WEBVTT - The Monstrefact: The Hecatoncheires

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio.

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<v Speaker 2>Hi, my name is Robert Lambin. This is the Monster Fact,

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<v Speaker 2>a short form series from Stuff to Blow Your Mind,

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<v Speaker 2>focusing in non mythical creatures, ideas and monsters in time,

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<v Speaker 2>and the gods, givers of good things, applauded when they

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<v Speaker 2>heard his word, and their spirit longed for war even

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<v Speaker 2>more than before. And they all, both male and female,

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<v Speaker 2>stirred up hated battle that day, the Titan gods and

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<v Speaker 2>all that were born of Cronos, together with those dread

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<v Speaker 2>mighty ones of overwhelming strength, whom Zeus brought up to

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<v Speaker 2>the light from Erebus beneath the earth, A hundred arms

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<v Speaker 2>sprang from the shoulders of all alike, and each had

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<v Speaker 2>fifty heads growing upon his shoulders, upon stout limbs. These

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<v Speaker 2>then stood against the Titans in grim strife, holding huge

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<v Speaker 2>rocks in their strong hands. These are the words of

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<v Speaker 2>Hesiod from his eighth century BCE text Theogony, here in

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<v Speaker 2>translation by Evelyn White, describing the one hundred handed warriors

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<v Speaker 2>the hecatonkyaries of Greek mythology. Naturally, the poet Hesiod compiled

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<v Speaker 2>various tellings and traditions in his poetry, and in doing so,

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<v Speaker 2>solidified a number of characters, relationships, and tales concerning the

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<v Speaker 2>Greek pantheon of deities. So what we read here is

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<v Speaker 2>effectively the most popular understanding of the Hecatonkers. They were

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<v Speaker 2>a very ancient race of multi headed and multi handed giants,

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<v Speaker 2>and they stood among the various children of the primordial

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<v Speaker 2>sky god Urunas. But Urunas hated these monstrosities from the

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<v Speaker 2>first and imprisoned them, locking them away out of sight. Eventually,

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<v Speaker 2>Urunas's offspring, Chronos, rises against his father, overthrows him, but

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<v Speaker 2>seemingly keeps these earlier unsightly offspring locked away. It is

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<v Speaker 2>not until Zeus, the child of Cronos, rises up with

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<v Speaker 2>his fellow Olympian gods, rebels against the Titans. They free

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<v Speaker 2>and recruit the Hecatonkyres, as well as their kin, the Cyclopses,

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<v Speaker 2>into their ensuing war for control of the cosmos. This

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<v Speaker 2>was the Titanomachi, and Hesiod describes their role in its battles,

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<v Speaker 2>naming the three most prominent of the one hundred handed

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<v Speaker 2>warriors in surviving traditions, and amongst the foremost Cotis and Bryarias,

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<v Speaker 2>and guys insatiate for war, raised fierce, fighting three hundred

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<v Speaker 2>rocks one upon another. They launched from their strong hands

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<v Speaker 2>and overshadowed the Titans with their missiles, and buried them

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<v Speaker 2>beneath the wide pathed earth, and bound them in bitter chains.

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<v Speaker 2>When they had conquered them by their strength, for all

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<v Speaker 2>their great spirit, as far beneath the earth to Tartarus.

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<v Speaker 2>The Hecatonkyres, according to Hesiod, are much more than allies

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<v Speaker 2>of the gods. In their war against the Titans, the

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<v Speaker 2>Hecatonqueries strike the final blow. They chain the Titans. They

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<v Speaker 2>become the wardens of the Titans, and are quite ironically

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<v Speaker 2>imprisoned once more in the process. Now it should be

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<v Speaker 2>noted that in some traditions the Hecatonkures may have fought

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<v Speaker 2>instead on the side of the Titans, and in some compilations,

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<v Speaker 2>such as Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, the authors

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<v Speaker 2>go so far as to describe individuals, specifically Bryarius as

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<v Speaker 2>a Titan. So it gets a bit confusing at times.

