Antaeus

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Antaeus is the third classical giant presented in Canto XXXI of the Inferno, after Nimrod and Ephialtes. Son of Neptune and Earth, he fed on the flesh of lions and slept on the bare earth, from which he always received new strength. He was killed by Hercules, who managed to keep him lifted off the ground. He is mentioned several times in the Aeneid, but what Dante recalls of him depends on Lucan (Phars. IV 595 ff.). He was born too late to take part in the rebellion of Phlegra, and for this reason he is punished less severely: unlike Nimrod and Ephialtes, he is not in chains and can speak, and yet he will remain silent. Virgil addresses him with flattering words to ask him to set them down on the edge of the ice; the giant agrees, sets them down gently at the bottom of the pit, stands up straight, and returns immobile like a ship's mast. His dwelling was the valley of the river Bagradas, near Zama.