Polybotes

Polybotes was one of the Gigantes, the giants born from Gaea who fought the Olympian gods in the Gigantomachy. He is known for a single episode: Poseidon chased him across the sea to the island of Cos and buried him under a piece of the island that became Nisyros (Apollodorus, Library 1.6.2).

Origin of the Gigantes

According to Hesiod, when Cronus cut off the genitals of his father Uranus, all the drops of blood that fell were received by Gaea, and as the years rolled on she gave birth to the Erinyes, to the great Gigantes, shining in armour and holding long spears in their hands, and to the Meliai nymphs (Theogony 183–187). Gaea and Uranus were also the parents of the Titans, Oceanus, Coeus, Crius, Hyperion, Iapetus, Theia, Rhea, Themis, Mnemosyne, Phoebe, Tethys and Cronus (Theogony 133–138). Apollodorus says that Gaea, angered on account of the Titans, brought forth the giants, whom she had by Uranus, and describes them as matchless in the bulk of their bodies, invincible in strength and terrible to look at, with long hair and dragon scales for feet (Library 1.6.1). Polybotes, as one of these giants, is counted among the children of Gaea and the blood of Uranus; no ancient source names a separate father for him.

Polybotes in the Gigantomachy

The gods had an oracle that none of the giants could be destroyed by the gods alone, but only with the help of a mortal, and so Zeus called Heracles to fight beside them (Library 1.6.1). Apollodorus lists the deaths of the giants one by one. Of Polybotes he says only that Poseidon chased him through the sea, and that when he reached Cos, Poseidon broke off the piece of the island that is called Nisyros and threw it on him (Library 1.6.2).

The geographer Strabo records the local version. The people of Cos said that Nisyros was a fragment broken off from their island. Poseidon, pursuing the giant Polybotes, broke off a piece of Cos with his trident and hurled it at him; the missile became the island of Nisyros, with the giant lying underneath it. But Strabo adds that some say the giant lies under Cos itself (Geography 10.5.16). So the burial under Nisyros is the main version, and burial under Cos is the variant.

Polybotes in Athens

Pausanias saw a statue near the temple of Demeter just inside the city of Athens, that showed Poseidon on horseback hurling a spear at the giant Polybotes. He notes that the Coans have a story about the promontory of Chelone in connection with Polybotes, and that an inscription of his own day attributed the statue to a different subject and not to Poseidon (Description of Greece 1.2.4).

Polybotes Sources

Hesiod, Theogony 133–138, 183–187; Apollodorus, Library 1.6.1–2; Strabo, Geography 10.5.16; Pausanias, Description of Greece 1.2.4.

See Also: Gigantes, Uranus, Gaea, Gigantomachy, Poseidon, Heracles, Cronus