Misplaced Pages

#762237

143-557: The Aloads were strong and aggressive giants , growing by nine fingers every month. Nine fathoms tall aged nine, they were only outshone in beauty by Orion . The brothers wanted to storm Mount Olympus and gain Artemis for Otus and Hera for Ephialtes. Their plan - the construction of a pile of mountains atop which they would confront the gods - is described differently by different authors (including Homer , Virgil , and Ovid ), and occasionally changed by translators. Mount Olympus

286-538: A fir and a plane tree respectively. According to Diodorus , the Aloadae are Thessalian heroes who were sent out by their father Aloeus to fetch back their mother Iphimedeia and their sister Pancratis, who had been carried off by Thracians . After having overtaken and defeated the Thracians in the island of Strongyle (Naxos), they settled there as rulers over the Thracians. But soon after, they killed each other in

429-480: A general strike ), they withdrew from the city and threatened to found their own. When they agreed to come back to Rome they vowed the hill where they had retreated to Jupiter as symbol and guarantor of the unity of the Roman res publica . Plebeians eventually became eligible for all the magistracies and most priesthoods, but the high priest of Jupiter ( Flamen Dialis ) remained the preserve of patricians. Jupiter

572-531: A " Gigantomachia " in which the Titan Cronus (as a horse) sires the centaur Chiron by mating with Philyra (the daughter of two Titans), but the scholiast may be confusing the Titans and Giants. Other possible archaic sources include the lyric poets Alcman (mentioned above) and the sixth-century Ibycus . The late sixth early fifth century BC lyric poet Pindar provides some of the earliest details of

715-492: A "kingly" drink with the power to inebriate and exhilarate, analogous to the Vedic Soma . Three Roman festivals were connected with viniculture and wine. The rustic Vinalia altera on 19 August asked for good weather for ripening the grapes before harvest. When the grapes were ripe, a sheep was sacrificed to Jupiter and the flamen Dialis cut the first of the grape harvest. The Meditrinalia on 11 October marked

858-466: 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 , Corinth , Cyzicus , Lipara , Lycia , Lydia , Miletus , and Rhodes . 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

1001-573: A combination of human and animal forms. Some are snake-legged, some have wings, one has bird claws, one is lion-headed, and another is bull-headed. Some Giants wear helmets, carry shields and fight with swords. Others are naked or clothed in animal skins and fight with clubs or rocks. The large size of the frieze probably necessitated the addition of many more Giants than had been previously known. Some, like Typhon and Tityus, who were not strictly speaking Giants, were perhaps included. Others were probably invented. The partial inscription "Mim" may mean that

1144-477: A complex set of procedures aimed at ensuring the protection of the gods in Rome's relations with foreign states. Iuppiter Lapis is the god under whose protection they act, and whom the chief fetial (pater patratus) invokes in the rite concluding a treaty. If a declaration of war ensues, the fetial calls upon Jupiter and Quirinus , the heavenly, earthly and chthonic gods as witnesses of any potential violation of

1287-654: A dispute which had arisen between them, and the Naxians worshiped them as heroes. In all these traditions, the Aloadae were represented as only remarkable for their gigantic physical strength; but there was another story which placed them in a different light. Pausanias related that they were believed to have been the first of all men who worshiped the Muses on Mount Helicon , and to have consecrated this mountain to them; but they worshiped only three Muses — Melete , Mneme and Aoede . They were bringers of civilization, founding

1430-531: A fallen Giant. On the other side are Hephaestus flinging flaming missiles of red-hot metal from two pairs of tongs, Poseidon, with Nisyros on his shoulder, stabbing a fallen Giant with his trident and Hermes with his petasos hanging in back of his head, attacking another fallen Giant. None of the Giants are named. Phidias used the theme for the metopes of the east façade of the Parthenon (c. 445 BC) and for

1573-460: A female stabbing her spear at a fallen Giant (probably Porphyrion); Athena fighting Eriktypos and a second Giant; a male stepping over the fallen Astarias to attack Biatas. and another Giant; and Hermes against two Giants. Then follows a gap which probably contained Poseidon and finally, on the far right, a male fighting two Giants, one fallen, the other the Giant Mimon (possibly the same as

SECTION 10

#1732765135763

1716-408: A fish. Moreover, Jupiter promised that at the sunrise of the following day he would give to Numa and the Roman people pawns of the imperium . The following day, after throwing three lightning bolts across a clear sky, Jupiter sent down from heaven a shield. Since this shield had no angles, Numa named it ancile ; because in it resided the fate of the imperium , he had many copies made of it to disguise

1859-478: A fleeing Giant; the archers Apollo and Artemis; another fleeing Giant (Tharos or possibly Kantharos); the Giant Ephialtes lying on the ground; and a group of three Giants, which include Hyperphas and Alektos, opposing Apollo and Artemis. Next comes a missing central section presumably containing Zeus, and possibly Heracles, with chariot (only parts of a team of horses remain). To the right of this comes

2002-525: A hundred snake heads growing from his shoulders. This snake-legged motif becomes the standard for the rest of antiquity, culminating in the monumental Gigantomachy frieze of the second century BC Pergamon Altar . Measuring nearly 400 feet long and over seven feet high, here the Gigantomachy receives its most extensive treatment, with over one hundred figures. Although fragmentary, much of the Gigantomachy frieze has been restored. The general sequence of

2145-629: A phoney race which must be won by the king in order to allow him to drink a cup of madhu , i. e. soma . The feasting lasted for at least four days, possibly six according to Niebuhr , one day for each of the six Latin and Alban decuriae . According to different records 47 or 53 boroughs took part in the festival (the listed names too differ in Pliny Naturalis historia III 69 and Dionysius of Halicarnassus AR V 61). The Latiar became an important feature of Roman political life as they were feriae conceptivae , i. e. their date varied each year:

2288-714: A race of great strength and aggression, though not necessarily of great size. They were known for the Gigantomachy (also spelled Gigantomachia ), their battle with the Olympian gods . According to Hesiod , the Giants were the offspring of Gaia (Earth), born from the blood that fell when Uranus (Sky) was castrated by his Titan son Cronus . Archaic and Classical representations show Gigantes as man-sized hoplites (heavily armed ancient Greek foot soldiers) fully human in form. Later representations (after c. 380 BC) show Gigantes with snakes for legs . In later traditions,

2431-480: A race of mortal men. The 6th–5th century BC lyric poet Bacchylides calls the Giants "sons of the Earth". Later the term "gegeneis" ("earthborn") became a common epithet of the Giants. The first century Latin writer Hyginus has the Giants being the offspring of Gaia and Tartarus , another primordial Greek deity. Though distinct in early traditions, Hellenistic and later writers often confused or conflated

