Antaeus

From Freepedia

Antaeus in Greek mythology was a giant of Libya, the son of Poseidon and Gaia, and his wife was Tinjis. He was extremely strong as long as he remained in contact with the ground (his mother earth), but once lifted into the air he became as weak as water. He would challenge all passers-by to wrestling matches, kill them, and collect their skulls, so that he might one day build out of them a temple to his father Poseidon. Heracles, finding that he could not beat Antaeus by throwing him to the ground, discovered the secret of his power and held Antaeus aloft until he died (Apollodorus ii. 5; Hyginus, Fab. 31). The fable of Antaeus has been used as a symbol of the spiritual strength which accrues when one rests his faith on the immediate fact of things. The struggle between Antaeus and Heracles is a favourite subject in ancient sculpture.

In the Divine Comedy, Antaeus is a giant who guards the ninth circle of Hell, and lowers Dante and Virgil down to the iced-over Cocytus.

See also

In the Berber language Antaeus is known as Änti. A different figure from Egyptian mythology, Anti, was transliterated as "Antaeus" by the Greeks.

There is a poem by the Irish poet Seamus Heaney about this myth.

There is a french black metal band named Antaeus.

References

• This article incorporates text from the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica, which is in the public domain.