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Hecatoncheires
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thumb|The Hundred-Hander Briareus used as an allegory of the multiple threat of labour unrest to capital in a political cartoon, 1890.
The Hecatoncheires, also known as the Hundred-Handers, were giants in Greek mythology with a hundred arms and fifty heads, representing overwhelming power and the ability to fight on many fronts simultaneously. In later uses, such as the 1890 political cartoon shown here, they became symbolic figures representing collective threats like labor unrest against established power structures.
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- native label
- Εκατόγχειρες
- Commons category
- Hecatonchires
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~34 min read
Article
25 sectionsContents
- Names
- Mythology
- The Hundred-Handers
- Briareus/Aegaeon
- Titan ally
- Association with the sea
- Oeolyca
- Euboea
- Poseidon
- Buried under Etna, inventor of armour
- Possible origins
- Principal sources
- The ''Theogony''
- The ''Iliad''
- The ''Titanomachy''
- Ion of Chios
- Virgil
- Ovid
- Apollodorus
- Others
- In literature
- See also
- Notes
- References
- External links
thumb|The Hundred-Hander Briareus used as an allegory of the multiple threat of labour unrest to capital in a political cartoon, 1890.
In Greek mythology, the Hecatoncheires (), also called Hundred-Handers or Centimanes (; ), were three monstrous giants, of enormous size and strength, each with fifty heads and one hundred arms. They were individually named Cottus (the furious), Briareus (or Aegaeon, the sea goat) and Gyges (or Gyes, the long-limbed). In the standard tradition, they were the offspring of Uranus (Sky) and of Gaia (Earth), and helped Zeus and the Olympians to overthrow the Titans in the Titanomachy.