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'GIANT (O.E.' geant, through Fr. giant, O.Fr. gaiant, jaiant, jeant, med. pop. Lat. gagante - cf. Ital. gigante - by assimilation from gigantem, acc. of Lat. gigas, Gr. yL'yas). The idea conveyed by the word in classic mythology is that of beings more or less manlike, but monstrous in size and strength. Figures like the Titans and the Giants whose birth from Heaven and Earth is sung by Hesiod in the Theogony, such as can heap up mountains to scale the sky and war beside or against the gods, must be treated, with other like monstrous figures of the wonder-tales of the world, as belonging altogether to the realms of mythology. But there also appear in the legends of giants some with historic significance. The ancient and commonly repeated explanation of the Greek word ryiyas, as connected with or derived from ynyevi i s, or "earth-born," is etymologically doubtful, but at any rate the idea conveyed by it was familiar to the ancient Greeks, that the giants were earth-born or indigenous races (see Welcker, Griechische Gotterlehre, i. 787). The Bible (the English reader must be cautioned that the word giant has been there used ambiguously, from the Septuagint downwards) touches the present matter in so far as it records the traditions of the Israelites of fighting in Palestine with tall races of the land such as the Anakim (Numb. xiii. 33; Deut. ii. 10, iii. i i; i Sam. xvii. 4). When reading in Homer of "the Cyclopes and the wild tribes of the Giants," or of the adventures of Odysseus in the cave of Polyphemus (Homer, Odyss. vii. 206; ix.), we seem to come into view of dim traditions, exaggerated through the mist of ages, of pre-Hellenic barbarians, godless, cannibal, skin-clothed, hurling huge stones in their rude warfare. Giantlegends of this class are common in Europe and Asia, where the big and stupid giants would seem to have been barbaric tribes exaggerated into monsters in the legends of those who dispossessed and slew them. In early times it was usual for cities to have their legends of giants. Thus London had Gog and Magog, whose effigies (14 ft. high) still stand in the Guildhall (see GoG); Antwerp had her Antigonus, 40 ft. high; Douai had Gayant, 22 ft. high, and so on.
Besides the conception of giants, as special races distinct from mankind, it was a common opinion of the ancients that the human race had itself degenerated, the men of primeval ages having been of so far greater stature and strength as to be in fact gigantic. This, for example, is received by Pliny (Hist. Nat. vii. 16), and it becomes a common doctrine of theologians such as Augustine (De civitate Dei, xv. 9), lasting on into times so modern that it may be found in Cruden's Concordance. Yet so far as can be judged from actual remains, it does not appear that giants, in the sense of tribes of altogether superhuman stature, ever existed, or that the men of ancient time were on the whole taller than those now living. It is now usual to apply the word giant not to superhuman beings but merely to unusually tall men and women. In every race of mankind the great mass of individuals do not depart far from a certain mean or average height, while the very tall or very short men become less and less numerous as they depart from the mean standard, till the utmost divergence is reached in a very few giants on the one hand, and a very few dwarfs on the other. At both ends of the scale, the body is usually markedly out of the ordinary proportions; thus a giant's head is smaller and a dwarf's head larger than it would be if an average man had been magnified or diminished. The principle of the distribution of individuals of different sizes in a race or nation has been ably set forth by Quetelet (Physique sociale, vol. ii.; Anthropometrie, books iii. and iv.). Had this principle been understood formerly, we might have been spared the pains of criticizing assertions as to giants 20 ft. high, or even more, appearing among mankind. The appearance of an individual man 20 ft. high involves the existence of the race he is an extreme member of, whose mean stature would be at least 12 to 14 ft., which is a height no human being has been proved on sufficient evidence to have approached (Anthropom. p. 302). Modern statisticians cannot accept the loose conclusion in Buffon (Hist. nat., ed. Sonnini, iv. 134) that there is no doubt of giants having been io, 12, and perhaps 15 ft. high. Confidence is not even to be placed in ancient asserted measurements, as where Pliny gives to one Gabbaras, an Arabian, the stature of 9 ft. 9 in. (about 9 ft. 52 in. English), capping this with the mention of Posio and Secundilla, who were half a foot higher. That two persons should be described as both having this same extraordinary measure suggests to the modern critic the notion of a note jotted down on the philosopher's tablets, and never tested afterwards.
