Greek mythology A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the origin and nature of the world, the lives and activities ...

, Polybotes () ( grc-gre, Πολυβώτης) was one of the

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 'gi ...

, the offspring of Gaia (Earth), and

Uranus Uranus is the seventh planet from the Sun. Its name is a reference to the Greek god of the sky, Uranus ( Caelus), who, according to Greek mythology, was the great-grandfather of Ares (Mars), grandfather of Zeus (Jupiter) and father of ...

(Sky). He fought

Poseidon Poseidon (; grc-gre, Ποσειδῶν) was one of the Twelve Olympians in ancient Greek religion and myth, god of the sea, storms, earthquakes and horses.Burkert 1985pp. 136–139 In pre-Olympian Bronze Age Greece, he was venerated as a ...

during the

Gigantomachy In Greek and Roman mythology, the Giants, also called Gigantes (Greek: Γίγαντες, ''Gígantes'', Γίγας, ''Gígas''), were a race of great strength and aggression, though not necessarily of great size. They were known for the Giganto ...

, the war between the Giants and the gods.

Mythology

Polybotes was one of the Gigantes (

), the offspring of Gaia, born from the blood that fell when

was castrated by their son Cronus. According to the mythographer Apollodorus, during the

, the cosmic battle of the

with the Olympian gods, Polybotes was crushed under

Nisyros Nisyros also spelled Nisiros ( el, Νίσυρος, Nísiros) is a volcanic Greek island and municipality located in the Aegean Sea. It is part of the Dodecanese group of islands, situated between the islands of Kos and Tilos. Its shape is appr ...

, a piece of the island of

Kos Kos or Cos (; el, Κως ) is a Greek island, part of the Dodecanese island chain in the southeastern Aegean Sea. Kos is the third largest island of the Dodecanese by area, after Rhodes and Karpathos; it has a population of 36,986 (2021 census), ...

broken off and thrown by

: :Polybotes was chased through the sea by Poseidon and came to Cos; and Poseidon, breaking off that piece of the island which is called Nisyrum, threw it on him. The first-century BC geographer Strabo also records the story of Polybotes buried under Nisyros (or Kos itself): :They say that Nisyros is a fragment of Cos, and they add the myth that Poseidon, when he was pursuing one of the giants, Polybotes, broke off a fragment of Cos with his trident and hurled it upon him, and the missile became an island, Nisyros, with the giant lying beneath it. But some say that he lies beneath Cos. The mention of a millstone, in a poem fragment by the seventh-century BC poet Alcman may be an early reference to the island of Nisyros. The second-century AD geographer

Pausanias Pausanias ( el, Παυσανίας) may refer to: *Pausanias of Athens, lover of the poet Agathon and a character in Plato's ''Symposium'' *Pausanias the Regent, Spartan general and regent of the 5th century BC * Pausanias of Sicily, physician of t ...

mentions seeing at

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

a statue of Poseidon battling Polybotes: :Not far from the temple is Poseidon on horseback, hurling a spear against the giant Polybotes, concerning whom is prevalent among the Coans the story about the promontory of Chelone. Poseidon Polybotes Louvre F226

In another version of the story, after being struck by Zeus, Polybotes swam away, Poseidon threw a trident at him but missed and the trident became the island of Nisyros or Porphyris. Polybotes is named on two sixth-century BC

black-figure Black-figure pottery painting, also known as the black-figure style or black-figure ceramic ( grc, , }), is one of the styles of painting on antique Greek vases. It was especially common between the 7th and 5th centuries BCE, although there are ...

pots. On one, a fragmentary

dinos In the typology of ancient Greek pottery, the ''dinos'' (plural ''dinoi'') is a mixing bowl or cauldron. ''Dinos'' means "drinking cup," but in modern typology is used (wrongly) for the same shape as a '' lebes'', that is, a bowl with a spherica ...

