Abrahamic Genesis tells of the
Nephilim before and after
Noah's Flood. The word
Nephilim is loosely translated as
giants in some translations of the Hebrew Bible, but left untranslated in others. According to , the Nephilim were destroyed in the Flood, but Nephilim are reported after the Flood, including: • The
Anakim • The
Amorites • The
Rephaites, also known as The
Emites The
Book of Numbers while the
Septuagint, the 1st-century Jewish historian
Flavius Josephus and the 2nd–1st-centuries BCE
Dead Sea Scrolls give Goliath's height as four cubits and one span (possibly ). For comparison, the Anakites are described as making the Israelites seem like grasshoppers. See also
Gibborim.
Josephus also described the Amorites as giants in his
Antiquities of the Jews, circa 93CE, indicating that some sort of fossils may have been on display at that time: "For which reason they removed their camp to Hebron; and when they had taken it, they slew all the inhabitants. There were till then left the race of giants, who had bodies so large, and countenances so entirely different from other men, that they were surprising to the sight, and terrible to the hearing. The bones of these men are still shown to this very day, unlike to any credible relations of other men." The
Book of Enoch describes giants as the offspring of
Watchers and women in 7:2.
Armenian Hayk was known as the founder of the Armenian state. Hayk was part of a race of giants who helped construct the
Tower of Babel. Ancient historian
Movses Khorenatsi wrote, "Hayk was handsome and personable, with curly hair, sparkling eyes and strong arms. Among the giants he was the bravest and most famous, opponent of all who raised their hand to become absolute ruler over the giants and heroes."
Mount Nemrut is known to have received its name from an Armenian tradition in which
Nimrod was killed by an arrow shot by Hayk during a massive battle between two rival armies of giants to the south-east of
Lake Van.
Aztec Aztec mythology features the
Quinametzin, a race of giant men created in one of the previous
solar eras. They are credited with the construction of
Teotihuacan.
Basque Giants are rough but generally righteous characters of formidable strength living in the hills of the
Basque Country. Giants stand for the Basque people reluctant to convert to Christianity who decide to stick to the old lifestyle and customs in the forest. Sometimes they hold the secret of ancient techniques and wisdom unknown to the Christians, like in the legend of
San Martin Txiki, while their most outstanding feature is their strength. It follows that in many legends all over the Basque territory the giants are held accountable for the creation of many stone formations, hills and ages-old
megalithic structures (
dolmens, etc.), with similar explanations provided in different spots. However, giants show different variants and forms, they are most frequently referred to as
jentilak and
mairuak, while as individuals they can be represented as
Basajaun ("the lord of the forests"), Sanson (variation of the biblical
Samson), Errolan (based on the
Frankish army general
Roland who fell dead at the
Battle of Roncevaux Pass) or even
Tartalo (a one-eyed giant akin to the Greek
Cyclops Polyphemus).
Bulgarian In
Bulgarian mythology, giants called
ispolini inhabited the Earth before modern humans. They lived in the mountains, fed on raw meat and often fought against
dragons. Ispolini were afraid of
blackberries which posed a danger of making the giants trip and die, so they offered sacrifices to that plant.
Chilean There are tales of giants in the northern Chilean port town of
Caldera telling of giants who play with ships moving them from one port to another. Tales of the same area also tells of giants who are able to crush humans with their feet and when laying down to sleep being so long as to reach from the mountains to the sea. The giant enters to the mountains to obtain riches to the princess of Tololo Pampa.
Jain According to
Jainism, there was a time when giants walked upon this earth.
Jain cosmology divides the worldly cycle of time into two parts or half-cycles,
avasarpani (age of descending purity) and ascending (
utsarpani). According to
Jain texts, the height of
Rishabhanatha, first
tirthankara of the present half-cycle of time (
avasarpani) was 500
dhanusa (longbow). In
avasarpani, as the cycle moves ahead, height of all humans and animals decreases. The following table depicts the six
aras of
avasarpini–
Norse In
Norse mythology, the (cognate with and ) are often opposed to the gods. While often translated as "giants", most are described as being roughly human-sized. Some are portrayed as huge, such as some frost giants (
hrímþursar), fire giants (
eldjötnar), and mountain giants (
bergrisar). The are the origin of most of various monsters in Norse mythology (e.g. the
Fenrisulfr) and in the eventual battle of
Ragnarök, the giants will storm
Asgard and fight the gods until the world is destroyed. Even so, the gods themselves were related to the by many marriages and descent; there are also such as
Ægir who have good relationships with the gods and bear little difference in status to them.
