Editing Giants (Greek mythology) (section)

==Symbolism, meaning and interpretations==

Historically, the myth of the Gigantomachy (as well as the Titanomachy) may reflect the "triumph" of the new imported gods of the invading Greek speaking peoples from the north (c. 2000 BC) over the old gods of the existing peoples of the Greek peninsula.<ref>Morford, pp. 82&ndash;83.</ref> For the Greeks, the Gigantomachy represented a victory for order over chaos—the victory of the divine order and rationalism of the Olympian gods over the discord and excessive violence of the earth-born [[chthonic]] Giants. More specifically, for sixth and fifth century BC Greeks, it represented a victory for civilization over barbarism, and as such was used by [[Phidias]] on the metopes of the [[Parthenon]] and the shield of ''[[Athena Parthenos]]'' to symbolize the victory of the Athenians over the Persians. Later the [[Attalids]] similarly used the Gigantomachy on the [[Pergamon Altar]] to symbolize their victory over the [[Galatia]]ns of [[Asia Minor]].<ref>Morford, p. 72; Schefold, [https://books.google.com/books?id=p2DA_Aze7F0C&pg=PA50 p. 50]; Kleiner, [https://books.google.com/books?id=sgiuAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA118 p. 118], [https://books.google.com/books?id=sgiuAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA136 p. 136], [https://books.google.com/books?id=sgiuAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA156 p. 156]; Lyne, [https://books.google.com/books?id=SEZARFIJqPwC&pg=PA50 p. 50]; Castriota, [https://books.google.com/books?id=tnMWWeZwt8EC&pg=PA139 p. 139]; Dwyer, [https://books.google.com/books?id=rMeJDwmr_hcC&pg=PA295 p. 295].</ref>

The attempt of the Giants to overthrow the Olympians also represented the ultimate example of hubris, with the gods themselves punishing the Giants for their arrogant challenge to the gods' divine authority.<ref>Castriota, [https://books.google.com/books?id=tnMWWeZwt8EC&pg=PA139 p. 139]; Dwyer, [https://books.google.com/books?id=rMeJDwmr_hcC&pg=PA295 p. 295]; Gale, [https://books.google.com/books?id=R3tBmgI-zesC&pg=PA121 p. 121]; Wilkinson, [https://books.google.com/books?id=iSp0mnpkE_QC&pg=PA142 p. 142]; Cairns, [https://books.google.com/books?id=9--TlDdWfdsC&pg=PA310 p. 310]; Commager, [https://books.google.com/books?id=Qv1znLxFKDQC&pg=PA119 pp. 119], [https://books.google.com/books?id=Qv1znLxFKDQC&pg=PA199 199].</ref> The Gigantomachy can also be seen as a continuation of the struggle between Gaia (Mother Earth) and Uranus (Father Sky), and thus as part of the primal opposition between female and male.<ref>Schefold, [https://books.google.com/books?id=p2DA_Aze7F0C&pg=PA51 p. 51].</ref> [[Plato]] compares the Gigantomachy to a philosophical dispute about existence, wherein the [[materialism|materialist]] philosophers, who believe that only physical things exist, like the Giants, wish to "drag down everything from heaven and the invisible to earth".<ref>[[Plato]], ''[[Sophist (dialogue)|Sophist]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text;jsessionid=6EA8185321C1F13AC8EBBFB34B9BDAA7?doc=Plat.+Soph.+246a&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0172 246a&ndash;c]; Chaudhuri, [https://books.google.com/books?id=CHfqAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA60 pp.60&ndash;61].</ref>

[[File:Gigant.PNG|thumb|left|A Giant fighting Artemis. Illustration of a Roman relief in the [[Vatican Museum]].<ref>Peck, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0062:entry=gigantes-harpers ''Gigantes''].</ref>]]