Under these circumstances it is worth while to ask how it is that legend and history so abound in mentions of giants outside all probable dimensions of the human frame. One cause is that, when the story-teller is asked the actual stature of the huge men who figure in his tales, he is not sparing of his inches and feet. What exaggeration can do in this way may be judged from the fact that the Patagonians, whose average height (5 ft. II in.) is really about that of the Chirnside men in Berwickshire, are described in Pigafetta's Voyage round the World as so monstrous that the Spaniards' heads hardly reached their waists. It is reasonable to suppose, with Professor Nilsson (Primitive Inhabitants of Scandinavia, chap. vi.), that in the traditions of early Europe tribes of savages may have thus, if really tall, expanded into giants, or, if short, dwindled into dwarfs. Another cause which is clearly proved to have given rise to giant-myths of yet more monstrous type has been the discovery of great fossil bones, as of mammoth or mastodon, which were formerly supposed to be bones of giants (see Tylor, Early History of Mankind, chap. xi.; Primitive Culture, chap. x.). A tooth weighing 44 lb and a thigh-bone 17 ft. long having been found in New England in 1712 (they were probably mastodon), Dr Increase Mather thereupon communicated to the Royal Society of London his theory of the existence of men of prodigious stature in the antediluvian world (see the Philosophical Transactions, xxiv. 85; D. Wilson, Prehistoric Man, i. 54). The giants in the streets of Basel and supporting the arms of Lucerne appear to have originated from certain fossil bones found in 1577, examined by the physician Felix Plater, and pronounced to have belonged to a giant some 16 or 19 ft. high. These bones have since been referred to a very different geological genus, but Plater's giant skeleton was accepted early in the 19th century as a genuine relic of the giants who once inhabited the earth. Of giants in real life whose stature has been authentically recorded Quetelet gives the palm to Frederick the Great's Scotch giant, who measured about 8 ft. 3 in. But since his time there have been several giants who have equalled or surpassed this figure. Patrick Cotler, an Irishman, who died at Clifton, Bristol, in 1802, was 8 ft. 7 in. high. The famous "Irish giant" O'Brien (Charles Byrne), whose skeleton is preserved in the museum of the Royal College of Surgeons, London, was 8 ft. 4 in. Chang (Chang-woo-goo), who appeared in London in 1865-1866 and again in 1880, was 8 ft. 2 in. Josef Winkelmaier, an Austrian, exhibited in London on the 10th of January 1887, was 8 ft. 9 in.; while Elizabeth Lyska, a Russian child of twelve, when shown in London in 1889, had already reached 6 ft. 8 in. Machnow, a Russian, born at Charkow, was exhibited in London in his twenty-third year in 1905; he then stood 9 ft. 3 in., and weighed 360 lb (25 st. 10 lb). From his wrist to the top of his second finger he measured 2 ft. (see The Times, 10th February 1905).
The whole subject of giant myths and the now entirely exploded theory that mankind has, as far as stature is concerned, degenerated since prehistoric times, has been ably dealt with in a volume published by MM. P. E. Launois and P. Roy, entitled Etudes biologiques sur les geans (Paris, 1904). See also E. J. Wood, Giants and Dwarfs (1860).
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Giant
Giants
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Word derived from the Greek γίγας (in LXX.), denoting a man of extraordinary stature; in the English versions the rendering for three Hebrew words:
(1) "Nefilim" (see Fall of Angels), Gen 6:4, an extinct (mythological, only semihuman) race, inhabitants of the earth before the Flood, the progeny of the Bene Elohim and the daughters of men. In Num 13:33 this name is used of the pre-Israelitish population of Palestine. Gen 6:4b calls them the:
(2) "Gibborim" = mighty men. In the singular in Job 16:14 this word is translated "giant" (but R. V. margin, "mighty man").
