|
If you would like to contribute
to this page...
...please
Contact-Us with references.
|
|
|
|
 Giants
-
(Fact or
Fiction...)
|
References to giants can be found in myths and texts around the ancient
world.. including several
examples in the archaeological record too, but who were they and what role
did they play in human history.
Featured articles:
|
 |
Scroll down for more...
|
References to Giants in
ancient texts:
Giants
are frequently mentioned in ancient texts. Perhaps significantly, the first chapter of
the Bible (Genesis) recording that
even before the creation of Adam and Eve there were giants on the earth...
Genesis 6:4
- 'There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that,
when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare
children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of
renown'.
Other Biblical references
include the following:
Numbers
13:33
- 'And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the
giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in
their sight'.
Deuteronomy
1 :28
- 'Whither shall we go up? our brethren have discouraged our heart,
saying, the people are greater and taller than we; the cities are great
and walled up to heaven; and moreover we have seen the sons of the Anakims there'.
2:10 -
'The Emims dwelt therein in times past, a people great, and many, and
tall, as the Anakims; 11
Which also were
accounted giants, as the Anakims; but the Moabites called them Emims'.
2:20 - ( References
to a 'race' of): giants dwelt therein in old time; and
the Ammonites call them Zamzummims;
21 A
people great, and many, and tall, as the Anakims; but the LORD destroyed
them before them; and they succeeded them, and dwelt in their stead:
3:11
- 'For only Og king of Bashan remained of the remnant of giants; behold
his bedstead was a bedstead of iron; is it not in Rabbath of the
children of Ammon? nine cubits was the length thereof, and four cubits
the breadth of it, after the cubit of a man'.
(This bed is
6 feet wide, 14 feet long and King Og's height is estimated at least 12
feet.)
The Book of
Giants: The Book of Giants was a work
apparently composed in Syriac (an eastern dialect of Aramaic). The book
was entirely lost until the twentieth century, but scant references to
it survived in Latin, Greek, and Arabic, indicating that it involved
battles of the ancient giants. Then about a century ago many highly
fragmentary Manichean works written in Central Asian languages were
recovered archaeologically at Turfan, in China (and much of the find
remains unpublished even at present).
(Ref:
http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/~www_sd/bgiants.html)
The Epic of Gilgamesh:
What is claimed as
the oldest surviving
epic-story
in the world; 'The epic of Gilgamesh' also includes a references
to giants. Gilgamesh and Enkidu go together to fight the evil Humbaba at
the cedar mountains. The evil giants face was like
a lion, a roar like a flood, a mouth of flames, breath that burns trees,
and teeth like a dragons. In the end they cut off his head.
(Ref: Ch 2, 3 and 4: The Epic of Gilgamesh)
Herodotus in Book 1, Chapter 68:
Describes how the Spartans uncovered in Tegea the body of Orestes which
was seven cubits long -- around 10 feet. In his book, The Comparison of
Romulus with Theseus Plutarch describes how the Athenians uncovered the
body of Theseus, which was of more than ordinary size. The kneecaps of
Ajax were exactly the size of a discus for the boy's pentathlon, wrote
Pausanias. A boy's discus was about twelve centimetres in diameter,
while a normal adult patella is around five centimetres, suggesting Ajax
may have been around 14 feet tall.
(Return
to the top) |
|
Giants in Mythology:
Myths of giants are prevalent around the ancient world:
Australian Giants:
Throughout the length and
breadth of central and far western New South wales, Aboriginal
traditions speak of the Bulloo, or 'giant men and women', who they claim
were 3m tall beings who wandered the land eating giant marsupials and
other Australian ice-age 'megafauna' which they killed with large stone
clubs and other giant-size implements.
Further
to the east, there dwelt the 'Jogungs' and 'Goolagahs', or 'giant
hairy ones', tool making giant hominids sometimes confused with the
Yowies, and who may, or may not have been related to the Bulloo.
(Ref:
http://www.theaustralianyowieresearchcenter.com/aboriginal_legends_d.html)
Norse giants: Norse mythology
includes many references to 'Snow' giants and 'Mountain' giants.
The Giants, were the chief enemies of the gods, particularly the Aesir.
In the Norse world, a giant was called Jotun
or Iotun. There are several different types of giants. The
frost-giants were the most common giants; they lived in Jotunheim,
one of the nine worlds. The capital of Jotunheim was Utgard, the
citadel of the frost-giants and home of Utgard-Loki or Utgardaloki.
Often writers just simply called the home of the giants as Giantland.
