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Giants, Gods and Beings: Nephilim, Watchers, Jinn and More

Nephilim, Watchers, jinn, the Anunnaki and every strange being the old books describe, each on its own sourced page.

The Bible names several giant peoples: the Nephilim of Genesis 6, the Anakim of Hebron, and the Rephaim, whose last king, Og, slept in an iron bed. Other traditions add Watchers, jinn and the Anunnaki.

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Persia (Zoroastrian)Ahriman (Angra Mainyu)The destructive spirit of Zoroastrianism, who burst through the sky from outside and poisoned a perfect creation.Hebrew BibleAnakimThe giant clan of Hebron who made Israel's spies feel like grasshoppers, and whose survivors lived on in Goliath's city.Sumer and BabylonAnunnakiThe great gods of Sumer and Babylon, whose name means something like 'offspring of An', the sky god. They also became judges of the dead.Sumer and BabylonApkallu (the seven sages)Seven semi-divine sages sent by Enki before the Flood to give humans civilization, carved as fish-men and eagle-headed spirits.Gnostic textsArchonsIn Gnostic texts, the flawed rulers who built the material world and the human body, and who fear the spark of light trapped inside us.Enoch literature; LeviticusAzazelA name from the Day of Atonement ritual that became the Watcher who taught humanity weapons, metalwork and makeup.IrelandBalorThe Fomorian giant whose one destructive eye needed four men to lift its lid, and who died when Lugh turned it on his own army.Hebrew BibleCherubimNot chubby babies: the Bible's cherubim guard Eden with a turning sword of fire and carry God's throne.Enoch literatureGadreelThe Watcher said to have shown humanity 'the weapons of death' and to have led Eve astray in Eden.Bible and QuranGog and MagogA people locked behind a wall at the edge of the world, who break loose at the end of time in the Bible and the Quran alike.QuranHarut and MarutTwo angels in Babylon who taught forbidden knowledge, but only after warning every student: "We are only a temptation."Hebrew Bible; Canaanite mythHelel ben Shahar (Lucifer)The 'shining one, son of the dawn,' who tried to raise his throne above the stars and was thrown down to the pit.Sumer and BabylonHumbabaThe monstrous guardian of the Cedar Forest, wrapped in seven terrors, whom Gilgamesh and Enkidu killed against the will of the gods.QuranIblisThe fire-born being who refused to bow to Adam, saying "I am better than him," and was given respite until the end of time.Sumer and BabylonIgigiThe junior gods of Babylonian myth who dug the rivers, went on strike, and forced the creation of humankind.Quran and Arabian loreJinnA second intelligent species made of smokeless fire, invisible, with free will, and once able to eavesdrop on the sky.Book of Giants (Qumran and Manichaean)Mahway, Ohyah and Hahyah (giants of the Book of Giants)Named giants from the Dead Sea Scrolls who dream of doom, argue, and send one of their own flying to Enoch for answers.Book of Jubilees; Dead Sea ScrollsMastemaThe prince of evil spirits who, in Jubilees, negotiates with God to keep a tenth of the demons free after the Flood.Jewish mysticism (Hekhalot)MetatronThe highest angel of Jewish mystical texts, once the human Enoch, called 'the lesser YHWH' and given a throne of his own.Hebrew BibleNephilimThe mysterious offspring of the sons of God and the daughters of men, named twice in the Bible and never fully explained.Sumer and BabylonOannesA fish-bodied teacher who rose from the sea, taught the Babylonians writing and law by day, and went back into the water at night.Hebrew Bible; Jewish mysticismOphanim (the wheels)Ezekiel's 'wheel in the middle of a wheel,' rims full of eyes, that later became a class of angels.Tobit; Enoch literatureRaphaelThe healing angel who spent weeks disguised as a traveler, then admitted he never ate a bite.Hebrew Bible; UgaritRephaim, Emim and ZamzummimThe giant peoples of the Bible's borderlands, whose name also meant the ghosts of the dead.Enoch literatureSemjaza (Shemihazah)The leader of the two hundred Watchers, who made his followers swear an oath so none could back out of the descent.Hebrew BibleSeraphimSix-winged 'burning ones' who sing 'Holy, holy, holy' and use tongs to press a live coal to a prophet's lips.Greece and RomeTalosA bronze giant who circled Crete three times a day hurling rocks at ships, powered by a single vein sealed with a nail.Hebrew Bible; Canaanite religionThe divine council (sons of God)The Bible's glimpses of a heavenly assembly where 'sons of God' report, debate and receive their sentences.Hebrew Bible (Daniel)The Prince of PersiaA hidden ruler who blocked an angel for twenty-one days, part of Daniel's picture of nations governed by rival heavenly princes.Enoch literatureThe Watchers (Grigori)Heavenly beings who never sleep, sent to watch humanity, who in the Enoch books came down, took wives, and taught forbidden arts.Sumer and BabylonTiamatThe primeval salt sea, mother of the gods, whose split body became the sky and the earth in the Babylonian creation story.IrelandTuatha Dé DanannThe god-like people of Irish legend who arrived in dark clouds, carrying four treasures, and later withdrew into the hills.Enoch literature; 2 EsdrasUrielThe angel who taught Enoch the laws of the sun, moon and stars, and was later struck from the Church's list of approved angels.NorseYmirThe first giant of Norse myth, born in the void, killed by Odin and his brothers, and butchered to build the world.

