Polybotes


In Greek mythology, Polybotes was one of the Giants, the offspring of Gaia, and Uranus. He fought Poseidon during the Gigantomachy, the war between the Giants and the gods.

Mythology

Polybotes was one of the Gigantes, the offspring of Gaia, born from the blood that fell when Uranus was castrated by their son Cronus. According to the mythographer Apollodorus, during the Gigantomachy, the cosmic battle of the Giants with the Olympian gods, Polybotes was crushed under Nisyros, a piece of the island of Kos broken off and thrown by Poseidon:
The first-century BC geographer Strabo also records the story of Polybotes buried under Nisyros :
The mention of a millstone, in a poem fragment by the seventh-century BC poet Alcman may be an early reference to the island of Nisyros.
The second-century AD geographer Pausanias mentions seeing at Athens a statue of Poseidon battling Polybotes:
cup late fifth-century BC
In another version of the story, after being struck by Zeus, Polybotes swam away, Poseidon threw a trident at him but missed and the trident became the island of Nisyros or Porphyris.
Polybotes is named on two sixth-century BC black-figure pots. On one, a fragmentary dinos, he is opposed by Zeus, identified by an inscription. On the other, an amphora, he is opposed by Poseidon who is carrying the island of Nisyros on his left shoulder, ready to hurl it against the Giant. The scene depicted on the amphora: Poseidon with trident in his right hand and the island on his left shoulder, moving from left to right, fighting a Giant is a frequent occurrence in sixth and fifth-century BC Greek vase paintings.
Polybotes is also possibly named on a late sixth-century early fifth-century BC red-figure cup. A late fifth-century red-figure cup shows on its interior Poseidon attacking Polybotes with his trident, in the presence of Gaia rising from the ground on the left.