Antaeus
Encyclopedia
Greek mythology
Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the ancient Greeks, concerning their gods and heroes, the nature of the world, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices. They were a part of religion in ancient Greece...
and Berber mythology
Berber mythology
The traditional Berber mythology is the ancient and native set of beliefs and deities developed by the Berber people in their historical land of North Africa...
was a half-giant
Half-giant
Half-giants are a mythological creature, born to a giant and a human, or some other creature.-Mythology:In actual legends, half giants and part giants are rarely the extremely large people portrayed in RPGs, often they are of normal size and either have abnormal or supernatural abilities, or are...
, the son of Poseidon
Poseidon
Poseidon was the god of the sea, and, as "Earth-Shaker," of the earthquakes in Greek mythology. The name of the sea-god Nethuns in Etruscan was adopted in Latin for Neptune in Roman mythology: both were sea gods analogous to Poseidon...
and Gaia
Gaia (mythology)
Gaia was the primordial Earth-goddess in ancient Greek religion. Gaia was the great mother of all: the heavenly gods and Titans were descended from her union with Uranus , the sea-gods from her union with Pontus , the Giants from her mating with Tartarus and mortal creatures were sprung or born...
, whose wife was Tinjis
Tinjis
Tinjis was in Berber and Greek Mythology the wife of Antaeus, son of Poseidon and Gaia....
. Antaeus had a daughter named Alceis or Barce.
Mythology
Greeks of the sixth century BC, who had established colonies along the coast, located Antaeus in the interior desert of LibyaAncient Libya
The Latin name Libya referred to the region west of the Nile Valley, generally corresponding to modern Northwest Africa. Climate changes affected the locations of the settlements....
.
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
Poseidon
Poseidon was the god of the sea, and, as "Earth-Shaker," of the earthquakes in Greek mythology. The name of the sea-god Nethuns in Etruscan was adopted in Latin for Neptune in Roman mythology: both were sea gods analogous to Poseidon...
. He was indefatigably 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 other men.
Antaeus has defeated most of his opponents until it came to his fight with Heracles
Heracles
Heracles ,born Alcaeus or Alcides , was a divine hero in Greek mythology, the son of Zeus and Alcmene, foster son of Amphitryon and great-grandson of Perseus...
(who was on his way to the Garden of Hesperides for his 11th Labour). Upon finding that he could not beat Antaeus by throwing him to the ground as he would regain his strength and be fortified, Heracles discovered the secret of his power. Holding Antaeus aloft, Heracles crushed him in a bearhug. The story of Antaeus has been used as a symbol of the spiritual strength which accrues when one rests one's faith on the immediate fact of things. The struggle between Antaeus and Heracles is a favorite subject in ancient and Renaissance sculpture.
Maghreb
The Maghreb is the region of Northwest Africa, west of Egypt. It includes five countries: Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, and Mauritania and the disputed territory of Western Sahara...
might be quite flexible in longitude: when the Roman commander Quintus Sertorius
Quintus Sertorius
Quintus Sertorius was a Roman statesman and general, born in Nursia, in Sabine territory. His brilliance as a military commander was shown most clearly in his battles against Rome for control of Hispania...
crossed from Hispania to North Africa, he was told by the residents of Tingis (Tangier
Tangier
Tangier, also Tangiers is a city in northern Morocco with a population of about 700,000 . It lies on the North African coast at the western entrance to the Strait of Gibraltar where the Mediterranean meets the Atlantic Ocean off Cape Spartel...
), far to the west of Libya, that the gigantic remains of Antaeus would be found within a certain tumulus
Tumulus
A tumulus is a mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds, Hügelgrab or kurgans, and can be found throughout much of the world. A tumulus composed largely or entirely of stones is usually referred to as a cairn...
; digging it open, his men found giant bones; closing the site, Sertorius made propitiatory offerings and "helped to magnify the tomb's reputation". In Book IV of Marcus Annaeus Lucanus
Marcus Annaeus Lucanus
Marcus Annaeus Lucanus , better known in English as Lucan, was a Roman poet, born in Corduba , in the Hispania Baetica. Despite his short life, he is regarded as one of the outstanding figures of the Imperial Latin period...
' epic poem Pharsalia
Pharsalia
The Pharsalia is a Roman epic poem by the poet Lucan, telling of the civil war between Julius Caesar and the forces of the Roman Senate led by Pompey the Great...
(c. 65-61 AD), the story of Hercules
Hercules
Hercules is the Roman name for Greek demigod Heracles, son of Zeus , and the mortal Alcmene...
