In Apollodorus the Library, the story of the Battle of the Gods and Giants (1.6.3) describes how Typhon attempts to overthrow Zeus in order to gain supremacy of the cosmos. Throughout the course of the myth, Typhon is depicted to be a monstrous being with superpowers that he uses against Zeus. Apollodorus portrays Typhon as a monster rather than a human being in order to mirror Typhon’s abnormal physical traits to his actions. According to Apollodorus, Typhon is characterized as a deadly monstrous giant with the body of a serpent. Apollodorus explains Typhon’s features in his following narration: In size and strength he surpassed all the offspring of Earth. As far as the thighs he was of human shape and of such prodigious bulk that he out-topped all the mountains, and his head often brushed the stars. One of his hands reached out to the west and the other to the east, and from them projected a hundred dragons' heads. From the thighs downward he had huge coils of vipers, which when drawn out, reached to his very …show more content…
According to Apollodorus, Typhon is described to be attacking multiple gods by "hurling kindled rocks . . . with hissings and shouts, spouting a great jet of fire from his mouth". The trait Typhon has of flames spewing from his eyes and mouth mirror his ability to throw engulfed rocks. Apollodorus states that Zeus was the only god capable of defeating Typhon, expressing the strength Typhon holds, yet it was not enough to overthrow a powerful god. In order to stop Typhon, Zeus had to hurl a mountain on top of him, since Typhon was described to be incredibly tall and bulky. Also, Typhon’s physical trait of having a snake like body from the waist below is mirrored by the action of him hissing at the gods and eventually “twined about [Zeus] and gripped him in his coils”. Apollodorus overall mirrors Typhon’s physical traits with his actions to portray Typhon as a