Pedro Cieza de León, los gigantes y Mercurio

Abstract

This article aims to propose a relationship between the narration and engraving of the Saint Helen's giants found in the Primera parte de la chronica del Peru by Pedro Cieza de León (1553) and the myth of Argos. Drawing on several sources from the time of the author, we attempt to prove the importance given to the Hellenic past in this section of the work, which Hispanic chroniclers made coincide with the arrival of the Argonauts in the Peninsula. By referring to it, a genealogy with the Greek tradition has been established, which accounts for the use of Mercury from a Christian perspective to justify the disappearance of giants in the New World.