Appendix IV
The following is a list of references from Birds to the Gigantomachy:
  1. 553: Œ KebriÒnh ka‹ Porfur€vn (when they decide to erect a wall around Nephelokokkygia like the one in Babylon).
  1. 824: 'No,' Peisetairos says to Euelpides, 'an even better place for the reported wealth of Theogenes and Aischines is tÚ Fl°gra! ped€on[37] where the gods, boasting, completely outdid[38] the Earth-born gods.' This is not only a reference to the Gigantomachy but also an insult to the Olympians who are being compared to the ruinously boastful Theogenes and Aischines.
  1. 1252: eÂ! Porfur€vn: a warning from Peisetairos to Iris of the trouble Porphyrion, king of the giants, caused Zeus.
  1. and perhaps 926 where Peisetairos is hailed as kt€!tor A‡tna!, which recalls Typhoeus and the mountain under which he was jailed.[39]
Cf. also the second Hypothesis (28-31): §n d¢ to›! nËn tØn t∞! Gigantomax€a! !umplokØn ßvlon épofa€nvn ˆrni!in ¶dvke diaf°re!yai prÚ! yeoÁ! per‹ t∞! érx∞!.
These references form no single locus and lead us to believe that Aristophanes added them as references that serve to juxtapose the grandeur of the myth with the outrageousness of the plot of the play (which implies that the themes are somewhat parallel).[40] Birds was not influenced by any one mythic idea. Many (including foundation mythology, the myth of the golden age, the myth of Tereus and, as Dunbar notes,[41] the myth of Demeter as presented in the Homeric Hymn to Demeter) are at play here. As is argued above, Hesiod's rendering of the Prometheus story is most relevant and revealing for Birds.