Hey everyone, welcome to Mythology Explained. In today’s video, we’re going to discuss
the Hecatonchires, a trio of incredibly powerful monsters in Greek mythology. Monsters so powerful
that they overwhelmed the titans and even struck fear into the hearts of the gods.
Let’s get into it.
Gaia, the personification of the earth, and Uranus the personification of the sky, together,
had three groups of children, and each subsequent group was less monstrous than the group that
came before it. First there were the three Hecatonchires, a monstrous trio, each with
100 arms; then there were the cyclopes, three beings with human-like appearance except for
their single eye, and then there were the first-generation titans, a group of 12 gods.
The Hecatonchires were described as unsurpassed in size and strength. A cluster of 50 powerful
arms grew from each shoulder, and their bodies were surmounted by a knot of 50 heads. Their
names were Briareus, derived from the Greek word for stout or strong, Cottos, Wrathful
One, and Gyes, Son of the Earth. Their father found them to be so abominable that they were
cast into the cavernous abyss of Tartarus. The same was also done to the Cyclopes. The
Titans, however, were not subject to this fate, satisfying the arbitrary aesthetic standard
their father would, apparently, go to any length to preserve, even if it meant condemning
his children to interminable imprisonment in the deep dark below the earth.
The imprisonment of the Hecatonchires was a crucial moment in the Greek creation myth
because it was the impetus for the first conflict. Having her children trapped inside of her
was a source of great pain for Gaia, who supplicated her children to rise up as her champions.
The result was Cronus castrating his father with a sickle of Adamant, dethroning Uranus
to become the new king of the cosmos. The Hecatonchires and the giants were released,
but their time as free monsters would prove only a brief sojourn; for they were quickly
reimprisoned.
Later, after war raged between the gods and the titans for 10 years, Gaia prophesied that
the war would be brought to an end if the gods traveled to Tartarus and allied themselves
with those who had been imprisoned there. The gods killed Campe, the dragon that guarded
Tartarus, and Freed the Cyclopes and the Hecatonchires. The cyclopes crafted awesome weapons for the
gods - the thunderbolt for Zeus, a cap of darkness for Hades, and a trident for Poseidon
- and the Hecatonchires, while they forged no weapons, were a force on the battlefield
no titan could withstand; with 100 arms each, they relentlessly pelted the titans with volleys
of boulders, each volley a wave of 300 crushing stone projectiles. The titans were soon pounded
into defeat, then trussed up and heaved into Tartarus. Once again, the Hecatonchires were
sent below the earth, but not as prisoners this time, Zeus set them as the guards to
keep watch over the titans. There’s also another version that described the Hecatonchires
keeping watch at the bottom of the ocean.
Of the three Hecatonchires, only Briareus made appearances in Greek mythology outside
of the creation myth.
There’s a story recounted in the Iliad in which Thetis, a minor sea goddess and Achilles’
mother, comes across a revolt against Zeus. Hera, Athena, and Poseidon joined forces and
put Zeus in chains. After witnessing what transpired, Thetis went and fetched Briareus,
the mere sight of whom struck such paralyzing fear into the hearts of the insurrectionists
that they immediately abandoned their coup without physical resistance. And this really
makes you wonder: just how powerful were the Hecatonchires when it took but the imposing
presence of one to cow three gods?
Briareus featured in another myth in which a land dispute between Poseidon and Helios
needed to be resolved. Briareus stepped in as arbiter and adjudicated the matter. Isthmus
went to Poseidon, and Acrocorinth, the Corinthian acropolis, was given to Helios.
Briareus’ identity was a muddled affair, confused and conflated with other gods and
monsters. Homer said Briareus was the son of Poseidon. The Roman Poet Ovid described
him as a sea deity. Virgil, also a Roman poet and the author of the Aeneid, described Briareus
as a fire-breathing monster, specifically, as one of the giants who assailed Mount Olympus
during the Gigantomachy.
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