2574-702: A reference to their size. Though a possible later addition, the Theogony also has the Giants born "with gleaming armour, holding long spears in their hands". Other early sources characterize the Giants by their excesses. Pindar describes the excessive violence of the Giant Porphyrion as having provoked "beyond all measure". Bacchylides calls the Giants arrogant, saying that they were destroyed by " Hybris " (the Greek word hubris personified). The earlier seventh century BC poet Alcman perhaps had already used

2717-611: A scornful attitude towards religion. His temperament was warlike, and he disregarded religious rites and piety. After conquering the Albans with the duel between the Horatii and Curiatii , Tullus destroyed Alba Longa and deported its inhabitants to Rome. As Livy tells the story, omens ( prodigia ) in the form of a rain of stones occurred on the Alban Mount because the deported Albans had disregarded their ancestral rites linked to

2860-538: A sign that he would become king based on the bird, the quadrant of the sky from which it came, the god who had sent it and the fact it touched his hat (an item of clothing placed on a man's most noble part, the head). The Elder Tarquin is credited with introducing the Capitoline Triad to Rome, by building the so-called Capitolium Vetus. Macrobius writes this issued from his Samothracian mystery beliefs. Sacrificial victims ( hostiae ) offered to Jupiter were

3003-498: A wave of influence coming from the Hellenic world made Fortuna the daughter of Jupiter. The childhood of Zeus is an important theme in Greek religion, art and literature, but there are only rare (or dubious) depictions of Jupiter as a child. Faced by a period of bad weather endangering the harvest during one early spring, King Numa resorted to the scheme of asking the advice of the god by evoking his presence. He succeeded through

SECTION 20

#1732765135763

3146-435: Is described as being as big as a mountain. Over time, descriptions of the Giants make them less human, more monstrous and more "gigantic". According to Apollodorus the Giants had great size and strength, a frightening appearance, with long hair and beards and scaly feet. Ovid makes them "serpent-footed" with a "hundred arms", and Nonnus has them "serpent-haired". The most important divine struggle in Greek mythology

3289-505: Is one of six giants placed in the great pit that separates the eighth and ninth circles of Hell , Fraud and Cocytus , respectively. He is chained as punishment for challenging Jupiter . Otozoum , the ichnogenus of sauropodomorph dinosaur , was named after Otus. Giants (Greek mythology) In Greek and Roman mythology , the Giants , also called Gigantes ( Greek : Γίγαντες, Gígantes , singular: Γίγας, Gígas ), were

3432-472: Is the thunderbolt and his primary sacred animal is the eagle, which held precedence over other birds in the taking of auspices and became one of the most common symbols of the Roman army (see Aquila ). The two emblems were often combined to represent the god in the form of an eagle holding in its claws a thunderbolt, frequently seen on Greek and Roman coins. As the skygod, he was a divine witness to oaths,

3575-526: Is usually said to be the bottom mountain, with Mounts Ossa and Pelion upon Ossa as second and third, either respectively or vice versa. Homer says that the Aloadae were killed by Apollo before they had any beards, consistent with their being bound to columns in the Underworld by snakes, with the nymph of the Styx in the form of an owl over them. According to another version of their struggle against

3718-735: The pompa circensis resembled a triumphal procession. Wissowa and Mommsen argue that they were a detached part of the triumph on the above grounds (a conclusion which Dumézil rejects). The Ludi Plebei took place in November in the Circus Flaminius . Mommsen argued that the epulum of the Ludi Plebei was the model of the Ludi Romani, but Wissowa finds the evidence for this assumption insufficient. The Ludi Plebei were probably established in 534 BC. Their association with

3861-779: The Arcadians claimed that battle took place "not at Pellene in Thrace " but in the plain of Megalopolis in the central Peloponnese where "rises up fire". 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 elephants , an enormous extinct elephant species formerly native to

4004-564: The Gorgon 's gaze turn the Giants into mountains. 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. Claudian , the fourth-century AD court poet of emperor Honorius , composed a Gigantomachia that viewed the battle as a metaphor for vast geomorphic change: "The puissant company of

4147-669: The Metamorphoses , Ovid refers to the Gigantomachy as: "The time when serpent footed giants strove / to fix their hundred arms on captive Heaven". Here Ovid apparently conflates the Giants with the Hundred-Handers , who, though in Hesiod fought alongside Zeus and the Olympians, in some traditions fought against them. Eratosthenes records that Dionysus, Hephaestus and several satyrs mounted on donkeys and charged against

4290-594: The Phlegraean Fields . 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. At least one tradition placed Phlegra in Thessaly . According to the geographer Pausanias ,

4433-652: The Via Nova , below the Porta Mugonia , ancient entrance to the Palatine. Legend attributed its founding to Romulus. There may have been an earlier shrine ( fanum ) , since the Jupiter cult is attested epigraphically. Ovid places the temple's dedication on 27 June, but it is unclear whether this was the original date, or the rededication after the restoration by Augustus. A second temple of Iuppiter Stator

Aloadae - Misplaced Pages Continue

4576-469: The ius . He can then declare war within 33 days. The action of the fetials falls under Jupiter's jurisdiction as the divine defender of good faith. Several emblems of the fetial office pertain to Jupiter. The silex was the stone used for the fetial sacrifice, housed in the Temple of Iuppiter Feretrius , as was their sceptre. Sacred herbs (sagmina) , sometimes identified as vervain , had to be taken from

4719-459: The tribunicia potestas . A dominant line of scholarship has held that Rome lacked a body of myths in its earliest period, or that this original mythology has been irrecoverably obscured by the influence of the Greek narrative tradition . After the influence of Greek culture on Roman culture, Latin literature and iconography reinterpreted the myths of Zeus in depictions and narratives of Jupiter. In

4862-649: The Capitoline Hill was razed, and it was decreed that no patrician should ever be allowed to live there. Capitoline Jupiter represented a continuity of royal power from the Regal period , and conferred power to the magistrates who paid their respects to him. During the Conflict of the Orders , Rome's plebeians demanded the right to hold political and religious office. During their first secessio (similar to

5005-479: The Dialis to swear an oath. He could not have contacts with anything dead or connected with death: corpses, funerals, funeral fires, raw meat. This set of restrictions reflects the fulness of life and absolute freedom that are features of Jupiter. The augures publici , augurs were a college of sacerdotes who were in charge of all inaugurations and of the performing of ceremonies known as auguria . Their creation

5148-722: The Giant Mimas mentioned by Apollodorus). The Gigantomachy also appeared on several other late sixth century buildings, including the west pediment of the Alkmeonid Temple of Apollo at Delphi, the pediment of the Megarian Treasury at Olympia , the east pediment of the Old Temple of Athena on the Acropolis of Athens, and the metopes of Temple F at Selinous . The theme continued to be popular in

