Hecatoncheires
ancient Greek mythological giants with 50 heads and 100 arms
In Greek mythology, the Hecatoncheires (Ancient Greek: Ἑκατόγχειρες, romanized: Hekatóncheires, lit. 'Hundred-Handed Ones'), also called Hundred-Handers or Centimanes (; Latin: Centimani), 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. The name Briareus (Βριάρεως) was probably formed from Ancient Greek βριαρός (Briaros), meaning "strong". Hesiod's Theogony also calls him "Obriareus". The name Gyges is possibly related to the mythical Attic king Ogyges (Ὠγύγης). "Gyes", rather than Gyges, is found in some texts.
Homer's Iliad gives Briareus a second name, saying that Briareus is the name that the gods use for him, while Aegaeon (Αἰγαίων) is the name used by mortals.
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This entry incorporates text from “Hecatoncheires” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.