Tuphōn

This is part 2 of 2. Part 1 is here.

ὡς δ’ ἐκράτησαν οἱ θεοὶ τῶν Γιγάντων, Γῆ μᾶλλον χολωθεῖσα μίγνυται Ταρτάρῳ, καὶ γεννᾷ Τυφῶνα ἐν Κιλικίᾳ, μεμιγμένην ἔχοντα φύσιν ἀνδρὸς καὶ θηρίου. οὗτος μὲν καὶ μεγέθει καὶ δυνάμει πάντων διήνεγκεν ὅσους ἐγέννησε Γῆ, ἦν δὲ αὐτῷ τὰ μὲν ἄχρι μηρῶν ἄπλετον μέγεθος ἀνδρόμορφον, ὥστε ὑπερέχειν μὲν πάντων τῶν ὀρῶν, ἡ δὲ κεφαλὴ πολλάκις καὶ τῶν ἄστρων ἔψαυε· χεῖρας δὲ εἶχε τὴν μὲν ἐπὶ τὴν ἑσπέραν ἐκτεινομένην τὴν δὲ ἐπὶ τὰς ἀνατολάς· ἐκ τούτων δὲ ἐξεῖχον ἑκατὸν κεφαλαὶ δρακόντων. τὰ δὲ ἀπὸ μηρῶν σπείρας εἶχεν ὑπερμεγέθεις ἐχιδνῶν, ὧν ὁλκοὶ πρὸς αὐτὴν ἐκτεινόμενοι κορυφὴν συριγμὸν πολὺν ἐξίεσαν. πᾶν δὲ αὐτοῦ τὸ σῶμα κατεπτέρωτο, αὐχμηραὶ δὲ ἐκ κεφαλῆς καὶ γενύων τρίχες ἐξηνέμωντο, πῦρ δὲ ἐδέρκετο τοῖς ὄμμασι. τοιοῦτος ὢν ὁ Τυφὼν καὶ τηλικοῦτος ἡμμένας βάλλων πέτρας ἐπ’ αὐτὸν τὸν οὐρανὸν μετὰ συριγμῶν ὁμοῦ καὶ βοῆς ἐφέρετο· πολλὴν δὲ ἐκ τοῦ στόματος πυρὸς ἐξέβρασσε ζάλην. θεοὶ δ’ ὡς εἶδον αὐτὸν ἐπ’ οὐρανὸν ὁρμώμενον, εἰς Αἴγυπτον φυγάδες ἐφέροντο, καὶ διωκόμενοι τὰς ἰδέας μετέβαλον εἰς ζῷα. Ζεὺς δὲ πόρρω μὲν ὄντα Τυφῶνα ἔβαλλε κεραυνοῖς, πλησίον δὲ γενόμενον ἀδαμαντίνῃ κατέπληττεν ἅρπῃ, καὶ φεύγοντα ἄχρι τοῦ Κασίου ὄρους συνεδίωξε· τοῦτο δὲ ὑπέρκειται Συρίας. κεῖθι δὲ αὐτὸν κατατετρωμένον ἰδὼν εἰς χεῖρας συνέβαλε. Τυφὼν δὲ ταῖς σπείραις περιπλεχθεὶς κατέσχεν αὐτόν, καὶ τὴν ἅρπην περιελόμενος τά τε τῶν χειρῶν καὶ ποδῶν διέτεμε νεῦρα, ἀράμενος δὲ ἐπὶ τῶν ὤμων διεκόμισεν αὐτὸν διὰ τῆς θαλάσσης εἰς Κιλικίαν καὶ παρελθὼν εἰς τὸ Κωρύκιον ἄντρον κατέθετο. ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ τὰ νεῦρα κρύψας ἐν ἄρκτου δορᾷ κεῖθι ἀπέθετο, καὶ κατέστησε φύλακα Δελφύνην δράκαιναν· ἡμίθηρ δὲ ἦν αὕτη ἡ κόρη. Ἑρμῆς δὲ καὶ Αἰγίπαν ἐκκλέψαντες τὰ νεῦρα ἥρμοσαν τῷ Διὶ λαθόντες. Ζεὺς δὲ τὴν ἰδίαν ἀνακομισάμενος ἰσχύν, ἐξαίφνης ἐξ οὐρανοῦ ἐπὶ πτηνῶν ὀχούμενος ἵππων ἅρματι, βάλλων κεραυνοῖς ἐπ’ ὄρος ἐδίωξε Τυφῶνα τὸ λεγόμενον Νῦσαν, ὅπου μοῖραι αὐτὸν διωχθέντα ἠπάτησαν· πεισθεὶς γὰρ ὅτι ῥωσθήσεται μᾶλλον, ἐγεύσατο τῶν ἐφημέρων καρπῶν. διόπερ ἐπιδιωκόμενος αὖθις ἧκεν εἰς Θρᾴκην, καὶ μαχόμενος περὶ τὸν Αἷμον ὅλα ἔβαλλεν ὄρη. τούτων δὲ ἐπ’ αὐτὸν ὑπὸ τοῦ κεραυνοῦ πάλιν ὠθουμένων πολὺ ἐπὶ τοῦ ὄρους ἐξέκλυσεν αἷμα· καί φασιν ἐκ τούτου τὸ ὄρος κληθῆναι Αἷμον. φεύγειν δὲ ὁρμηθέντι αὐτῷ διὰ τῆς Σικελικῆς θαλάσσης Ζεὺς ἐπέρριψεν Αἴτνην ὄρος ἐν Σικελίᾳ· τοῦτο δὲ ὑπερμέγεθές ἐστιν, ἐξ οὗ μέχρι δεῦρό φασιν ἀπὸ τῶν βληθέντων κεραυνῶν γίνεσθαι πυρὸς ἀναφυσήματα.
(Apollodorus, Bibl. 1.6.3)

