Giants. In Greek and Roman Mythology, the Giants, also called Gigantes, were a race of great strength and aggression, though not necessarily of great size, known for the Gigantomachy, their battle with the Olympian gods.
   According to Hesiod, the Giants were the offspring of Gaia, born from the blood that fell when Uranus was castrated by his Titan son Cronus. Archaic and Classical representations show Gigantes as man-sized hoplites fully human in form.
   Later representations show Gigantes with snakes for legs. In later traditions, the Giants were often confused with other opponents of the Olympians, particularly the Titans, an earlier generation of large and powerful children of Gaia and Uranus.
   The vanquished Giants were said to be buried under volcanoes and to be the cause of volcanic eruptions and earthquakes. The name Gigantes is usually taken to imply earth-born, and Hesiod's Theogony makes this explicit by having the Giants be the offspring of Gaia.
   According to Hesiod, Gaia, mating with Uranus, bore many children: the first generation of Titans, the Cyclopes and the Hundred-Handers. But Uranus hated his children and, as soon as they were born, he imprisoned them inside of Gaia, causing her much distress. And so Gaia made a sickle of adamant which she gave to Cronus, the youngest of her Titan sons, and hid him to wait in ambush. And when Uranus came to lie with Gaia, Cronus castra
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