Gigantomachy

In Greek mythology, Gigantomachy (from Greek: gigantomakhia, from gigas Giant and makhē battle) was the symbolic struggle between the cosmic order of the Olympians led by Zeus and the nether forces of Chaos led by the giant Alcyoneus. Heracles fought on the side of Olympians, who defeated the Giants in accordance with Hera's prophecy that the gods' victory would not be accomplished without the participation of the son of a mortal mother. Pallene was regarded as the Giants' home ground during the Gigantomachy; their leader Alcyoneus could not be defeated in his homeland, so Heracles picked him up and carried him over the border out of Pallene, and slaughtered him there. The attempt of the Giants Otus and Ephialtes to storm Olympus by piling Mount Ossa upon Mount Pelion is linked with the Gigantomachy in some sources, and treated as a separate, adolescent attack upon the power of Zeus in others.