189: Giants of the Middle East
There are many stories of giants that spread east and west from the area of modern northern Iraq.
Abrahamic
Giants known as jababirat or jabbirun (Arabic: جبارون "tyrants" or "giants"; singular, Arabic: جبار Jabbar) such as Jalut (Goliath) are mentioned as well as ‘Uj ibn Anaq.
Armenian
Hayk was known as the founder of the Armenian state. Hayk was part of a race of giants who helped construct the Tower of Babel. Mount Nemrut is known to have received its name from an Armenian tradition in which Nimrod was killed by an arrow shot by Hayk during a massive battle between two rival armies of giants to the southeast of Lake Van.
Baltic
A giantess named Neringa on the seashore formed the Curonian Spit
Bulgarian
In Bulgarian mythology, giants called ispolini inhabited the Earth before modern humans. They lived in the mountains, fed on raw meat and often fought against dragons.
Greek
In Greek mythology, the Gigantes (γίγαντες) were (according to the poet Hesiod) the children of Uranus. Herodotus in Book 1, Chapter 68, describes how the Spartans uncovered in Tegea the body of Orestes, which was seven cubits long — approximately 3.73 m, or about 12 feet 3 inches. (Keep in mind Orestus is mentioned as being as real as Agamemmnon of the Trojan War).
Hindu
There are accounts stating humans grew to the size of giants during the Satya Yuga, the first of the four cyclical ages (yugas) in the Hindu reckoning of time.
Jain
According to Jainism, there was a time when giants walked upon this earth. Human beings are said to be much taller than today in the first four aras of avasarpani and last four aras of utsarpani. According to Jain texts, the height of Rishabha, first tirthankara of the present half-cycle of time (avasarpani) was 500 dhanusa (longbow). In avasarpani, as the cycle moves ahead, height of all humans and animals decreases.
Roman
Hercules faces the giant Antaios in this illustration on a calix krater, c. 515–510 BC. Several Jupiter-Giant-Columns have been found in Germania Superior. These were crowned with a statue of Jupiter, typically on horseback, defeating or trampling down a giant,
Norse
The giants are the origin of most of various monsters in Norse mythology (e.g. the Fenrisulfr) and in the eventual battle of Ragnarök, the giants will storm Asgard and fight the gods until the world is destroyed. Even so, the gods themselves were related to the giants by many marriages and there are giants such as Ægir, Loki, Mímir, and Skaði who bear little difference in status to them. The chief god Odin was the great-grandson of the giant Ymir.
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Then there is the Pacific, Patagonia, North America, Ireland, Britain and Europe. Every continent... every culture - they all had giants, legends of giants, or stories of giants.
These ancient cultures and areas have very similar accounts. Josephus (a Roman-Jewish Historian who lived 1900 years ago) seems to suggest he saw some bones on display with his own eyes. That could be true, but cannot be proven. But almost every ancient culture on earth speaks of giants.
Where did they get this from?
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