Zeus darting its lightning on Typhon. Side B from a Chalcidian black-figured hydria, ca. 550 BC.
Typhon was the last child of Gaia. After the defeat of his brothers Gigantes, Gaia urged him to avenge them, as well as his other brothers, the Titans.
Typhon started destroying cities and hurling mountains in a fit of rage. In the panic fear of Typhon, the gods fled to Egypt, where, in order to hide, they turned into a variety of animals: Zeus into the ram (leader), Hera into the cow, Aphrodite into a fish, Hephaestus into the ox, Heracles into a bird ibis. Only Athena stood on Mount Olympus, and she began a rebuke of Zeus because of cowardice, untill he again took his real face. Others say...
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