Hesiod · Theogony Θεογονία

Hesiod, Theogony 820–869: Zeus and Typhoeus (820-869)

Gaia bears her youngest child, Typhoeus, with a hundred snake heads and every kind of voice, and he would have come to rule gods and men had Zeus not noticed. Zeus's thunder shakes heaven and earth, and he strikes the monster down and burns his heads; earth melts in the heat. Typhoeus is hurled to Tartarus, and from him come the harmful winds, except Notus, Boreas and Zephyrus.

Lines 820–869 · 510 words · click a number to copy its link
820αὐτὰρ ἐπεὶ Τιτῆνας ἀπʼ οὐρανοῦ ἐξέλασεν Ζεύς, ὁπλότατον τέκε παῖδα Τυφωέα Γαῖα πελώρη Ταρτάρου ἐν φιλότητι διὰ χρυσέην Ἀφροδίτην· οὗ χεῖρες μὲν ἔασιν ἐπʼ ἰσχύι, ἔργματʼ ἔχουσαι, καὶ πόδες ἀκάματοι κρατεροῦ θεοῦ· ἐκ δέ οἱ ὤμων 825ἣν ἑκατὸν κεφαλαὶ ὄφιος, δεινοῖο δράκοντος, γλώσσῃσιν δνοφερῇσι λελιχμότες, ἐκ δέ οἱ ὄσσων θεσπεσίῃς κεφαλῇσιν ὑπʼ ὀφρύσι πῦρ ἀμάρυσσεν· πασέων δʼ ἐκ κεφαλέων πῦρ καίετο δερκομένοιο· φωναὶ δʼ ἐν πάσῃσιν ἔσαν δεινῇς κεφαλῇσι 830παντοίην ὄπʼ ἰεῖσαι ἀθέσφατον· ἄλλοτε μὲν γὰρ φθέγγονθʼ ὥστε θεοῖσι συνιέμεν, ἄλλοτε δʼ αὖτε ταύρου ἐριβρύχεω, μένος ἀσχέτου, ὄσσαν ἀγαύρου, ἄλλοτε δʼ αὖτε λέοντος ἀναιδέα θυμὸν ἔχοντος, ἄλλοτε δʼ αὖ σκυλάκεσσιν ἐοικότα, θαύματʼ ἀκοῦσαι, 835ἄλλοτε δʼ αὖ ῥοίζεσχʼ, ὑπὸ δʼ ἤχεεν οὔρεα μακρά. καί νύ κεν ἔπλετο ἔργον ἀμήχανον ἤματι κείνῳ καί κεν ὅ γε θνητοῖσι καὶ ἀθανάτοισιν ἄναξεν, εἰ μὴ ἄρʼ ὀξὺ νόησε πατὴρ ἀνδρῶν τε θεῶν τε. σκληρὸν δʼ ἐβρόντησε καὶ ὄβριμον, ἀμφὶ δὲ γαῖα 840σμερδαλέον κονάβησε καὶ οὐρανὸς εὐρὺς ὕπερθε πόντος τʼ Ὠκεανοῦ τε ῥοαὶ καὶ Τάρταρα γαίης. ποσσὶ δʼ ὕπʼ ἀθανάτοισι μέγας πελεμίζετʼ Ὄλυμπος ὀρνυμένοιο ἄνακτος· ἐπεστενάχιζε δὲ γαῖα. καῦμα δʼ ὑπʼ ἀμφοτέρων κάτεχεν ἰοειδέα πόντον 845βροντῆς τε στεροπῆς τε, πυρός τʼ ἀπὸ τοῖο πελώρου, πρηστήρων ἀνέμων τε κεραυνοῦ τε φλεγέθοντος. ἔζεε δὲ χθὼν πᾶσα καὶ οὐρανὸς ἠδὲ θάλασσα· θυῖε δʼ ἄρʼ ἀμφʼ ἀκτὰς περί τʼ ἀμφί τε κύματα μακρὰ ῥιπῇ ὕπʼ ἀθανάτων, ἔνοσις δʼ ἄσβεστος ὀρώρει·