5291-570: The Giant Mimas was also depicted. Other less-familiar or otherwise unknown Giant names include Allektos, Chthonophylos, Eurybias, Molodros, Obrimos, Ochthaios and Olyktor. The subject was revived in the Renaissance, most famously in the frescos of the Sala dei Giganti in the Palazzo del Te , Mantua . These were painted around 1530 by Giulio Romano and his workshop, and aimed to give the viewer

5434-703: The Giants and their Gigantomachy with an earlier set of offspring of Gaia and Uranus, the Titans and their war with the Olympian gods, the Titanomachy . This confusion extended to other opponents of the Olympians, including the huge monster Typhon , the offspring of Gaia and Tartarus , whom Zeus finally defeated with his thunderbolt, and the Aloadae , the large, strong and aggressive brothers Otus and Ephialtes, who piled Pelion on top of Ossa in order to scale

5577-518: 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. 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

5720-529: The Giants battling the gods. Homer's remark that Eurymedon "brought destruction on his froward people" might possibly be a reference to the Gigantomachy and Hesiod's remark that Heracles performed a "great work among the immortals" is probably a reference to Heracles' crucial role in the gods' victory over the Giants. The Hesiodic Catalogue of Women (also called Ehoiai ), following mentions of Heracles' sacks of Troy and of Kos , refers to his having slain "presumptuous Giants". Another probable reference to

5863-675: The Giants be the offspring of Gaia (Earth). According to Hesiod, Gaia, mating with Uranus , bore many children: the first generation of Titans , the Cyclopes , and the Hundred-Handers . However, Uranus hated his children and, as soon as they were born, he imprisoned them inside Gaia, causing her much distress. Therefore, Gaia made a sickle of adamant which she gave to Cronus , the youngest of her Titan sons, and hid him (presumably still inside Gaia's body) to wait in ambush. When Uranus came to lie with Gaia, Cronus castrated his father, and "the bloody drops that gushed forth [Gaia] received, and as

Aloadae - Misplaced Pages Continue

6006-572: The Giants once again enemies of order and civilization. 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. 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. Lucan , in his Pharsalia , which contains many Gigantomachy references, makes

6149-412: The Giants were often confused with other opponents of the Olympians, particularly the Titans , an earlier generation of large and powerful children of Gaia and Uranus. The vanquished Giants were said to be buried under volcanoes and to be the cause of volcanic eruptions and earthquakes. The name "Gigantes" is usually taken to imply "earth-born", and Hesiod 's Theogony makes this explicit by having

6292-450: The Giants, a practice dating from perhaps as early as the second millennium BC. The earliest extant indisputable representations of Gigantes are found on votive pinakes from Corinth and Eleusis , and Attic black-figure pots, dating from the second quarter of the sixth century BC (this excludes early depictions of Zeus battling single snake-footed creatures, which probably represent his battle with Typhon , as well as Zeus' opponent on

6435-497: The Giants, whom he gives a "hundred arms". So perhaps do Callimachus and Philostratus , since they both make Aegaeon the cause of earthquakes, as was often said about the Giants (see below). Homer describes the Giant king Eurymedon as "great-hearted" ( μεγαλήτορος ), and his people as "insolent" ( ὑπερθύμοισι ) and "froward" ( ἀτάσθαλος ). Hesiod calls the Giants "strong" ( κρατερῶν ) and "great" ( μεγάλους ) which may or may not be

6578-547: The Giants, wish to "drag down everything from heaven and the invisible to earth". In Latin literature , in which the Giants, the Titans , Typhon and the Aloadae are all often conflated, Gigantomachy imagery is a frequent occurrence. Cicero , while urging the acceptance of aging and death as natural and inevitable, allegorizes the Gigantomachy as "fighting against Nature". The rationalist Epicurean poet Lucretius , for whom such things as lightning, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions had natural rather than divine causes, used

6721-625: The Giants. From the sixth century BC onwards, the Gigantomachy was a popular and important theme in Greek art, with over six hundred representations cataloged in the Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae ( LIMC ). The Gigantomachy was depicted on the new peplos (robe) presented to Athena on the Acropolis of Athens as part of the Panathenaic festival celebrating her victory over

6864-426: The Giants. As they drew closer and before the Giants had spotted them, the donkeys brayed, scaring off some Giants who ran away in terror of the unseen enemies, for they had never heard a donkey's bray before. Dionysus placed the donkeys in the skies in gratitude, and in vase paintings from the classical period, satyrs and Maenads can sometimes be seen confronting their gigantic opponents. A late Latin grammarian of

7007-496: The Gigantomachy in the Catalogue has Zeus produce Heracles to be "a protector against ruin for gods and men". There are indications that there might have been a lost epic poem, a Gigantomachia , which gave an account of the war: Hesiod's Theogony says that the Muses sing of the Giants, and the sixth century BC poet Xenophanes mentions the Gigantomachy as a subject to be avoided at table. The Apollonius scholia refers to

7150-418: 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. Virgil —reversing Lucretius' reversal—restores the conventional meaning, making

7293-583: The Hundred-Hander Briareus were also said to be buried under Etna). The Giant Alcyoneus along with "many giants" were said to lie under Mount Vesuvius , Prochyte (modern Procida ), one of the volcanic Phlegraean Islands was supposed to sit atop the Giant Mimas , and Polybotes was said to lie pinned beneath the volcanic island of Nisyros , supposedly a piece of the island of Kos broken off and thrown by Poseidon . Describing

SECTION 50

#1732765135763

7436-553: The Ides, a white lamb ( ovis idulis ) was led along Rome's Sacred Way to the Capitoline Citadel and sacrificed to him. Jupiter's two epula Iovis festivals fell on the Ides, as did his temple foundation rites as Optimus Maximus , Victor , Invictus and (possibly) Stator . The nundinae recurred every ninth day, dividing the calendar into a market cycle analogous to a week. Market days gave rural people ( pagi )

7579-504: The Latins. The original cult was reinstated unchanged as is testified by some archaic features of the ritual: the exclusion of wine from the sacrifice the offers of milk and cheese and the ritual use of rocking among the games. Rocking is one of the most ancient rites mimicking ascent to Heaven and is very widespread. At the Latiar the rocking took place on a tree and the winner was of course

7722-632: The Old Latin nominative case * Ious . Jove is a less common English formation based on Iov- , the stem of oblique cases of the Latin name. Linguistic studies identify the form * Iou-pater as deriving from the Proto-Italic vocable * Djous Patēr , and ultimately the Indo-European vocative compound * Dyēu-pəter (meaning "O Father Sky-god"; nominative: * Dyēus -pətēr ). Older forms of

