Zeus & Typhon - Hydria, by The Inscription Painter 540-530 BCE

November 22, 2019

Zeus & Typhon - Hydria, by The Inscription Painter 540-530 BCE

"When the Gods saw him rushing toward the sky, they headed for Aigyptos (Egypt) to escape him, and as he pursued them they changed themselves into animal shapes. But Zeus from a distance hurled thunderbolts at Typhon, and when he had drawn closer Zeus tried to strike him down with a sickle made of adamant. Typhon took flight, but Zeus stayed on his heels right up to Mount Kasion (Casium), which lies in Syria. Seeing that he was badly wounded, Zeus fell on him with his hands. But Typhon entwined the God and held him fast in his coils, and grabbing the sickle he cut out the sinews from Zeus' hands and feet. Then, placing Zeus up on his shoulders, he carried him across the sea to Kilikia (Cilicia), where he deposited him in the Korykion (Corycian) cave. He also hid away the sinews there in the skin of a bear, and posted as guard over them the Drakaina (Dracaena) Delphyne, a girl who was half animal. But Hermes and Aigipan (Aegipan) stole back the sinews and succeeded in replanting them in Zeus without being seen. So Zeus, again possessed of his strength, suddenly appeared from the sky in a chariot drawn by winged horses, and with thunderbolts chased Typhon to the mountain called Nysa. There the Moirai (Moirae, Fates) deceived the pursued creature, for he ate some of the ephemeral fruit on Nysa [i.e. the intoxicating grape of Dionysos] after they had persuaded him that he would gain strength from it. Again pursued, he made his way to Thrake (Thrace), where while fighting round Haimos (Haemus) he threw whole mountains at Zeus. But when these were pushed back upon him by the thunderbolt, a great quantity of his blood streamed out on the mountain, which allegedly is why the mountain is called Haimos. Then, as Typhon started to flee again through the Sikelian (Sicilian) Sea, Zeus brought down Sikelia's Mount Aitna (Etna) on him , a great mountain which they say still erupts fire from the thunderbolts thrown by Zeus."

-Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 1. 39 - 44 (trans. Aldrich) (Greek mythographer C2nd A.D.)

Zeus aiming his thunderbolt at a winged and snake-footed Typhon. Chalcidian black-figured hydria (c. 540–530 BCE), Current location: Staatliche Antikensammlungen.