In Greek mythology, Cottus (Kottos, Greek: Κόττος) was one of the three Hecatoncheires, monstrous giants each said to have a hundred arms and fifty heads. Like his brothers Briareus (also called Aegaeon) and Gyges, he was a son of the primordial deities Uranus (Sky) and Gaia (Earth). After being imprisoned within the Earth, Cottus and his brothers were freed by Zeus to fight on his side in the Titanomachy, the war against the Titans, and afterward became guardians of the defeated Titans in Tartarus.
Adapted from Wikipedia, "Hecatoncheires" · CC BY-SA 4.0
I.Family
Cottus was one of the three Hecatoncheires ("Hundred-Handed Ones"), enormous giants each having fifty heads and one hundred arms. His brothers were Briareus, also known as Aegaeon, and Gyges (sometimes called Gyes).
According to Hesiod's Theogony, the three brothers were among the offspring of Uranus (Sky) and Gaia (Earth), making them siblings of the twelve Titans and the three Cyclopes.
II.Mythology
In Hesiod's account, Uranus hated his Hecatoncheire children and, like the Cyclopes, imprisoned them deep within Gaia, the Earth. When Zeus and the Olympians went to war against the Titans in the Titanomachy, Zeus released the Hecatoncheires from their confinement and gave them nectar and ambrosia to revive their strength.
Speaking on behalf of his brothers, Cottus pledged their loyalty to Zeus before the battle. The three brothers then joined the fight, hurling boulders against the Titans; Hesiod describes Cottus, Briareus, and Gyges as "insatiable of war" as they roused the bitter struggle that helped secure Zeus's victory.
After the Titans were defeated, the Hecatoncheires were set as guards over them in their prison beneath the Earth. Hesiod relates that Cottus and Gyges afterward dwelt in mansions upon the foundations of Ocean.
III.Name
The name Cottus is a common Thracian name and has been connected by scholars with the Thracian goddess Kotys. Compared with his brother Briareus (Aegaeon), Cottus is given relatively little independent mythological detail in the surviving sources, appearing chiefly as one of the trio of Hecatoncheires.