Enceladus (giant)
In
Mythology
Enceladus was one of the
The third-century BC poet
The Latin poet Horace has Enceladus use trees as spears.[13] The second-century geographer Pausanias reports that a Tegean statue of Athena was called "horse goddess" because, according to a local account, Athena "drove the chariot and horses against Enceladus".[14] Claudian calls Enceladus "all powerful king of the Earth-born giants",[15] and has Gaia, imagining the Giants victorious, propose that "Enceladus, rule the sea".[16]
The Dionysiaca
The fifth-century Greek poet Nonnus, in his poem Dionysiaca, mentions Enceladus as one of the several Giants that Dionysus battles in the Gigantomachy.[17] Nonnus has Gaia set the Giants against Dionysus, promising Enceladus Athena as his wife should the Giants subdue Dionysus.[18] Dionysus fought Enceladus with fire, but Enceladus was ultimately defeated by Zeus: "[Dionysus] roasted the Giants' bodies with a great conflagration, an image on earth of the thunderbolt cast by Zeus. The torches blazed: fire was rolling all over the head of Encelados and making the air hot, but it did not vanquish him—Encelados bent not his knee in the steam of the earthly fire, since he was reserved for a thunderbolt."[19]
Cause of volcanic eruptions and earthquakes
Enceladus (like other vanquished monsters, thought to be buried under volcanos)[20] was said to be the cause of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.[21] Mount Etna's eruptions were said to be the breath of Enceladus, and its tremors to be caused by him rolling over from side to side beneath the mountain. So, for example Virgil:
Enceladus, his body lightning-scarred,
lies prisoned under all, so runs the tale:
o'er him gigantic Aetna breathes in fire
from crack and seam; and if he haply turn
to change his wearied side, Trinacria's isle
trembles and moans, and thick fumes mantle heaven.[22]
the c. 1st-century poem Aetna (perhaps written by Lucilius Junior):
In Trinacrian waters Enceladus dies and is buried under Aetna by Jove's decree; with the ponderous mountain above him he tosses restlessly, and defiantly breathes from his throat a penal fire.
and Claudian:
In the midst of the island rise the charred cliffs of Aetna, eloquent monument of Jove’s victory over the Giants, the tomb of Enceladus, whose bound and bruisèd body breathes forth endless sulphur clouds from its burning wounds. Whene’er his rebellious shoulders shift their burden to the right or left, the island is shaken from its foundations and the walls of tottering cities sway this way and that.
Ancient art
The battle between Athena and Enceladus was a popular theme in Greek vase paintings,[24] with examples from as early as the middle of the sixth century BC.[25] We know, from the description given in Euripides' Ion, that the battle was depicted on the late sixth-century BC Temple of Apollo at Delphi.[26]
The east pediment of the Old Temple of Athena on the Acropolis of Athens, dating from the late sixth century, prominently displayed Athena standing over a fallen giant, possibly Enceladus.[27] The battle was probably also depicted on the new peplos (robe) presented to Athena on the Acropolis of Athens as part of the Panathenaic festival.[28]
In later art and literature
At Versailles, Louis XIV's consistent iconographic theme of the triumphs of Apollo and the Olympians against all adversaries included the fountain of Enceladus in its own cabinet de verdure, the Bosquet de l'Encélade, which was cut into the surrounding woodland and outlined by trelliswork; the ensemble has recently been restored. According to an engraving of the fountain by Le Pautre (1677), the sculptor of the gilt-bronze Enceladus was Gaspar Mercy of Cambrai.[29]
William Shakespeare mentions "Enceladus" in Titus Andronicus, Act 4, sc. 2, L 96. "I tell you younglings, not Enceladus."[30]
John Keats mentions Enceladus among the Titans in his "Hyperion" (1818/1819).[31]
Porthos is likened to Enceladus when he is buried in a rock fall in The Man in the Iron Mask by Alexandre Dumas.
In
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, inspired by the suffering of the Second Italian War of Independence, wrote his poem "Enceladus" in 1859.[33]
Enceladus is a main antagonist in Rick Riordan's The Lost Hero
Namesakes
Enceladus, a moon of the planet Saturn, is named after the mythological Enceladus. Its south pole is interspersed with massive geysers of ice and water vapor that shoot hundreds of miles from its interior. The moon is considered by scientists to be one of the most likely locations in the Solar System to offer some habitability potential for microscopic life.[34][35][36]
One of two surviving Short Belfast military transport aircraft is dubbed "Enceladus".
In Antarctica, there is a grouping of nunataks (ridge) on Alexander Island called the Enceladus Nunataks—but these nunataks were named after Saturn's moon, not after the giants of Greek mythology.
The
Notes
- ^ Beazley Archive 200059, LIMC Gigantes 342.
- as the father of the Giants.
- ^ Apollodorus, 1.6.1.
- ^ Gantz, pp. 450–451; Arafat, p. 16; Beazley 14590, LIMC 52 (Gigantes 170): image 4 of 4.
- Heracles 906–908.
- ^ See for example Cook 1925, p. 909; Arafat, p. 16. For Zeus as Enceladus' opponent see, for example, Batrachomyomachia ("Battle of Frogs and Mice"), 277–283 (pp. 560–561); Virgil, Aeneid 3.578 ff.; Statius, Thebaid 11.8 (pp. 390–391); Propertius, Elegies 2.1.39–40 (pp. 82–83); Lucilius Junior (?), Aetna 71–73 (pp. 8–9). See also Quintus Smyrnaeus, Posthomerica (or Fall of Troy), 5.641–643 (pp. 252–253) and 14.582–585 (pp. 606–607) where, respectively, Enceladus is struck by Zeus, and buried under Sicily by Athena.
