PORPHYRION was the King of the Gigantes who was struck down by Herakles and Zeus with arrows and lighning bolt when he attempted to rape the goddessHera during the Giant War.

He is probably the same as Eurymedon, who is named King of the Gigantes by Homer.

There are several possible etymologies for his name. It might derive from the word porphyreôs, “the surging,” referring to both the surges of the battlefield and of the sea. Another similar word porphyrô means “gleaming darkly.” The comedian Aristophanes in his play the Birds connects Porphyrion and his brother Alkyoneus with two birds, the purple-coot (Greek porphyriôn) and the halcyon (alkyôn).