Editing Giants (Greek mythology) (section)

==Descriptions==
Homer describes the Giant king Eurymedon as "great-hearted" (''μεγαλήτορος''), and his people as "insolent" (''ὑπερθύμοισι'') and "froward" (''ἀτάσθαλος'').<ref>[[Homer]], ''[[Odyssey]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0136%3Abook%3D7%3Acard%3D37 7.58&ndash;60]. The translations given are A.T. Murray's. [[Richard Lattimore]] translates ''ὑπερθύμοισι'' as "high-hearted" and ''ἀτάσθαλος'' as "recklessly daring". See also Liddell and Scott, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3Dmegalh%2Ftwr ''μεγαλήτωρ''] ("greathearted"), [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3Du(pe%2Frqumos ''ὑπέρθυμος''] ("overweening"), and [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3Da)ta%2Fsqalos ''ἀτάσθαλος''] ("reckless, presumptuous, wicked").</ref> Hesiod calls the Giants "strong" (''κρατερῶν'') and "great" (''μεγάλους'') which may or may not be a reference to their size.<ref>[[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hes.+Th.+50&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0129 50], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hes.+Th.+185&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0129 185]; Liddell and Scott [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3Dkratero%2Fs ''κρατερός''], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3Dme%2Fgas ''μέγας'']; Hansen, p. 177.</ref> Though a possible later addition, the ''Theogony'' also has the Giants born "with gleaming armour, holding long spears in their hands".<ref>Gantz, p. 446.</ref>

Other early sources characterize the Giants by their excesses. [[Pindar]] describes the excessive violence of the Giant Porphyrion as having provoked "beyond all measure".<ref>[[Pindar]], ''Pythian'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0162%3Abook%3DP.%3Apoem%3D8 8.12&ndash;18].</ref> Bacchylides calls the Giants arrogant, saying that they were destroyed by "[[Hybris (mythology)|Hybris]]" (the Greek word hubris personified).<ref>[[Bacchylides]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0064%3Abook%3DDith 15.50 ff.]; Castriota, [https://books.google.com/books?id=tnMWWeZwt8EC&pg=PA139 p. 139], [https://books.google.com/books?id=tnMWWeZwt8EC&pg=PA233 pp. 233&ndash;234].</ref> The earlier seventh century BC poet [[Alcman]] perhaps had already used the Giants as an example of hubris, with the phrases "vengeance of the gods" and "they suffered unforgettable punishments for the evil they did" being possible references to the Gigantomachy.<ref>Alcman fragment 1 ''Poetarum melicorum Graecorum fragmenta'', see Cairns, [https://books.google.com/books?id=9--TlDdWfdsC&pg=PA310 p. 310]; Wilkinson, [https://books.google.com/books?id=iSp0mnpkE_QC&pg=PA142 p. 142]; Ferrari, pp. [https://books.google.com/books?id=oXbG_4TRs8QC&pg=PA28 28], [https://books.google.com/books?id=oXbG_4TRs8QC&pg=PA109 109], [https://books.google.com/books?id=oXbG_4TRs8QC&pg=PA151 151 ff.]; Hanfmann 1937, pp. 475&ndash;476.</ref>

Homer's comparison of the Giants to the [[Laestrygonians]] is suggestive of similarities between the two races. The Laestrygonians, who "hurled ... rocks huge as a man could lift", certainly possessed great strength, and possibly great size, as their king's wife is described as being as big as a mountain.<ref>According to Gantz, p. 446: "In all, the account rather suggests that the huge bulk of Antiphates' wife is not typical of the Laistrygones as a whole. But they are clearly thought of as good-sized, although whether it is in this respect that they are like the Gigantes and unlike men we cannot say; the ''Odyssey''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s emphasis might be thought to fall more on their uncivilized behjavior"</ref>

Over time, descriptions of the Giants make them less human, more monstrous and more "gigantic". According to [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]] the Giants had great size and strength, a frightening appearance, with long hair and beards and scaly feet.<ref>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.+1.6.1 1.6.1].</ref> [[Ovid]] makes them "serpent-footed" with a "hundred arms",<ref>[[Ovid]], ''[[Metamorphoses]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0028%3Abook%3D1%3Acard%3D163 1.182&ndash;184]: "The time when serpent footed giants strove / to fix their hundred arms on captive Heaven"; Newlands, [https://books.google.com/books?id=U99CAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA81 p. 81]. Here Ovid has apparently conflated the Giants with the [[Hundred-Handers]], see Anderson, [https://books.google.com/books?id=t12AuG0q144C&pg=PA170 p. 170, note to line 184 "''centum'' with ''bracchia''"]. Compare with ''[[Fasti (poem)|Fasti]]'' [https://archive.org/stream/ovidsfasti00oviduoft#page/262/mode/2up 5.35&ndash;37], where Ovid says "Earth brought forth the Giants, a fierce brood, enormous monsters, who durst assault Jove's mansion; she gave them a thousand hands, and snakes for legs".</ref> and [[Nonnus]] has them  "serpent-haired".<ref>[[Nonnus]], ''[[Dionysiaca]]'' [https://archive.org/stream/dionysiaca01nonnuoft#page/n61/mode/2up 1.18 (I, pp. 4&ndash;5)].</ref>