The Altar of Pergamon depicts the Gigantomachia, and what I was going to go on about in this post is the similarity between the ancient Greek gods and goddess, and the heroes in the DC and Marvel comic book universes...but, but I'm diverted by page 58!
Graves gathered all his material for the White Goddess from books...I mean, that is all a historian can do when writing about ancient history...and Graves doesn't footnote...in his Greek Myths I II he does, and it would probably be wise to have those two books handy when sorting out things in The White Goddess...he does refer to books in the text, so there's some help, but often he just flings things out, and it's a guess where he got this or that...google helps, a lot!
the beginning of page 58 goes on about the Centaurs, where they got their name, and here's a fine question:
"Were the Hecatontocheiroi the Centaurs of mountainous Magnesia, whose friendship was strategically necessary to the Achaean pastoralist of Thessaly and Boetia?"
p 58
Robert Graves The White Goddess
I don't know, but that's some name...'Hecatontocheiroi'...
Hecatontocheiroie
In DC comics comic book Injustice: Gods Among Us (Year Four) appear monster called Hecatonchire.
Hekatonkheires
I can't resist 'mountainous Magnesia'...
ancient Magnesia
The name "magnet" may come from lodestones found in Magnesia
Magnesia on the Maeander
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Magnesia is in Turkey...
Pergamon Magnesia
Pursued in mid-December by the Romans up the river Phrygius, the Seleucids established a camp near Magnesia. Romans had about 30,000 troops and 2,800 cavalry, including 800 from Pergamon, under king Eumenes II. Antiochus' army numbered some 70,000, and had among it elephants, scythe-chariots, and heavily armored cavalry. Despite his overwhelming advantage in numbers, Antiochus, knowing the power of the legions, was loath to fight, staying in a strongly fortified camp on Mount Sipylos near the town of Magnesia on the Hermos river in Lydia.
Battle of Magnesia (190 BC)
So, I have it that Pergamon is just to the north of Magnesia, and that the Centaurs resided thereabout, (see correction and update below!) and can be thought of as the 'hundred handed ones', or something...something in that the Centaurs are tied in with the Giants, which makes sense, as the makers of the Altar of Pergamon chose to illustrate it with the story of the Giants...I think I saw that somewhere...
giants Pergamon
The Gigantomachy frieze on the outside walls of the Pergamon altar avoids to a great extent any direct references to contemporary military campaigns — except for the "Star of Macedonia" on the round shield of one of the Giants on the eastern frieze, or a Celtic oblong shield in the hand of a god on the northern frieze. The struggle of the Olympian gods, supported by Heracles, the astrological deities governing the days and hours and originating in the ancient race of the Titans, personifications of the forces of war and fate, sea creatures, and Dionysus with his followers, appears much rather to be a cosmological event of general ethical relevance.
Pergamon Altar
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
well, what I'm reaching for is that the Altar creators commemorated the Centaurs/Hekatonkheires, as the tribes thereabout thought of them as ancestors, or something...
Centaurs Hekatonkheires Pergamon
The late sixth early fifth century BC lyric poet Pindar provides some of the earliest details of the battle between the Giants and the Olympians. He locates it "on the plain of Phlegra" and has Teiresias foretell Heracles killing Giants "beneath [his] rushing arrows".[47] He calls Heracles "you who subdued the Giants",[48] and has Porphyrion, who he calls "the king of the Giants", being overcome by the bow of Apollo.[49] Euripides' Heracles has its hero shooting Giants with arrows,[50] and his Ion has the chorus describe seeing a depiction of the Gigantomachy on the late sixth century Temple of Apollo at Delphi, with Athena fighting the Giant Enceladus with her "gorgon shield", Zeus burning the Giant Mimas with his "mighty thunderbolt, blazing at both ends", and Dionysus killing an unnamed Giant with his "ivy staff".[51]
Giants (Greek mythology)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
quote has some of the 'greek gods and goddesses like comic book heroes' that I'm reaching for too!...and it notes that the battle of the Giants was thought to be in different places...I'm trying to pin point it to Pergamon...where is Phlegra?
Phlegra
Phlegra (Greek: Φλέγρα)[1] is both a real and a mythical location in both Greek and Roman mythology.
In Greek mythology, it is the site of Zeus's overthrowing of the Giants (Gigantes) at the end of the Gigantomachy.
Plegra is a peninsula of Macedonia (more specifically in Chalkidike) in modern Greece; it is an ancient name for Pallene in historical Thrace, the latter as per the toponymy of the ancients; Pallene – and Phlegra – is most commonly called nowadays Kassandra, or Peninsula of Kassandra.
In Greek mythology, it is the site of Zeus's overthrowing of the Giants (Gigantes) at the end of the Gigantomachy.
Plegra is a peninsula of Macedonia (more specifically in Chalkidike) in modern Greece; it is an ancient name for Pallene in historical Thrace, the latter as per the toponymy of the ancients; Pallene – and Phlegra – is most commonly called nowadays Kassandra, or Peninsula of Kassandra.
Phlegra (mythology)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
again, another search/try!
centaurs tribe pergamon
THE KENTAUROI (or Centaurs) were a tribe of half man, half horse savages which inhabited the mountains and forests of Magnesia. They were a primitive race who made their homes in mountain caves, hunted wild animals for food and armed themselves with rocks and tree branches.