Odin, often regarded as the chief god, is the great-grandson of the
Ymir. Norse mythology also holds that the entire world of men was created from the flesh of Ymir, a giant of cosmic proportions whose name is considered by some scholars to share a
root with
Yama of Indo-Iranian mythology.
Trolls are beings that are sometimes very large. The name
troll is applied to . An old
Icelandic legend says that two night-prowling giants, a man and a woman, were traversing the
fjord near
Drangey Island with their cow when they were surprised by the bright rays of daybreak. As a result of exposure to daylight, all three were turned into stone. Drangey represents the cow and Kerling (supposedly the female giant, the name means "old hag") is to the south of it. Karl (the male giant) was to the north of the island, but he disappeared long ago. A
bergrisi – the traditional protector of southwestern Iceland – appears as a
supporter on the
coat of arms of Iceland.
Paiute According to
Northern Paiute oral history, the
Si-Te-Cah or Sai'i are a legendary tribe of red-haired
cannibalistic giants, the remains of which were allegedly found in 1911 by
guano miners in Nevada's
Lovelock Cave. Furthermore, the Paiute creation story tells of "beautiful giants" who once lived between the
Sierra Nevadas and the
Rocky Mountains. After giving birth to a disfigured child, the giants treated the child so poorly that
the Great Spirit responded by making the land hot and desolate and allowing enemies to conquer the giants. Only two giants survived: Paiute and his wife, both of whose skin became brown from eternally living in the hot desert.
Roman Several
Jupiter-Giant-Columns have been found in
Germania Superior. These were crowned with a statue of Jupiter, typically on horseback, defeating or trampling down a giant, often depicted as a snake. They are restricted to the area of south-western Germany, western Switzerland, French Jura, and Alsace.
Other European faces a giant in this engraving by
Walter Crane. In
folklore from all over Europe, giants were believed to have built the remains of previous civilizations. The Danish historian
Saxo Grammaticus thought giants had a hand in the creation of
megalithic monuments. Similarly, the
Old English poem The Seafarer speaks of the high stone walls that were the work of giants. Natural geologic features such as the massive
basalt columns of the
Giant's Causeway on the coast of
Northern Ireland were attributed to construction by giants. In the Netherlands, giants are often associated with creating or forming the landscape. For instance, two giants are said to have dug a channel, until they reached the village of
Akkrum, where they had an argument and each went his own way, thus splitting the channel into two separate waterways. Others threw up hills, or became hills themselves when they died on the spot. In several legends, giants were evil beings that threatened, robbed and killed travellers or locals; such as
Ellert and Brammert, in the province of
Drenthe. Medieval
chivalry romances such as the Spanish
Amadís de Gaula feature giants as antagonists, or, rarely, as allies. This is parodied famously in Cervantes'
Don Quixote, when the title character attacks a windmill, believing it to be a giant. This is the source of the phrase
tilting at windmills. Tales of combat with giants were a common feature in the folklore of the
British Isles. Celtic giants also figure in
Breton and
Arthurian romances. In
Kinloch Rannoch, a local myth has a local hill resembling a giant named as
The Sleeping Giant. Folklore says the giant will awaken only if a specific musical instrument is played near the hill.
Giants are also prominent in
Welsh folklore. Many giants in
English folklore were noted for their stupidity. A giant named Gwendol Wrekin who had quarreled with the
Mayor of Shrewsbury went to bury the city with dirt; however, he met a shoemaker, carrying shoes to repair, and the shoemaker convinced the giant that he had worn out all the shoes coming from
Shrewsbury, and so it was too far to travel. This led to the giant giving up and dumping the dirt, forming two hills called
The Wrekin and
The Ercall. Other English stories told of how giants threw stones at each other, which was used to explain many great stones on the landscape. Giants figure in folklore and fairy tales, such as
Jack the Giant Killer,
The Giant Who Had No Heart in His Body,
Nix Nought Nothing,
Robin Hood and the Prince of Aragon,
Young Ronald, and
Paul Bunyan.
Ogres are humanoid creatures, sometimes of gigantic stature, that occur in various sorts of European folklore.
Rübezahl, is a kind giant from
German folklore who lived in the
Giant Mountains along with the
Bergmönch, a giant mountain spirit.
Antero Vipunen is a giant shaman who appears in the
Kalevala, meeting the epic hero
Väinämöinen to teach him creation spells.
Yoruba The legendary
Yoruba warrior king,
Oranmiyan, who founded the
Oyo Empire is sometimes fabled to have been a giant. A 20ft tall obelisk erected in the city of
Ifẹ, known as
Ọpa Ọranmiyan (lit. "Staff of Ọranmiyan") is believed to have been plunged into the ground by him before his death. ==Names==