Aloadae
Twin giants who grew nine fathoms each year and attempted to storm Olympus by stacking mountains, threatening the gods before Artemis or Apollo destroyed them.
The Myth of Aloadae
Otus and Ephialtes, the Aloadae, were twin sons of Poseidon and Iphimedeia, though their mortal father was Aloeus. They grew at an extraordinary rate — nine fathoms tall and nine cubits broad by age nine. Emboldened by their size, they declared war on the Olympians. They stacked Mount Pelion on top of Mount Ossa to create a stairway to Olympus. They captured Ares and imprisoned him in a bronze jar for thirteen months until Hermes freed him. They threatened to pile mountains into the sea and demanded Artemis and Hera as their brides. In one version, Artemis disguised herself as a deer and ran between them — each brother hurled his spear at the deer and killed the other. In another, Apollo provoked the fatal misunderstanding. The Aloadae were punished in Tartarus, bound back-to-back to a pillar by serpents while an owl shrieked above them forever.
Parents
Poseidon, Iphimedeia
Symbols
Fun Fact
The Aloadae's plan to stack mountains and storm heaven is the Greek version of the Tower of Babel — mortals building upward to challenge divinity. The image of stacking Pelion on Ossa became a literary idiom: "piling Pelion on Ossa" means adding difficulty upon difficulty. It appears in English literature from Shakespeare to Dickens. The phrase is so established that geologists informally use it when describing thrust faulting — one rock mass piled atop another.
Words We Inherited
English words and phrases that trace back to this myth. See our full guide to English words from Greek mythology.
Explore Further
Otus
🐉 creaturegigantic, rebellion
One of the Aloadae — twin giants of extraordinary size who attempted to storm Olympus and imprisoned the god Ares in a bronze jar.
Ephialtes
🐉 creaturegigantic, rebellion
Twin brother of Otus among the Aloadae giants, whose combined assault on Olympus was among the most audacious acts of defiance against the gods.
Aloadae
🐉 creaturewar,giants
Twin giants of enormous strength — Otus and Ephialtes — who attempted to storm Olympus by stacking mountains on top of one another.
Gegenees
🐉 creaturegiants
Six-armed earth-born giants who attacked the Argonauts on Bear Mountain
Briareos
🐉 creaturegiants,sea
One of the Hecatoncheires (Hundred-Handed Giants), beings of immense power with fifty heads and one hundred arms, allies of Zeus in the Titanomachy.
Alcyoneus
🐉 creaturegiants
The mightiest of the Gigantes, immortal within his homeland, who stole the cattle of Helios
Cyclops
🐉 creatureOne-eyed giant
Race of one-eyed giants. The original three Cyclopes forged Zeus's thunderbolts; later Cyclopes were savage shepherds, the most famous being Polyphemus.
Hecatoncheires
🐉 creatureHundred-handed giants
The Hecatoncheires were three giants, each with a hundred hands and fifty heads — the most powerful beings born before the Olympians.
Polyphemus
🐉 creaturesavagery
One-eyed giant son of Poseidon who trapped Odysseus and ate six of his men before being blinded with a burning stake.
Cyclopes
🐉 creaturesmithing, monstrous
One-eyed giants who existed in two distinct traditions: divine craftsmen who forged Zeus's thunderbolts, and savage pastoral giants encountered by Odysseus.
Polybotes
🐉 creaturegiants,Gigantomachy
One of the Giants who fought the gods in the Gigantomachy, pursued by Poseidon across the sea and finally crushed beneath the island of Nisyros, which Poseidon broke off from the island of Cos.
Aloeus
🗡 heroFarming, Giant-Fathers, Hubris
Thessalian king whose twin stepsons the Aloadae nearly defeated the Olympian gods.