Briáreo-Egeón: notas a <i>Ilíada</i> I 401-406

In the first book of the Iliad (vv. 401-406) Homer refers briefly to Aigaion the giant, whom the gods call Briareus. The identification of this character and the hundredhanded Briareus, son of Rhea and Cronos according to Hesiod’s genealogy, raises some questions. A careful analysis of the sources and some parallel cases in Hittite epics suggest the existence of an ancient myth with an Anatolian origin related to Aigaion. This character was later supplanted by Briareus, the hesiodic hundredhanded, in Panhellenic epics. This fact gave rise to further marginalization and neglect of the ancient legend about Aigaion