Antaeus
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Antaios or Antaeus ( Greek Ἀνταῖος , Latin Antaeus, from ἀντάω , antao = I step towards, I meet) is a giant from Greek mythology .
He was the son of Poseidon and Gaia with almost invincible strength. It was native to Libya ( Λιβύη , ie North Africa west of Egypt) and it measured over 60 Greek cubits (28.44 m). He used to force all passing travelers to fight him - and he always won. From the skulls of the defeated he made a temple for his father Poseidon. Antaios lived in his cave or in the city of Tingis , which he is said to have built himself, and hunted strangers, lions (which he ate) and inhabitants of his country: When the hero Heracles met the giant, he too was fighting by Antaios challenged; it was an unequal battle, as Antaios kept getting new strength from the earth. Heracles realized during the almost hopeless fight that the giant's strength had to come from his mother Gaia, the earth, lifted him away from the earth into the air and there, strangled Antaios, who had been robbed of his strength.
literature
- Konrad Wernicke : Antaios 1 . In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume I, 2, Stuttgart 1894, Sp. 2339-2342.
- Hans Bonnet: Antaios , in: Lexikon der ägyptischen Religionsgeschichte , Hamburg 2000, ISBN 3-937872-08-6 , p. 38f.