC – 27 November 8 BC), Suetonius, Life of Horace commonly known in the English-speaking world as Horace (), was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus (also known as Octavian). Th ...

. The late fourth-century AD Latin poet Claudian in his ''Gigantomachia'' has Gaia, imagining the Giants victorious, propose that "Porphyrion, wreathe thou thy head with Delphi's laurel and take Cirrha for thy sanctuary", and has Porphyrion attempt "to uproot trembling Delos, wishing to hurl it at the sky". The late fourth or early fifth-century AD Greek poet Nonnus, in his '' Dionysiaca'', has Gaia set the Giants against

Dionysus In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, myth, Dionysus (; ) is the god of wine-making, orchards and fruit, vegetation, fertility, festivity, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstasy, and theatre. He was also known as Bacchus ( or ; ...

, promising Porphyrion Hebe as his wife should the Giants succeed in subduing the god.

In art

Porphyrion is named on a sixth-century BC black-figure pyxis (Getty 82.AE.26), where he and the Giant Enceladus oppose Zeus, Heracles and

Athena Athena or Athene, often given the epithet Pallas, is an ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek goddess associated with wisdom, warfare, and handicraft who was later syncretism, syncretized with the Roman goddess Minerva. Athena was regarde ...

. He is also named on a late fifth-century BC red-figure cup from Vulci (Berlin F2531), and a fifth-century BC red-figure krater (Paris, Petit Palais 868), in both engaged in single combat with

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 ...

, and a late sixth-century/early fifth-century fragmentary BC red-figure cup (British Museum E 47), where his opponent is lost. Porphyrion was probably named on the Gigantomachy depicted on the north frieze of the

Siphnian Treasury The Siphnian Treasury was a building at the Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek cult centre of Delphi, erected to host the offerings of the polis, or city-state, of Sifnos, Siphnos. It was one of a number of treasuries lining the "Sacred Way", the proc ...

Delphi Delphi (; ), in legend previously called Pytho (Πυθώ), was an ancient sacred precinct and the seat of Pythia, the major oracle who was consulted about important decisions throughout the ancient Classical antiquity, classical world. The A ...

(c. 525 BC), and he was one of the many Giants depicted on the second-century BC Pergamon Altar Gigantomachy frieze, where he is shown fighting Zeus.Ridgeway
p. 54 note 35

Notes

References

* Apollodorus, ''Apollodorus, The Library, with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes.'' Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921
Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
* Claudian, ''Claudian with an English translation by Maurice Platnauer'', Volume II,

Loeb Classical Library The Loeb Classical Library (LCL; named after James Loeb; , ) is a monographic series of books originally published by Heinemann and since 1934 by Harvard University Press. It has bilingual editions of ancient Greek and Latin literature, ...

No. 136. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd.. 1922.
Internet Archive
* Arafat, K. W., ''Classical Zeus: A Study in Art and Literature'', Clarendon Press, Oxford 1990. . * Cook, Arthur Bernard, ''Zeus: A Study in Ancient Religion, Volume III: Zeus God of the Dark Sky (Earthquakes, Clouds, Wind, Dew, Rain, Meteorites), Part I: Text and Notes'', Cambridge University Press 1940
Internet Archive
*

, ''The Odes and Carmen Saeculare of Horace''. John Conington. trans. London. George Bell and Sons. 1882
Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
* Hesiod, '' Theogony'', in ''The Homeric Hymns and Homerica with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White'', Cambridge, Massachusetts.,Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914
Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
* Hyginus, Gaius Julius
''The Myths of Hyginus''
Edited and translated by Mary A. Grant, Lawrence: University of Kansas Press, 1960. * Lyne, R. O. A. M., ''Horace: Behind the Public Poetry'', Yale University Press, 1995. . * Nonnus, '' Dionysiaca''; translated by Rouse, W H D, III Books XXXVI–XLVIII.

No. 346, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1940
Internet Archive
*

Pindar Pindar (; ; ; ) was an Greek lyric, Ancient Greek lyric poet from Thebes, Greece, Thebes. Of the Western canon, canonical nine lyric poets of ancient Greece, his work is the best preserved. Quintilian wrote, "Of the nine lyric poets, Pindar i ...

, ''Odes'', Diane Arnson Svarlien. 1990
Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
* Ridgway, Brunilde Sismondo, ''Hellenistic Sculpture II: The Styles of ca. 200-100 B.C.'', University of Wisconsin Press, 2000. . * Sparks, Brian A., "Aspects of Onesimos" in ''Greek Art: Archaic Into Classical : a Symposium Held at the University of Cincinnati April 2–3, 1982'', BRILL, 1985. .* Stewart, Andrew F., ''Greek Sculpture: An Exploration'', Yale University Press, 1990. {{Authority control Gigantes Mythology of Heracles Children of Gaia