Did Giants Once Walk the Earth?

Were There Ever Giants on Earth?

Legends throughout the world have spoken of a race of giants that once walked the Earth.

• The Holy Bible speaks about the offspring of "the sons of God and the daughters of man," indicating that angels who desired earthly pleasures impregnated the women of human origin. It is believed by some that these were the Nephilim, theorized to be gigantic in stature. Arguments have arisen in the theological community for centuries as to what the Nephilim were, or if they were indeed the giants that seemed to be described. However, what cannot be argued is that Judeo/Christian doctrines are not the only ones that speak of a giant human species.
• Before the Bible was even conceived, there were oral histories passed down from generation to generation in Sumer (Mesopotamia), Greece, Rome, Egypt, and elsewhere. Many of these legends speak of powerful gods and goddesses that were larger than life. History has relegated these legends to the "myth" status, and they are not seen as actual historical accounts. However, it is noteworthy that there were many, many of these legends all over the world at one point.

How did so many different cultures that had nothing to do with each other end up with such similar stories of earlier times?

There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.

— Genesis 6:4

Legends of Giants in Mediterranean Countries

The legends of giants in the Mediterranean countries are probably the most widely known and discussed.

Beyond the Biblical accounts (such as David and Goliath), there are the accounts of the Babylonian king Gilgamesh. In stone tablets that have been recovered, there are images carved of Gilgamesh taking on a lion. In looking at the scale of the ancient carvings, it appears this man had to have been at least 12 to 14 feet tall taking into consideration the size of the lion he is portrayed to have slain.

The legend of Gilgamesh is very similar to the Greek's Herkales, the Roman's Hercules, and the Egyptian's Osiris.

On the earth there once were giants.

— Greek poet Homer, 400 B.C.E.

Greek Legends of Ancient Giants

The Greek accounts of ancient times are fanciful and filled with tales of giant men taking on the gods and goddesses.

Giants were referred to in writings as "gigantes" or "Titans" in the works of the epic poet Hesiod, and were said to be the offspring of Uranos and Gaea.

In both Greek and Roman scenarios, the gods and goddesses were in conflict with these giants, who wanted control over the land. It had been prophesied that the son of a god and a mortal would be needed for the Olympians to win against the giants.

In Greek legends, it was Herkales, the son of Zeus and Alcemene who went on to lead the Olympians to victory in his epic battle with the giant Antaeus.

Norse Legends of Giants

Norse mythology originates from Northern Europe, and many of the same elements are there in regards to a race of giants fighting the gods. They were referred to as the Jotun, although they were not thought to be quite as large as others of Norse lore, such as the hrimpusar (frost giant) and the bergrisar (mountain giant).

There is even a legend of humankind being created from the flesh of Ymir, who was said to be a giant of massive size.

There are also the giants that are said to defeat the gods in the final battle of Ragnarok.

Most of the giants described in Norse legends are of the monstrous variety and are to be feared.

Native American Legends of Giants

Giants appear in many other legends, including those of people indigenous to what is now the United States (more often known as Native Americans).

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Nations that inhabited the Northeastern and Southwestern parts of the country often spoke of a race of "red-haired" giants. One of these legends includes that of the Paiute tribe that was predominant in the southwest area of Arizona, Nevada, and Utah. The legend says the giants (also known as “Si-Te-Cah”) existed before the tribe migrated there thousands of years ago. Si-Te-Cah means "tule eaters" which is a plant that grows underwater. These giants were said to be twelve feet in stature with flaming bright red hair, and are generally described as menacing.

It was said that all the tribes of the area stood together against these giants and chased them into a cave. The giants refused to leave the safety of the cave, so the Paiutes along with the other tribes, set the cave on fire. The cave then collapsed during an earthquake, sealing the entrance shut.

Interestingly enough, when the area was mined for fertilizing materials there were several fossils discovered in the early 1920s. Along with those fossils were the well preserved human-like skeletons, one male and one female. The female was over six feet tall and the male was over eight feet.

Along with the discovery of the skeletons, there were many other artifacts found including a circular calendar that had the number of days and weeks of a year etched into it. 8 to 10 Foot Tall Skeletons! In 1931, two more skeletons were discovered in Lockport Nevada that measured from eight to ten feet tall.