There are many places within Jotunheim other than
Utgard. The giant Hrungnir lived in a frontier of Giantland, called
Griotunagardar. The giant Thiassi lived on the mountain called
Thrymheim, with his daughter Skadi.
The other giants were the fire giants, who lived
in Muspelheim. The fire giant named Surt ruled in Muspelheim.
Note that some of the giantesses had become
deified because of the their relationship with the Norse gods, like
Jord, Grid, Gerd and Rind. These giantesses became Asyniur or
goddesses in their own rights, so I have list some of these in this
page and some in the Aesir page.
(Ref:
http://www.timelessmyths.com/norse/giants.html)
Giants in Hindu Mythology: In Hinduism,
the giants are called Daityas. They were a race who fought against
the gods because they were jealous of their Deva half-brothers. Some
Daityas from Hindu mythology include Kumbhakarna and Hiranyaksha.
(Return
to the top) |
|
Giants in Archaeology:
This giant, unearthed in County Antrim, Ireland, was found to
be 12ft 2in high. Its girth of chest was 6ft 6in, and length of arms
4ft 6in. There are six toes on the right foot. This skeleton was on
display in exhibitions in Dublin, Liverpool and Manchester. What later
happened to the giant and its owner is unknown.
(Photo from the British Strand magazine. Dec 1895)
Australian aborigines -
When the world was new, when the ancestors appeared from the north
like giants.
In
old Pleistocene river gravels near Bathurst, N.S.W. huge stone
artifacts-clubs, pounders, adzes, chisels, knives and hand-axes-all
of tremendous weight, lie scattered over a wide area. A fossil
hunter searching the Winburndale River north of Bathurst discovered
a large quartzitised fossil human molar tooth, far too big for any
normal modern human. A similar molar of chert fossilisation was also
recovered from ancient deposits near Dubbo, N.S.W. Prospectors
working in the Bathurst district over 40 years ago frequently
reported coming across large human footprints in shoals of red
jasper.
(Ref:
http://www.cartage.org.lb/)
2).
(Return
to the top) |
|
Giants in the Americas.
- One of the most
prolific regions of the world for reports of giants is the Americas where
numerous records exist of both skeletal remains and actual sightings. The
following list suggests a genuine need for a re-appraisal of pre-Columbian
American history...
In his book, The
Natural and Aboriginal History of Tennessee, author John Haywood describes
"very large" bones in stone graves found in Williamson County, Tennessee,
in 1821.
In White County,
Tennessee, an "ancient fortification" contained skeletons of gigantic
stature averaging at least 7 feet in length.
Giant skeletons were
found in the mid-1800s near Rutland and Rodman, New York.
J.N. DeHart, M.D. found
vertebrae "larger than those of the present type" in Wisconsin mounds in
1876.
W.H.R. Lykins uncovered
skull bones "of great size and thickness" in mounds of Kansas City area in
1877.
George W. Hill, M.D.,
dug out a skeleton "of unusual size" in a mound of Ashland County, Ohio.
In 1879, a nine-foot,
eight-inch skeleton was excavated from a mound near Brewersville, Indiana
(Indianapolis News, Nov 10, 1975).
A six foot, six inch
skeleton was found in a Utah mound. This was at least a foot taller than
the average Indian height in the area, and these natives- what few there
were of them -were not mound builders.
A skeleton which is
reported to have been "of enormous dimensions" was found in a clay coffin,
with a sandstone slab containing hieroglyphics, during mound explorations
by a Dr Everhart near Zanesville, Ohio.(American Antiquarian, v3, 1880,
pg61)
Ten skeletons "of both
sexes and of gigantic size" were taken from a mound at Warren, Minnesota,
1883. (St. Paul Pioneer Press, May 23, 1883)
A skeleton 7 feet 6
inches long was found in a massive stone structure that was likened to a
temple chamber within a mound in Kanawha County, West Virginia, in 1884.
(American Antiquarian, v6, 1884 133f.
Cyrus Thomas, Report on
Mound Explorations of the Bureau of Ethnology, 12th Annual Report,
Smithsonian Bureau of Ethnology, 1890-91).
A large mound near
Gasterville, Pennsylvania, contained a vault in which was found a skeleton
measuring 7 feet 2 inches. Inscriptions were carved on the vault.
(American Antiquarian, v7, 1885, 52f).
In 1885, miners
discovered the mummified remains of woman measuring 6 feet 8 inches tall
holding an infant. The mummies were found in a cave behind a wall of rock
in the Yosemite Valley.
In Minnesota, 1888,
were discovered remains of seven skeletons 7 to 8 feet tall. (St. Paul
Pioneer Press, June 29, 1888).
