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Ancient

Euripides

Ion

205–218

I am glancing around everywhere. See the battle of the giants, on the stone walls.

I am looking at it, my friends.

Do you see the one [210] brandishing her gorgon shield against Enceladus? 565

I see Pallas, my own goddess.

Now what? the mighty thunderbolt, blazing at both ends, in the far-shooting hands of Zeus?

I see it; [215] he is burning the furious Mimas to ashes in the fire.

And Bacchus, the roarer, is killing another of the sons of Earth with his ivy staff, unfit for war.

Apollonius of Rhodes

Argonautica

3.1225–7 (pp. 276–277)

Then Aeetes arrayed his breast in the stiff corset which Ares gave him when he had slain Phlegraean Mimas with his own hands;

Horace

Odes 3.4.49–58

Yet Jove had fear'd the giant rush,

Their upraised arms, their port of pride,

And the twin brethren bent to push

Huge Pelion up Olympus' side.

But Typhon, Mimas, what could these,

Or what Porphyrion's stalwart scorn,

Rhoetus, or he whose spears were trees,

Enceladus, from earth uptorn,

As on they rush'd in mad career

'Gainst Pallas' shield?

HERCULES: What is this? The pestilential Giants are in arms. Tityos has escaped the underworld, and stands so close to heaven, his chest all torn and empty! Cithaeron lurches, high Pallene shakes, and Tempe’s beauty withers. One Giant has seized the peaks of Pindus, another has seized Oeta, and Mimas rages fearfully.

Silius Italicus

Punica

8.540–541 (I pp. 432–422)

Prochyte was not absent, nor Inarime, the place appointed for ever burning Typhoeus,^b

^b ...Prochyta (now Procida) and Inarime (now Ischia) are islands on the same coast The volcanic eruptions were attributed to the giants imprisoned below the islands.

12.143–151 (II pp. 156–159)

Men say that the Giants whom the might of Hercules overthrew shake the earth that lies piled above them;^c the distant fields are scorched by their panting breath, and, whenever they threaten to burst the framework of their burden, the gods tremble. They could see Prochyte, the place appointed for savage Mimas, and Inarime in the distance, which stands above Iapetus, while he spouts forth black smoke and flame from his mutinous jaws, and seeks, if he is ever suffered to get free, to renew his war against Jupiter and the gods.

^c The Giants were punished for their revolt against the gods by being placed under mountains; and volcanic action is caused by their struggles: Mimas lies under Prochyte, and Iapetus Inarime: see note to viii. 540.

Apollodorus

1.6.2

But in the battle Porphyrion attacked Hercules and Hera. Nevertheless Zeus inspired him with lust for Hera, and when he tore her robes and would have forced her, she called for help, and Zeus smote him with a thunderbolt, and Hercules shot him dead with an arrow.1 As for the other giants, Ephialtes was shot by Apollo with an arrow in his left eye and by Hercules in his right; Eurytus was killed by Dionysus with a thyrsus, and Clytius by Hecate with torches, and Mimas by Hephaestus with missiles of red-hot metal.2 Enceladus fled, but Athena threw on him in his flight the island of Sicily3; and she flayed Pallas and used his skin to shield her own body in the fight.4 Polybotes was chased through the sea by Poseidon and came to Cos; and Poseidon, breaking off that piece of the island which is called Nisyrum, threw it on him.5 And Hermes, wearing the helmet of Hades,6 slew Hippolytus in the fight, and Artemis slew Gration. And the Fates, fighting with brazer clubs, killed Agrius and Thoas. The other giants Zeus smote and destroyed with thunderbolts and all of them Hercules shot with arrows as they were dying.

Claudian

Gigantomachia

85–91 (pp. 286–287)

Mimas ran forward to avenge his brother. He had torn Lemnos and with it Vulcan's fiery house from out the foaming main, and was on the point of hurling it when Mars' javelin prevented him, scattering the brain from his shattered skull. What was giant in him died, but the serpent legs still lived, and, hissing vengeance, sought to attack the victor after Mimas' death.

Rape of Proserpine

3.332–356 (pp. 368–371)

There was a wood, hard by the stream of Acis, which fair Galatea oft chooses in preference to Ocean and cleaves in swimming with her snowy breast – a wood dense with foliage that closed in Etna's summit on all sides with interwoven branches. 'Tis there that Jove is said to have laid down his bloody shield and set his captured spoil after the battle. The grove glories in trophies from the plain of Phlegra and signs of victory clothe its every tree. Here hang the gaping jaws and monstrous skins of the Giants; affixed to trees their faces still threaten horribly, and heaped up on all sides bleach the huge bones of slaughtered serpents. Their stiffening sloughs smoke with the blow of many a thunderbolt, and every tree boasts some illustrious name. This one scarce supports on its down-bended branches the naked swords of hundred-handed Aegaeon; that glories in the murky trophies of Coeus; this bears up the arms of Mimas; spoiled Ophion weighs down those branches. But higher than all the other trees towers a pine, its shady branches spread wide, and bears the reeking arms of Enceladus himself, all powerful king of the Earth-born giants; it would have fallen beneath the heavy burden did not a neighbouring oak-tree support its wearied weight. Therefore the spot winds awe and sanctity; none touches the aged grove, and 'tis accounted a crime to violate the trophies of the gods. No Cyclops dares pasture there his flock nor hew down the trees, Polyphemus himself flies from the hallowed shade.

Modern

Beazley

p. 39

[Re Athens Akropolis 607] Aphrodite is seldom seen to take part in the Gigantomachy (although she fights in the Iliad, if without success), but on fragment r, crowned with myrtle, she weilds spear and shield against the giant Mimos (perhaps written in error for Mimas), whose device is a large bee (pl. 34 2).