' victory over Antaeus is told to the Roman
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
Curio
Gaius Scribonius Curio
Gaius Scribonius Curio was the name of a father and son who lived in the late Roman Republic.-Father:Gaius Scribonius Curio was a Roman statesman and orator. He was nicknamed Burbulieus for the way he moved his body while speaking...
by an unnamed Libya
Libya
Libya is an African country in the Maghreb region of North Africa bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Sudan to the southeast, Chad and Niger to the south, and Algeria and Tunisia to the west....
n citizen. The learned client king Juba II of Numidia (died 23 BC), husband of the daughter of Antony and Cleopatra, claimed his descent from a liaison of Hercules with "Tinga", the consort of Antaeus.
In the Berber language Antaeus is supposedly known as Änti. A different, unconnected figure from Egyptian mythology
Egyptian mythology
Ancient Egyptian religion was a complex system of polytheistic beliefs and rituals which were an integral part of ancient Egyptian society. It centered on the Egyptians' interaction with a multitude of deities who were believed to be present in, and in control of, the forces and elements of nature...
, Anti
Anti (mythology)
In Egyptian mythology, Anti was a god whose worship centred at Antaeopolis, in the northern part of Upper Egypt....
, was transliterated
Transliteration
Transliteration is a subset of the science of hermeneutics. It is a form of translation, and is the practice of converting a text from one script into another...
as "Antaeus" by the Greeks. Another spelling for the name Antaeus is Antaios. The Greek word Antaeus (Antaios) which lies behind his name means "set-against" or "hostile."
Popular culture
- In Dante AlighieriDante AlighieriDurante degli Alighieri, mononymously referred to as Dante , was an Italian poet, prose writer, literary theorist, moral philosopher, and political thinker. He is best known for the monumental epic poem La commedia, later named La divina commedia ...
's InfernoInferno (Dante)Inferno is the first part of Dante Alighieri's 14th-century epic poem Divine Comedy. It is followed by Purgatorio and Paradiso. It is an allegory telling of the journey of Dante through what is largely the medieval concept of Hell, guided by the Roman poet Virgil. In the poem, Hell is depicted as...
, Antaeus is shown among the giants half-frozen up to their torsos at the edge of the Circle of Treachery. He lowers Dante and VirgilVirgilPublius Vergilius Maro, usually called Virgil or Vergil in English , was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He is known for three major works of Latin literature, the Eclogues , the Georgics, and the epic Aeneid...
into the Circle of Treachery. - In the made for TV movie Hercules and the Circle of FireHercules And The Circle Of FireHercules and the Circle of Fire is a made for TV movie. It was the third of five pre-series movies so it may be considered part of the TV series Hercules: The Legendary Journeys.-Overview:...
, Hercules fights Antaeus (who is depicted as a rocky half-giant). - In the TV miniseries HerculesHercules (TV miniseries)Hercules is a 2005 RHI Entertainment television miniseries, chronicling the life of the legendary Greek hero, Heracles, called Hercules in this series...
, Antaeus is one of the hero's main antagonists. - Antaeus appears in the Hercules episode "Hercules and the Hostage Crisis" voiced by Miguel FerrerMiguel FerrerMiguel José Ferrer is an American actor and voice actor who is often cast as a villain. His notable roles include Bob Morton, a supporting character in RoboCop , the short tempered FBI agent Albert Rosenfield in Twin Peaks, and Dr...
. He is depicted as a Half-Titan/Half-Giant who led the terrorist organization P.O.O.T.L.s ("People's Organization of Titanic Liberators") and led them into holding the Prometheus Academy hostage. Antaeus planned to capture Hercules so that he can use him as bait for Zeus and get him to free the Titans. - The story is used in Seamus HeaneySeamus HeaneySeamus Heaney is an Irish poet, writer and lecturer. He lives in Dublin. Heaney has received the Nobel Prize in Literature , the Golden Wreath of Poetry , T. S. Eliot Prize and two Whitbread prizes...
's poem "Hercules and Antaeus", published in "North" (1975). - Antaeus appears in the film Hercules Unchained. However, Hercules does not kill him.
- Antaeus appears in Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson and the OlympiansPercy Jackson and the OlympiansPercy Jackson & the Olympians is a pentalogy of adventure and fantasy fiction books authored by Rick Riordan. The series consists of five books, as well as spin-off titles such as The Demigod Files and Demigods and Monsters. Set in the United States, the books are predominantly based on Greek...
series where he appeared in Battle of the Labyrinth. Percy Jackson kills Antaeus by hanging him from a chandelier and stabbing him in the stomach. - Plato uses Antaios as a metaphor: You seem to me to play rather the role of Antaios; for you do not let anyone go who approaches you until you have forced him to strip and wrestle with you in argument.
- Socrates also had a Antaios metaphor: Your comparison with . . . Antaios pictures my complaint admirably; only I am a more stubborn combatant than they; for many a Herakles . . . strong men of words, have fallen in with me and belabored me mightily."