Porphyrion

Porphyrion was one of the Giants (Gigantes), the children of Gaea who rose against the gods of Olympus. Apollodorus counts him, together with Alcyoneus, as surpassing all the rest of them in the battle. He was killed in the Gigantomachy after he attacked Heracles and Hera; Pindar gives a different account of his end, by the bow of Apollo.

Origin of the Giants

Hesiod says that when Cronus cut off the genitals of Uranus, drops of blood fell on Gaea, and from them she bore the Giants, along with the Erinyes and the ash-tree nymphs (Hesiod, Theogony 183–187). Apollodorus says that Earth, vexed on account of the Titans, brought forth the Giants whom she had by Sky: matchless in the size of their bodies and invincible in strength, terrible to look at, with long hair drooping from head and chin and the scales of dragons for feet. Some say they were born in Phlegra, others in Pallene (Apollodorus 1.6.1). The Giants hurled rocks and burning oaks at the sky, and Porphyrion and Alcyoneus surpassed all the rest. Alcyoneus was immortal as long as he fought in the land of his birth (Apollodorus 1.6.1).

Porphyrion in the Battle

The Oracle

The gods had an oracle that none of the Giants could be killed by gods, but that with the help of a mortal they would be destroyed. Learning of it, Gaea sought a herb that would prevent even a mortal from destroying them, but Zeus forbade Dawn, Moon and Sun to shine, cut the herb himself, and had Athena call Heracles to the fight (Apollodorus 1.6.1).

The Attack on Hera

In the battle, Porphyrion attacked Heracles and Hera. Zeus inspired him with lust for Hera, and when he tore her robes and tried to force her, she called for help; Zeus struck him with a thunderbolt, and Heracles shot him dead with an arrow (Apollodorus 1.6.2).

Pindar’s Version

Pindar uses Porphyrion as a warning against violence. In the Eighth Pythian Ode, addressed to Peace, he says that Porphyrion did not know her power when he provoked her beyond all measure, and that neither Typhon nor “the king of the Giants” escaped: one was subdued by the thunderbolt, the other by the bow of Apollo (Pindar, Pythian 8.12–18). In Pindar, then, Porphyrion is the king of the Giants and falls to Apollo’s arrows, not to Heracles.

Other Giants in the Same War

Apollodorus lists the other deaths in the war: Ephialtes fell to Apollo and Heracles, Mimas to Hephaestus, Enceladus under the island of Sicily thrown by Athena, Polybotes under part of Cos thrown by Poseidon, and others to Dionysus, Hecate, Hermes, Artemis and the Fates. Zeus destroyed the remaining Giants with thunderbolts, and Heracles shot all of them with arrows as they were dying (Apollodorus 1.6.2). The late poet Nonnus recalls Dionysus casting ivy against Porphyrion in the war with the Giants (Nonnus, Dionysiaca 25).

Where the Battle Was Fought

The place of the Gigantomachy is variable. Apollodorus says the Giants were born in Phlegra or in Pallene (Apollodorus 1.6.1), and Pausanias reports that the Arcadians claimed the battle of gods and giants was fought at a place called Bathos near the Alpheius, not at Pellene in Thrace (Pausanias 8.29.1).

A Different Porphyrion

Pausanias mentions a Porphyrion of Attica, an earlier king than Actaeus, who according to the people of the Athmoneis parish founded their sanctuary of Heavenly Aphrodite (Pausanias 1.14.7). In Aristophanes’ Birds, Peisetairos threatens Iris that if Zeus annoys him he will send six hundred “porphyrions” (the birds) against him, and recalls that a single Porphyrion once gave Zeus enough to do (Aristophanes, Birds 1249–1252).

Porphyrion Sources

Hesiod, Theogony 183–187; Apollodorus, Library 1.6.1–2; Pindar, Pythian 8.12–18; Aristophanes, Birds 1249–1252; Pausanias 1.14.7, 8.29.1; Nonnus, Dionysiaca 25.

See Also: Gaea, Uranus, Gigantomachy, Zeus, Hera, Heracles, Apollo, Alcyoneus, Enceladus