Also called The Hundred-Handers, Briareos, Cottus, Gyges, Aegaeon.
Their story
Cottus, Briareos and Gyges were sons of Uranus and Gaia, each with a hundred arms and fifty heads. Uranus hid them in the earth; Zeus freed them, and they hurled three hundred rocks at a time at the Titans, winning the war. They then guarded the Titans in Tartarus. In the Iliad, Thetis summoned Briareos to Olympus to stop the other gods binding Zeus.
Best times to give to them
- None traditional
- When reading or retelling the myth
What they like being given
- None are traditional; help given with your own hands suits them
- A candle lit while reading or retelling the story
How to honour them
- Reflect on how those once rejected became the strongest allies.
- Offer practical help: many hands make light work.
How they can help you
- Loyalty
- Strength in numbers
- Redemption of the rejected
Symbols
- hundred hands
- fifty heads
- boulders
- bronze gates
Sources
- Hesiod, Theogony 147-153, 617-735, 815-819
- Homer, Iliad 1.396-406
More Greek spirits
- The Anemoi The four winds
- The Muses The nine daughters of Memory
- The Moirai Spinners of the thread of life
- The Charites The Graces of joy and charm
- The Horae Keepers of the seasons and order
- The Erinyes Avengers of blood and broken oaths
- The Harpies The snatchers
- The Gorgons The three sisters of the terrible gaze