Giant Human Femur

A model of a giant human femur is on exhibit at Mt. Blanco Fossil Museum.

The sculpture is mounted over a drawing to scale to show how large this person was.

Is this proof that giants did in fact exist and the Earth in the past?

Legends of Giants in Ancient Cultures

The list goes on for areas of the world whose ancient cultures made references to giants.

The area that spans the borders of France and Spain, called the Basque Country, was said to be inhabited at one time by the jentilak and the mariuak. These giants were certainly intimidating, however they were advocates for the Basque people who were resistant to the Christian doctrines.

Many of these giants have similarities to ones referred to in other cultures, such as the one-eyed giant Tartalo that resembles the Greek Cyclops.

There are some that believe the giant megaliths that have been built throughout the world were indeed built by these massive creatures.

Gigantism

Gigantism, a disease that affects a scant few of the world's population, can cause a person to become unusually tall, and yet that would not explain that an entire race (or races) of giants would have once walked the earth.

There has certainly been enough found to pose the question of these creatures once inhabiting the planet, and the similarities of different legends involving giants are also noteworthy. What happened to them? Were they truly the fallen angels that disobeyed God and felt the wrath or were they here long before humans walked the earth?

These questions and many others continue to be asked as searchers for the truth keep looking for the answers.

Artifacts and Skeletons of Ancient Giants

There are more than just the legends to support the existence of giants.

Artifacts and skeletons have been found which indicate there have indeed been people at one time who were much larger than average height. Some have turned out to be hoaxes, but there have been tools found in various parts of the world. Large sledgehammers in abandoned mines have been discovered in such places as Wales and India as well as giant axes and swords in Iran.

There was also a mass grave of giants reported to have been found in Southeastern Turkey in the 1950s whose leg bones were measured at nearly four feet tall from hip joint to knee. It is interesting to note that while many of these findings claim to be documented, it is difficult to find anything concrete. It certainly isn't helped by deliberate hoaxes such as the giant skeleton that was said to have been uncovered in the Arabian desert. Reported as fact, even sometimes to this day, it was actually a contest entry for a convincing photograph of an archaeological find.

There are some very interesting theories as to why the documentation is hard to locate, and much of it involves the alleged efforts of the Smithsonian Institution. The Smithsonian is a large museum and research complex that is located primarily in Washington DC, however there are sites in New York City, Virginia, and others.

Conspiracy theorists believe that when evidence of the Adena (mound builders of North America that were very large in stature) was discovered, members of the institution wanted to portray their own interpretation of what history had been. Rather than the Adena being a race separate from the indigenous people, they were actually evidence of how advanced the Native Americans were, according to these proponents. Some claim that this is why any evidence of giants is sequestered away, hoping that it will be forgotten. It must be noted that this is a theory, and the Smithsonian has denied any efforts to conceal facts.

This article is accurate and true to the best of the author’s knowledge. Content is for informational or entertainment purposes only and does not substitute for personal counsel or professional advice in business, financial, legal, or technical matters.

© 2011 kentuckyslone

Comments

Arish Saujana on October 19, 2019:

I believe that giants have ever existed and walked on earth instead of believing in dinosaurs and fake space

stells on June 18, 2019:

It is noteworthy that the region north of the river Jabbok, or Bashan, "the land of Rephaim", contains hundreds of megalithic stone tombs (dolmen) dating from the 5th to 3rd millennia BC. In 1918, Gustav Dalman discovered in the neighborhood of Amman, Jordan (Amman is built on the ancient city of Rabbah of Ammon) a noteworthy dolmen which matched the approximate dimensions of Og's bed as described in the Bible. Such ancient rock burials are seldom seen west of the Jordan river, and the only other concentration of these megaliths are to be found in the hills of Judah in the vicinity of Hebron, where the giant sons of Anak were said to have lived (Numbers 13:33).[2]

Tim Truzy from U.S.A. on April 14, 2019:

Interesting information. There were probably giants here, but we know so little about ancient prerecorded history. Thanks for an well written article.

