Hecatonchires

(Redirected from Briareos)

Categories: Greek mythology

ĜThe Hecatonchires ("the Hundred-Handed") or Hecatoncheires/Hekatoncheires were three gargantuan figures of Greek mythology. They were known as Briareus the Vigorous, Cottus the Furious, and Gyges (or Gyes) the Big-Limbed. They were giants with a hundred arms and fifty heads and an incredible strength and ferocity, even superior to that of the Titans and the Cyclops. They were children of Gaia and Uranus.

Soon after they were born, their father (Uranus) threw them into Tartarus because he saw them as monsters. They remained there, guarded by Campe, until Zeus rescued them, hoping they would serve as good allies against the tyrant governor of the universe. During the War of the Titans, they threw rocks as big as mountains one-hundred at a time at the Titans.

Afterwards the Hecatonchires became the guards of the gates of Tartarus. In the Iliad there is a story, found nowhere else in mythology, that at one point the gods were trying to overthrow Zeus but were stopped when Thetis brought a Hecatonchire to his aid. They are often considered sea-deities, and may be derived from pentekonters, longboats with fifty oarsmen.

Homer also referred to Briareus as Aegaeon ("goatish"), and said he was a marine deity and son of Poseidon.

In Latin, the Hecatonchires were also known as the Centimani.ast:Hecatónquiros bg:Хекатонхейри da:De hundredarmede de:Hekatoncheiren et:Hekatonheirid es:Hecatónquiros fr:Hécatonchires it:Ecatonchiri ka:ჰეკატონხიერები lt:Hekatonkheirai nl:Hecatonchiren ja:ヘカトンケイル sv:Hekatoncheirer