(3) "Refa'im" (A. V. "Rephaim"), a collective appellation for the pre-Canaanite population settled both east and west of the Jordan and described as of immense height (Deut 3:11; 2 Sam 21:16ff); the singular occurs as "rafah" (with the definite article, "the giant"; 2 Sam 11:16ff) or "rafa'" (1Chr 20:4ff). In the account of the war of the four kings (Gen. xiv.) the Rephaim are mentioned among the defeated (verse 5), along with the Zuzim (= Zamzummim), the Emim, and the Horim, peoples cited in Deut 2:10ff asautochthons of Palestine; with the exception of the last-mentioned, they were said to be "powerful and numerous and tall," and considered to be Rephaim like the Anakim, the context showing that the Horim as well as the Avim (Deut 2:23), even if not explicitly described as such, were also deemed to have belonged to these prehistoric Palestinian tribes. In Gen. xiv. the Rephaim are enumerated along with the Kenites, the Hittites, etc., as being in the land in Abraham's time. Before the conquest, Og, the King of Bashan, is mentioned as the only survivor of the Rephaim (Deut 3:11) east of the Jordan, while the Anakim were located west of the river (Num 13:22; Josh 14:12ff, Josh 15:13; Jdg 1:20), as well as among the Philistines (Josh 11:21f). Even near Carmel (Josh 17:15) they were settled, and the name "valley of Rephaim" (Josh 15:8, Josh 18:16) indicates their early presence near Jerusalem (comp. "Avim," a Benjamite city, Josh 18:23). Under David these giants are connected with Gath (1Chr 20:6ff). Goliath (I Sam. xvii.), Ishbi-benob, Saph (= "Sippai"; 1Chr 20:4), Goliath the Gittite ("Lahmi, the brother of Goliath the Gittite"; 1Chr 20:5), and a man of great stature with 24 fingers and toes (2 Sam 21:16ff; 1Chr 20:4ff), are mentioned as born to "the giant." This giant may have been the Goliath that was slain by David, or the phrase may mean that these men were of the breed of the giants living at Gath.
The Hebrew term for "giants" is "refa'im," a grammatical plural. Non-Israelitish clans are designated as "the Gazzite," "the Ashdodite," "the Gittite," "the Hittite," "the Perizite," etc. (Josh. xiii. 3; Gen. xv. 20), i.e., by the race-names in the singular with the definite article prefixed, the names "Caphtorim" and "Pelishtim" constituting the exceptions. From this it would appear that "rephaim" and the singular "ha-rafa'" are appellatives ("the giants," "the giant"), and that in the opinion of the writers the giants did not constitute a distinct, non-Israelitish race or nationality, but were a breed of men of great stature found among various peoples. Thus Og belonged to Bashan (Josh. ii. 10); the Anakim were politically Amorites at the time of the conquest, while they were presumably Hittites under Abraham. David's giants were Philistines and Gittites. If the Horites were Rephaim, they are the exception, inasmuch as they maintained their identity as a distinct people. This view, however, is not generally accepted. It is contended that the Rephaim constituted the earliest population of Palestine, later subjugated and absorbed by the Canaanites, Philistines, and Hebrews. In the case of the Emim and the Zamzummim it is expressly stated (Deut. ii. 10, 11, 20, 21) that they were replaced by the Moabites and Ammonites, while the Avim were annihilated by the Philistines (Deut. ii. 23). The Amorites (among the Canaanites; Gen. x. 16) seem to have absorbed a large portion of the aboriginal population. In Amos ii. 9 their description recalls that of these autochthons, whose racial affinity, however, is not clear. It has been suggested that they may have been the first invaders of Hamitic origin, to which the later immigrants, viz., the Amorites and Canaanites, also belonged (Riehm, "Wörterbuch," ii. 1302b; but see Patten, "Early History of Syria," pp. 36, 37). Whatever basis of fact may underlie the tradition of the existence of this prehistoric population, it is certainly overlaid with mythical elements. This gives weight to the theory that these Biblical references are of the same historical value as the many non-Hebrew accounts of giants (see Bohlen, "Genesis," p. 82; Winer, "B. R." ii. s.v. "Riesen") preceding the men of ordinary stature, or living among them. Granted that the names "Rephaim," "Emim," "Zamzummim" are Hebrew folk-etymological adaptations of non-Hebrew words (Patten, l.c.), this very fact would prove that in the consciousness of the Hebrew writers the historical authenticity of these aboriginal races had been entirely crowded out by mythological and legendary conceits, though there is no occasion for holding with Eduard Meyer ("Zeit. für Alttesta-mentliche Wissenschaft," i. 139) that the existence of the Anakim and the Rephaim as a people is a free development of the popular tradition that individual giants had their home in Palestine.
