In Greek mythology, Campe or Kampe (Greek: Κάμπη) was a female
monster. She was the guard, in Tartarus, of the Cyclopes and
Hundred-Handers, whom Cronus, the ruler of the Titans, had imprisoned
there. When it was prophesied to Zeus that he would be victorious in
the Titanomachyâ€"the great war against the Titansâ€"with the help of
Campe's prisoners, he killed Campe, freeing the Cyclopes and
Hundred-Handers, who then helped Zeus defeat Cronus.The name given in
Greek texts is Κάμπη, with an accent on the first syllable. As a
common noun κάμπη is the Greek word for caterpillar or silkworm.
It is probably related to the homophone καμπή (with the accent on
the second syllable) whose first meaning is the winding of a river,
and came to mean, more generally, any kind of bend, or curve.We first
hear of the imprisonment of the Cyclopes and Hundred-Handers, and
their subsequent release by Zeus, in Hesiod's Theogony. However Hesiod
makes no mention of Campe, or any guard for the prisoners. These
events were probably also told in the lost epic poem the Titanomachy,
upon which the mythographer Apollodorus perhaps based his account of
the war. According to Apollodorus:Diodorus Siculus says that the god
Dionysus, while camped beside the Libyan city of Zabirna, encountered
and killed "an earth-born monster called Campê" that was terrorizing
the city, killing many of its residents. Neither Apollodorus nor
Diodorus provide any description of Campe, however the Greek poet
Nonnus provides an elaborately detailed one. According to Nonnus,
Zeus, with his thunderbolt, destroyed:
monster. She was the guard, in Tartarus, of the Cyclopes and
Hundred-Handers, whom Cronus, the ruler of the Titans, had imprisoned
there. When it was prophesied to Zeus that he would be victorious in
the Titanomachyâ€"the great war against the Titansâ€"with the help of
Campe's prisoners, he killed Campe, freeing the Cyclopes and
Hundred-Handers, who then helped Zeus defeat Cronus.The name given in
Greek texts is Κάμπη, with an accent on the first syllable. As a
common noun κάμπη is the Greek word for caterpillar or silkworm.
It is probably related to the homophone καμπή (with the accent on
the second syllable) whose first meaning is the winding of a river,
and came to mean, more generally, any kind of bend, or curve.We first
hear of the imprisonment of the Cyclopes and Hundred-Handers, and
their subsequent release by Zeus, in Hesiod's Theogony. However Hesiod
makes no mention of Campe, or any guard for the prisoners. These
events were probably also told in the lost epic poem the Titanomachy,
upon which the mythographer Apollodorus perhaps based his account of
the war. According to Apollodorus:Diodorus Siculus says that the god
Dionysus, while camped beside the Libyan city of Zabirna, encountered
and killed "an earth-born monster called Campê" that was terrorizing
the city, killing many of its residents. Neither Apollodorus nor
Diodorus provide any description of Campe, however the Greek poet
Nonnus provides an elaborately detailed one. According to Nonnus,
Zeus, with his thunderbolt, destroyed:
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