Lyne

p. 51

There then follows a vivid evocation of the defeat of the Giants by the Olympians, which (I think) Horace conflates with the defeat of the Titans.³⁴

34. I understand Horace to be not rigidly distingguishing Titans and Giants — to be presenting them as equivalently monstrous — and to be envisioning one assault by this monstrous band, one 'Gigantomachy', in lines 42-64; ... and Horace is certainly talking of Giants from line 49 on.

Vases

Athens Akropolis 607 Black-Figure Dinos (by Lydos)

Beazley Archive 310147

-575 to -525

Named: ARISTA[IOS], HEPH[AISTOS], APHRODITE, MIMOS, DIONYSOS, HERMES

LIMC Gigantes 105

Arafat

p. 16

Another variant is given [on Akr 607] in the mid-sixth century by the vase painter Lydos, who names Aphrodite as Mimas' opponent.²¹ The name is spelled Mimos, but must be meant for Mimas.²²

²¹Athens NM Acr. 607 (above, n. 11); Carpenter, DI (cf. ibid. 73).

²² Cf. Development, 43

Beazley, p. 39 (also see p. 39)

Aphrodite is seldom seen to take part in the Gigantomachy (although she fights in the Iliad, if without success), but on fragment r, crowned with myrtle, she wields spear and shield against the giant Mimos (perhaps written by error for Mimas), whose device is a large bee (pl. 34, 2). [see LIMC Gigantes 105: image 1/14]

Gantz, p. 451

Aphrodite v. Mimos

Schefold, p. 57

fig 62 Aphrodite and Mimas, LIMC

Moore 1979, "Lydos and the Gigantomachy" in American Journal of Archaeology 83 (1979) 79–99

p. 87

Among the remaining fragments on which the glaze has fired properly, The Poseidon group, Hephaistos and Aristaios, Aphrodite and Mimos,⁷²

⁷² Beazley suggested that the name Mimos was "written by error for Mimas" (Development 43), which is a name known to be a giant ... ).

Berlin F2531 Red-Figure Cup (from Vulci) (by Aristophanes)

Beazley Archive 220533

-450 to -400

Named: Ephialtes, Enceladus, Gaion, Phoitos, Polybotes, Porphyrion, Mimon

LIMC Gigantes 318

= LIMC Ephialtes II 6

Ares attacking fallen Mimon with spear: LIMC Gigantes 318: Image 2/4

Ares v. Mimon, Apollo v. Ephialtes, Hera v. Phoitos: LIMC Gigantes 318: Image 4/4

Arafat

p. 16

As for Zeus' other opponents he kills Mimas in passage 2 [Eurip. Ion], whereas in passage 1 [Apoll. 1.6] Hephaistos kills him, and in passage 11 [Ap. Rh. Arg] Ares. This last reference is particularly interesting, as the late fifth-century vase-painter Aristophanes also uses the name for Ares' opponent on 1.75 [Berlin F2531] although he spells the name Mimon.

p. 24

1.75 [Berlin F2531] (Pl. 6b), the well-known cup in Berlin by Aristophanes, is a rare example of that shape in the last quarter of the fifth century,

The exterior duels [on Berlin F2531] are symmetrically arranged in threes: on one side, from left, Artemis fights Gaion, Zeus Porphyrion and Athena Enkelados; on the other Ares fights Mimon (cf. p. 16 above), Apollo Ephialtes and Hera Phoitos.

Cook

p. 56

(1) a kylix by the potter Erginos and the painter Aristophanes, found at Vulci and now at Berlin ...

Plate VI

(A) Poseidon attacks Polybotes in the presence of Ge

(B) Ares v. Mimon, Apollo v. Ephialtes, Hera v. Phoitos

(C) Artemis v. Gaion, Zeus v. Porphyrion, Athena v. Enkelados.

Perseus Berlin F 2531 (Vase)

Sides A and B: gigantomachy. Six figures battle on side A, six on side B. Zeus and Porphyrion are the central pair of combatants on side A. Zeus, on the left, holds a lightning bolt in his raised right hand, his staff held in his left hand. Porphyrion flees to the right but turns to look back at Zeus as he prepares to throw a large stone. His shield is raised protectively. Zeus wears only a wreath, his mantle draped over one arm. Athena battles Enkelados on the right. He has fallen onto one knee, his sword still sheathed and his shield on the wrong side. His head is turned toward Athena as she advances toward him, spear raised. Her left arm, covered by her aegis, is extended. She wears a chiton, bracelets and a crested helmet as well as the aegis. On the left, Artemis fights with two torches against Gaion. He has fallen onto his knee and is trying to push away the torches. He wears a panther skin, she a chiton and bracelets, her hair in a bun. In the center of side B Apollo battles the fleeing Ephialtes. Apollo, on the right, raises his sword over his head as he prepares to strike, his bow held in his other hand. His drapery flies behind him, wrapped around one arm and leg. Ephialtes flees to the left but looks back at Apollo, his spear raised in defense, his shield held on his left shoulder. Apollo wears only a wreath. On the left the helmeted, bearded Ares stabs his fallen opponent, Mimon, with a spear. Both men hold shields. On the right, Hera fights with Phoitos, who is down on one knee. He turns his head toward Hera and raises his sword, his shield over one shoulder. She, dressed in chiton, diadem, bracelets and flowing scarf, is ready to strike with her spear. All the giants, with the exception of Gaion, wear crested helmets. The shield device on all the shields is a snake.

Theoi

User:Paul August/Mimas (Giant)