Enceladus (mythology)
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In Greek mythology, Enceladus was one of the Gigantes, the enormous children of Gaia (Earth).
During the battle between the Gigantes and the Olympian gods, Enceladus was disabled by a spear thrown by the goddess Athena. He was buried on the island of Sicily, under Mount Etna. The volcanic fires of Etna were believed to be the breath of Enceladus, and its tremors to be caused by him rolling his injured side beneath the mountain (similar myths are told about Typhon and Vulcan. In Greece, an earthquake is still sometimes called a "strike of Enceladus".
In Euripides' play Cyclops the minor god Silenus claims to have dealt Enceladus' death blow, but this was perhaps intended by the author as a vain drunken boast, since Silenus also claims to have sent the Gigantes flying with the braying of his ass.
Namesakes
Enceladus, a moon of Saturn, is named after the mythological Enceladus.References
- Apollodorus, i.6.1
- Hyginus, Fabulae, proem
- Robert Graves, 1960. The Greek Myths, 35.f, .h.
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