Editing Giants (Greek mythology) (section)

===Location===
Various places have been associated with the Giants and the Gigantomachy. As noted above Pindar has the battle occur at Phlegra ("the place of burning"),<ref>Singleton, [https://books.google.com/books?id=xbB5PE9O9KEC&pg=PA235 p. 235].</ref> as do other early sources.<ref>[[Aeschylus]], ''[[Oresteia|Eumenides]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0006%3Acard%3D276 294]; [[Euripides]], ''[[Herakles (Euripides)|Heracles]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text;jsessionid=779AD6C623207413812A728B409D9381?doc=Eur.+Her.+1192 1192&ndash;1194]; ''Ion'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Eur.+Ion+987 987&ndash;997]; [[Aristophanes]], ''[[The Birds (play)|The Birds]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:abo:tlg,0019,006:824&lang=original 824]; [[Apollonius of Rhodes]], ''[[Argonautica]]'' [https://archive.org/stream/argonautica00apoluoft#page/210/mode/2up 3.232&ndash;234 (pp. 210&ndash;211)], [https://archive.org/stream/argonautica00apoluoft#page/276/mode/2up 3.1225&ndash;7 (pp. 276&ndash;277)]. See also Hesiod fragment 43a.65 MW (Most 2007, p. 143, Gantz, p. 446)</ref> Phlegra was said to be an ancient name for [[Pallene, Chalcidice|Pallene]] (modern [[Kassandra, Chalkidiki|Kassandra]])<ref>[[Herodotus]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0126%3Abook%3D7%3Achapter%3D123%3Asection%3D1 7.123.1]; [[Strabo]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0198%3Abook%3D7%3Achapter%3Dfragments%3Asection%3D25 7 Fragment 25], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0198%3Abook%3D7%3Achapter%3Dfragments%3Asection%3D27 27]; [[Philostratus]], ''On Heroes'' [https://books.google.com/books?id=R8nMVkv_lZ4C&pg=PA14 8.16 (p. 14)];
 [[Stephanus Byzantius]], ''s.v.'' [https://books.google.com/books?id=mZ5bAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA221 ''Παλλήνη''] (Hunter [https://books.google.com/books?id=46QD6MxdH8cC&pg=PA81 p. 81]), [https://books.google.com/books?id=mZ5bAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA299 ''Φλέγρα'']; Liddell and Scott, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0057:entry=fle/gra ''Φλέγρα'']</ref> and Phlegra/Pallene was the usual birthplace of the Giants and site of the battle.<ref>Gantz, p. 419; Frazer 1898b, note to Pausanias 8.29.1 "the legendary battle of the gods and the giants" [https://archive.org/stream/pausaniassdescr01pausgoog#page/n336/mode/2up pp. 314&ndash;315]; [[Lycophron]], ''Alexandra'' [https://archive.org/stream/callimachuslycop00calluoft#page/504/mode/2up 115&ndash;127  (pp. 504&ndash;505)], [https://archive.org/stream/callimachuslycop00calluoft#page/606/mode/2up 1356&ndash;1358 (pp. 606&ndash;607)], [https://archive.org/stream/callimachuslycop00calluoft#page/610/mode/2up 1404&ndash;1408 (pp. 610&ndash;611)]; [[Diodorus Siculus]], [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/4B*.html 4.15.1]; [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+1.25.2 1.25.2], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+8.29.1 8.29.1]; AT-scholia to ''Iliad'' 15.27 (Hunter [https://books.google.com/books?id=46QD6MxdH8cC&pg=PA81 p. 81]).</ref> Apollodorus, who placed the battle at Pallene, says the Giants were born "as some say, in Phlegrae, but according to others in Pallene". The name Phlegra and the Gigantomachy were also often associated, by later writers, with a volcanic plain in Italy, west of [[Naples]] and east of [[Cumae]], called the [[Phlegraean Fields]].<ref>[[Strabo]], [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Strabo/5D*.html 5.4.4], [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Strabo/5D*.html 5.4.6], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Strab.+6.3.5 6.3.5]; [[Diodorus Siculus]], [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/4B*.html 4.21.5&ndash;7], [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/5D*.html 5.71.4].</ref> The third century BC poet [[Lycophron]], apparently locates a battle of gods and Giants in the vicinity of the volcanic island of [[Ischia]], the largest of the [[Phlegraean Islands]] off the coast of Naples, where he says the Giants (along with Typhon) were "crushed" under the island.<ref>[[Lycophron]], ''Alexandra'' [https://archive.org/stream/callimachuslycop00calluoft#page/550/mode/2up 688&ndash;693 (pp. 550&ndash;551)].</ref> At least one tradition placed Phlegra in [[Ancient Thessaly|Thessaly]].<ref>[[Maurus Servius Honoratus|Servius]], ''Commentary on the Aeneid of Vergil'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Serv.+A.+3.578 3.578]; Leigh, p. 122.</ref>