7865-451: The Olympians fighting from above and the Giants fighting with large stones from below. With the beginning of the fourth century BC probably comes the first portrayal of the Giants in Greek art as anything other than fully human in form, with legs that become coiled serpents having snake heads at the ends in place of feet. Such depictions were perhaps borrowed from Typhon, the monstrous son of Gaia and Tartarus , described by Hesiod as having

8008-471: The Olympians, alluded to so briefly that it must have been already familiar to the epic's hearers, they managed to kidnap Ares and hold him in a bronze jar, a storage pithos , for thirteen months (a lunar year ). "And that would have been the end of Ares and his appetite for war, if the beautiful Eriboea , the young giants' stepmother, had not told Hermes what they had done", Dione related. Alerted by Eriboea, Hermes rescued Ares. The brothers died on

8151-520: The Pergamon Altar. On the right side of the East frieze, the first encountered by a visitor, a winged Giant, usually identified as Alcyoneus , fights Athena . Below and to the right of Athena, Gaia rises from the ground, touching Athena's robe in supplication. Flying above Gaia, a winged Nike crowns the victorious Athena. To the left of this grouping a snake-legged Porphyrion battles Zeus and to

8294-527: The Roman senate to inquire was also greeted by a rain of stones and heard a loud voice from the grove on the summit of the mount requesting the Albans perform the religious service to the god according to the rites of their country. In consequence of this event the Romans instituted a festival of nine days ( nundinae ). Nonetheless a plague ensued: in the end Tullus Hostilius himself was affected and lastly killed by

8437-580: The Titans, brought forth the Giants". There are three brief references to the Gigantes in Homer 's Odyssey , though it is not entirely clear that Homer and Hesiod understood the term to mean the same thing. Homer has Giants among the ancestors of the Phaiakians , a race of men encountered by Odysseus , their ruler Alcinous being the son of Nausithous , who was the son of Poseidon and Periboea ,

8580-584: The XII Tables, which though concerned only private law. The plebs once again retreated to the Sacer Mons: this act besides recalling the first secession was meant to seek the protection of the supreme god. The secession ended with the resignation of the decemviri and an amnesty for the rebellious soldiers who had deserted from their camp near Mount Algidus while warring against the Volscians, abandoning

8723-529: The annual feriae of the Capitol in September. To thank him for his help, and to secure his continued support, they sacrificed a white ox (bos mas) with gilded horns. A similar sacrificial offering was made by triumphal generals , who surrendered the tokens of their victory at the feet of Jupiter's statue in the Capitol. Some scholars have viewed the triumphator as embodying (or impersonating) Jupiter in

SECTION 60

#1732765135763

8866-403: The annual Ludi Romani and were held in the Circus Maximus after a procession from the Capitol. The games were attributed to Tarquinius Priscus, and linked to the cult of Jupiter on the Capitol. Romans themselves acknowledged analogies with the triumph , which Dumézil thinks can be explained by their common Etruscan origin; the magistrate in charge of the games dressed as the triumphator and

9009-406: The architectural model for his provincial temples. When Hadrian built Aelia Capitolina on the site of Jerusalem , a temple to Jupiter Capitolinus was erected in the place of the destroyed Temple in Jerusalem . There were two temples in Rome dedicated to Iuppiter Stator ; the first one was built and dedicated in 294 BC by Marcus Atilius Regulus after the third Samnite War. It was located on

9152-416: The battle between the Giants and the Olympians. He locates it "on the plain of Phlegra " and has Teiresias foretell Heracles killing Giants "beneath [his] rushing arrows". He calls Heracles "you who subdued the Giants", and has Porphyrion , whom he calls "the king of the Giants", being overcome by the bow of Apollo . Euripides ' Heracles has its hero shooting Giants with arrows, and his Ion has

9295-420: The blood of the Giants came a new race of beings in human form. According to Ovid, Earth (Gaia) did not want the Giants to perish without a trace, so "reeking with the copious blood of her gigantic sons", she gave life to the "steaming gore" of the blood soaked battleground. These new offspring, like their fathers the Giants, also hated the gods and possessed a bloodthirsty desire for "savage slaughter". Later in

9438-430: The catastrophic eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD , which buried the towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum , Cassius Dio relates accounts of the appearance of many Giant-like creatures on the mountain and in the surrounding area followed by violent earthquakes and the final cataclysmic eruption, saying "some thought that the Giants were rising again in revolt (for at this time also many of their forms could be discerned in

9581-755: The central group are the rest of the gods engaged in combat with particular Giants. While the gods can be identified by characteristic features, for example Hermes with his hat ( petasos ) and Dionysus his ivy crown, the Giants are not individually characterized and can only be identified by inscriptions which sometimes name the Giant. The fragments of one vase from this same period (Getty 81.AE.211) name five Giants: Pankrates against Heracles, Polybotes against Zeus, Oranion against Dionysus, Euboios and Euphorbus fallen and Ephialtes. Also named, on two other of these early vases, are Aristaeus battling Hephaestus (Akropolis 607), Eurymedon and (again) Ephialtes (Akropolis 2134). An amphora from Caere from later in

9724-425: The chorus describe seeing a depiction of the Gigantomachy on the late sixth century Temple of Apollo at Delphi , with Athena fighting the Giant Enceladus with her "gorgon shield", Zeus burning the Giant Mimas with his "mighty thunderbolt, blazing at both ends", and Dionysus killing an unnamed Giant with his "ivy staff". The early 3rd century BC author Apollonius of Rhodes briefly describes an incident where

9867-443: The cities and teaching culture to humanity. They were venerated specifically in Naxos and Boeotian Ascra , two cities they founded. Besides these two, the foundation of the town of Aloïum in Thessaly was ascribed to them. Ephialtes (lit. "he who jumps upon") is also the Greek word for " nightmare ", and Ephialtes was sometimes considered the daimon of nightmares . In the Inferno of Dante's Divine Comedy Ephialtes

10010-408: The commanders. The amnesty was granted by the senate and guaranteed by the pontifex maximus Quintus Furius (in Livy's version) (or Marcus Papirius) who also supervised the nomination of the new tribunes of the plebs, then gathered on the Aventine Hill. The role played by the pontifex maximus in a situation of vacation of powers is a significant element underlining the religious basis and character of

10153-399: The consuls and the highest magistrates were required to attend shortly after the beginning of the administration, originally on the Ides of March: the Feriae usually took place in early April. They could not start campaigning before its end and if any part of the games had been neglected or performed unritually the Latiar had to be wholly repeated. The inscriptions from the imperial age record

10296-472: The cult of Jupiter is attested by Cicero. The feriae of 23 December were devoted to a major ceremony in honour of Acca Larentia (or Larentina ), in which some of the highest religious authorities participated (probably including the Flamen Quirinalis and the pontiffs ). The Fasti Praenestini marks the day as feriae Iovis , as does Macrobius. It is unclear whether the rite of parentatio

