Gigantomachy

The war of Gods and Giants

So you think, after Zeus defeated Typhoon, he ruled in peace happily ever after right. Well no. The Giants or Gigantess, were creatures born from Uranus’ blood. But some sources claim that they were the children of Gaea and Uranus. They felt dissatisfied and decided to rebel against the gods.
The giants were strong and it took all the resources the gods had to keep them at bay. However, there was a prophecy that the gods could only defeat the giants with a help of a mortal. And enter everyone’s favorite hero, Heracles, better known as Hercules.

Hercules vs. Alcyoneus

The battle started when the Giant Alcyoneus stole Helios’ cattle. Seriously people, this was one of the most important battles in Greek mythology and it started because someone stole cattle. Those Greek divinities seriously had to get their priorities sorted. Anyways when Gaea saw war was about to begin she wanted to help her children, and started looking for a plant that would shield the giants from the gods. However, Zeus stopped Helios (Sun), Selene (Moon), and Eos (Dawn) from rising and hence stopped the growth of all the plants. Crafty fellow that. Hercules fought Alcyoneus, who couldn’t die on the soil of his homeland. So heeding Athena’s advice he dragged the giant away from his homeland and killed him. Dionysus killed Eurytus; Athena buried Enceladus under Sicily; Hermes killed Hippolytus; and so on. Many of the Giants were buried under islands. In fact, it was believed that the earthquakes and the volcanic eruptions were caused when the Giants moved in their tombs.
After the giants were subdued the rule of the Olympians went unchallenged and they finally got their happily ever after and ruled in peace. However, that is not to say that there were no internal rebellions, but that is a story for another day.