[[File:Mosaic of Poseidon and the Giant Polybotes.jpg|thumb|260px|Ancient Roman mosaic with Poseidon fighting Polybotes, exhibited in [[Rhodes]].]]

According to the geographer [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], the [[Arcadia (ancient region)|Arcadia]]ns claimed that battle took place "not at [[Pellene]] in [[Thrace]]" but in the plain of [[Megalopolis, Greece|Megalopolis]] in the central Peloponnese where "rises up fire".<ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+8.29.1 8.29.1].</ref> The tradition of the battle being in Megalopolis may have been inspired by the presence of numerous gigantic bones around Megalopolis as noted by Pausanias, which in Ancient Greek times were attributed to giants, but which in modern times are known to be those of fossil [[Pleistocene]] mammals such as [[straight-tusked elephant]]s, an enormous extinct elephant species formerly native to the region.<ref name=":32">{{Citation |last=Athanassiou |first=Athanassios |title=The Fossil Record of Continental Elephants and Mammoths (Mammalia: Proboscidea: Elephantidae) in Greece |date=2022 |work=Fossil Vertebrates of Greece Vol. 1 |pages=345–391 |editor-last=Vlachos |editor-first=Evangelos |url=https://link.springer.com/10.1007/978-3-030-68398-6_13 |access-date=2023-07-16 |place=Cham |publisher=Springer International Publishing |language=en |doi=10.1007/978-3-030-68398-6_13 |isbn=978-3-030-68397-9 |s2cid=245067102}}</ref> Another tradition apparently placed the battle at [[Tartessus]] in Spain.<ref>Scholiast A on ''Iliad'' 8.479 (Brown, [https://books.google.com/books?id=SSljjU2xlecC&pg=PA125 p. 125]).</ref> [[Diodorus Siculus]] presents a war with multiple battles, with one at Pallene, one on the Phlegraean Fields, and one on [[Crete]].<ref>[[Diodorus Siculus]], [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/4B*.html 4.15.1], [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/4B*.html 4.21.5&ndash;7], [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/5D*.html 5.71.2&ndash;6].</ref> Strabo mentions an account of Heracles battling Giants at [[Phanagoria]], a Greek colony on the shores of the [[Black Sea]].<ref>[[Strabo]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Strab.+11.2.10 11.2.10].</ref> Even when, as in Apollodorus, the battle starts at one place. Individual battles between a Giant and a god might range farther afield, with Enceladus buried beneath Sicily, and Polybotes under the island of [[Nisyros]] (or [[Kos]]). Other locales associated with Giants include [[Attica]], [[Ancient Corinth|Corinth]], [[Cyzicus]], [[Lipari|Lipara]], [[Lycia]], [[Lydia]], [[Miletus]], and [[Rhodes]].<ref>Hanfmann 1937, p. 475 n. 52.</ref>

The presence of volcanic phenomena, and the frequent unearthing of the fossilized bones of large prehistoric animals throughout these locations may explain why such sites became associated with the Giants.<ref>Mayor, [https://books.google.com/books?id=9TwhfvU08UcC&pg=PA197 p. 197 ff.]; Apollodorus [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.%201.6.1 1.6.1 n. 3]; Frazer 1898b, note to Pausanias 8.29.1 "the legendary battle of the gods and the giants" [https://archive.org/stream/pausaniassdescr01pausgoog#page/n336/mode/2up pp. 314&ndash;315]; [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+8.32.5 8.32.5]; [[Philostratus]], ''[[Life of Apollonius of Tyana]]'' [https://archive.org/stream/lifeofapollonius01phil#page/498/mode/2up 5.16 (pp. 498&ndash;501)], ''On Heroes'' [https://books.google.com/books?id=R8nMVkv_lZ4C&pg=PA14 8.15&ndash;16 (p. 14)].</ref>