....In the Propontis there is an island sloping steeply to the sea, close to the rich mainland of Phrygia, and parted from it only by a low isthmus barely raised above the waves.
The isthmus, with its two shores, lies east of the River Aisepos (Aesepus); and the place itself is called Bear Mountain by the people round about.
It is inhabited by a fierce and lawless tribe of aborigines, called GEGENEES, who present an astounding spectacle to their neighbours.
Gegenees, meaning "earth-born" are the offspring of Gaia.
Each of these earthborn monsters is equipped with six great arms, two springing from his shoulders, and four below from his prodigious flanks...
The Gegenees were battled by the Argonauts* on Bear Mountain in Mysia.
...No doubt then that the Gegenes perfectly fit the role of arbiter in the primeval eris between Athena and Poseidon, a central event in the future political order of Athens. But is it only by chance that Kekrops also played witness to the birth of Erichthonius? Certainly not: we are dealing with a gegenes who mediates the advent of a second gegenes, another cultural hero who in many respects duplicated and developed the cultural features of his predecessor... URL
*Argonauts are the heroes and demigods who, according to the traditions of the Greeks, undertook the first bold maritime expedition to Colchis, a far distant country on the coast of the Euxine, for the purpose of fetching the golden fleece.... See Argonautica.
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