The Gigantes

In Greek mythology, the Gigantes (Greek: Γιγαντες, "earth-born") were a race of incredibly strong and violent deities born from the blood of the castrated Uranus when it fell upon Gaea. Archaic and Classical representations of the Gigantes portray them as average-sized men with full battle armor while later representations depict them as having snakes for legs.
==Mythology==
In order to exact revenge upon the Olympians for the imprisonment of her Titan children, Gaea sent the Gigantes to overthrow the gods in a war known as the Gigantomachy.
The myth of the Gigantomachy is best given by Apollodorus. Some sources list the theft of Helios' cattle by Alcyoneus to be the start of the war, but Apollodorus gives Gaea's vengefulness as the cause of the war. A prophecy told that the Gigantes were special because they could not be killed by gods alone, rather they could only be killed when a god was being helped by a mortal. After hearing of this, Gaea sought a particular plant that would protect her giant sons. However, Zeus forbade Helios, Selene, and Eos from shining their light over the world and collected the plant himself.
Each of the Gigantes was then destroyed by various gods with the help of Heracles.
After the death of the giants, Gaea did not want their trace to be wiped from the earth forever so she caused a race of men to rise from the blood-soaked earth. This race of mankind hated the gods and were violent and bloodthirsty.
==Gigantes==
The known Gigantes are as follows:
*Alcyoneus
*Porphyrion
*Enceladus
*Ephialtes
*Eurytus
*Clytius
*Mimas
*Pallas
*Polybotes
*Hippolytus
*Gration
*Agrius
*Thoas
*The Aloadae (Ovid includes these giants in with the Gigantes)
*Aegaeon
*Alektos
*Aristaeus
*Asterius
*Azeus
*Chthonius
*Damysus
*Emphytus
*Euboeus
*Euphorbus
*Euryalus
*Eurymedon
*Hoplodamas
*Hyperbius
*Leon
*Molios
*Mylinus
*Olympus
*Pancrates
*Pelorus
*Periboea
*Phoetius
*Picolous
*Rhoecus
*Syceus
*Theodamas
*Theomises
*Uranian
Category:Greek deities
Category:Greek giants