In Greek mythology, the Hecatoncheires (), also called Hundred-Handers or CentimanesGeorge Grote, History of Greece, Volume 12, Harper, 1875, p. 519. (; ), were three monstrous giants, of enormous size and strength, each with fifty heads and one hundred arms. They were individually named Cottus (the furious), Briareus (or Aegaeon, the sea goat) and Gyges (or Gyes, the long-limbed). In the standard tradition, they were the offspring of Uranus (Sky) and of Gaia (Earth), and helped Zeus and the Olympians to overthrow the Titans in the Titanomachy.
Names The three Hundred-Handers were named Cottus, Briareus and Gyges. Cottus (Κόττος) is a common Thracian name, and is perhaps related to the name of the Thracian goddess Kotys.West 1966, pp. 209–210 on line 149 Κόττος, which says that Cottus was the name of "various Thracian princes"; Bremmer, p. 76; Caldwell, p. 37 on lines 147–153. Kerényi, p. 19, translates Cottus as "the striker". The name Briareus (Βριάρεως) was probably formed from the Ancient Greek (), meaning "strong".West 1966, p. 210 on line 149 Βριάρεως; Kirk, p. 94; LSJ, s.v. βριαρός. Kerényi, p. 19, translates Briareus as "the strong". Hesiod's Theogony also calls him "Obriareus".Hesiod, Theogony 617, 734. According to West 1966, p. 210, the "o'- being an old prepositional prefix". The name Gyges is possibly related to the mythical Attic king Ogyges (Ὠγύγης).Caldwell, p. 37 on lines 147–153; West 1966, p. 210 on line 149 Γύγης. Caldwell notes that the name Ogyges came to mean "primaeval", so that, for example, the "primal water" of Styx at Hesiod, Theogony, 805 is "hydor ogygion." "Gyes", rather than Gyges, is found in some texts.According to West 1966, p. 210 on line 149 Γύγης, although some manuscripts of the Theogony contain Gyes (Γύης), Gyges is the "correct form" of the name, "and should be preferred" as well in Apollodorus, 1.1.1, and Ovid, Tristia 4.7.18. Compare with Ovid, Fasti 4.593, which has "Gyges". West notes that the form Gyes perhaps came "from association" with "γυῖον" (limb, hand: LSJ, s.v. γυῖον) and "ἀμφιγύεις" (strong in both arms: Autenrieth, s.v. ἀμφι-γυήεις); see also Beekes, Etymological Dictionary of Ancient Greek, s.v. γύης.
Homer's Iliad gives Briareus a second name, saying that Briareus is the name the gods use for him, while Aegaeon (Αἰγαίων) is the name used by mortals.Willcock, p. 12; Homer, Iliad 1.403–404. The root αἰγ- is found in words associated with the sea: αἰγιαλός "shore", αἰγες and αἰγάδες "waves".Fowler 2013, p. 69, which also mentions the possibly sea-connected αἰγίς (see LSJ, s.v. αἰγίς); Fowler 1988, p. 100. The name suggests a connection with the Aegean Sea.Willcock, p. 12. According to Arrian apparently, the Aegean Sea was said to have been named after an Aegaeon, see Sprawski, p. 107; Fowler 2013, p. 68; Arrian, Bithyn. fr. Roos = FGrHist 156 F 92. Poseidon was sometimes called Aegaeon or Aegaeus (Αἰγαῖος).Fowler 2013, pp. 68–69; Fowler 1988, p. 101; Kirk, p. 95; Leaf, p. 32 1.403. For "Aegaeon" see Callimachus fr. 59.6 Trypanis, pp. 44, 45 = fr. 59.6 Pfeiffer = Lloyd-Jones and Parsons, SH 265.6; Lycophron, Alexandra 135; for Aegaeus, see Aristas (TrGF 9 F 1); Strabo, 9.2.13; Virgil, Aeneid 3.74. Aegaeon could be a patronymic, i.e. "son of Aegaeus",See Lattimore's translation, of Iliad 1.404, p. 70, which considers "Aegaeon" to be a patronymic by formation, translating it as "Aigaios' son", with glossary entry, p. 498: "Aigai'os: God of the sea, father of Briareos"; Willcock, p. 12; Fowler 1988, p. 99 n. 11. At Hesiod, Theogony 817–819, Briareus is the son-in-law of Poseidon, and Iliad scholia describe him as a son of Poseidon, see West 1966, p. 210 on line 149 Βριάρεως. or it could instead mean "the man from Aegae".Fowler 1988, p. 101.
