Typho

The Seba library treats Typho in 6 passages, across 6 authors (including Hillman, James; Roscher, Wilhelm Heinrich, Plato, Burkert, Walter).

In the library

the demon of typhoid fever (tuphos, tuphomanie, tuphodes puretos), which is often associated with raving delirium, confused sensual dreams (nightmares), intoxication, and stupor, also seems to have been identified or confused with the nightmare demon Ephialtes.

This passage argues that Typhos, etymologically rooted in 'smoke or fumes,' was historically conflated with the nightmare demon Ephialtes and with fever-induced delirium, situating Typho within a cluster of oneiric and somatic disturbances central to Pan's domain.

Hillman, James; Roscher, Wilhelm Heinrich, Pan and the Nightmare, 1972thesis

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the allusion to the serpent Typho may be noted in passing; also the general agreement between the tone of this speech and the remark of Socrates which follows afterwards, 'I am a diviner, but a poor one.'

The passage identifies Plato's reference to Typho in the Phaedrus as a reflexive, ironic moment in which Socrates entertains whether he himself might be a being of Typhonic complexity, a self-examination with clear depth-psychological resonance.

Plato, Phaedrus, -370thesis

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an allusion to the destruction of Typhoeus with the enigmatic location en Arimois: Il. 2. 781-3; a more complicated version in which Typhon is temporarily victorious: Apollod. 1. 39-44, in close agreement with the Hittite myth of Illuyankas.

Burkert establishes the comparative mythological framework for Typhoeus, tracing its combat narrative across Greek and Near Eastern sources and emphasizing its structural significance as a monster temporarily prevailing over divine order.

Burkert, Walter, Greek Religion: Archaic and Classical, 1977supporting

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Typhon, 46, 47-48

Kerényi indexes Typhon in proximity to Dionysiac themes of indestructibility and chaos, suggesting the figure's relevance to archetypal images of primordial, destructive vitality within the depth-psychological tradition.

Kerényi, Carl, Dionysos: Archetypal Image of Indestructible Life, 1976supporting

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Typhoeus (tif-oy'-us): A monster confined underground near the volcanic area near the Arimi. 2.933.

This gloss identifies Typhoeus as a subterranean monster in the Iliad, anchoring the figure's association with volcanic, chthonic suppression that recurs in depth-psychological readings of the myth.

Homer, The Iliad, 2023supporting

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Typho, 223

Nussbaum's index entry places Typho in proximity to discussions of the tyrannical life and vulnerability in Plato, situating it within her broader analysis of passion, instability, and the limits of rational self-possession.

Martha C. Nussbaum, The Fragility of Goodness: Luck and Ethics in Greek Tragedy and Philosophy, 1986aside

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