Typhon (Typhaon, Typhoeus), in
Greek mythology, youngest son of
Gaea and
Tartarus. He is described as a grisly monster with a hundred dragons? heads who was conquered and cast into Tartarus by
Zeus. In other accounts, he is confined in the land of the
Arimi[?] in
Cilicia[?] (
Iliad, ii. 783) or under
Etna (
Aeschylus, P. V. 370) or in other volcanic regions, where he is the cause of eruptions. Typhon is thus the personification of volcanic forces. Amongst his children by
Echidna are
Cerberus, the Lemaean
hydra, and the
Chimaera. He is also the father of dangerous winds (typhoons), and by later writers is identified with the Egyptian
Set.
Edited and wikified from an encyclopedia of 1911