The name Hecatoncheires derives from the Greek ἑκατόν (hekaton, "hundred") and χείρ (cheir, "hand" or "arm"). Although the Theogony describes the three brothers as having one hundred hands (ἑκατὸν μὲν χεῖρες),Hesiod, Theogony 150. the collective name Hecatoncheires (Ἑκατόγχειρες), i.e. the Hundred-Handers, is never used.West 1966, p. 209 on line 147; Fowler 2013, p. 26; Hard, p. 66. The Theogony once refers to the brothers collectively as "the gods whom Zeus brought up from the dark",West 1966, p. 209 on line 147; . otherwise it simply uses their individual names: Cottus, Briareus (or Obriareus) and Gyges.Cottus, Briareus, Gyges at Theogony 149, 714, 816; Cottus, Obriareus, and Gyges at Theogony 617–618, 734; Cottus at Theogony 654.
The Iliad does not use the name Hecatoncheires either, although it does use the adjective hekatoncheiros (ἑκατόγχειρος), i.e. "hundred-handed", to describe Briareus. It is possible that Acusilaus used the name,West 1966, p. 209 on line 147; Fowler 2013, p. 26; Acusilaus fr. 8 Fowler pp. 8–9 = FGrHist 2 8. but the first certain usage is found in the works of the mythographers such as Apollodorus.Apollodorus, 1.1.1. See also Palaephatus 19 (Stern, p. 50).
Mythology The Hundred-Handers The Hundred-Handers, Cottus, Briareus and Gyges, were three monstrous giants, of enormous size and strength, with fifty heads and one hundred arms.Hard, pp. 65–66; Hansen, pp. 159, 231; Gantz, p. 10; Brill's New Pauly, s.v. Hekatoncheires; Tripp, s.v. Hundred-handed pp. 307–308; Grimal, s.v. Hecatoncheires p. 182. They were among the eighteen offspring of Uranus (Sky) and Gaia (Earth), which also included the twelve Titans, and the three one-eyed Cyclopes. According to the Theogony of Hesiod, they were the last of these children of Uranus to be born, while according to the mythographer Apollodorus they were the first.Hesiod, Theogony 126–153; Apollodorus, 1.1.1–3. In the Hesiodic tradition, they played a key role in the Greek succession myth, which told how the Titan Cronus overthrew his father Uranus, and how in turn Zeus overthrew Cronus and his fellow Titans, and how Zeus was eventually established as the final and permanent ruler of the cosmos.Hard, pp. 65–69; Hansen, pp. 66–67, 293–294; West 1966, pp. 18–19; Dowden, pp. 35–36.
According to the standard version of the succession myth, given in the accounts of Hesiod and Apollodorus, the Hundred-Handers, along with their brothers the Cyclopes, were imprisoned by their father Uranus.Hesiod, Theogony 154–158, says that Uranus "put them all away out of sight in a hiding place in Earth and did not let them come up into the light", while according to Apollodorus, 1.1.2, Uranus "bound and cast [them] into Tartarus", the two places perhaps being the same (see West 1966, p. 338 on line 618, and Caldwell, p. 37 on lines 154–160). Gaia induced Cronus to castrate Uranus, and Cronus took over the supremacy of the cosmos.Hesiod, Theogony 159–182; Apollodorus, 1.1.4. With his sister the Titaness Rhea, Cronus fathered several offspring, but he swallowed each of them at birth. However, Cronus' last child Zeus was saved by Rhea, and Zeus freed his brothers and sisters, and together they (the Olympians) began a great war, the Titanomachy, against the Titans, for control of the cosmos.Hesiod, Theogony 453–500; Apollodorus, 1.1.5–1.2.1. Gaia had foretold that, with the help of the Hundred-Handers, the Olympians would be victorious, so Zeus released them from their captivity and the Hundred-Handers fought alongside the Olympians against the Titans and were instrumental in the Titans' defeat. The Titans were then imprisoned in Tartarus with the Hundred-Handers as their guards.Hesiod, Theogony 624–735; Apollodorus, 1.2.1. As for the Hundred-Handers as the Titans' warders, this is explicitly stated at Apollodorus, 1.2.1. This is also the usual interpretation of Theogony 734–735 (e.g. Hard, p. 68; Hansen, pp. 25, 159, adding the caveat "presumably"; Gantz, p. 45). However according to West 1966, p. 363 on lines 734–5: "It is usually assumed that the Hundred-Handers are acting as prison guards (so Tz. Th. 277 τοὺς Ἑκατόγχειρας αὺτοῖς φύλακας ἐπιστήσας). The poet does not say this—πιστοὶ φύλακες Διὸς probably refers to their help in battle, cf. 815 κλειτοὶ ἐπίκουροι". Compare with Theogony 817–819.