KENTAUROI THESSALIOI
Graves relates the Hekatonkheires to the Centaurs, and I don't know how he does that...yet...Centaurs don't look like Hekatonkheires...the Hekatonkheires have a hundred arms and heads and such and are really wild looking creatures form the company of the Giants...it might be that Graves is identifying tribes with their totems, and their gods and goddesses...the Battle of the Giants could have been near Pergamon...some notations have it that the Giants were a tribe...
Greek giants tribe
The kneecaps of Ajax were exactly the size of a discus for the boy's pentathlon, wrote Pausanias. A boy's discus was about twelve centimeters in diameter, while a normal adult patella is around five centimeters, suggesting Ajax may have been around 14 feet (~4.3 meters) tall.
Giant (mythology)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Well, if the Centaurs armed themselves with rocks and tree branches, they may have been very big, and in the company of the Giants...
centaurs tribe pergamon
The centaurs (Greek: Κενταυροι) are fairly popular beings in Greek mythology, but myths pertaining to them directly are not plentiful. The handfuls of tales that survive relate the nature of a boisterous race of horse-men who care only for drinking and numerous other vices. They were the children of Nephele (a nymph formed out of clouds in the shape of Hera by Zeus). The lustful and devious Lapith king Ixion raped Nephele (thinking it was Hera), thus impregnating her. She promptly gave birth to a clan of horse-men (the Centaurs). Though there are sparse references to female Centaurs from antiquity, they only appear in later art and literature of other cultures. Despite the barbaric nature of centaurs in general, certain centaurs were renowned for their wisdom. Kheiron (Chiron), for example, was the teacher of some of the greatest of Greek heroes, including Achilles, Herakles, Jason, and Theseus.
Blizzard took a distinctly central Asian influence for their centaurs, borrowing cultural elements from peoples such as the Mongols. Most notably, they are led by khans and live in collapsible huts.
Yes, there are Centaurs in World of Warcraft, thereabout in the Barrens and Desolace...not sure why 'pergamon' in that search string brings wiki's page up!...oh, search result says 'missing pergamon'...didn't see that...
more on page 58 tomorrowmorrow!
oh...wait...there's another Magnesia...
magnesia Thessaly
The name Magnesia is derived from the name of the first settlers in the region, the Magnetes. The geographic size of Magnesia is expands 2,600 square kilometres and has a population of 197,600 (Census 1991). In mythology, Pelion was the place that was chosen by the Gods of Olympus for their summer vacations, their festivities and their ceremonies. The marriage between Pelia and Thetitha took place here, and Homer, Pindaros and Evripides spoke of this in their stories.
Pelion was also home to the centaurs, the half horse and half man creatures, with the most famous being the centaur Chiron. Chiron was a very intelligent being and was teacher to Achilles and Hercules, as well as teaching medicine to Asclepios.
http://www.aroundpelion.com/pelion/magnesia/
This makes more sense, as a Battle with the Titans happened nearabout...
titans Thessaly
The war was fought to decide which generation of gods would have domain over the Universe; it ended in victory for the Olympians.
Blizzard took a distinctly central Asian influence for their centaurs, borrowing cultural elements from peoples such as the Mongols. Most notably, they are led by khans and live in collapsible huts.
Centaur
http://wowwiki.wikia.com/wiki/Centaur#Conflict_with_the_HordeYes, there are Centaurs in World of Warcraft, thereabout in the Barrens and Desolace...not sure why 'pergamon' in that search string brings wiki's page up!...oh, search result says 'missing pergamon'...didn't see that...
more on page 58 tomorrowmorrow!
oh...wait...there's another Magnesia...
magnesia Thessaly
The name Magnesia is derived from the name of the first settlers in the region, the Magnetes. The geographic size of Magnesia is expands 2,600 square kilometres and has a population of 197,600 (Census 1991). In mythology, Pelion was the place that was chosen by the Gods of Olympus for their summer vacations, their festivities and their ceremonies. The marriage between Pelia and Thetitha took place here, and Homer, Pindaros and Evripides spoke of this in their stories.
Pelion was also home to the centaurs, the half horse and half man creatures, with the most famous being the centaur Chiron. Chiron was a very intelligent being and was teacher to Achilles and Hercules, as well as teaching medicine to Asclepios.
http://www.aroundpelion.com/pelion/magnesia/
This makes more sense, as a Battle with the Titans happened nearabout...
titans Thessaly
The war was fought to decide which generation of gods would have domain over the Universe; it ended in victory for the Olympians.
Titanomachy
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
hmmph...oh!!!...I find some help...
Magnetes
The Magnetes (Greek: Μάγνητες) were an ancient Greek tribe. In book 2 of The Iliad Homer includes them in Greek Army that is besieging Troy, and identifies their homeland in Thessaly, in part of what is still known as Magnesia.[1] They later also contributed to the Greek colonisation by founding two prosperous cities in Western Anatolia, Magnesia on the Maeander and Magnesia ad Sipylum.
Magnetes
The Magnetes (Greek: Μάγνητες) were an ancient Greek tribe. In book 2 of The Iliad Homer includes them in Greek Army that is besieging Troy, and identifies their homeland in Thessaly, in part of what is still known as Magnesia.[1] They later also contributed to the Greek colonisation by founding two prosperous cities in Western Anatolia, Magnesia on the Maeander and Magnesia ad Sipylum.
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