10439-581: The daughter of the Giant king Eurymedon. Elsewhere in the Odyssey , Alcinous says that the Phaiakians, like the Cyclopes and the Giants, are "near kin" to the gods. Odysseus describes the Laestrygonians (another race encountered by Odysseus in his travels) as more like Giants than men. Pausanias , the 2nd century AD geographer, read these lines of the Odyssey to mean that, for Homer, the Giants were

10582-615: The deity's name in Rome were Dieus-pater ("day/sky-father"), then Diéspiter . The 19th-century philologist Georg Wissowa asserted these names are conceptually- and linguistically-connected to Diovis and Diovis Pater ; he compares the analogous formations Vedius - Veiove and fulgur Dium , as opposed to fulgur Summanum (nocturnal lightning bolt) and flamen Dialis (based on Dius , dies ). The Ancient later viewed them as entities separate from Jupiter. The terms are similar in etymology and semantics ( dies , "daylight" and Dius , "daytime sky"), but differ linguistically. Wissowa considers

10725-525: The end of the grape harvest; the new wine was pressed , tasted and mixed with old wine to control fermentation. In the Fasti Amiternini , this festival is assigned to Jupiter. Later Roman sources invented a goddess Meditrina , probably to explain the name of the festival. At the Vinalia urbana on 23 April, new wine was offered to Jupiter. Large quantities of it were poured into a ditch near

10868-536: The epithet Dianus noteworthy. Dieus is the etymological equivalent of ancient Greece 's Zeus and of the Teutonics' Ziu (genitive Ziewes ). The Indo-European deity is the god from which the names and partially the theology of Jupiter, Zeus and the Indo-Aryan Vedic Dyaus Pita derive or have developed. The Roman practice of swearing by Jove to witness an oath in law courts

11011-446: The exclusive patrician ritual confarreatio , which included a sacrifice of spelt bread to Jupiter Farreus (from far , "wheat, grain"). The office of Flamen Dialis was circumscribed by several unique ritual prohibitions, some of which shed light on the sovereign nature of the god himself. For instance, the flamen may remove his clothes or apex (his pointed hat) only when under a roof, in order to avoid showing himself naked to

11154-584: The festival back to the time of the decemvirs . Wissowa remarks the inner linkage of the temple of the Mons Albanus with that of the Capitol apparent in the common association with the rite of the triumph : since 231 BC some triumphing commanders had triumphed there first with the same legal features as in Rome. The Ides (the midpoint of the month, with a full moon) was sacred to Jupiter, because on that day heavenly light shone day and night. Some (or all) Ides were Feriae Iovis , sacred to Jupiter. On

11297-405: The fifth century AD, Servius , mentions that during the battle, the eagle of Zeus (who once had been the boy Aëtos before his metamorphosis) assisted his master by placing the lightning bolts on his hands. 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"), as do other early sources. Phlegra

11440-536: The fifth century BC. A particularly fine example is found on a red-figure cup (c. 490–485 BC) by the Brygos Painter (Berlin F2293). On one side of the cup is the same central group of gods (minus Gaia) as described above: Zeus wielding his thunderbolt, stepping into a quadriga, Heracles with lion skin (behind the chariot rather than on it) drawing his (unseen) bow and, ahead, Athena thrusting her spear into

11583-554: The figures and the identifications of most of the approximately sixty gods and goddesses have been more or less established. The names and positions of most Giants remain uncertain. Some of the names of the Giants have been determined by inscription, while their positions are often conjectured on the basis of which gods fought which Giants in Apollodorus ' account. The same central group of Zeus, Athena, Heracles and Gaia, found on many early Attic vases, also featured prominently on

11726-421: 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." Various locations associated with the Giants and the Gigantomachy were areas of volcanic and seismic activity (e.g. the Phlegraean Fields west of Naples ), and

11869-464: The god with a lightning bolt. The festival was reestablished on its primitive site by the last Roman king Tarquin the Proud under the leadership of Rome. The feriae Latinae , or Latiar as they were known originally, were the common festival ( panegyris ) of the so-called Priscan Latins and of the Albans. Their restoration aimed at grounding Roman hegemony in this ancestral religious tradition of

12012-458: The gods themselves punishing the Giants for their arrogant challenge to the gods' divine authority. 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. Plato compares the Gigantomachy to a philosophical dispute about existence, wherein the materialist philosophers, who believe that only physical things exist, like

12155-425: The heavens and attack the Olympians (though in the case of Ephialtes there was probably a Giant with the same name). For example, Hyginus includes the names of three Titans, Coeus , Iapetus , and Astraeus , along with Typhon and the Aloadae, in his list of Giants, and Ovid seems to conflate the Gigantomachy with the later siege of Olympus by the Aloadae. Ovid also seems to confuse the Hundred-Handers with

12298-505: The help of Picus and Faunus, whom he had imprisoned by making them drunk. The two gods (with a charm) evoked Jupiter, who was forced to come down to earth at the Aventine (hence named Iuppiter Elicius , according to Ovid). After Numa skilfully avoided the requests of the god for human sacrifices, Jupiter agreed to his request to know how lightning bolts are averted, asking only for the substitutions Numa had mentioned: an onion bulb, hairs and

12441-587: The interior of the shield of Athena Parthenos . Phidias' work perhaps marks the beginning of a change in the way the Giants are presented. While previously the Giants had been portrayed as typical hoplite warriors armed with the usual helmets, shields, spears and swords, in the fifth century the Giants begin to be depicted as less handsome in appearance, primitive and wild, clothed in animal skins or naked, often without armor and using boulders as weapons. A series of red-figure pots from c. 400 BC, which may have used Phidas' shield of Athena Parthenos as their model, show

12584-527: The island of Kos called Nisyros , and threw it on top of Polybotes ( Strabo also relates the story of Polybotes buried under Nisyros but adds that some say Polybotes lies under Kos instead). Hermes , wearing Hades ' helmet, killed Hippolytus , Artemis killed Gration, and the Moirai (Fates) killed Agrius and Thoas with bronze clubs. The rest of the giants were "destroyed" by thunderbolts thrown by Zeus, with each Giant being shot with arrows by Heracles (as

12727-497: The island of Naxos , when Artemis changed herself into a doe and jumped between them. The Aloadae, not wanting her to get away, threw their spears and simultaneously killed each other. In another version, either Apollo killed the Aloadae in their attempt to scale the mountains to the heavens, or Otus tried to rape Artemis, and Apollo sent the deer in their midst, provoking their deaths. Their two sisters, Elate and Platanus , mourned their deaths so much they were changed into trees,