"Rephaim," "Emim," "Zamzummim," and "Nefilim" are in Hebrew etymologically connected with the various designations for the spirits of the departed, the "shades" (Schwally, "Das Leben nach dem Tode," p. 64; "Zeitschrift für Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft," xviii. 127 et seq.). The difficulty involved in this terminology, by which words denoting the limp weakness of the dead are applied to men of notorious strength, is removed if it be borne in mind that the Hebrew Bible probably contains only fragments of popular stories (Gunkel, "Genesis," p. 54) more fully given in later books. The tradition in Enoch and the Book of Jubilees supplies the explanation why the giants were designated as "Rephaim." According to the Book of Jubilees (ch. vii.), these Nafidim (Nefilim) slew one another, and thus the curse pronounced against the shedders of blood fell upon them. "Into Sheol will they go and into the place of condemnation will they descend" (Jubilees, vii. 29; comp. Enoch ciii. 7, 8). These giants were thus known as the typical dwellers in Sheol, i.e., the Rephaim. Because they were without progeny or because they killed their own issue (Jubilees, vii. 22; comp. Enoch, lxxxvi. 4, lxxxviii. 2), they were called "Nefilim," from the root (image) , ("childless") (comp. Midrash Leḳaḥ Ṭob to Gen. vi. 4). The fact that the black basalt bed or sarcophagus of Og was shown at Rabbah, the chief city of the Ammonites (Deut. iii. 11), confirms rather than confutes the legendary nature of the giant stories. As the last of "the dead," i.e., the Rephaim, Og naturally was supposed to have had a sarcophagus. Among the many sarcophagi found in that region and identified as the tombs of various historic personages (Driver, Commentary to Deut. iii. 11), this one—if it was not merely a large black basalt block in which popular imagination detected a likeness to a couch ("'eres") fit for a giant—was, on account of its size, naturally associated with the giant king of the story. Such associations of curious natural formations or historic relics are verycommon in popular tradition (e.g., the pillar of salt and Lot's wife).
The giants of the Bible are not monsters; they are rather the children of evil than perpetrators of evil. In the later literature they appear as bereft of reason (Bar. iii. 26-28); of an insolent spirit, rebelling against God (Wisdom of Solomon xiv. 6; III Macc. ii. 4; Ecclus. [Sirach] xvi. 7). The Hebrew text has (image) ("the princes of olden days"), which may be a reference to the chief angels enumerated in Enoch (see Fall of Angels); and these are described as (image) ("that guided the world"). But the final ם in the fragments as reproduced by Schechter looks like a possible ש followed by the line for abbreviations, which would give the reading [ (image) ] (image) , meaning "who ruined the world" (by their violence, (image) ; comp. Enoch vii. 3, 4). These giants are descended from the fallen angels; three thousand ells is their height; and they comprise three classes: the original giants, who begot the Nefilim, to whom in turn were born the Eliud (Book of Enoch, vii. 2; and the Greek Syncellus [Charles, "Book of Enoch," p. 65]). In the Book of Jubilees the last-mentioned are called "Elyo" (vii. 22). These three classes correspond to the three names employed in Gen. vi. 4 = "Nephilim," "Gibborim," and "Anshe ha-Shem" (i.e., "Anakim"; "Elyo" is certainly a misreading for the abbreviation (image) ). In the Book of Jubilees these three are described as being unlike (vii. 22), which Charles and Littmann (in Kautzsch, "Pseud-epigraphen") read as signifying "they fought with one another." It is more likely that this contains a reminiscence of the midrashic conceit according to which Adam before the Fall was of gigantic stature (Ḥag. 12a), but in consequence of his sin was reduced to ordinary human proportions, and in addition lost the "demut" (likeness) to God (Midrash ha-Gadol to Gen. vi. 4, ed. Schechter). These giants, though molded like Adam before the Fall, "were not like" God; while they were exempt from the forfeiture of original stature, they, like man, had lost the demut (comp. Enoch, xv.). The Rabbis hold that these giants had seven names: (1) "Emim," because whoever saw one of them was seized with terror. (2) "Rephaim," because their sight made people "soft" (fearful) like wax. (3) "Gibborim," because their brains alone measured 18 ells. (4) "Zamzummim," because they inspired fear and were fierce warriors. (5) "Anakim," because they wore huge necklaces in great numbers (see also Anakim). (6) "Avim," because