Figure of the giant Haymon in the chapel in Wilten Haymon and the dragon with its tongue torn; below the monastery of Wilten. Copperplate engraving from Topographia Provinciarum Austriacarum by Matthäus Merian (1679) Haymon is a mythical figure from Tyrol (state), Tyrol in form of a giant (mythology), giant. It is said that Haymon was the founder of , a premonstratensian abbey, located in the south of

Innsbruck Innsbruck (; bar, Innschbruck, label=Bavarian language, Austro-Bavarian ) is the capital of Tyrol (state), Tyrol and the List of cities and towns in Austria, fifth-largest city in Austria. On the Inn (river), River Inn, at its junction with the ...

. He is said to have lived between 600 and 900 years ago and to have died in the year 878 A.D. in

Wilten Innsbruck (; bar, Innschbruck, label=Austro-Bavarian ) is the capital of Tyrol and the fifth-largest city in Austria. On the River Inn, at its junction with the Wipp Valley, which provides access to the Brenner Pass to the south, it had a pop ...

. According to a 13th-century sources, Haymon's grave is at the altar of the Collegiate Church in Wilten. It has been speculated that Haymon was a

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...

n nobleman named Haimo. Albeit its similar spelling and pronunciation to the ancient Greek name

Haimon According to Sophocles' play ''Antigone (Sophocles), Antigone'', Haemon {{IPAc-en, ˈ, h, iː, m, ɒ, n or Haimon (Ancient Greek: Αἵμων, ''Haimon'' "bloody"; ''gen''.: Αἵμωνος) was the mythological son of Creon of Thebes, Creon and ...

(), no relation could be shown.

Tradition

Different traditions have been amalgamated in the legend of the giant Haymon. In the 15th century, the local legend of the Gold-Guarding Dragon who lives on the hill

Bergisel The Bergisel is a hill (746 m) that lies to the south of Innsbruck, Austria, in the area of Wilten, where the Sill river meets the Inn Valley. The word's first syllable ''Berg-'' doesn't correspond etymologically to the German word ''Berg'' with ...

east of the river

Sill Sill may refer to: * Sill (dock), a weir at the low water mark retaining water within a dock * Sill (geology), a subhorizontal sheet intrusion of molten or solidified magma * Sill (geostatistics) * Sill (river), a river in Austria * Sill plate, a ...

was created. This dragon was killed by Haymon. Set in gold, the dragon's tongue (the horn extension of a

sword fish Swordfish (''Xiphias gladius''), also known as broadbills in some countries, are large, highly migratory predatory fish characterized by a long, flat, pointed bill. They are a popular sport fish of the billfish category, though elusive. Swordfis ...

) is still today shown in the

Tyrolean State Museum The Tyrolean State Museum (german: Tiroler Landesmuseum), also known as the Ferdinandeum after Archduke Ferdinand, is located in Innsbruck, Austria. It was founded in 1823 by the Tyrolean State Museum Ferdinandeum Society (''Verein Tiroler Lande ...

Ferdinandeum in Innsbruck. Another tradition, which comes up about the 16th century, reports of a fight between Haymon and the giant

Thyrsus A thyrsus /ˈθɜːrsəs/ or thyrsos /ˈθɜːrˌsɒs/ (Ancient Greek: θύρσος) was a wand or staff of giant fennel (''Ferula communis'') covered with ivy vines and leaves, sometimes wound with taeniae and topped with a pine cone, artich ...

, who lived in the area of

Zirl Zirl is a market town in the district of Innsbruck-Land in the Austrian state of Tyrol located 10 km west of Innsbruck at the bottom of a pass up the side of the Zirler Berg, leading to Seefeld and ultimately to Germany. The location was ment ...

and

Seefeld Seefeld may refer to: Places * Seefeld in Tirol, a tourist resort in Tyrol, Austria * Seefeld, Bavaria, a town in Starnberg, Bavaria, Germany ** Seefeld Castle * Seefeld, Schleswig-Holstein, a municipality in Rendsburg-Eckernförde, Schleswig-Ho ...

