Jentil

thumb|190px|Artist's depiction of a Jentil thumb|190px|Jentilarri, Aralar. The jentil (or jentilak with the Basque plural), are a race of giants in Basque mythology. This word meaning gentile, from Latin gentilis, was used to refer to pre-Christian civilizations and in particular to the builders of megalithic monuments, to which the other Basque mythical legend the Mairuak are involved too.

The jentil were believed to have lived alongside the Basque people. They were hairy and so tall that they could walk in the sea and throw rocks from one mountain to another. This stone throwing has led to several tales and explanations for ancient stone buildings and large isolated rocks. Even the Basque ball game, pilota, is ascribed to these stone-throwers. The tradition lives on in the Basque power games of stone lifting and throwing. Some attributed to the jentil the defeat of Roland in the Battle of Roncevaux, where the Basques defeated the Frankish army by throwing rocks on them. The giants were believed to have created the Neolithic monuments, such as dolmens, found around the Basque Country.