Enceladus (mythology)

Athena (left) fighting Enceladus (inscribed retrograde) on an Attic red-figure dish, c. 550–500 BC (Louvre CA3662).^[1]

In Greek mythology, Enceladus (Ancient Greek: Ἐγκέλαδος Enkélados) was one of the Giants, the offspring of Gaia (Earth), and Uranus (Sky). Enceladus was the traditional opponent of Athena during the Gigantomachy, the war between the Giants and the gods, and was said to be buried under Mount Etna in Sicily.

Sources

Enceladus was one of the Giants, who according to Hesiod, were the offspring of Gaia, born from the blood that fell when Uranus was castrated by their son Cronus.^[2] The Giants fought Zeus and the other Olympian gods in the Gigantomachy, their epic battle for control of the cosmos.^[3] A Giant named Enceladus, fighting Athena, is attested in art as early as an Attic Black-figure pot dating from the second quarter of the sixth century BC (Louvre E732).^[4] In literature, references to the Giant occur as early as the plays of the fifth century BC Greek tragedian Euripides, where, for example, in Euripides' Ion the chorus describes seeing on the late sixth century Temple of Apollo at Delphi, Athena "brandishing her gorgon shield against Enceladus".^[5] Although traditionally opposed by Athena, Virgil and others have Enceladus being struck down by Zeus.^[6] In Euripides' comic satyr play Cyclops, Silenus, the drunken companion of the wine god Dionysus, boasts of having killed Enceladus with his spear.^[7]

The third century BC poet Callimachus has Enceladus buried under the island of Sicily,^[8] and according to the mythographer Apollodorus, Athena hurled the island of Sicily at the fleeing Enceladus during the Gigantomachy.^[9] The Latin poets Virgil, Statius and Claudian all locate his burial under Mount Etna,^[10] although other traditions had the monster Typhon or the Hundred-Hander Briareus buried under Etna.^[11] For some Enceladus was instead buried in Italy.^[12]

The Latin poet Horace has Enceladus use trees as spears.^[13] The second century AD geographer Pausanias reports that a Tegean statue of Athena was called "Horse goddess" because according to a local account Athena "drove the chariot and horses against Enceladus".^[14] Claudian calls Enceladus "all powerful king of the Earth-born giants",^[15] and has Gaia, imagining the Giants victorious, propose that "Enceladus, rule the sea".^[16]

Cause of volcanic eruptions and earthquakes

Enceladus (like other vanquished monsters, thought to be buried under volcanos)^[17] was said to be the cause of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.^[18] Mount Etna's eruptions were said to be the breath of Enceladus, and its tremors to be caused by him rolling over from side to side beneath the mountain. So, for example Virgil:

Enceladus, his body lightning-scarred,

lies prisoned under all, so runs the tale:

o'er him gigantic Aetna breathes in fire

from crack and seam; and if he haply turn

to change his wearied side, Trinacria's isle

trembles and moans, and thick fumes mantle heaven.^[19]

the c. 1st century poem Aetna (perhaps written by Lucilius Junior):

In Trinacrian waters Enceladus dies and is buried under Aetna by Jove's decree; with the ponderous mountain above him he tosses restlessly, and defiantly breathes from his throat a penal fire.^[20]

and Claudian:

In the midst of the island rise the charred cliffs of Aetna, eloquent monument of Jove’s victory over the Giants, the tomb of Enceladus, whose bound and bruisèd body breathes forth endless sulphur clouds from its burning wounds. Whene’er his rebellious shoulders shift their burden to the right or left, the island is shaken from its foundations and the walls of tottering cities sway this way and that.^[21]

Ancient Art

Athena (right) and Giant (presumably Enceladus) Attic black-figure neck amphora, c. 550–500 BC (Munich 1612).^[22]

The battle between Athena and Enceladus was a popular theme in Greek vase paintings,^[23] with examples from as early as the middle of the sixth century BC.^[24] We know, from the description given in Euripides' Ion, that the battle was depicted on the late sixth century BC Temple of Apollo at Delphi.^[25]

The east pediment of the Old Temple of Athena on the Acropolis of Athens, dating from the late sixth century, prominently displayed Athena standing over a fallen giant, possibly Enceladus.^[26] The battle was probably also depicted on the new peplos (robe) presented to Athena on the Acropolis of Athens as part of the Panathenaic festival.^[27]

The Dionysiaca

The fifth century AD Greek poet Nonnus, in his poem Dionysiaca, mentions Enceladus as one of the several Giants that Dionysus battles in the Gigantomachy.^[28] Nonnus has Gaia set the Giants against Dionysus, promising Enceladus Athena as his wife should the Giants subdue Dionysus.^[29] Dionysus fought Enceladus with fire, but Enceladus was ultimately defeated by Zeus: "[Dionysus] roasted the Giants' bodies with a great conflagration, an image on earth of the thunderbolt cast by Zeus. The torches blazed: fire was rolling all over the head of Encelados and making the air hot, but it did not vanquish him—Encelados bent not his knee in the steam of the eartly fire, since he was reserved for a thunderbolt."^[30]

In later art and literature

Gilt-bronze Enceladus by Gaspar Mercy in the Bosquet de l'Encélade in the gardens of Versailles

At Versailles, Louis XIV's consistent iconographic theme of the triumphs of Apollo and the Olympians against all adversaries included the fountain of Enceladus in its own cabinet de verdure, which was cut into the surrounding woodland and outlined by trelliswork; the ensemble has recently been restored (illustration). According to an engraving of the fountain by Le Pautre (1677), the sculptor of the gilt-bronze Enceladus was Gaspar Mercy of Cambrai.^[31]

William Shakespeare mentions "Enceladus" in Titus Andronicus, Act 4, sc. 2, L 96. "I tell you younglings, not Enceladus." (Folger Shakespeare Library – Titus Andronicus, page 136-137, copyright 2005).

John Keats mentions Enceladus among the Titans in his "Hyperion" (1818/1819).^[32]

In Herman Melville's Pierre, the image of Enceladus appears multiple times; the protagonist identifies with Enceladus in a dream.^[33]

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, inspired by the suffering of the Second Italian War of Independence, wrote his poem "Enceladus" in 1859.^[34]

Rick Riordan included Enceladus in his book The Lost Hero as one of the primary villains.

Namesakes

Enceladus, a moon of the planet Saturn, is named after the mythological Enceladus. Its south pole is interspersed with massive geysers of ice and water vapor that shoot hundreds of miles from its interior. The moon is considered by scientists to be one of the most likely locations in the Solar System to offer some habitability potential for microscopic life.^[35][36][37]

One of two surviving Short Belfast military transport aircraft is dubbed "Enceladus".

In Antarctica, there is a grouping of Nunataks on Alexander Island called the Enceladus Nunataks — but these nunataks were named after Saturn's moon, not after the giants of Greek mythology.

Notes

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Enceladus (mythology).

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