Giant (mythology)
- For other meanings of the word "giant", see Giant (disambiguation)
Giants are humanoid creatures of prodigious size and strength, a type of legendary
monster that appear in the tales of many different races and
cultures. They are often stupid or violent and are frequently said to eat humans, especially children; others, however, like
Oscar Wilde's giants, are intelligent and friendly.
The
Cyclopes of
Homer's
Odyssey were giants, as was
Goliath who strove with King
David in the
Bible. The Bible also records a race of giants called "
Nephilim".
Genesis states that "There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men and they bore children to them, the same became mighty men who were of old, men of renown." (Gen. 6:4
KJV); here "giants" is a translation of the Hebrew "Nephilim". Post-biblical tradition holds that
Nimrod was a member of this race.
In
Germanic mythologies (see
Norse mythology), giants (
Jotuns) are often opposed to the gods. In particular, the Wodin/
Odin-derived mythologies of Northern Europe feature
frost giants, who are eternally opposed to the
Aesir. The Aesir themselves emerged from the race of giants, and in the eventual, apocalyptic battle of
Ragnarok the frost giants will storm
Asgard, home of the gods, and defeat the gods in war, bringing about the end of the world. In the mature form of this mythology recorded in the
Edda poetry and prose, giants inter-marry with the gods and are the origin of most of the monsters in Nordic mythology (e.g., the
Fenris Wolf), so relations between the Aesir and the giants are sometimes cordial and sometimes adversarial.
Tales of combat with giants were a common feature in the
folklore of
Wales and
Ireland. From here, giants got into
Breton and
Arthurianian romances, and from this source they spread into the heroic tales of
Torquato Tasso,
Ludovico Ariosto, and their follower
Edmund Spenser. The giant Despair appears in
John Bunyan's
Pilgrim's Progress.
Norse and
Anglo-Saxon mythology are also rich in tales of giants, which seem there to be a separate race akin to the
gods, and strove often with
Thor.
Ogres and
trolls are giant-like humanoid creatures that occur in various sorts of
European folklore.
In
Basque mythology, giants appear as
jentilak (
Gentiles) and
mairuak (
Moors).\nThey are who made
dolmens and
menhirs.\nAfter
Christianization, the giants were driven away.\nThe only remaining one is
Olentzero, a coalmaker that brings gifts on
Christmas Eve.
Giants figure in a great many fairy tales and folklore stories, such as
Jack and the Beanstalk and
Paul Bunyan.
Examples of giants
\n* The Gigantes and Titans in Greek mythology\n* Goliath in the biblical story of David\n* St Christopher, from Roman Catholicism\n* Jotuns in Norse mythology\n* Gogmagog, from the legendary lore of Britain
Origin of the belief in giants
\nIt is possible that tales of giants derive from the remains of previous civilizations. Saxo Grammaticus, for example, argues that giants had to exist, because nothing else would explain the large walls, stone monuments, and statues that we know were the remains of Roman construction. Similarly, the Anglo-Saxon "Seafarer" speaks of the high stone walls that were the work of giants. Giants provided the least complicated explanation for such artifacts.\nCyclopes may be originated in antique elephant skulls found in Sicily. If one does not know what an elephant looks like, the place where the trunk is placed on the skull can be mistaken for a giant eyesocket.
\n"Giant" is also colloquially used for a human who is unusually tall, or afflicted with one of the several forms of gigantism.
Gigantes y cabezudos ("Giants and big-heads") are figures from street processions at Spanish fiestas.
See also
\n*Giantess\n*List of fictional giants
