Counter ice

Depiction of a six-armed man in the Nuremberg Chronicle

Gegeneis ( ancient Greek Γηγενεῖς , earth-born , also Gegeines ' ) is the epithet of some giants and related gigantic beings in Greek mythology , such as the aloids and divisions , Argos , Orion and Typhon . Already Aristophanes generally referred to the giants as counter ice . Diodor connects the epithet of the giants with their gigantic size. In the Argonautika of the Greek poet Apollonios of Rhodes they experienced a special expression.

Myth with Apollonios

In search of the Golden Fleece , Jason and his Argonauts went ashore on a peninsula in the Propontis , known as the “Bear Mountains”. This belonged to the realm of King Kyzikos , the ruler of the Dolionen . However, uncivilized six-armed giants, known as counter ice, also lived there.

Meanwhile the Argonauts met the Dolions, who received them kindly and invited them to a feast. The next morning Jason and some of his men climbed Mount Dindymon to plan their onward journey. In the meantime, the remaining Argonauts pulled the Argo from the first landing site to the port of Kyzikos . Once there, they were attacked by the Earthborn. They hurled huge masses of rock and blocked the exit of the port. Thereupon the Argonauts, Heracles himself with a bow and arrow, attacked the monsters and cut some down. The counter-ice answered and, spurred on by Hera (as a further challenge to Heracles), threw rocks at the followers of Jason. This returned with the rest of his men from the reconnaissance tour and also went into battle. Despite incessant counterattacks, the giants were defeated and the Argonauts set out on their journey.

literature

• Lennart Kjellberg : Gegeneis 1. In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume VII, 1, Stuttgart 1910, Sp. 929-931 ( digitized version ).
• Wilhelm Drexler : Counter ice . In: Wilhelm Heinrich Roscher (Hrsg.): Detailed lexicon of Greek and Roman mythology . Volume 1,2, Leipzig 1890, Sp. 1606-1608 ( digitized version ).

Web links

• GEGENEES - Six-Armed Mysian Giants of Greek Mythologie im Theoi Project

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Batrachomyomachia 7; Sophocles , Trachiniai 1058 f .; Euripides , Ion 987 f.
2. ↑ Euripides, Die Bakchen 263 f .; Iphigenia in Aulis 259 f .; Heracles 794 f.
3. ↑ Libraries of Apollodorus 1, 25.
4. ↑ Aeschylus , The Fettered Prometheus 355 f.
5. ↑ Aristophanes , The Clouds 825; The birds 823 f.
6. ↑ Diodorus 4,21,7.
7. ↑ Apollonios of Rhodes , Argonautika 1, 936-1010.