Giants Coloring Pages
Almost every culture has stories about giants. Some are clumsy and a little silly, some are wise and ancient, and some are the monsters heroes have to outsmart. They often stand for the wild, untamed forces of nature, like mountains, storms and the sea, that people long ago couldn't control.
Start with a friendly cartoon giant or a realistic one, then meet a few of the famous giants from Norse, Greek and Roman myths.
Giants from Myths and Legends
In Norse mythology, the giants are called jötnar (one is a jötunn). They lived in Jötunheim and were often at war with the gods, especially Thor and his hammer. But the line between gods and giants was blurry, and many gods had giant parents or married giants. The very first being, Ymir, was a giant, and the gods built the world from his body.
In some versions of Scandinavian legends, Trolls are considered huge nature creatures (sometimes the size of mountains!) that turn to stone in the sun.
The Greek Titans ruled the world before Zeus and the Olympians. Cronus led them until Zeus overthrew him, and after the war, Atlas was sentenced to hold up the sky forever.
In Roman myth, Cacus was a fire-breathing giant who lived in a cave and stole cattle from Hercules. He dragged them in backwards so their tracks would point the wrong way, but the cattle mooed and gave him away.
Titan coloring pages Hercules coloring pages
Cyclopes
The Cyclopes were one-eyed giants from Greek mythology, and there are two very different kinds. The oldest Cyclopes were master blacksmiths, sons of Gaia and Uranus, who forged Zeus's thunderbolts. The Cyclopes in Homer's Odyssey were wild shepherds, and the most famous of them, Polyphemus, trapped Odysseus and his men in his cave until Odysseus tricked him and escaped.