In [[Latin literature]], in which the Giants, the [[Titan (mythology)|Titans]], [[Typhon]] and the [[Aloadae]] are all often conflated, Gigantomachy imagery is a frequent occurrence.<ref>Lovatt, [https://books.google.com/books?id=J6bgGIG1ZSkC&pg=PA115 pp. 115 ff.].</ref> [[Cicero]], while urging the acceptance of aging and death as natural and inevitable, allegorizes the Gigantomachy as "fighting against Nature".<ref>[[Cicero]], ''De Senectute'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2007.01.0039%3Asection%3D5 5]; Powell, [https://books.google.com/books?id=gbnz0bljUhoC&pg=PA110 p. 110 "Gigantum modo bellare"]; Chaudhuri, [https://books.google.com/books?id=CHfqAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA7 p. 7 n. 22].</ref> The rationalist [[Epicurean]] poet [[Lucretius]], for whom such things as lightning, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions had natural rather than divine causes, used the Gigantomachy to celebrate the victory of philosophy over mythology and superstition. In the triumph of science and reason over traditional religious belief, the Gigantomachy symbolized for him [[Epicurus]] storming heaven. In a reversal of their usual meaning, he represents the Giants as heroic rebels against the tyranny of Olympus.<ref>Chaudhuri, [https://books.google.com/books?id=CHfqAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA58 pp. 58&ndash;63]; Hardie 2007, [https://books.google.com/books?id=HwblQVvCav8C&pg=PA116 p. 116]; Gale, [https://books.google.com/books?id=R3tBmgI-zesC&pg=PA120 pp. 120&ndash;121], [https://books.google.com/books?id=R3tBmgI-zesC&pg=PA140 p. 140]; [[Lucretius]], ''[[De Rerum Natura]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Lucr.+1.62 1.62&ndash;79], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Lucr.+5.110 5.110&ndash;125].</ref> [[Virgil]]—reversing Lucretius' reversal—restores the conventional meaning, making the Giants once again enemies of order and civilization.<ref>Gale, [https://books.google.com/books?id=R3tBmgI-zesC&pg=PA140 pp. 140&ndash;141]; Gee, [https://books.google.com/books?id=NPsh5CsJprYC&pg=PA56, pp. 56&ndash;57].</ref> [[Horace]] makes use of this same meaning to symbolize the victory of [[Augustus]] at the [[Battle of Actium]] as a victory for the civilized West over the barbaric East.<ref>Lyne, [https://books.google.com/books?id=SEZARFIJqPwC&pg=PA52 pp. 52&ndash;54], [https://books.google.com/books?id=SEZARFIJqPwC&pg=PA167 pp. 167&ndash;168]; Commager, [https://books.google.com/books?id=Qv1znLxFKDQC&pg=PA199 p. 199]; [[Horace]], ''[[Odes (Horace)|Odes]]''  [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0025%3Abook%3D3%3Apoem%3D4 3.4.42 ff.].</ref>

[[Ovid]], in his ''[[Metamorphoses]]'', describes mankind's moral decline through the ages of gold, silver, bronze and iron, and presents the Gigantomachy as a part of that same descent from natural order into chaos.<ref>Wheeler, [https://books.google.com/books?id=uS4UYhh7_X8C&pg=PA23 pp. 23&ndash;26]; [[Ovid]], ''[[Metamorphoses]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0028%3Abook%3D1%3Acard%3D89 1.151–162].</ref> [[Lucan]], in his ''[[Pharsalia]]'', which contains many Gigantomachy references,<ref>Hardie 2014, [https://books.google.com/books?id=kewKAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA101 p. 101].</ref> makes the [[Gorgon]]'s gaze turn the Giants into mountains.<ref>Dinter, [https://books.google.com/books?id=5ZCe_zOWousC&pg=PA296 p. 296]; [[Lucan]], ''[[Pharsalia]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0134%3Abook%3D9%3Acard%3D619 9.654&ndash;658].</ref> [[Gaius Valerius Flaccus|Valerius Flaccus]], in his ''Argonautica'', makes frequent use of Gigantomachy imagery, with the [[Argo]] (the world's first ship) constituting a Gigantomachy-like offense against natural law, and example of hubristic excess.<ref>Zissos, [https://books.google.com/books?id=86ChnuaNV50C&pg=PA79 pp. 79 ff.]; For more on the use of Gigantomachy imagery in the ''Argonautica'' see Stover, pp. [https://books.google.com/books?id=z4ltLjx_2woC&pg=PA5 5&ndash;6], [https://books.google.com/books?id=z4ltLjx_2woC&pg=PA71 71&ndash;73], [https://books.google.com/books?id=z4ltLjx_2woC&pg=PA79 79&ndash;150].</ref>

[[Claudian]], the fourth-century AD court poet of emperor [[Honorius (emperor)|Honorius]], composed a ''Gigantomachia'' that viewed the battle as a metaphor for vast geomorphic change: "The puissant company of the giants confounds all differences between things; islands abandon the deep; mountains lie hidden in the sea. Many a river is left dry or has altered its ancient course....robbed of her mountains Earth sank into level plains, parted among her own sons."<ref>Mayor, p. 195; [[Claudian]], ''Gigantomachia'' [https://archive.org/stream/claudia02clau#page/284/mode/2up 62&ndash;73 (pp. 284&ndash;287)].</ref>