12870-639: The last king ( Tarquinius Superbus ) and inaugurated in the early days of the Roman Republic (13 September 509 BC). It was topped with the statues of four horses drawing a quadriga , with Jupiter as charioteer. A large statue of Jupiter stood within; on festival days, its face was painted red. In (or near) this temple was the Iuppiter Lapis : the Jupiter Stone , on which oaths could be sworn. Jupiter's Capitoline Temple probably served as

13013-443: The left of Zeus is Heracles. On the far left side of the East frieze, a triple Hecate with torch battles a snake-legged Giant usually identified (following Apollodorus) as Clytius. To the right lays the fallen Udaeus, shot in his left eye by an arrow from Apollo, along with Demeter who wields a pair of torches against Erysichthon. The Giants are depicted in a variety of ways. Some Giants are fully human in form, while others are

13156-437: The legendary history of Rome, Jupiter is often connected to kings and kingship. Jupiter is depicted as the twin of Juno in a statue at Praeneste that showed them nursed by Fortuna Primigenia . An inscription that is also from Praeneste, however, says that Fortuna Primigenia was Jupiter's first-born child. Jacqueline Champeaux sees this contradiction as the result of successive different cultural and religious phases, in which

13299-537: The monarchy, but the "king" of this festival may have been the priest known as the rex sacrorum who ritually enacted the waning and renewal of power associated with the New Year (1 March in the old Roman calendar). A temporary vacancy of power (construed as a yearly " interregnum ") occurred between the Regifugium on 24 February and the New Year on 1 March (when the lunar cycle was thought to coincide again with

13442-636: The name Jupiter . In the Greek-influenced tradition, Jupiter was the brother of Neptune and Pluto , the Roman equivalents of Poseidon and Hades respectively. Each presided over one of the three realms of the universe: sky, the waters, and the underworld. The Italic Diespiter was also a sky god who manifested himself in the daylight, usually identified with Jupiter. Tinia is usually regarded as his Etruscan counterpart. The Romans believed that Jupiter granted them supremacy because they had honoured him more than any other people had. Jupiter

13585-471: The nearby citadel (arx) for their ritual use. The role of Jupiter in the conflict of the orders is a reflection of the religiosity of the Romans. On one side, the patricians were able to naturally claim the support of the supreme god as they held the auspices of the State. On the other side, the plebs (plebeians) argued that, as Jupiter was the source of justice, they had his favor because their cause

13728-492: The north (c. 2000 BC) over the old gods of the existing peoples of the Greek peninsula. 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

13871-413: The one who had swung the highest. This rite was said to have been instituted by the Albans to commemorate the disappearance of king Latinus , in the battle against Mezentius king of Caere : the rite symbolised a search for him both on earth and in heaven. The rocking as well as the customary drinking of milk was also considered to commemorate and ritually reinstate infancy. The Romans in the last form of

14014-663: The opportunity to sell in town and to be informed of religious and political edicts, which were posted publicly for three days. According to tradition, these festival days were instituted by the king Servius Tullius . The high priestess of Jupiter ( Flaminica Dialis ) sanctified the days by sacrificing a ram to Jupiter. During the Republican era , more fixed holidays on the Roman calendar were devoted to Jupiter than to any other deity. Festivals of viniculture and wine were devoted to Jupiter, since grapes were particularly susceptible to adverse weather. Dumézil describes wine as

14157-430: The ox (castrated bull), the lamb (on the Ides, the ovis idulis ) and the wether (a castrated goat or castrated ram) (on the Ides of January). The animals were required to be white. The question of the lamb's gender is unresolved; while a sacrificial lamb for a male deity was usually male, for the vintage-opening festival the flamen Dialis sacrificed a ewe lamb to Jupiter. This rule seems to have had many exceptions, as

14300-426: The participation of both an augur (presumably Manius Valerius himself) and a pontifex. The second secession was caused by the autocratic and arrogant behaviour of the decemviri , who had been charged by the Roman people with writing down the laws in use till then kept secret by the patrician magistrates and the sacerdotes . All magistracies and the tribunes of the plebs had resigned in advance. The task resulted in

14443-594: The plebs retired on the Mount Sacer, a hill located three Roman miles to the North-northeast of Rome, past the Nomentan bridge on river Anio . The place is windy and was usually the site of rites of divination performed by haruspices. The senate in the end sent a delegation composed of ten members with full powers of making a deal with the plebs, of which were part Menenius Agrippa and Manius Valerius. It

14586-568: The prophecy seemingly required). The Latin poet Ovid gives a brief account of the Gigantomachy in his poem Metamorphoses . Ovid, apparently including the Aloadae 's attack upon Olympus as part of the Gigantomachy, has the Giants attempt to seize "the throne of Heaven" by piling "mountain on mountain to the lofty stars" but Jove (i.e. Jupiter , the Roman Zeus) overwhelms the Giants with his thunderbolts, overturning "from Ossa huge, enormous Pelion ". Ovid says that (as "fame reports") from

14729-476: The real one. He asked the smith Mamurius Veturius to make the copies, and gave them to the Salii . As his only reward, Mamurius expressed the wish that his name be sung in the last of their carmina . Plutarch gives a slightly different version of the story, writing that the cause of the miraculous drop of the shield was a plague and not linking it with the Roman imperium . Throughout his reign, King Tullus had

14872-661: The region. Another tradition apparently placed the battle at Tartessus in Spain. Diodorus Siculus presents a war with multiple battles, with one at Pallene, one on the Phlegraean Fields, and one on Crete . Strabo mentions an account of Heracles battling Giants at Phanagoria , a Greek colony on the shores of the Black Sea . Even when, as in Apollodorus, the battle starts at one place. Individual battles between

15015-413: The right. Zeus mounts a chariot brandishing his thunderbolt in his right hand, Heracles, in the chariot, bends forward with drawn bow and left foot on the chariot pole, Athena, beside the chariot, strides forward toward one or two Giants, and the four chariot horses trample a fallen Giant. When present, Gaia is shielded behind Herakles, apparently pleading with Zeus to spare her children. On either side of

15158-518: The rite brought the sacrificial ox from Rome and every participant was bestowed a portion of the meat, rite known as carnem petere . Other games were held in every participant borough. In Rome a race of chariots ( quadrigae ) was held starting from the Capitol: the winner drank a liquor made with absynth. This competition has been compared to the Vedic rite of the vajapeya : in it seventeen chariots run

15301-399: The rite improperly the god threw a lightning bolt which burned down the king's house and killed Tullus. When approaching Rome (where Tarquin was heading to try his luck in politics after unsuccessful attempts in his native Tarquinii ), an eagle swooped down, removed his hat, flew screaming in circles, replaced the hat on his head and flew away. Tarquin's wife Tanaquil interpreted this as