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Sumer and BabylonAnu (An)The Sumerian god of the sky itself, remote father of the gods, whose heaven Etana and Adapa tried to reach.EgyptAtumEgypt's self-made creator, who rose from the primeval waters and promised one day to return everything to them.Sumer and BabylonEnki (Ea)The clever god of fresh water and wisdom who made humans, gave away civilization while drunk, and leaked the plan for the Flood.Sumer and BabylonEnlilThe lord of the wind and king of the gods at Nippur, who sent plague, drought, and finally the Flood because humans were too noisy.ChinaGonggongA red-haired serpent water god who rammed a pillar of heaven, tilting the sky to the northwest and the land to the southeast.Sumer and BabylonInannaGoddess of love, war, and the planet Venus, who stole the powers of civilization and sailed them home in the Boat of Heaven.Sumer and BabylonMardukThe god of Babylon who split the sea-monster Tiamat to build the sky, and was given fifty names, one of them Nibiru.Sumer and BabylonNinurtaThe warrior son of Enlil, who fought a stone demon with a talking weapon and turned a battlefield into irrigated farmland.ChinaNüwaThe Chinese goddess who molded humans from yellow earth and repaired a broken sky with molten stones of five colors.EgyptThothEgypt's ibis-headed god of writing, the moon and secret knowledge, later fused with Hermes into a legendary sage.Gnostic textsYaldabaothThe lion-faced, serpent-bodied false creator of Gnostic myth, who announced he was the only god and did not know what was above him.

Questions people ask about Giants, Gods and Beings

What were the giants in the Bible called?

The Hebrew Bible uses several names. The Nephilim appear in Genesis 6:4 and Numbers 13:33. The Anakim were the giant clan of Hebron. The Rephaim, also called Emim and Zamzummim, included Og of Bashan, 'the last of the Rephaim'. Goliath's city was home to the surviving Anakim.

Were there giants after the Flood?

Genesis 6:4 says the Nephilim were on earth 'also after that', and in Numbers 13:33 the spies in Canaan say they saw them and felt like grasshoppers. Read literally, giants survived or returned after the Flood. Many scholars read the spies' report as exaggeration meant to frighten the people.

Who were the Watchers in the Bible?

The word comes from Aramaic 'irin, 'wakeful ones'. In Daniel 4 a watcher 'came down from heaven' and the watchers act as a council that judges kings. In 1 Enoch, two hundred Watchers descend on Mount Hermon, take human wives and teach forbidden arts. Scholars read the story as a reflection of its own violent age.