Sincerely,

Tim

carlos russ on August 12, 2018:

I FOUND A STONE AXE OR BATTLE HAMMER LIKE A NATIVE AMERICAN WOULD HAVE BUT IT WEIGHT 40 POUNDS PLUS BUT IT WOULD TAKE A GIANT TO PACK IT

Ferrary on August 09, 2018:

Once in a video I saw a 4m tall human in flesh!

Andre on June 04, 2018:

Look at David vs Goliath(nephilim)

Eph on April 10, 2018:

Read the book of Enoch

Evelyn on January 23, 2018:

I once read in a book about a 7 foot human being , but never about a real giant!!!

-Evelyn

skychild on December 21, 2017:

if the experts cant teach it they destroy it.....in the box controlled thinking the truth will set you free and you should be angry at being conned...

dishu on September 15, 2017:

WERE TITANS REAL?! PLEASE TELL ME I WANNA KNOW

LTW on August 18, 2017:

Genesis 6:4 states: and there were giants "in" the earth in those

days... . I'm not aware of anyone addressing the use of the word

"in", as relating perhaps to the hollow earth theory?!?

G on August 01, 2017:

I actually met a "Real" Giant 40 plus years ago. He was 8 feet 9 inches tall. His family of 5 others Giants were all taller than he was. His sister was 9' 2" tall and His dad mom & brothers were 10' plus tall. The Giant I met had 6 fingers on each hand. I'm not joking or telling you a story, I met him in real life.

Algul on February 27, 2017:

We know for a fact of 10 ft tall apes (gigantopithecus)100k years ago...yet somehow its crazy to believe in 'giant' humanoids...the arrogance of the learned will always bind them to ignorance.

TTM on August 02, 2016:

It was a very interesting article and despite what others may say i really believe there is much more evidence out there that is closely guarded as they don't want us to know about our past and wants to feed us the whole stupid and ridiculous evolution thing.

Arturo Nava on May 12, 2016:

As the article states.

¿ How can you denied such an evidences, when these fossils have been found all around the world ?. Even the Bible talks about it ! ! !

Brian Langston from Languedoc Roussillon on October 05, 2015:

Really enjoyed your excellent Hub David. Have just written a Hub on the same subject on a Giant's grave discovered In Derbyshire England in the C17th. Near to where I live now in France, a tumulus was excavated at the end of the C19th to reveal evidence of a race of giants living in the area. This might make it as a Hub in the not too distant future. Keep up the good work!

Jonah Williams on June 11, 2015:

im not sure why the Smithsonian story is STILL doing the rounds - but it was a FICTICIOUS story written by a Satirical News Website called World News Daily Report (read their disclaimer page for a start!)

here's a link to the story

http://worldnewsdailyreport.com/smithsonian-admits...

heres a copy of their disclaimer (the last paragraph is the clincher)

"...Disclaimer

The nature of Internet communications means that your communications may be susceptible to data corruption, unauthorized access, interception and delays. This website may include incomplete information, inaccuracies or typographical errors. World News Daily Report, and any other persons involved in the management of this website, may make changes in the information and content included in this website at any time without notice.

WNDR shall not be responsible for any incorrect or inaccurate information, whether caused by website users or by any of the equipment or programming associated with or utilized in this website or by any technical or human error which may occur.

WNDR assumes however all responsibility for the satirical nature of its articles and for the fictional nature of their content. All characters appearing in the articles in this website – even those based on real people – are entirely fictional and any resemblance between them and any persons, living, dead, or undead is purely a miracle..."

on the big photo at the end of the article with the skeletons in the foreground and the workers at the back...errmm...have you ever heard of perspective?

Here's an example:

https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/jnac-brainstem/...

...is Muhammad Ali's hand in my example really bigger than his whole head? No...its in the foreground and the head in the background.

Similarly - the skeletons at the front are in the foreground and the people working are in the background - the skeletons are normal sized, with normal sized people. Its the perspective that makes it look like they are large.

the "giant femur" is a sculpted, oversize example - made by a sculptor, for a museum - deliberately made that size because an oversize one was needed for an exhibition...

to quote from this website:

http://weekinweird.com/2011/12/01/dem-bones-giants...

"...At the Mount Blanco Fossil Museum, a 47” femur bone is on display from an archaeological site in Turkey. Well, not exactly. It’s the handiwork of the museum’s curator, fossil restorationist Joe Taylor, who was “commissioned to this anatomically correct, and to scale, human femur.” That’s right: the real giant femur claimed to have been discovered is just a personal account in a letter. As for photos circulating of a man holding a similar femur bone, you can buy your own exact replica from Taylor for the special price of $450...."

information on the smithsonian untruth:

http://badsatiretoday.com/smithsonian-admits-destr...

Ibelieve on December 23, 2014:

I think giants or titans are a very possible reality of the old world and that it may come to pass that we once again will see giants roaming the earth.

James Trentadue from Madison, WI. on November 12, 2014:

Nice work! Good commentary as well.

Kenneth Avery from Hamilton, Alabama on August 22, 2014:

kentuckystone,

This is an excellent piece of writing. To be totally-honest, it can easily be described as amazing.

I loved every word. Graphics were superb. This hub was helpful, informative and I found it very interesting.

Voted up and all the choices because you deserve it.

You have such a gift for writing. Keep writing no matter what.

Sincerely,

Kenneth Avery, Hamilton, Alabama

dani on June 13, 2014:

Giants did exist becoz, when Earth was created by God, the first person Hazart Adam who came in this world and his wife were very big in size.The early humans (our Prophets) were very large in size they used to make their homes out of mountains. Due to evolutionary change in human beings our size decreased with time to time.So giants used to exist.

Nell Rose from Buckinghamshire UK on October 19, 2013:

This was fascinating, and I read it because I was watching a tv program the other night about the self same thing. The trouble was that there were so many fakes out there its difficult to find the real ones, but I do believe that there were a race of people who were giants, whether that means really big or just big compared to the local populace, fascinating though!

Dreen Lucky from St. Paul, minnesota on September 20, 2013:

I love this hub. I am fasinated by the thought of different peoples from back in the day. I watched a show about historical peoples and saw that it said the vikings (who traveled the earth and have left fossils everywhere) were believed to be average 6ft tall. One scientists theory was that the giant bones they found were from old vikings. Considering the average person in the Americas was 4ft tall back then, anyone 6ft tall would be a giant to them. Still, I loved your article. Voted up!

Kate Hemsworth from Somewhere in Time on July 26, 2013:

I have always believed in the Annunaki theory ... there are legends handed down by Native Americans about the blond-hair - blue-eyed giants that once roamed the Earth. Thanks for the discussion

kentuckyslone (author) on July 19, 2013:

Thanks for the well thought out comment Edward but you may have missed where it says "This bizarre image first showed up in October 2002 as an entry in a Photoshop contest run by the website Worth1000.com. It was created from a photo of a Cornell University excavation to make it appear like it was a giant. "

My purpose was not to show that there were or were not giants in the land.

My purpose was to ask a question. Along with that question I included word (and image) as food for thought. AND as I had hoped the REAL meat of the discussion is within the comments and not necessarily the original article. :)

edwardtbabinski on July 19, 2013:

uper big giant pics? photoshoped. look on the web for the original pics

he Mt. Blanco webpage admits that the "femur" pictured on their site is not a genuine femur, but just a sculpture that the owner of the museum molded in order to illustrate an unsubstantiated story. The story came from a letter published apparently in an unnamed Christian publication by an unnamed Christian, neither does the original story even mention "femurs," not once!

The Southern Baptist Convention (that promote young-earth creationism) has argued for toning down the heights of "human giants" mentioned in the Bible. See the following paragraphs from "Giants in the Land" by Harold Mosley, an article that appeared in THE BIBLICAL ILLUSTRATOR, 30:2 Winter 2003-04, a Sunday School publication put out by the Southern Baptist Convention:

"GIANTS IN THE LAND" [with additional comments by me, E.T.B.]

The Bible mentioned the "nephilim" and "rephaim" in Genesis and Exodus.

