Damysus

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Damysus ( ancient Greek Δάμυσος ) is a giant of Greek mythology .

Damysus was the fastest of the giants, his body was buried on Pallene . Thetis wants to help her children to become invulnerable, she anoints them with ambrosia and puts them in the fire so that it consumes the mortal part of her children. When it is her son Achilles' turn, she is interrupted by her husband Peleus , who thereby saves the life of Achilles. However, the ankle of Achilles is already burned, which is why Cheiron excavates the skeleton of Damysus and Achilles inserts the ankle of the giant. When Achilles is later pursued by Apollo , he loses his ankle and falls, whereupon he is killed by Apollo.

The story of the ankle of the giant Damysus has been handed down by Photios , who reproduces the mythographer Ptolemy Hephaistion . It is considered a late addition to the Achilles myth to explain the speed of Achilles.

literature

Web links

  • Damysus in the Theoi Project (English)

proof

  1. Ptolemaios Hephaistion 6. In Anton Westermann : Mythographoi , Braunschweig 1843 p. 195 .