727 BCE / XXVIII Ann. Ab Urbe Condita
New Carthage did its Tyrian ancestors proud in the third Titan assault. Seeing the carnage at Ogygia and Dacia, Zeus and his loyal Punic followers set out to fortify the burgeoning city. The walls of New Carthage rose high above the waves of the Mare Nostrum, and rows upon rows of Bacchus’ purest wine berries ringed the impenetrable stone. Once more, the army of Olympus assembled along the parapets, eyes peeled for a sign of the Titans’ seaward approach.
At last, the dreaded twins came ashore on the eastern flank of the city. Krios and Koios — the former wielding a bow to rival Apollo, and the latter quick as Mercury with his rapier — set their boots in the sandy beach and planted the Titan flag. Hyperion, still fuming from the standoff at Dacia, joined his brothers, brandishing aloft his deadly spear. Gods and mortals poured over the walls, wading through the abrasive thicket of fruit to duel the Titan trio.
The combatants — divine, human, and Titanic — pressed sluggishly through the thick air, slowed as though by a latent curse from the Lord of Time, Kronos himself. However, the fighting did not drag on. Pinned against the shoreline, the Titans swept aside most enemies, but they couldn't get a foothold on the beach, with every flag planted quickly cut down by the Aquitanian spies, or by Eryx, or else by a flurry of divine power. The swift wind god Zephyrus — using the greatest of his powers to defend his own homeland — was too much for the Titan twins. After three days of battle, the west wind slew both in quick succession. Crushing first Krios, then Koios, Zephyrus — with the help of Zeus, and his many mortal allies — conjured a mighty gust to send the Titan siblings all the way back to the depths of Tartarus.
Smelling victory, the Olympian army fought on. The human infantry repelled the skeletal Titan footsoldiers, and Hyperion could make no progress. Chased around the walls to the Carthaginian harbour, Hyperion found himself cornered. Boiling with rage, the Titan lashed out foolishly, crumbling in the face of his enemies’ taunting. The brave mortal army laughed in the face of Hyperion’s juvenile insults, continuing to attack in full force. At long last, a mighty crack of thunder split the sky, and the full might of Zeus’ Alpha Bolt surged through the Titan’s feeble body, crumbling him to dust.
All the while, the enduring general Atlas — watching from afar, still wounded from his failed attack on Ogygia — could take no more. To the strictly virtuous Titan, Hyperion’s arrogance and disrespect went too far. He broke away from the camp of Kronos, turning on his kin in the name of justice. Rolling his immortal eyes, Atlas lent his strength to Zeus, and together the pair of them swept Hyperion’s regenerating body far to the western edge of the world. Together they shackled the Titan with celestial bronze, and they wrestled him onto a lofty pedestal. With a resounding crash, the full weight of the Heavens fell on Hyperion’s shoulders.
So it was that the disgraced Titan Hyperion came to occupy the former torment of Atlas, banished from the mortal world and condemned to hold aloft the full burden of Ouranos forevermore. The jubilant Carthaginian warriors rejoiced, and the gods retired once more to their palaces, content to have survived yet another Titan assault.
Maybe, just maybe, the light had begun to shine at the end of the tunnel in this grim war. As the day drew to a close, though, a shrill laugh rang out across the mortal plane, filling the ears of humans and gods alike. It seemed Kronos was not quite finished…