they destroyed the world and were themselves destroyed. According to another authority, this name was due to their knowledge of the soil, which was as subtle as that of the serpent ("'iwya," the Galilean for "serpent"). (7) "Nefilim," because they caused the world to fall and fell themselves (Ber. R. xxvii.). The description "Anshe ha-Shem" (Men of the Name) is interpreted as "men of destruction" (ib.). The cabalistic commentators (Recanate, among others) allege that they were called "Men of the Name" because they imparted to men the mysteries of the Divine Name and the names of demons, to conjure therewith. For doing this some of their kind had their noses pierced and were suspended from the dark mountains so that never again could they see the sun (see Grünbaum, "Sprach-und Sagenkunde," p. 72, Berlin, 1901). The Anakim were the sons of the Nefilim (Pirḳe R. El. xxii.), and the giants Og and Sihon were the sons of Ahiah ("Ḥiya" in the Midrash Abkir), the son of Shemḥazai, the fallen angel (Niddah 61a). Some of these giants had feet 18 ells in length (Deut. R. i.), and the same length is given for the thigh-bone (Buber, "Tanḥuma," Debarim, addition 7). Numerous rows of teeth are also ascribed to them (Ḥul. 60a). They were very voracious, eating as many as a thousand oxen, horses, and camels each day (Midrash Abkir). Relying upon their great size, and upon the power of their enormous feet to stop the rising waters, they ridiculed Noah's warning (see Flood in Rabbinical Literature). According to other versions that were inspired by a desire to attenuate the expression sons of Elohim" (see Fall of Angels), the giants were the progeny of the union of the Sethites and the Cainite women ("Das Christliche Adamsbuch," p. 140, note 70; Ephraem Syrus, "Opera," ii. 477; Lagarde, "Materialien," p. 65; Eutychius, i. 26; Ibn Ezra to Gen. vi. 2). The "Shalshelet ha-Ḳabbalah" (ed. Venice, p. 92b) reports that Seth had commanded his descendants to keep aloof from the daughters of Cain. Seven generations obeyed his injunction, but they then cohabited with the accursed breed, and the result was the birth of the Anakim, the perpetrators of all kinds of evil. These giants led a most shameful life, thus causing God to send the Flood. This is also the view taken by Arabic authors. Ṭabari (i. 127 et seq.) records that Adam had enjoined the Sethites to avoid the Cainite women, but that the latter seduced them by bewitching music and by their personal charms heightened by cosmetics (see also Baiḍawi to sura xxiii. 33); they were also accustomed to adorn themselves with pearl necklaces (from the rabbinical interpretation of the name "Anakim," "'anaḳ" meaning neck). The same story is told of the generation of Sethite-Cainite giants by Ibn al-Athir (i. 41) and Ya'ḳubi (p. 7; comp. "Die Schatzhoehle," ed. Bezold, ii. 18).
Of all the giants only Og escaped destruction in the Flood. Noah made a place for him near the lattice door of the ark, through which (Pirḳe R. El. xxiii.), because Og had sworn to serve Noah and his descendants for all time, he handed him his food every day. The Talmud (Niddah 61a) sees a reference to this in the word "ha-paliṭ." (Gen. xiv. 13), "the escaped" fugitive being identified with Og (comp. Pseudo-Jonathan to Gen. xiv. 13; Deut. iii. 11; see Eliezer). Arabic writers (Ṭabari, i. 193; and Ibn al-Athir, i. 51) quote this escape of Og as a "Jewish" story ("according as the people of the Torah fancy"). According to Mohammedan tradition, Og was a son of Noah's sister, and survived his uncle 1,500 years, being killed by Moses (see Bemidbar Rabbah to Num. xxi. 34; Tan., Ḥuḳḳat, ed. Buber, 55; Pseudo-Jonathan to Num. xxi. 34). The story of his death runs as follows: When Og saw the camp of the Israelites, six parasangs in area, fearing lest his fate be a repetition of Sihon's he proposed to kill them all at once. He broke off a mountain and lifted itabove his head to throw it upon the Israelites. But God sent a worm which bored a hole into the mountain so that it fell upon Og's neck, his teeth becoming imbedded in it. Moses, taking a mace ten ells long, beat the ankles of Og until he died (comp. "Sefer ha-Yashar," and Ber. 54b, where ants perforate the mountain). The Arabic historians relate similar stories (Ṭabari, i. 50 [Zotenberg transl. i. 391]; Ibn al-Athir, i. 137). Og's height is given by Ḳazwini (i. 449) as 23,330 ells; he lived 3,600 years. The waters of the Flood reached only to about the middle of his body. In Parḥon's "Maḥberet," s.v. (image) , as in Ḳazwini (l.c.), it is a bird, (image) , that splits the mountain.
