The Hecatonchires, or Hekatonkheires, were three gargantuan figures of an archaic stage of
Greek mythology. According to
Hesiod they were children of
Gaia and
Uranus, simply the issue of Earth and Sky, or of Earth and Sea thus part of the very beginning of things (Kerenyi 1951:19) in the submerged prehistory of Greek myth, though they played no part in
cult. They were known as Briareus the Vigorous, also called Aigaion (Latinized as Aegaeon) the "sea goat", Cottus the Striker or the Furious, and Gyges (or Gyes) the Big-Limbed. Their name derives from the
Greek (hekaton; "hundred") and (kheir; "hand"), "each of them having a hundred hands and fifty heads" (Bibliotheca). They were giants of incredible strength and ferocity, even superior to that of the
Titans, whom they helped overthrow, and the
Cyclopes. In
Latin poetry, the Hecatonchires were known as the Centimani, which simply translates "Hundred-Handed Ones."
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[Greek] An Homeric epithet for Briareus. He is also represented as a son of Poseidon, and a marine deity of the Aegean Sea.
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