When the gods had defeated the Giants, Earth was angrier still. She had intercourse with Tartarus and gave birth in Cilicia to Typhon, who was half man and half wild beast. He was the largest and most powerful of all Earth’s offspring, so huge up to his thighs (which were of human form), that he towered above all mountains. His head touched the stars and his hands, when outstretched, reached the one to the west, the other to the east. From his shoulders extended a hundred snake heads. From his thighs down he had huge coils of vipers which, when stretched out, reached all the way to his head and hissed loudly. His entire body was covered with wings and his hair and beard were unkempt and blew in the wind. Fire flashed from his eyes. Such was Typhon as he hurled fiery rocks at heaven itself and rushed at it with hissing and shouting. From his mouth he spewed out a great stream of fire. When the gods saw him attacking heaven, they quickly fled to Egypt and in the course of their flight changed themselves into animals. Zeus hurled thunderbolts at Typhon while he was yet at a distance from him. When Zeus drew nearer, he struck him with a steel sickle and chased him as far as Mount Casius in Syria. Seeing that he was wounded, he fought him with his bare hands. Typhon wound his coils around him and held him fast. Then, taking the sickle from him, he cut out tendons from his hands and feet, lifted him on his shoulders, and carried him over the sea to Cilicia where he left him in the Corycian cave. He put the tendons in the cave, too, hidden in a bearskin, and placed the she-dragon, Delphyne, as a guard over them. She was half girl and half wild animal. Hermes and Aegipan, however, stole the tendons and secretly replaced them in Zeus’ hands and feet. With his strength now restored, the god suddenly threw thunderbolts at Typhon from the sky, where he had been carried in a chariot with winged horses, and chased him to the mountain called Nysa. There the Fates tricked him, for he tasted the fruit called ”ephemeral,” persuaded that it would make him stronger. He was again driven to Thrace and hurled entire mountains at Zeus in a battle around Mount Haemus. When these bounced back upon him under the force of the thunderbolt, blood gushed out on the mountain. From this, they say, the mountain is called Haemus [“bloody”]. As he started to flee across the Sicilian sea, Zeus threw Mount Aetna in Sicily upon him. It is a large mountain and they say that fire erupts from the thunderbolts which were thrown into it up to the present time. (tr. Michael Simpson)