Ishbi-benob (II Sam. xxi. 16) is another giant-hero of a Talmudical legend. Into his hand God delivered David on account of the destruction of the priest-city Nob and other misdeeds, Satan masquerading as a deer leading David in pursuit to the land of the Philistines, that Ishbi-benob, the brother of Goliath, might discover him and do him harm. The giant bound David and laid him on the ground under an olive-tree and an oil-press. But by a miracle the earth softened under him and thus saved him from being crushed. All this happened on Sabbath eve. Abishai, the son of Zeruiah, when making his toilet detected blood in the vessel (according to others, it was a dove in distress that he beheld), which circumstance apprised him of David's danger. Looking for the king in his house and then in the bet ha-midrash, and not finding him, he inquired whether it was lawful to mount a royal horse (on Sabbath) when the king was in peril of his life. Receiving permission, he mounted the steed and was carried to the place with miraculous velocity (the earth jumping so that the intervening space vanished), killing the giant's mother on the way. Upon Abishai's approach, Ishbi-benob, taking hold of David, hurled him high into the air, and placed his sword in position so that the king in his fall would be cut to pieces. But Abishai pronounced "the Name," which kept David suspended in mid-air. Descending then in safety, David apprised Abishai of all that had happened. Both ran away, which induced the giant to pursue them; but on reaching the place where Orpah, the giant's mother, had been killed, they turned and despatched the giant (Sanh. 95a; Shoḥer Ṭob to Ps. xviii. 37; Gen. R. lix.; see Goliath). The Pelishtim (in Gen. x. 14) were identified with the giants, while the Caphtorim were said to be dwarfs (Gen. R. xxxvii.). Men of giantlike stature were warned not to marry women of like proportions, lest a "mast" (very tall being) be born unto them (Bek. 45b). Gigantic stature is considered a blemish rendering a priest unfit for service (Sifra to Lev. xxi. 21; Pseudo-Jonathan to Lev. xxi. 20).
The Hebrew "nefilim bene 'Anaḳ" (Num. xiii. 33) are called "jabbarun" in the Koran (sura v. 25), and "jababirah" in other works, both words being the plural of "jabbar" (giant). In the Koran (l.c.) giants are mentioned in connection with the twelve spies sent by Moses to explore the land of Canaan. According to Mas'udi, the giants were of the Amalekite race. The Arabian writers speak particularly of 'Uj (Og) ibn 'Unḳ (Og with the Neck), for the reason that when he went out to fight Moses he tore out a mountain and put it on his head with the intention of throwing it upon the Israelites and crushing them; but God sent a bird that bored a hole in the mountain, which thereupon fell on Og's neck. According to Moslem legends, in the eyes of the giants the twelve spies appeared as small as ants (comp. "grasshoppers," Num. l.c.).
The Arabs call Jericho "the city of giants," but their traditions do not agree as to which leader of the Jews fought against the giants. According to Ibn 'Abbas, Moses died in the wilderness, and the land of the giants was conquered by Joshua; but Mohammed ibn Isḥaḳ writes that Moses himself fought the giants at Jericho. Those who survived were led by a certain Ifriḳish ibn Ḳais to Africa, and, having killed the king of that country, settled there. The Berbers are their descendants.
.]] In mythology, a giant is a type of very large human-like creature. The mythology and legends of many different cultures have mythological animals or monsters that look like very big, very strong humans. One example of a giant is the gigantes of Greek mythology.
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