Gigantomachy
The great battle between the Olympian gods and the Giants, fought to defend the divine order established after the Titanomachy.
The Meaning of Gigantomachy
The Gigantomachy erupted when the Giants, born from drops of Uranus's blood that fell on Gaia, rose against the Olympians. Gaia was angry because Zeus had imprisoned her Titan children in Tartarus. The Giants were formidable — each could only be killed through the combined effort of a god and a mortal hero. Zeus summoned Heracles, the greatest mortal warrior, to fight alongside the gods. Athena fought and defeated Enceladus, burying him beneath Sicily, whose volcanic eruptions are his struggles. Poseidon broke off a piece of Kos island and hurled it at Polybotes, creating the island of Nisyros. Apollo and Heracles fought Ephialtes. Dionysus killed Eurytus with his thyrsus. Hephaestus threw molten metal at Mimas. The battle is depicted on the Pergamon Altar, one of the greatest surviving works of ancient sculpture.
Symbols
Fun Fact
The Pergamon Altar's Gigantomachy frieze, carved around 180 BC, was so monumental (113 metres long) that when German archaeologists shipped it to Berlin in the 1880s, they built an entire museum wing around it. The Pergamon Museum remains one of Berlin's most visited sites. Turkey has been demanding the frieze back for decades — making it one of archaeology's longest-running custody battles.
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
Theomachy
💭 conceptmythology
Battle against or among the gods — narratives in which gods fight each other or in which mortals dare to oppose divine power directly.
Diomedes
💭 conceptwar
The extended battle sequence in Iliad Books 5-6 where Diomedes wounds both Aphrodite and Ares, the only mortal to injure two Olympians.
Titanomachy
💭 conceptwar, cosmology
The ten-year war between the Titans led by Cronus and the Olympian gods led by Zeus, resulting in the establishment of the Olympian order.
Amazonomachy
💭 conceptwar, gender
The recurring mythological battles between Greek heroes and the Amazons, depicted on temples and pottery as a symbol of civilisation's triumph over the "other."
Aristeia of Diomedes
💭 conceptwar, heroism
The battle sequence in Iliad Book 5 where Diomedes, empowered by Athena, wounds both Aphrodite and Ares, achieving the extraordinary feat of harming immortal gods.
Centauromachy
💭 conceptBattle of Lapiths and Centaurs
The Centauromachy was the famous battle between the Lapiths and the Centaurs at the wedding of Pirithous — it became Greek art's favourite symbol for the clash between civilisation and barbarism.
Amazonomachy
💭 conceptBattle of Greeks and Amazons
The Amazonomachy was the legendary battle between the Athenians and the Amazons who invaded Athens — depicted alongside the Centauromachy as a key symbol of Greek triumph.
Centauromachy
💭 conceptbattle
The battle between Lapiths and Centaurs at the wedding of Pirithous when drunken centaurs tried to carry off the Lapith women.
Battle of Salamis
💭 conceptwar, divine intervention
The 480 BC naval battle where the Greek fleet destroyed the Persian armada in the straits of Salamis, attributed to the intervention of Ajax and the Aeacidae heroes.
Menos
💭 conceptHeroic Spirit
The divine battle fury breathed into warriors by the gods, enabling superhuman feats in combat.
The Trojan War
💭 conceptWar, fate, heroism
A ten-year siege of Troy by a coalition of Greek kings, sparked by the abduction of Helen and shaped by the rivalries of the gods.
Giants
🐉 creatureearth-born, warfare
Enormous earth-born warriors who waged the Gigantomachy against the Olympian gods and were defeated only with the help of a mortal hero.