15444-686: The sacred trust on which justice and good government depend. Many of his functions were focused on the Capitoline Hill , where the citadel was located. In the Capitoline Triad , he was the central guardian of the state with Juno and Minerva . His sacred tree was the oak. The Romans regarded Jupiter as the equivalent of the Greek Zeus , and in Latin literature and Roman art , the myths and iconography of Zeus are adapted under

15587-566: The sacrifice of a ram on the Nundinae by the flaminica Dialis demonstrates. During one of the crises of the Punic Wars , Jupiter was offered every animal born that year. The Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus stood on the Capitoline Hill in Rome. Jupiter was worshiped there as an individual deity, and with Juno and Minerva as part of the Capitoline Triad . The building was supposedly begun by king Tarquinius Priscus , completed by

15730-443: The sanctuary of Jupiter. In addition to the omens, a voice was heard requesting that the Albans perform the rites. A plague followed and at last the king himself fell ill. As a consequence, the warlike character of Tullus broke down; he resorted to religion and petty, superstitious practices. At last, he found a book by Numa recording a secret rite on how to evoke Iuppiter Elicius . The king attempted to perform it, but since he executed

15873-565: The seasons moved round she bore ... the great Giants." From these same drops of blood also came the Erinyes (Furies) and the Meliai (ash tree nymphs), while the severed genitals of Uranus falling into the sea resulted in a white foam from which Aphrodite grew. The mythographer Apollodorus also has the Giants being the offspring of Gaia and Uranus, though he makes no connection with Uranus' castration, saying simply that Gaia "vexed on account of

16016-472: The sixth century, gives the names of more Giants: Hyperbios and Agasthenes (along with Ephialtes) fighting Zeus, Harpolykos against Hera , Enceladus against Athena and (again) Polybotes, who in this case battles Poseidon with his trident holding the island of Nisyros on his shoulder (Louvre E732). This motif of Poseidon holding the island of Nisyros, ready to hurl it at his opponent, is another frequent feature of these early Gigantomachies. The Gigantomachy

16159-491: The sky". There was a prophecy that the Giants could not be killed by the gods alone, but they could be killed with the help of a mortal. Hearing this, Gaia sought for a certain plant ( pharmakon ) that would protect the Giants. Before Gaia or anyone else could find this plant, Zeus forbade Eos (Dawn), Selene (Moon) and Helios (Sun) to shine, harvested all of the plant himself and then he had Athena summon Heracles. According to Apollodorus, Alcyoneus and Porphyrion were

16302-457: The sky—that is, "as if under the eyes of Jupiter" as god of the heavens. Every time the Flaminica saw a lightning bolt or heard a clap of thunder (Jupiter's distinctive instrument), she was prohibited from carrying on with her normal routine until she placated the god. Some privileges of the flamen of Jupiter may reflect the regal nature of Jupiter: he had the use of the curule chair , and

16445-445: The smoke and, moreover, a sound as of trumpets was heard)". Jupiter (mythology) Jupiter ( Latin : Iūpiter or Iuppiter , from Proto-Italic * djous "day, sky" + * patēr "father", thus " sky father " Greek: Δίας or Ζεύς ), also known as Jove ( gen . Iovis [ˈjɔwɪs] ), is the god of the sky and thunder , and king of the gods in ancient Roman religion and mythology . Jupiter

16588-487: The solar cycle), and the uncertainty and change during the two winter months were over. Some scholars emphasize the traditional political significance of the day. The Poplifugia ("Routing of Armies" ), a day sacred to Jupiter, may similarly mark the second half of the year; before the Julian calendar reform , the months were named numerically, Quintilis (the fifth month) to December (the tenth month). The Poplifugia

16731-493: The state. In the 5th century BC, the triumphator Camillus was sent into exile after he drove a chariot with a team of four white horses ( quadriga ) —an honour reserved for Jupiter himself. When Marcus Manlius , whose defense of the Capitol against the invading Gauls had earned him the name Capitolinus , was accused of regal pretensions, he was executed as a traitor by being cast from the Tarpeian Rock . His house on

16874-584: The sun god Helios takes up Hephaestus , exhausted from the fight in Phlegra, on his chariot. The most detailed account of the Gigantomachy is that of the (first or second-century AD) mythographer Apollodorus . None of the early sources give any reasons for the war. Scholia to the Iliad mention the rape of Hera by the Giant Eurymedon, while according to the scholia to Pindar 's Isthmian 6, it

17017-467: The temple of Venus Erycina , which was located on the Capitol. The Regifugium ("King's Flight") on 24 February has often been discussed in connection with the Poplifugia on 5 July, a day holy to Jupiter. The Regifugium followed the festival of Iuppiter Terminus (Jupiter of Boundaries) on 23 February. Later Roman antiquarians misinterpreted the Regifugium as marking the expulsion of

17160-550: The third Samnite War in 295 BC. It was probably on the Quirinal, on which an inscription reading Diovei Victore has been found, but was eclipsed by the imperial period by the Temple of Jupiter Invictus on the Palatine, which was often referred to by the same name. Inscriptions from the imperial age have revealed the existence of an otherwise-unknown temple of Iuppiter Propugnator on the Palatine. The cult of Iuppiter Latiaris

17303-555: The triumphal procession. Jupiter's association with kingship and sovereignty was reinterpreted as Rome's form of government changed. Originally, Rome was ruled by kings ; after the monarchy was abolished and the Republic established, religious prerogatives were transferred to the patres , the patrician ruling class . Nostalgia for the kingship (affectatio regni) was considered treasonous. Those suspected of harbouring monarchical ambitions were punished, regardless of their service to

17446-567: The two strongest Giants. Heracles shot Alcyoneus, who fell to the ground but then revived, for Alcyoneus was immortal within his native land. So Heracles, on Athena 's advice, dragged him beyond the borders of that land, where Alcyoneus then died (compare with Antaeus ). Porphyrion attacked Heracles and Hera , but Zeus caused Porphyrion to become enamoured of Hera, whom Porphyrion then tried to rape, but Zeus struck Porphyrion with his thunderbolt and Heracles killed him with an arrow. Other Giants and their fates are mentioned by Apollodorus. Ephialtes

17589-599: The unsettling idea that the large hall was in the process of collapsing. The subject was also popular in Northern Mannerism around 1600, especially among the Haarlem Mannerists , and continued to be painted into the 18th century. 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

17732-424: The vanquished Gigantes (along with other "giants") were said to be buried under volcanos. Their subterranean movements were said to be the cause of volcanic eruptions and earthquakes. The Giant Enceladus was thought to lay buried under Mount Etna , the volcano's eruptions being the breath of Enceladus, and its tremors caused by the Giant rolling over from side to side beneath the mountain (the monster Typhon and

