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29 Had it not been the will of Heaven, you would not have conquered it.’ Rabbi Johanan then took Hadrian into a cave and showed him the bodies of Amorites who were buried there. One of them measured eighteen cubits [approximately 30 feet] in height. He said, 'When we were deserving, such men were defeated by us, but now, because of our sins, you have defeated us" (quoted in Judaism, edited by Arthur Hertzberg, p.155-156, George Braziller, New York: 1962). Thirty feet tall! The bones of these men were still in existence during the time of Josephus, the Jewish historian of the first century! These mighty "giants" of old were the source and origin of the Greek legends of gods coming down from heaven and marrying women, having incestuous and adulterous relationships, "Cyclops," and other "Titans" and giants. They may also explain the difficulties engineers have had in explaining the construction of the great pyramid and the movement of the massive blocks of stone weighing hundreds of tons! Says the Companion Bible: "If these Nephilim . . . were associated with Egypt, we have an explanation of the problem which has for ages perplexed all engineers, as to how those huge stones and monuments were brought together. . . . "Moreover, we have in these mighty men, the 'men of renown,' the explanation of the origin of the Greek mythology. That mythology was no mere invention of the human brain, but it grew out of the traditions, and memories, and legends of the doings of that mighty race of beings; and was gradually evolved out of the ‘heroes' of Gen.6:4. The fact that they were supernatural in their origin formed an easy step to their being regarded as the demi-gods of the Greeks" (appendix 25). "Thus the Babylonian ‘Creation Tablets,’ the Egyptian 'Book of the Dead,' the Greek mythology, and heathen Cosmogonies, which by some are set on an equality with Scripture, or by others adduced in support of it, are all the corruption and perversion of primitive truths, distorted in proportion as their origin was forgotten, and their memories faded away" (Companion Bible, appendix 25). The Encyclopedia Britannica, eleventh edition, provides more insight into the giants of old. Although the editors of the Britannica did not endorse the idea of real "giants" as having lived in the past, they put together a very interesting description of a theme which runs throughout ancient times -- that of real living giants. Notice: "When reading in Homer of 'the Cyclopes and the wild tribes of the Giants,’ or of Odysseus in the cave of Polyphemus (Homer, Odyss. vii, 206; ix), we seem to come into view of dim traditions, exaggerated [sic] through the mist of ages, of Pre-Hellenic barbarians, godless, cannibal, skin-clothed, hurling huge stones in their rude warfare. Giant-legends of this class are common in Europe and Asia, where the big and stupid giants would seem to have been barbaric tribes exaggerated [sic] into monsters in the legends of those who dispossessed and slew them. Jn early times it was usual for cities to have their legends of giants. Thus London had Gog The "Giants" of Mythology and Early History The Companion Bible adds: