Are Giants Just "Tall" Tales?

From the Holy Bible to Greek mythology, from Native American legends to conquistador diaries, from nursery rhymes to newspapers, from Josephus and Homer to modern day historians and archeologists, accounts of giant human beings living on Earth are abundant.

When most people think of the Titans, Hercules, Conan, Cyclops, Goliath, Paul Bunyan, Pecos Bill, the Jolly Green Giant, or Jack's Beanstock Giant, all these characters bring to mind fictional or so-called "mythological" imaginings. But what about in actual literal Earth history? Many assume these so-called "legends" and "tall tales" have no basis in fact, but is that true?

The Greek poet Homer wrote in 400 B.C., "On the earth there once were giants." Maximinus Thrax was a Roman Emporer who stood 8 ft. 6 in. tall! The notorious Genghis Khan was said to be of giant proportions. The apocryphal scriptures of "The Book of Enoch" and "The Book of Giants" also mention giant human beings extensively. For Bible-believing Christians, the fact that giants existed in human history is already decided by the word of God since stories of ancient giants are replete throughout the text. Here's a small sampling of the many references to giants in the Bible:

"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

"In still another battle, which took place at Gath, there was a huge man with six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot - twenty-four in all. He also was descended from Rapha. When he taunted Israel, Jonathan son of Shimeah, David's brother, killed him." 2 Samuel 20-21

"And there was war again with the Philistines; and Elhanan the son of Jair slew Lahmi the brother of Goliath the Gittite, whose spear staff was like a weaver's beam. And yet again there was war at Gath, where was a man of great stature, whose fingers and toes were four and twenty, six on each hand, and six on each foot and he also was the son of the giant." 1 Chronicles 20:5-7

"And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight." Numbers 13:33

"Which also were accounted giants, as the Anakims; but the Moabites called them Emims." Deuteronomy 2:11

"For only Og king of Bashan remained of the remnant of giants; behold his bedstead was a bedstead of iron; is it not in Rabbath of the children of Ammon? nine cubits was the length thereof, and four cubits the breadth of it, after the cubit of a man ... And the rest of Gilead, and all Bashan, being the kingdom of Og, gave I unto the half tribe of Manasseh; all the region of Argob, with all Bashan, which was called the land of giants." Deuteronomy 3:11-13

"All the kingdom of Og in Bashan, which reigned in Ashtaroth and in Edrei, who remained of the remnant of the giants: for these did Moses smite, and cast them out." Joshua 13:12

"And he slew an Egyptian, a man of great stature, five cubits high; and in the Egyptian's hand was a spear like a weaver's beam; and he went down to him with a staff, and plucked the spear out of the Egyptian's hand, and slew him with his own spear." 1 Chronicles 11:23

The Ahiman, the Amorites, Anab’s giants destroyed by Joshua’s legions, the Anakim, Argob’s 60 cities of giants, Arioch the giant king, Ashdod “city of giants,” the Awim, Bashan’s giants, King Birsha, Elhanan, the Emim, The Gibborim, the Gibeonites, Goliath, Ishbi-Benob, Jericho’s giants, Lahmi, Og giant king of Bashan, the Perizzites, Rapha, the Rephaim, Sheshai, Sihon giant king of the Amorites, Sippai, Sodom and Gomorrah’s giants, Talmai, and the Zamzummin are all the various races, places and figures associated with giants in the Bible.

Many of these have been confirmed outside of the Bible as well. For instance, the town of Anab’s giants still exists today, called Khirbet Anab, 13 miles southwest of Hebron. The Execration Texts of Twelfth Dynasty Egypt (1900 B.C.) now on display at the Berlin Museum, mention by name the Anakim giants and Ashdod, the “city of the giants.” The historian Josephus (37-95 A.D.), who lived in Hebron (home of Biblical giants), wrote that he had on multiple occasions dug up human bones of enormous size. Josephus also wrote about the people of Judah facing the giants of Hebron, saying “There were till then left a race of giants, who had bodies so large, and countenances so entirely different from other men, that they were surprising to the sight, and terrible to the hearing. The bones of these men are still shown to this very day, unlike to any credible relations of other men.” He also wrote of Eleazar, a Jewish giant that stood over ten feet tall being one of the hostages the King of Persia sent to Rome to insure peace.

Roman Emperor Aulus Vitellius also mentioned this writing that, “Darius, son of Artabanes, was sent as a hostage to Rome, he took with him, with diverse presents, a man 7 cubits high, a Jew named Eleazar, who was called a giant by reason of his greatness.” Roman author Pliny the Elder wrote that during the reign of Claudius (41-54 A.D.) a nine-foot nine-inch giant named Gabbaras was brought from Arabia to Rome and placed head of the Adiutrix legions. The area today called “Baqa” near the valley of Hinnom was long known as “Valley of the Raphaim” or “Valley of the Giants.” The Ras Shamra texts, discovered in 1928 Syria, are historical documents mentioning the economy, history, and religion of Ras Shamra (ancient Ugarit) as well as the giant Rephaim which then inhabited the area.

The first Europeans to sail along the Patagonian coast were Ferdinand Magellan and his crew in 1520. Their first meeting with the Tehuelches was recorded by Antonio Pigafetta: “One day, when no one was expecting it, we saw a giant, completely naked, by the sea. He danced and jumped and singing, spread sand and dust over his head. He was truly well built … The captain named these kind of people Pataghoni. They have no houses but huts, like the Egyptians. They live on raw meat and eat a kind of sweet root which they call capac. The two giants we had on board ship ate their way through a large basket of biscuits, and ate rates without skinning them. They drank a half bucket of water at once."

When Hernando De Soto reached the territory of the Apalachee around Tallahassee, he recorded meeting a giant Indian chief whom he described as "a man of monstrous proportions." At the same time as De Soto, across the continent near present day California/Arizona, Francisco Coronado was leading a team to search for the legendary beautiful "Seven Cities of Cibola," and ran into several tribes of giants. Pedro de Castaneda, one of Coronado's team members later wrote a complete history of the expedition mentioning their meetings with giant Indians. In one such passage he wrote of their encounter with the Seri Indian tribe: "Don Rodrigo Maldonado, who was captain of those who went in search of the ships, did not find them, but he brought back with him an Indian so large and tall that the best man in the army reached only to his chest. It was said that other Indians were even taller on the coast."

In around 1542, within months of De Soto and Coronado's expeditions, 5 year old Fray Diego Duran moved with his missionary family to central Mexico and spent most of his life there. During his travels, he recorded several times coming in contact with giant Indians: "It cannot be denied that there have been giants in this country. I can affirm this as an eyewitness, for I have met men of monstrous stature here. I believe that there are many in Mexico who will remember, as I do, a giant Indian who appeared in a procession of the feast of Corpus Christi. He appeared dressed in yellow silk and a halberd at his shoulder and a helmet on his head. And he was all of three feet taller than the others."

In his book "History of the Indies," Joseph de Acosta also tells a tale similar to Duran's: "When I was in Mexico, in the year of our Lord one thousand five hundred eighty six, they found one of those giants buried in one of our farms, which we call Jesus del Monte, of whom they brought a tooth to be seen, which (without augmenting) was as big as the fist of a man; and, according to this, all the rest was proportionable, which I saw and admired at his deformed greatness."

Halfway around the world, in 1575 when the Tartars invaded Poland, Jacobus Niezabilo-vius defeated a soldier of gigantic size who fought within their ranks. After the battle, The Polish army recorded that: "his body was of so prodigious a bulk that ... his carcass reached to the navel of any ordinary person standing by the side of it."

So what do people think? Are these all just "tall tales" told by our imaginative ancestors? Or did races of giant human beings truly exist in Earth history? I have been researching this subject voraciously for a while now and I am personally positive that giants existed, and in fact I think they still do. I will be posting much more evidence of this soon. Peace.

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