It was the King James translators who rendered those words "giants" while other translators simply transliterate the Hebrew word into English as "Nephilim." Scholars argue over the exact meaning of the word. The context of Genesis 6 is not precise enough to determine anything about the Nephilim except that they appear as unusual individuals... Concerning Numbers 13:33, the comparison of the spies being like grasshoppers next to the Nephilim certainly must have been an exaggeration. Otherwise, if the comparison were taken literally, the Nephilim would be more than one hundred feet tall. [Oddly enough a few Christians in the past DID take such a comparison literally and argued that the Nephilim were over a hundred feet tall. I mentioned such extravagant beliefs in my article on the web. The Book of Enoch, Cotton Matter and some unnamed Frenchman suggested fantastically large "giants in the earth." -- E.T.B.]...

If the Anakim were tall compared to the Hebrews, how tall were the Hebrews? Based on ancient Hebrew skeletons excavated at archeological digs, the average male's height ranged from 5'5" to 5'7". Since the ancient Hebrews generally saw themselves as smaller than other peoples, the biblical writers often noted unusual height. (For instance Isaiah 18:2,7 described the Ethiopians as a people "tall and smooth." Also, the fact that Saul stood taller than other Israelites was noted in 1 Sam. 10:23) ... King Og of Moab, Deut. 3:11 had a bed measuring 9 cubits long and 4 cubits wide (13 ft by 6 ft) [but that does not mean King Og was the same size as his bed. -- E.T.B.]... The record of the height of Goliath, as mentioned in 1 Sam. 17:4 is not consistent among all the ancient versions of 1 Samuel. The Hebrew records for Goliath say he was 6 cubits and a span (a cubit was roughly 18 inches, a span about 9 inches), so Goliath would be about 9'9" tall. Other ancient versions like the Septuagint lists Goliath at 4 cubits and a span, which would make Goliath closer to 6'9" in height. Josephus in his Antiquities of the Jews says Goliath was about 6'8", which would still be considered a giant among the Hebrew people. However, the description of the weight of Goliath's armor suggests a much larger man than even a 7 foot tall individual to carry such weight. His bronze coat weighed "5,000 shekels," an astounding 125 pounds. [Of course, speaking of the number "5,000" as in the afore mentioned weight of "5,000" shekels, it must be kept in mind that the Hebrew authors were prone to rounding off and probably exaggerating them, which was common in the ancient world regarding the numbers of people and booty captured during wars. It can also be seen the case of enemies killed by Hebrews in battle as mentioned in the book of Judges, featuring reports of "500" or "600" or even "1000" enemies all killed by one Hebrew in a single fight, the Hebrew only using either an ox goad, a spear, or even the jawbone of an ass. Elsewhere in the Bible, King David leaves his son a huge rounded off number of pounds of gold and silver in order to build a temple, but the number given in the Bible is so huge it's nearly enough to nearly fill a modern day Fort Knox, which seems unusual for a relatively small kingdom in the ancient world that didn't have modern mining techniques. So, the number "5000" for the weight of Goliath's armor is probably an exaggerated and rounded off estimate. See the two pieces at the end of my email on Samson and Solomon. -- E.T.B.]

END OF EXCERPTS, ABOVE, FROM "GIANTS IN THE LAND"

ED: So where are the truly gigantic human bones? Can you show me one? I have already discussed the Mt. Blanco sculpture of a "giant human femur," but the word, "femur," was not found in the letter they based their scupture upon. So out of the "hundreds" of cases you know about, show me one truly gigantic human bone that is from a human being who was much taller than 9 feet in height. (Big Foot "prints," and Gigantopithecus bones, excluded.)

The largest-known primate was Gigantopithecus, of the Middle Pleistocene of what is now northern Vietnam and southern China. Males would have stood an estimated 2.74 m 9 ft tall and weighed about 272 kg 600 lb. It is risky, however, to correlate tooth size and jaw depth of primates with their height and body weight, and Gigantopithecus may have had a disproportionately large head, jaws and teeth for his body size. The only remains that have been discovered so far are three partial lower jaws and more than 1,000 teeth.