17875-537: The west pediment of the Temple of Artemis on Kerkyra (modern Corfu ) which is probably not a Giant). Though all these early Attic vases are fragmentary, the many common features in their depictions of the Gigantomachy suggest that a common model or template was used as a prototype, possibly Athena's peplos . These vases depict large battles, including most of the Olympians, and contain a central group which appears to consist of Zeus, Heracles, Athena, and sometimes Gaia. Zeus, Heracles and Athena are attacking Giants to

18018-445: Was "the fount of the auspices upon which the relationship of the city with the gods rested." He personified the divine authority of Rome's highest offices, internal organization, and external relations. His image in the Republican and Imperial Capitol bore regalia associated with Rome's ancient kings and the highest consular and Imperial honours . The consuls swore their oath of office in Jupiter's name, and honoured him on

18161-519: Was Valerius, according to the inscription found at Arezzo in 1688 and written on the order of Augustus as well as other literary sources, that brought the plebs down from the Mount, after the secessionists had consecrated it to Jupiter Territor and built an altar ( ara ) on its summit. The fear of the wrath of Jupiter was an important element in the solution of the crisis. The consecration of the Mount probably referred to its summit only. The ritual requested

18304-489: Was a "primitive military ritual" for which the adult male population assembled for purification rites, after which they ritually dispelled foreign invaders from Rome. There were two festivals called epulum Iovis ("Feast of Jove"). One was held on 13 September, the anniversary of the foundation of Jupiter's Capitoline temple. The other (and probably older) festival was part of the Plebeian Games (Ludi Plebei) , and

18447-499: Was also a popular theme in late sixth century sculpture. The most comprehensive treatment is found on the north frieze of the Siphnian Treasury at Delphi (c. 525 BC), with more than thirty figures, named by inscription. From left to right, these include Hephaestus (with bellows), two females fighting two Giants; Dionysus striding toward an advancing Giant; Themis in a chariot drawn by a team of lions which are attacking

18590-456: Was blinded by an arrow from Apollo in his left eye, and another arrow from Heracles in his right. Eurytus was killed by Dionysus with his thyrsus , Clytius by Hecate with her torches and Mimas by Hephaestus with "missiles of red-hot metal" from his forge. Athena crushed Enceladus under the Island of Sicily and flayed Pallas , using his skin as a shield. Poseidon broke off a piece of

18733-420: Was built and dedicated by Quintus Caecilus Metellus Macedonicus after his triumph in 146 BC near the Circus Flaminius . It was connected to the restored temple of Iuno Regina with a portico ( porticus Metelli ). Augustus constructed the Temple of Jupiter Tonans near that of Jupiter Capitolinus between 26 and 22 BC. Iuppiter Victor had a temple dedicated by Quintus Fabius Maximus Gurges during

18876-506: Was held on 13 November. In the 3rd century BC, the epulum Iovis became similar to a lectisternium . The most ancient Roman games followed after one day (considered a dies ater , or "black day", i. e. a day which was traditionally considered unfortunate even though it was not nefas , see also article Glossary of ancient Roman religion ) the two Epula Iovis of September and November. The games of September were named Ludi Magni ; originally they were not held every year, but later became

19019-509: Was itself the reason for the festival of Jupiter, or if this was another festival which happened to fall on the same day. Wissowa denies their association, since Jupiter and his flamen would not be involved with the underworld or the deities of death (or be present at a funeral rite held at a gravesite). The Latin name Iuppiter originated as a vocative compound of the Old Latin vocative * Iou and pater ("father") and came to replace

19162-417: Was just. The first secession was caused by the excessive debt burden on the plebs. The legal institute of the nexum permitted a debtor to become a slave of his creditor. The plebs argued the debts had become unsustainable because of the expenses of the wars wanted by the patricians. As the senate did not accede to the proposal of a total debt remission advanced by dictator and augur Manius Valerius Maximus

19305-611: Was said to be an ancient name for Pallene (modern Kassandra ) and Phlegra/Pallene was the usual birthplace of the Giants and site of the battle. 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

19448-505: Was served by the patrician Flamen Dialis, the highest-ranking member of the flamines , a college of fifteen priests in the official public cult of Rome, each of whom was devoted to a particular deity. His wife, the Flaminica Dialis, had her own duties, and presided over the sacrifice of a ram to Jupiter on each of the nundinae , the "market" days of a calendar cycle, comparable to a week. The couple were required to marry by

19591-403: Was the Gigantomachy, the battle fought between the Giants and the Olympian gods for supremacy of the cosmos. It is primarily for this battle that the Giants are known, and its importance to Greek culture is attested by the frequent depiction of the Gigantomachy in Greek art. The references to the Gigantomachy in archaic sources are sparse. Neither Homer nor Hesiod mention anything explicit about

19734-456: Was the chief deity of Roman state religion throughout the Republican and Imperial eras, until Christianity became the dominant religion of the Empire . In Roman mythology, he negotiates with Numa Pompilius , the second king of Rome , to establish principles of Roman religion such as offering, or sacrifice. Jupiter is usually thought to have originated as a sky god. His identifying implement

19877-527: Was the most ancient known cult of the god: it was practised since very remote times near the top of the Mons Albanus on which the god was venerated as the high protector of the Latin League under the hegemony of Alba Longa . After the destruction of Alba by king Tullus Hostilius the cult was forsaken. The god manifested his discontent through the prodigy of a rain of stones: the commission sent by

20020-406: Was the only priest ( sacerdos ) who was preceded by a lictor and had a seat in the senate . Other regulations concern his ritual purity and his separation from the military function; he was forbidden to ride a horse or see the army outside the sacred boundary of Rome ( pomerium ). Although he served the god who embodied the sanctity of the oath, it was not religiously permissible ( fas ) for

20163-556: Was the theft of the cattle of Helios by the Giant Alcyoneus that started the war. Apollodorus, who also mentions the theft of Helios' cattle by Alcyoneus, suggests a mother's revenge as the motive for the war, saying that Gaia bore the Giants because of her anger over the Titans (who had been vanquished and imprisoned by the Olympians). Seemingly, as soon as the Giants are born they begin hurling "rocks and burning oaks at

20306-488: Was traditionally ascribed to Romulus . They were considered the only official interpreters of Jupiter's will, thence they were essential to the very existence of the Roman State as Romans saw in Jupiter the only source of state authority. The fetials were a college of 20 men devoted to the religious administration of international affairs of state. Their task was to preserve and apply the fetial law (ius fetiale) ,

20449-694: 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 Galatians of Asia Minor . The attempt of the Giants to overthrow the Olympians also represented the ultimate example of hubris, with

#762237