, eventually killing him. From Thyrsus's blood (the so-called ''Thyrsenblut'' the healing Tyrolean Shale Oil or Ichtltyol is extracted. The last words of the giant Thyrsus were: "Blood spray! Be good for man and beast! (Spritz Bluet! Sei für Viech und Menschen gut!)" Thus, Haymon, the immigrant from the north, defeats the local Thyrsus. In remorse, Haymon takes the Christian faith being baptized by the Bishop of Chur. Thereafter, he founded the monastery Wilten which he hands over to

Benedictine , image = Medalla San Benito.PNG , caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal , abbreviation = OSB , formation = , motto = (English: 'Pray and Work') , foun ...

monk A monk (, from el, μοναχός, ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a person who practices religious asceticism by monastic living, either alone or with any number of other monks. A monk may be a person who decides to dedica ...

s from the Tegernsee Abbey. Then he joined the order as a lay brother and stayed there until his death. Towards the end of the 16th century, all these motives could be found in the founding legend of the monastery Wilten. Even in the 17th century, the belief in the historical existence of the giant Haymon was still so strong that the then abbot of the monastery Wilten had an excavation for Haymon's bones carried out in the church. The excavations ended without result, eventually throwing over parts of the church. According to contemporary scholarly interpretation of the 17th Century, the giant Thyrsus represents the

Romansh people The Romansh people (also spelled Romansch, Rumantsch, or Romanche; rm, links=no, rumantschs, ''rumàntschs'', ''romauntschs'' or ''romontschs'') are a Romance ethnic group, the speakers of the Romansh language, native to the Swiss canton of Gri ...

while the invading

ns, who populated the Inn valley as of the 6th century, are being represented through Haymon. In the fight between Haymon and Thyrsus the defeat of the Romansh people by the Bavarians is symbolized. While Thyrsus is often depicted as a somewhat primitive layman who is fighting with a torn tree, Haymon is depicted as a gallant giant with a sword. Life-size figures of the two giants Haymon and Thyrsus can be found at

where they are at the entrance to the church. An engraving from 1677 by J.J. Jezl shows Haymon as a knight with a sword and the dragon's tongue in his hands. The signature says "Haymon Fundator Monasterii Wilthinensis, obiit Anno D. 878" (Haymon founder of the monastery in Wilten, died 878).

Miscellaneous

In the region around Innsbruck, various restaurants and institutions are named after the giant Haymon. * In Innsbruck, there is an alley named ''Haymongasse'' * The book publisher ''Haymon Verlag'' is named after the mythical figure * The name of the wireless router ''HiMoNN''HiMoNN
/ref> of the south German company IABG is a

homophone A homophone () is a word that is pronounced the same (to varying extent) as another word but differs in meaning. A ''homophone'' may also differ in spelling. The two words may be spelled the same, for example ''rose'' (flower) and ''rose'' (p ...

of Haymon.

Books

* Michael Forcher, ''Der Riese Haymon'', Haymon Verlag, Innsbruck, 2007 * Wolfgang Morscher, Berit Mrugalska-Morscher, ''Die schönsten Sagen aus Tirol'', Haymon Verlag, Innsbruck, 2010 * Jakob Grimm, Wilhelm Grimm, ''Deutsche Sagen. Mit einem Nachwort und bibliographischen Hinweisen von Lutz Röhrich'', Goldmann Verlag, München, 1998. * Jeanne Ruland, ''Feen, Elfen, Gnome - Das Buch der Naturgeister'', Schirner Verlag, Darmstadt, 2010

References

External links

"Der Riese Haymon" at ''Sagen.at''

"Sagen und G'schichten" at ''Seelfeld-hotels.com''
{{Authority control Giants Germanic mythology Tyrol (state)