But when Zeus had driven the Titans from heaven, huge Earth bore her youngest child Typhoeus of the love of Tartarus, by the aid of golden Aphrodite. Strength was with his hands in all that he did and the feet of the strong god were untiring. From his shoulders grew a hundred heads of a snake, a fearful dragon, with dark, flickering tongues, and from under the brows of his eyes in his marvellous heads flashed fire, and fire burned from his heads as he glared. And there were voices in all his dreadful heads which uttered every kind of sound unspeakable; for at one time they made sounds such that the gods understood, but at another, the noise of a bull bellowing aloud in proud ungovernable fury; and at another, the sound of a lion, relentless of heart; and at another, sounds like whelps, wonderful to hear; and again, at another, he would hiss, so that the high mountains re-echoed. And truly a thing past help would have happened on that day, and he would have come to reign over mortals and immortals, had not the father of men and gods been quick to perceive it. But he thundered hard and mightily: and the earth around resounded terribly and the wide heaven above, and the sea and Ocean's streams and the nether parts of the earth. Great Olympus reeled beneath the divine feet of the king as he arose and earth groaned thereat. And through the two of them heat took hold on the dark-blue sea, through the thunder and lightning, and through the fire from the monster, and the scorching winds and blazing thunderbolt. The whole earth seethed, and sky and sea: and the long waves raged along the beaches round and about at the rush of the deathless gods: and there arose an endless shaking.

850τρέε δʼ Ἀίδης, ἐνέροισι καταφθιμένοισιν ἀνάσσων, Τιτῆνές θʼ ὑποταρτάριοι, Κρόνον ἀμφὶς ἐόντες, ἀσβέστου κελάδοιο καὶ αἰνῆς δηιοτῆτος. Ζεὺς δʼ ἐπεὶ οὖν κόρθυνεν ἑὸν μένος, εἵλετο δʼ ὅπλα, βροντήν τε στεροπήν τε καὶ αἰθαλόεντα κεραυνόν, 855πλῆξεν ἀπʼ Οὐλύμποιο ἐπάλμενος· ἀμφὶ δὲ πάσας ἔπρεσε θεσπεσίας κεφαλὰς δεινοῖο πελώρου. αὐτὰρ ἐπεὶ δή μιν δάμασεν πληγῇσιν ἱμάσσας, ἤριπε γυιωθείς, στενάχιζε δὲ γαῖα πελώρη. φλὸξ δὲ κεραυνωθέντος ἀπέσσυτο τοῖο ἄνακτος 860οὔρεος ἐν βήσσῃσιν ἀιδνῇς παιπαλοέσσῃς, πληγέντος. πολλὴ δὲ πελώρη καίετο γαῖα ἀτμῇ θεσπεσίῃ καὶ ἐτήκετο κασσίτερος ὣς τέχνῃ ὕπʼ αἰζηῶν ἐν ἐυτρήτοις χοάνοισι θαλφθείς, ἠὲ σίδηρος, ὅ περ κρατερώτατός ἐστιν. 865οὔρεος ἐν βήσσῃσι δαμαζόμενος πυρὶ κηλέῳ τήκεται ἐν χθονὶ δίῃ ὑφʼ Ἡφαιστου παλάμῃσιν. ὣς ἄρα τήκετο γαῖα σέλαι πυρὸς αἰθομένοιο. ῥῖψε δέ μιν θυμῷ ἀκαχὼν ἐς Τάρταρον εὐρύν. ἐκ δὲ Τυφωέος ἔστʼ ἀνέμων μένος ὑγρὸν ἀέντων,

Hades trembled where he rules over the dead below, and the Titans under Tartarus who live with Cronos, because of the unending clamor and the fearful strife. So when Zeus had raised up his might and seized his arms, thunder and lightning and lurid thunderbolt, he leaped from Olympus and struck him, and burned all the marvellous heads of the monster about him. But when Zeus had conquered him and lashed him with strokes, Typhoeus was hurled down, a maimed wreck, so that the huge earth groaned. And flame shot forth from the thunderstricken lord in the dim rugged glens of the mount, when he was smitten. A great part of huge earth was scorched by the terrible vapor and melted as tin melts when heated by men's art in channelled crucibles; or as iron, which is hardest of all things, is shortened by glowing fire in mountain glens and melts in the divine earth through the strength of Hephaestus. Even so, then, the earth melted in the glow of the blazing fire. And in the bitterness of his anger Zeus cast him into wide Tartarus. And from Typhoeus come boisterous winds which blow damply, except Notus and Boreas and clear Zephyr.

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English translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White (1914). Original text: Hugh G. Evelyn-White (ed.), Hesiod, The Homeric Hymns and Homerica, Loeb Classical Library, London: Heinemann; New York: Macmillan, 1914 (Greek text as digitised by Perseus).

Greek text and translation from the Perseus Digital Library, Tufts University, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Perseus Digital Library); translation public domain. Introductions, summaries and notes © GreekMythology.com.

Theogony 820–869: Zeus and Typhoeus | Hesiod