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<v Speaker 2>And I suppose that's how I have always felt about

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<v Speaker 2>the Hecatonquary since I was a child and read about them,

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<v Speaker 2>and various books, somewhat confused because the morphologies of so

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<v Speaker 2>many other Greek monsters are just so well defined, there's

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<v Speaker 2>so many illustrations of them. As a child, you can

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<v Speaker 2>draw them, you can roughly sketch them yourself, and it's

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<v Speaker 2>a lot of fun. But the hecatonquerris always seem to

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<v Speaker 2>defy logic. Their name feels more like a literary concept

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<v Speaker 2>describing a force of nature as opposed to a codified creature,

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<v Speaker 2>and indeed this is often how they are interpreted. They

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<v Speaker 2>are difficult to envision or to reproduce visually, and certainly

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<v Speaker 2>there are plenty of contemporary artists who have had a

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<v Speaker 2>lot of fun producing various surreal and just horrifying interpretations

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<v Speaker 2>of the hecatonqures, but one is generally hard pressed to

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<v Speaker 2>find representations of these creatures in art history. Now I

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<v Speaker 2>invite correction on this front, because I would very much

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<v Speaker 2>love to see such images, to see like classical illustrations,

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<v Speaker 2>medieval illustrations and so forth, all of the hecatonqures. But

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<v Speaker 2>my searches have generally come up well empty handed. Perhaps

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<v Speaker 2>we've simply lost ancient Greek depictions of these creatures. I

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<v Speaker 2>can only assume that they were too far removed from

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<v Speaker 2>actual human physiology to interest many sculptors. You know, I mean,

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<v Speaker 2>if you're interested in capturing the reality of the human form,

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<v Speaker 2>even in the telling of stories and the presentation of

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<v Speaker 2>information about deities, then this might not be your first stop.

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<v Speaker 2>Perhaps they were creature's best left for depiction in the

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<v Speaker 2>ages of surrealism and cosmic horror to come. Indeed, outside

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<v Speaker 2>of their role in the struggle against the Titans, little

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<v Speaker 2>seems to have survived about the Hecatonqures in general, aside

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<v Speaker 2>from some tangents concerning Bryarius. Again, the Hecatonquyres are perhaps

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<v Speaker 2>best interpreted as embodiments of natural forces. Given their hundred

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<v Speaker 2>hands and heads, they are like armies of men compiled

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<v Speaker 2>into a single grade entity, like a storm or earthquake,

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<v Speaker 2>with the power of an army. As such, turning to

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<v Speaker 2>the natural world of biology, our best example of hundred

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<v Speaker 2>headed entities are actually large groups working together, such as

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<v Speaker 2>humans or use social insects. Now, some of you out

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<v Speaker 2>there might be thinking to yourself, well, I know what

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<v Speaker 2>has one hundred appendages. Well, even centipedes, despite their name

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<v Speaker 2>which means one hundred footed, never have exactly one hundred limbs.

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<v Speaker 2>They may have as few as something like twenty three

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<v Speaker 2>leg bearing segments, or as many as I think one

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<v Speaker 2>hundred and ninety one, but there is always an odd

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<v Speaker 2>number of leg bearing segments, never the even fifty segments

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<v Speaker 2>that would produce a total of one hundred legs. By

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<v Speaker 2>the way, the first millipede with more than a thousand

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<v Speaker 2>legs wasn't discovered till twenty twenty one. Now, despite this disappointment,

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<v Speaker 2>scientists have fouled room to invoke the hecatonkures in the

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<v Speaker 2>naming of various organisms. Specifically, the name Bryarius is invoked

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<v Speaker 2>in the scientific name for various organisms, including, but not

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<v Speaker 2>limited to, the Caribbean reef octopus, the hairy c cucumber,

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<v Speaker 2>at least one species of sea star, the quirky seafinger, coral,

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<v Speaker 2>a sea slug, an extinct trilabite, and a Central American moth.

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<v Speaker 2>As for their mythic namesake, the hecatonkyres, well, maybe we

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<v Speaker 2>should heed the words of Hesiod once more. Perhaps we

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<v Speaker 2>lack for older depictions of the creature because they are

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<v Speaker 2>not to be approached, They are not to be looked upon,

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<v Speaker 2>even Uruanas chose not to do so, and he used

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<v Speaker 2>to hide them all away in a secret place of

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<v Speaker 2>earth so soon as each was born, and would not

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<v Speaker 2>suffer them to come up into the light. And Heaven

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<v Speaker 2>rejoiced in his evil doing, but vast earth groaned within.

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<v Speaker 2>Tune in for additional episodes of The Monster, Fact, The Artifact,

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<v Speaker 2>or Anamalia Stupendium each week. As always, you can email

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<v Speaker 2>us at contact at stuff to Blow your Mind dot com.

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