(Getty 81.AE.211), he is opposed by Zeus, identified by an inscription. On the other, an amphora (Louvre E732), he is opposed by Poseidon who is carrying the island of Nisyros on his left shoulder, ready to hurl it against the Giant. The scene depicted on the amphora: Poseidon with trident in his right hand and the island on his left shoulder, moving from left to right, fighting a Giant (mostly unnamed but usually presumed to be Polybotes, although one fifth-century BC example names the Giant

Ephialtes Ephialtes ( grc-gre, Ἐφιάλτης, ''Ephialtēs'') was an ancient Athenian politician and an early leader of the democratic movement there. In the late 460s BC, he oversaw reforms that diminished the power of the Areopagus, a traditional ba ...

) is a frequent occurrence in sixth and fifth-century BC Greek vase paintings. Polybotes is also possibly named on a late sixth-century early fifth-century BC red-figure cup (Akropolis 2.211). A late fifth-century

red-figure Red-figure vase painting is one of the most important styles of figural Greek vase painting. It developed in Athens around 520 BCE and remained in use until the late 3rd century BCE. It replaced the previously dominant style of black-figure va ...

cup (Berlin F2531) shows on its interior Poseidon (without Nisyros) attacking Polybotes with his trident, in the presence of Gaia rising from the ground on the left.Beazley Archiv
220533
Arafat, pp. 24, 25, 186; Cook, p. 56
Plate VI
''LIMC'
10641 Gigantes 318image 3 of 4
Perseu
Berlin F 2531 (Vase)
/ref>

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, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921
Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
* Arafat, K. W., ''Classical Zeus: A Study in Art and Literature'', Clarendon Press, Oxford 1990. . * Carvounis, Aikaterini, "Final Scenes in Quintus of Smyrna, ''Posthomerica'' 14" in ''Quintus Smyrnaeus: Transforming Homer in Second Sophistic Epic'', Manuel Baumbach, Silvio Bär editors, Walter de Gruyter, 2007. . * 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
Online version at openlibrary.org
* Frazer, J. G., ''Pausanias's Description of Greece. Translated with a Commentary by J. G. Frazer.'' Vol II. Commentary on Book I, Macmillan, 1898
Google Books
* Ferrari, Gloria, ''Alcman and the Cosmos of Sparta'', University of Chicago Press, 2008. . * Gantz, Timothy, ''Early Greek Myth: A Guide to Literary and Artistic Sources'', Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996, Two volumes: (Vol. 1), (Vol. 2). * Hanfmann, George, M. A., “Studies in Etruscan Bronze Reliefs: The Gigantomachy”, ''The Art Bulletin'' 19:463-85. 1937. *

Hesiod Hesiod (; grc-gre, Ἡσίοδος ''Hēsíodos'') was an ancient Greek poet generally thought to have been active between 750 and 650 BC, around the same time as Homer. He is generally regarded by western authors as 'the first written poet ...

, ''

Theogony The ''Theogony'' (, , , i.e. "the genealogy or birth of the gods") is a poem by Hesiod (8th–7th century BC) describing the origins and genealogies of the Greek gods, composed . It is written in the Epic dialect of Ancient Greek and contain ...

'', in ''The Homeric Hymns and Homerica with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White'', Cambridge, MA.,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. * Moore, Mary B., "Giants at the Getty" in ''Greek Vases in the J. Paul Getty Museum'' Volume 2, Getty Publications, 1985 *

, ''Pausanias Description of Greece with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A., in 4 Volumes.'' Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918
Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
* Strabo, ''Geography'', translated by Horace Leonard Jones; Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd. (1924)
LacusCurtisBooks 6–14, at the Perseus Digital Library
* Vian, Francis, Moore, Mary B. (1988), "Gigantes" in ''

Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae The ''Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae'' (abbreviated ''LIMC'') is a multivolume encyclopedia cataloguing representations of mythology in the plastic arts of classical antiquity. Published serially from 1981 to 2009, it is the most ext ...

(LIMC)'' IV.1. Artemis Verlag, Zürich and Munich. {{ISBN, 3760887511. Gigantes Children of Gaia Deeds of Poseidon