BRIAREUS, or Aegaeon, one of the three hundred-armed (fιekatoncheires') sons of Uranus and Gaia,—his brothers being named Cottus and Gyges. The legends regarding them are various and somewhat contradictory. According to the most widely-spread myth, Briareus and his brothers were called by Zeus to his assistance when the Titans were making war upon Olympus. The gigantic enemies were defeated and consigned to Tartarus, at the gates of which the three brothers were placed. Other accounts make Briareus one of the assailants of Olympus, who, after his defeat, was buried under Mount Aetna. Homer mentions him as assisting Jupiter when the other Olympian deities were plotting against the king of gods and men. It would be difficult to determine exactly what natural phenomena are symbolized by the Hekatoncheires. They may represent the gigantic forces of nature which appear in earthquakes and other convulsions, or the multitudinous motion of the sea waves. The latter interpretation is rendered more probable by the fact that Briareus is frequently called a marine deity, and is sometimes said to have been a son of Pontus and Gaia.