Which giant was punished for attempting to rape Leto, with vultures eating his liver?

The story behind the answer

The giant punished for attempting to rape Leto, with vultures eating his liver, was Tityos.

Tityos was a gigantic son of Zeus and the mortal princess Elara. In the best-known version, he attacked Leto, the mother of Apollo and Artemis. The twins killed him, and Zeus—or the Olympian order more broadly—sentenced him to eternal torment in Tartarus. He was stretched out while vultures continually consumed his liver, which grew back so the punishment could never end.

The story resembles the punishment of Prometheus, whose liver was also eaten repeatedly. However, ancient authors varied the details: Homer describes vultures in the plural, while Virgil later depicts a single vulture, perhaps blending Tityos with Prometheus. Some accounts say Tityos was killed by Apollo and Artemis; others attribute his death to Zeus's thunderbolt.

Tityos is not one of the Aloadae. Ephialtes and Otus were the twin giants who attempted to storm Olympus by piling mountains on one another. Tityos's crime, punishment, and family belong to a different mythic tradition.

Source: Wikipedia · fact-checked Sept. 2026

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