Kampe (mythology)
Kampe ( Greek Καμπή actually "curvature", here: "caterpillar") is a female monster in Greek mythology who guarded the Cyclops and Hekatoncheiren in Tartaros on the orders of Kronos . When Zeus needed the help of the imprisoned in the fight against the titans , he slew the kampe.
An imaginative description of the monster can be found in the Dionysiacs of the Nonnos of Panopolis :
- Kampe,
- this monster writhing in many forms. A thousand
- strange creeping up from the snake's feet
- stretching beings kindled the fight in a wild crowd,
- splashed their poison into the distance. Around the monster's neck
- fifty different heads of raging beasts sprouted,
- roared partly with lions' heads, comparable to the horror
- Face of the Sphinx, the Virgin who speaks in riddles; to change
- Parts they sprayed flakes of foam under the tusks of boars,
- almost exactly resembled the sight of the Scylla with hers
- Pack of numerous heads of wildly yapping dogs: The monster
- Body appeared in the middle as a double girl,
- instead of his hair he wore a dense network of poisonous snakes;
- her towering body, from the chest to the base of the thighs
- full of hard-staring scales, resembled the sea monsters
- deceptive; the claws on her widely spread hands
- were curved, as sharp as a curved sickle;
- up from the neck down over the huge back
- crawled, clinging to the girl's neck, free to himself
- turning, a large scorpion with an ice-hardened sting.
- Shaped in such a diverse way, the Kampe wound forward,
- could roam the mainland, the air, the depth of the salt flood,
- could lift up with a pair of gloomy wings,
- bring storms and excite wild hurricanes,
- a black-winged tartaros nymph; flickering fire
- sparks flew out of his eyes into the vastness.
- Dionysiacs, Canto 18. Verses 237-263. Translation by Dietrich Ebener .
It has been suggested that the kampe described by Nonnos was a redesigned Babylonian Tiamat . Kampe was probably identified with the Echidna , to which she resembles the description. Her appearance resembles a centaur, only she is female and sits on a kite and snakes coiled around her legs. Just like the Medusa , it has snake hair and like this it wears a belt made of living animals that is constantly changing.
In the Lexicon of Hesychios of Alexandria (K.614) it is noted that the poet Epicharmos referred to the kampe as ketos , that is, as a sea monster.
According to Diodor Kampe was not slain by Zeus but by Dionysus .
swell
- ↑ Libraries of Apollodor 1.6 (1.2.1.1f. Wagner)
- ↑ Nonnos: Works in two volumes. Translated from the Greek and edited by Dietrich Ebener. Aufbau-Verlag, Berlin a. Weimar 1985. Vol. 1. pp. 273-274
- ↑ Maximilian Mayer: The giants and titans in the ancient saga and art Weidmann, Berlin 1887. P. 232-234.
- ↑ Diodor Library 3.72
Web links
- Drakaina Kampe - Theoi Project (engl.)