Evolution at least has bones, and in fact has enough of them to fill more than just "one coffin," as creationists now admit. See the two quotations below:

QUOTATION #1

Michael Oard, a creationist writing in CRSQ, admitted:

"I was surprised to find that instead of enough fossils barely to fit into a coffin, as one evolutionist once stated [in 1982], there were over 4,000 hominid fossils as of 1976. Over 200 specimens have been classified as Neanderthal and about one hundred as Homo erectus. More of these fossils have been found since 1976." [ Review of the book, Bones of Contention:

A Creationist Assessment of Human Fossils, in the Creation Research Society Quarterly, Vol. 30, March 1994, p. 222 ]

QUOTATION #2

And, Martin Lubenow, creationist and author of Bones of Contention: A Creationist Assessment of Human Fossils, also admitted about six months later in the same creationist journal:

"The current figures [circa 1994] are even more impressive: over 220 Homo erectus fossil individuals discovered to date, possibly as many as 80 archaic Homo sapiens fossil individuals discovered to date, and well over 300 Neanderthal fossil individuals discovered to date. [ Letter to the editor of the Creation Research Society Quarterly, Vol. 31, Sept. 1994, p. 70 ]

soufiane on July 17, 2013:

Who do you think builded the pyramids: slaves? Even with billions of workers, the wooden materiel wouldn't resist 100 tones rocks and look at the big one, imagine how hard it will be for people in our size, to take such rocks over than 160 meters hight and to manipulate it

Sean on May 09, 2013:

a modern day brick house is made of bricks a size we can carry, just look at various pyramids, the blocks are bigger than any human now days could lift, they were obv made by bigger beings.

cyp on April 16, 2013:

There are two different types of giants we are talking about : pre -flood giants and post -flood giants. While on the pre flood giants we have little informations and we can only presume that due to the different atmosperic conditions where larger we have a lot of info on post flood giants. Post flood giants reached up to 12 feet (3.5 m) the documented maximum size being 2.8 . This can not seem much but for an average man 1.7 looking at someone that is 3.5 (twice his size) it is a strange perspective. In the mind of the two the difference of size becomes much greater. I personally believe that pre -flood giants may have reached 20 feet (6 m) but doubt they could be bigger.

james8175 on January 29, 2013:

i also believe there really were giants but government and scientist don't think were ready for such informatinor the truth reveals things they don't want us to know like how wrong they are about evolution we did evolve but not from monkeys maby they evolved from monkeys but we diddnt

Katlego from Botswana on July 13, 2012:

Very informative article, need to start my own research down here.

Jimren from philippines on June 25, 2012:

this hub was very interesting. it sparks my interest again to read related topics. i ll browse on your hubs.

Cathleen J Wyatt from Reno, NV on June 05, 2012:

Great Hub, very interesting. Voted up!

cyp on April 26, 2012:

First let me say I hate the imperial measurement system.

The first thing to note is that when people usually talk of giants they get a wrong perception of what is considered a giant. In today's population there are people that are 2,5 metres. Also in history records of people having up to 3,5 metres have been found. Most humans are about 1,8 metres. Although the difference is not big people of 3-3,5 m can be called giants, and I believe that post-flood giants did not get bigger than that. Pre-flood giants of the other hand may have reached 5-6 m in high which is huge and in total accordance with the ancient stories. If you imagine a bigger giant I will say this is unrealistic. If you want to see why people so big would be called giants just look of a human statue of that size.

SarahandSophia on March 30, 2012:

Awesome article! I have done a lot of research on the Nephilim and always looking for more! Could they have been a hybrid race of humans and aliens since the men of God came down and had children with the daughters of men?

Angelique Loux from Ohio on February 13, 2012:

I think so. I think they where maybe aliens. Great hub!

magikman on December 10, 2011:

It would be shallow minded to say giants did not exist.there are different species of monkeys ,horses ,ect somewhere in our distant past,there would be room for such a human specie.lets not forget people about 20,000 years ago there was a great dieing and the human race bottle knecked in n.africa and the human race was reduced to one tribe dna studies has proved this to be true,anyway this is very fasinating,great stuff keep up the good work,MM

jeff on November 14, 2011:

I read so many articles that I sometimes have difficulty recalling where I read about any particular news item.