Enceladus

Enceladus (Greek Enkelados) was one of the Gigantes, the Giants, in Greek mythology, a son of Gaea. All the Giants were born from the earth when Cronus mutilated his father Uranus and the blood fell onto Gaea (Hesiod, Theogony 183–186). In the Gigantomachy, the battle between the Giants and the Olympian gods, Enceladus was the opponent of Athena, and he was said to lie buried under Sicily and Mount Etna.

Birth and Parents

Hesiod tells that when the blood of Uranus fell, Gaea received all the drops and in the course of the years bore the Erinyes, the great Giants shining in their armour with long spears in their hands, and the Melian nymphs (Theogony 183–187). Apollodorus likewise says that Gaea, vexed on account of the Titans, brought forth the Giants whom she had by Uranus. They were matchless in the size of their bodies and invincible in strength (Apollodorus, Library 1.6.1).

Enceladus and Athena

According to Apollodorus, Enceladus fled in the battle, but Athena threw the island of Sicily on him as he ran (Library 1.6.2). In the Ion of Euripides, the chorus sees the Gigantomachy carved on the temple of Apollo at Delphi: Athena stands over Enceladus, brandishing her shield with the Gorgon’s head, and Zeus’s blazing thunderbolt strikes down the Giant Mimas (Euripides, Ion 205–218). In the Heracles, Madness is compared to the uproar Athena once sent against Enceladus (Euripides, Heracles 907–909). Pausanias reports that at Tegea the people said that the goddess drove her chariot and horses against Enceladus in the battle of the gods and the Giants (Pausanias 8.47.1).

Buried Under Etna

Virgil gives the tradition that the body of Enceladus, half-burned by a thunderbolt, lies under the weight of Etna, which breathes flame from broken furnaces above him. Whenever he turns over his tired side, all of Sicily trembles with a rumbling and the sky is covered with smoke (Virgil, Aeneid 3.578–582). Callimachus also spoke of “the three-cornered island” lying upon Enceladus, whereas Pindar put Typhon under Etna (Callimachus, fragment quoted in the ancient commentary on Pindar; Pindar, Pythian 1.15–28). Quintus of Smyrna compares the burning pyre of Ajax to Enceladus consumed by the lightning of Zeus beneath Sicily, and, in a later book, the rock with which Poseidon buried the Locrian Ajax to the island of Sicily that Athena hurled on Enceladus, which still burns as he breathes fire underground (Quintus, Fall of Troy 5 and 14).

Other Enceladus

A different Enceladus appears in Apollodorus as one of the sons of Aegyptus, who obtained one of the daughters of Danaus by lot, in the story of the Danaids (Library 2.1.5).

Enceladus Sources

Hesiod, Theogony 183–187; Apollodorus, Library 1.6.1–2 and 2.1.5; Euripides, Ion 205–218 and Heracles 907–909; Pausanias 8.47.1; Virgil, Aeneid 3.578–582; Pindar, Pythian 1.15–28; Callimachus, fragment quoted in the ancient commentary on Pindar; Quintus of Smyrna, Fall of Troy 5 and 14.

See Also: Gigantes, Gaea, Uranus, Athena, Zeus, Gigantomachy