Campe

 


 Campe was a primordial monster and guardian of Tartarus in Greek mythology. She appears in the Titanomachy. Campe’s name means twisting or crooked one. She was known as the nymph of Tartarus.


Campe is described as one of the more confusing monsters from Greek mythology. She had the qualities of several other monsters mixed together. Campe had the head and torso of a human woman, albeit covered in reptilian scales. She had snakes for hair like Medusa. She had eagles talons for hands and wings as black as the night, alternatively wings like the sphinx. Her hips were wreathed in the heads of animals, similar to Scylla, but instead of dogs it was an assembly of every fearsome and vicious animal possible. She had snakes for legs like Echidna, specifically it was said Campe had one hundred snakes for legs. Finally Campe had a scorpions tail, which she held high over her head. It’s unknown if she was supposed to be beautiful apart from her monstrous features or a hideous hag. In general female monsters from Greek mythology start out being described as hideous but over time become known for beauty, other than being monsters. A similar transformation happened to Medusa. In modern times there’s a trend of depicting Campe with the lower half of a four legged dragon, similar to a centaur with a dragon lower half. I don’t know where this interpretation originated from, but it works well with the rest of her monstrous nature, although it is a modern invention.


 Campe was the daughter of Gaia and Tartarus, created alongside other monsters, such as the Cyclopses and Hecatonchires. Typhon, the father of monsters, was her brother. Nothing was said of her role in the battle between Uranus and Chronos. After defeating his father it was prophesied to Chronos he would be defeated with the help of the Hecatonchires and Cyclopses. To ensure this never happened he placed Campe as guardian of Tartarus to ensure these monsters never escaped.


During the Titanomachy Zeus travelled into the underworld to free the Cyclopses and Hecatonchires. To do this he fought against Campe and killed her. It’s unknown what the details of this pivotal battle were, as none of this section of the Titanomachy survives.


There’s a theory that Campe is another name for Echidna herself and that these monsters are one in the same, although because so little writing about Campe survives there’s no way to tell one way or the other.



Sources:


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Campe


https://www.theoi.com/Ther/DrakainaKampe.html


https://mythus.fandom.com/wiki/Campe

https://www.reddit.com/r/GreekMythology/comments/1kq9tdy/the_forgotten_unpopular_monstress_of_greek/

https://www.greekmythology.com/Myths/Monsters/Campe/campe.html

https://www.greeklegendsandmyths.com/campe.html




  


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