- ^ Euripides, Cyclops 1–9.
- ^ Callimachus, fragment 117 (382) (pp. 342–343).
- ^ Apollodorus, 1.6.2. See also Quintus Smyrnaeus, Posthomerica (or Fall of Troy), 14.582–585 (pp. 606–607).
- ^ Virgil, Aeneid 3.578 ff. (with Conington's note to 3.578); Statius, Thebaid 11.8 (pp. 390–391); Claudian, Rape of Proserpine 1.153–159 (pp. 304–305), 2.151–162 (pp. 328–331), 3.186–187 (pp. 358–359). See also the poem Aetna (perhaps written by Lucilius Junior), 71–73 (pp. 8–9); Philostratus, Life of Apollonius of Tyana 5.16 (pp. 498–501).
- Philostratus the Elder, Imagines 2.17.5 (pp. 198–201); Nonnus Dionysiaca 2.622–624 (I pp. 90–91) (buried under Sicily). For Briareus see Callimachus, Hymn 4 (to Delos) 141–146 (pp. 96–97); Mineur, p. 153.
- Philostratus the Elder, Imagines 2.17.5 (pp. 198–201).
- ^ Horace, Odes 3.4.49–51.
- ^ Pausanias, 8.47.1.
- ^ Claudian, Rape of Proserpine 3.351 (pp. 370–371). However Apollodorus 1.6.1 has Porphyrion and Alcyoneus as the two most preeminent Giants, while Pindar, Pythian 8.12–18 has the Giant Porphyrion, and Homer, Odyssey 7.56–63 has the Giant Eurymedon, as king.
- ^ Claudian, Gigantomachia 32–33 (pp. 282–283).
- ^ Nonnus, Dionysiaca 25.90 (II, pp. 256–257); 48.70 (III, pp. 428–429).
- ^ Nonnus, Dionysiaca 48.22 (III, pp. 426–427).
- ^ Nonnus, Dionysiaca 48.67–70 (III, pp. 428–429).
- Mount Atlas and the Atlas Mountains, Plumptre, p. 129, note 1. See also Cook 1940, note 5, pp. 2–6; Durling, p. 495, note to Canto 31.108 "Ephialtes suddenly shook himself"; Lemprière p. 456 "MYCŎNOS"; Andrews, p. 81.
- ^ Lazaridou-Varotsos, p. 42.
- ^ Virgil, Aeneid 3.570–587.
- ^ Beazley Archive 303466.
- ^ Woodard, p. 301; Frazer, note to Pausanias 8.47.5 "Enceladus", Vol. IV pp. 431, 432; Ely, p. 69.
- ^ Sixth century examples include: Louvre E732 (Beazley Archive 14590, LIMC 52 (Gigantes 170): image 4 of 4 [Athena and Enceladus]), Getty 82.AE.26 (Beazley Archive 10148: Fragment: Heracles, Athena, horses of Zeus' chariot, Porphyrion and Enceladus), Lourve CA3662 (Beazley Archive 200059, LIMC 29890 (Gigantes 342)), Munich 1612 (Beazley Archive 303466), Cleveland 78.59 (Beazley Archive 5168, Perseus Cleveland 78.59 (Vase)). Fifth century examples include: Berlin F2531 (Beazley Archive 220533: detail showing Athena v. Enceladus, Cook 1940, p. 56, Plate VI); Cleveland 78.59 (Beazley Archive 5168; Perseus Cleveland 78.59 (Vase)). See also Ely, FIG. I, and p. 67 ff. and Tillyard, pp. 34–35, no. 26, Plate 3, no. 26.
- ^ Stewart, pp. 86–87.
- ^ Schefold, pp. 64–67; Weller p. 315.
- ^ Parker p. 201; Boardman, p. 137; Frazer, Vol. II p. 576 note 2.
- ^ "Encelade de bronze dorée, accablé sous des rochers, et poussant en l'air un gros jet d'eau. / Dans les Jardins de Versailles. / Par Gaspar Mercy de Cambray. // Enceladus ex aere aurato, saxis obrutus, ingentem aquae vim ore euomens. / In hortis Versaliarum. / Opus Gasparis de Mercy Cameracensis." [1] Archived 2006-12-01 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Folger Shakespeare Library – Titus Andronicus, page 136-137, copyright 2005
- ^ Keats, J. (1909). The poems of John Keats. Dodd, Mead and co. p. 221. Retrieved 2014-10-15.
- ^ Erik Kielland-Lund, "Existential Incest: Melville's Use of the Enceladus Myth in Pierre", American Studies in Scandinavia 28:1:52 (1996) full text
- ^ Horace Elisha Scudder, ed., The complete poetical works of Longfellow p. 201
- ^ "Cassini Images of Enceladus Suggest Geysers Erupt Liquid Water at the Moon's South Pole". Archived from the original on 2011-07-25. Retrieved 2006-03-22.
- ^ Mosher, Dave (26 March 2014). "Seeds of Life Found Near Saturn". Space.com. Retrieved 2014-04-09.
- ^ "Cassini Tastes Organic Material at Saturn's Geyser Moon". NASA. 26 March 2008. Archived from the original on 2021-07-20. Retrieved 2008-03-26.
- ^ "Organisation website". Archived from the original on 2018-08-27. Retrieved 2018-03-27.
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