The lost epic poem the Titanomachy (see below), although probably written after Hesiod's Theogony,West 2002, p. 109 dates the Titanomachy as "late seventh century [BC] at the earliest". perhaps preserved an older tradition in which the Hundred-Handers fought on the side of the Titans, rather than the Olympians.Bremmer, p. 76; West 2002, pp. 110–111; Tsagalis, p. 53. According to a euhemeristic rationalized account, given by Palaephatus, Cottus and Briareus, rather than being hundred-handed giants, were men who were called Hundred-Handers because they lived in a city called Hecatoncheiria ("Hundredarm"). They came to the aid of the mortal residents of the city of Olympia (that is, the "Olympians") in driving away the Titans from their city.Hawes, p. 60; Grimal, s.v. Hecatoncheires p. 182; Palaephatus, 19, see Stern, p. 50.
Briareus/Aegaeon
Briareus was the most prominent of the three Hundred-Handers.West 1966, p. 210 on line 149 Βριάρεως; Grimal, s.v. Aegaeon p. 16. In Hesiod's Theogony he is singled out as being "good", and is rewarded by Poseidon, who gives Briareus his daughter Cymopolea (otherwise unknown) as wife.Hesiod, Theogony 817–819; West 1966, p. 379 on line 819 Κυμοπόλειαν.
In Homer's Iliad, Briareus is given a second name, Aegaeon, and it is said that the gods call him Briareus whereas humans call him Aegaeon. It is told in the Iliad how, during a palace revolt by the Olympians Hera, Poseidon and Athena, who wished to chain Zeus, the sea goddess Thetis brought to Olympus:
This second name does not seem to be a Homeric invention.Fowler 1988, p. 98 with n. 5; Sprawski, p. 107; Schol. on Apollonius of Rhodes 1.1165c. According to the scholiast on Apollonius of Rhodes, the legendary seventh-century BC poet Cinaethon apparently knew both names for the Hundred-Hander. The name also appears in the lost epic poem the Titanomachy.
Titan ally While in Hesiod and Homer, the powerful Hundred-Hander Briareus was a faithful and rewarded ally of Zeus, the Titanomachy seems to have reflected a different tradition.Fowler 2013, p. 69; Bremmer, p. 76; West 2002, p. 111. Apparently, according to the Titanomachy, Aegaeon was the son of Gaia and Pontus (Sea), rather than Gaia and Uranus, and fought on the side of the Titans, rather than the Olympians.Eumelus fr. 3 West [= Schol. on Apollonius of Rhodes 1.1165c]. See also Tsagalis, pp. 19–20. The scholiast on Apollonius of Rhodes tells us that, according to Cinaethon, Aegeaon was defeated by Poseidon.Fowler 2013, p. 69; Cinaethon, Herakleia (fr. dub. 7 Bernabé = Heraclea fr. A Davies p. 142) = schol. Apollonius of Rhodes 1.1165c. Apollonius of Rhodes mentions the "great tomb of Aegaeon", seen by the Argonauts when "they were passing within sight of the mouth of the Rhyndacus […] a short distance beyond Phrygia".Apollonius of Rhodes, Argonautica 1164–1166. The scholiast on Apollonius says that the tomb marked the spot where Aegaeon's defeat occurred.Hasluck, p. 54.