A mound near Toledo,
Ohio, held 20 skeletons, seated and facing east with jaws and teeth "twice
as large as those of present day people," and besides each was a large
bowl with "curiously wrought hieroglyphic figures." (Chicago Record, Oct.
24, 1895; cited by Ron G. Dobbins, NEARA Journal, v13, fall 1978).
The skeleton of a huge
man was uncovered at the Beckley farm, Lake Koronis, Minnesota; while at
Moose Island and Pine City, bones of other giants came to light. (St. Paul
Globe, Aug. 12, 1896).
In 1911, several
red-haired mummies ranging from 6 and a half feet to 8 feet tall were
discovered in a cave in Lovelock, Nevada.
In February and June of
1931, large skeletons were found in the Humboldt lake bed near Lovelock,
Nevada. The first of these two skeletons found measured 8 1/2 feet tall
and appeared to have been wrapped in a gum-covered fabric similar to the
Egyptian manner. The second skeleton was almost 10 feet long. (Review -
Miner, June 19, 1931)
A 7 ft 7 inch skeleton
was reported to have been found on the Friedman ranch, near Lovelock,
Nevada, in 1939.(Review - Miner, Sept. 29, 1939).
In 1965, a skeleton
measuring 8 feet 9 inches was found buried under a rock ledge along the
Holly Creek in east-central Kentucky.
We are also reminded that some of the
first explorers to the Americas reported seeing giants themselves:
The first chronicled sighting occurred
in 1520, when the Portuguese explorer Magellan anchored his ships in the
harbour of San Julian. On going ashore, he and his crew encountered a
giant of a man, nearly ten feet tall and with the 'voice like a bull'.
Enquiries suggested that he belonged to a tribe of giants who lived
nearby. Magellan
and his men apparently captured two specimens, intending to take them
back to Europe. He shipped them aboard and set sail, but they died
before the return journey was completed. (1)
Sir Francis Drake, who passed through
San Julian in 1578, mentions that he saw two men who stood nine feet
tall, and in the years that followed similar reports were made by other
explorers such as Pedro Sarmiento, Tome Hernandez, Anthony Knyvet
and Sebald de Weert all claim to have laid eyes on the South
American giants. (1)
In 1615, two more travellers, Jacob le
Maire and Wilhelm Schouten, recorded the fact that they had discovered a
pair of human skeletons, each nine feet in length. (1)
By 1700, the giants seemed to have
moved away from San Julian, and the next official record places them at
Valdivia, Chile. In 1712, the Spanish authorities there filed repeated
reports of a race of giants living in the wild interior, not many miles
from the town. (1)
The last sighting seems to have taken
place in 1764, when Commodore Byron, grandfather of famous poet, saw
them at Cabo Virgines. (1)
Note: It is of possible interest in relation to these
numerous reports that America is home to the 'Sasquatch' or 'Big-foot'.
(More about
pre-Columbian America)
(Return
to the top) |
|
Fake Giants:
Irish Fakes
- George
Hull had no patience with fools, but he exhibited great patience for
making a fool of others. After arguing with a clergyman who claimed
that giants had walked the earth because the Bible said so, Hull
proceeded to carve a 10-foot gypsum statue of a man. He then buried
his creation on a neighbouring New-York farm. In 1869, a full year
later, Hull hired some well diggers, who discovered his stone man on
the job. Of course people gathered to see this oddity, and rumours
began to spread that it was a fossilized human of gigantic
proportions. Many saw it for the hoax it was, but when two Yale
professors declared it genuine, the proof of giants on earth became
set in stone. Eventually Hull had to admit it was a fake after he sued
P.T. Barnum for exhibiting a copy of it. Barnum claimed his statue was
just a hoax of a hoax and was found not guilty.
Look out for a number of modern composite photo's made for fun:
Especially for those that resulted from the 'fake photo'
competition.
Egyptian fakes -
The photo on the left is from this competition and is a fake.
A digitally altered photograph created in
2002 shows a reclining giant surrounded by a wooden platform—with a
shovel-wielding archaeologist thrown in for scale.
By 2004 the "discovery" was being blogged
and emailed all over the world—"Giant Skeleton Unearthed!"—and it's been
enjoying a revival in 2007.
Ref:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/12/071214-giant-skeleton.html
This photo was used to
advertise the competition - held in 2002...
The rules of this game are thus:
You are to create an archaeological hoax. Your job is to show a picture of
an archaeological discovery that looks so real, had it not appeared at
Worth1000, people might have done a double take. As always, quality is a
must. We will remove poor entries no matter how much we like you. You'll
have 48 hours for this contest, so make your submission count. See the
first contest for an idea of what this one is about.
|
|
|
