Og
Also called Og Of Bashan, Eliezer.
Og is the giant king of Bashan from the Hebrew Bible, defeated by Moses, whom rabbinic legend expands into a figure who survives the Flood and reappears across generations of biblical history.
At a glance
- Tradition
- Biblical folkloreJewish folklore
- Region
- Middle East (place of origin)
- Symbols
- Cyclops/GiantIron
Near this figure
Symbols
Judged against the description by a model. Meanings are our own paraphrase.
- Cyclops/Giant is image-domain The Cyclops denotes brute appetite in near-human form, single-eyed and lawless, born of earth and sky, forging thunder yet seeing without depth.
why
Og is the giant king of Bashan from the Hebrew Bible, defeated by Moses, whom rabbinic legend expands into a figure who survives the Flood and reappears across generations of biblical history.
- Iron bears Iron denotes meteoric power, hardness, durability, strength, and constancy, but also bondage, cruelty, war, evil, slavery, and a dark final age.
why
He is described as the last survivor of the Rephaim, an old race of giants, and the text points to an iron bedstead of extraordinary length preserved afterward at Rabbah as physical evidence of his size.
Traits
Read from the figure's description, which a model wrote. Open "why" for the sentence a trait came from.
Form
- Colossal terrain shaping giant
why
which places the giant at the patriarchal narratives generations before Moses is even born. His eventual defeat is given a scale to match: several versions have him try to hurl an entire mountain onto the Israelite camp
Behaviour
- Symbiotic bond with a human master
why
The rabbinic expansions include the claim that Og survived the Flood itself, in some tellings by clinging to the outside of Noah's ark and being fed through a hole cut for him, on the condition that he serve Noah's household ever after.
Offensive powers
- Superhuman strength
why
His eventual defeat is given a scale to match: several versions have him try to hurl an entire mountain onto the Israelite camp, foiled when ants or birds bore it through so that it drops around his neck like a collar, after which Moses is said to strike the fatal blow at an impossibly extended reach. The rabbinic material on Og is extensive but not uniform — the several volumes collecting these legends give differing accounts of his parentage, of the mountain-throwing episode, and of exactly how many generations he spans before Moses finally kills him.
Roles
Judged from the works' own entries, not from the description. Carries: the figure holds the role. Meets: the role is in its stories, held by something it meets.
- Death meets
3 citations
- Carol Rose, Giants, Monsters, and Dragons, s.v. "Og."
- Louis Ginzberg, The Legends of the Jews.
- Maria Leach, editor, Funk & Wagnalls Standard Dictionary of Folklore, Mythology, and Legend, s.v. "Og."
- Father meets
3 citations
- Carol Rose, Giants, Monsters, and Dragons, s.v. "Og."
- Louis Ginzberg, The Legends of the Jews.
- Maria Leach, editor, Funk & Wagnalls Standard Dictionary of Folklore, Mythology, and Legend, s.v. "Og."
- Hero meets
3 citations
- Carol Rose, Giants, Monsters, and Dragons, s.v. "Og."
- Louis Ginzberg, The Legends of the Jews.
- Maria Leach, editor, Funk & Wagnalls Standard Dictionary of Folklore, Mythology, and Legend, s.v. "Og."
- Water meets
3 citations
- Carol Rose, Giants, Monsters, and Dragons, s.v. "Og."
- Louis Ginzberg, The Legends of the Jews.
- Maria Leach, editor, Funk & Wagnalls Standard Dictionary of Folklore, Mythology, and Legend, s.v. "Og."