List of Greek mythological creatures
Mythological monsters
Greek myth includes many monstrous beings:
- Antaeus, half-giant son of Poseidon and Gaia. Killed by Heracles.
- Arachne, a half-spider half-female, she is the mother of all spiders. She was made into that by Athena, after losing to a weaving contest after she boastfully said she was the best.
- Argus, a 100-eyed giant.
- Caucasian Eagle, a giant eagle set by Zeus to feed on the ever-regenerating liver of Prometheus; it was a son of Echidna.
- Centaur or Centauride , a head and torso of a human with the legs and behind of a horse.
- Asbolus, in Greek mythology, was a centaur. He was a seer, or an auger. He was a diviner who read omens in the flight of birds.
- Chariclo, wife of the centaur Chiron
- Chiron, the eldest and wisest of the centaurs. The ancient trainer of heroes.
- Nessus, famous centaur, known for being killed by Heracles.
- Pholus, a wise centaur and friend of Heracles
- Cerberus, the three-headed, giant hound that guarded the gates of the Underworld.
- Charon, a ferryman at the river Styx
- Charybdis, a sea monster whose inhalations formed a deadly whirlpool or a huge water mouth.
- Chimera, a fire breathing three-headed monster with one head of lion, one of a snake, and another of a goat, lion claws in front and goat legs behind, and a long snake tail.
- Cyclops, they were one-eyed creatures.
- Daemons
- Diomedes of Thrace, was a giant, the son of Ares and Cyrene
- Eurynomos, the netherworld daemon of rotting corpses dwelling in the Underworld.
- Empousa, seductive female vampire demons with fiery hair, a leg of bronze and a donkey's foot. They are especially good at ensnaring men with their beauty before devouring them.
- Erinyes (Furies), the goddesses of vengeance, who were the offspring of Gaia born from the blood shed when Kronos castrated his father Uranus. Their number is usually left indeterminate, Virgil mention that they were three:
- Ghosts or Shades.
- Gegenees, six-armed giants which were slain by the Argonauts.
- Geryon, was a giant according to Hesiod Geryon had one body and three heads, whereas the tradition followed by Aeschylus gave him three bodies. A lost description by Stesichoros said that he has six hands and six feet and is winged; there are some mid-sixth-century Chalcidian vases portraying Geryon as winged. Some accounts state that he had six legs as well while others state that the three bodies were joined to one pair of legs.
- Gigantes, were a race of great strength and aggression. Archaic and Classical representations show Gigantes as man-sized hoplites fully human in form. Later representations show Gigantes with snakes for legs.
- Gorgon, monstrous women depicted as having snakes on their head instead of hair, tusks and whiskers.
- Graeae, three old women with one tooth and one eye among them.
- Deino
- Persis or Perso or persos
- Pemphredo
- Keres, spirit of violent or cruel death
- Kobaloi, was a sprite from Greek mythology, a mischievous creature fond of tricking and frightening mortals.
- Hecatonchires, three giants of incredible strength and ferocity.
- Briareos or Aegaeon
- Cottus
- Gyges
- Harpies, creature with torso, head and arms of women, talons, tail and wings (mixed with the arms) of bird.
- Hippocampi, sea creatures with the fore-parts of horses and the tails of fish and fins instead of hooves.
- Ichthyocentaurs, a pair of marine centaurs with the upper bodies of men, the lower fronts of horses, and the tails of fish
- Ipotane, a race of half-horse, half-humans
- Lamia, a vampiric demon which preyed on children
- Lernaean Hydra, also known as King Hydra, a many-headed, serpent-like creature that guarded an Underworld entrance beneath Lake Lerna. It was destroyed by Heracles, in his second Labour. Son of Typhon and Echidna.
- Manticore or Androphagos, it has the body of a red lion, a human head with three rows of sharp teeth. Persians called it Manticore, Indians called it martichoras and Greeks Androphagos (man-eater),
- Merpeople, human with fish tail after torso (Mermaid as female, Merman as male), they lure adventurers to drown them.
- Minotaur, a monster with the head of a bull and the body of a man; slain by Theseus.
- Mormo, a vampiric creature who bit bad children
- Onocentaur, part human, part donkey. Head and torso of a human with legs and behind of a donkey.
- Ophiotaurus, a creature part bull and part serpent.
- Orthrus, a two-headed dog, brother of Cerberus, slain by Heracles.
- Panes, a tribe of nature-spirits which had the heads and torsos of men, the legs and tails of goats, goatish faces and goat-horns
- Satyrs and Satyresses, companions of Pan and Dionysus which had human upper bodies, and the horns and hindquarters of a goat
- Scylla, lover of Poseidon, transformed by Circe into a many-headed, tentacled monster who fed on passing sailors in the straits between herself and Charybdis.
- Scythian Dracanae, upper body of a woman, lower body composed of two snake tails.
- Sirens, mermaid like women whose irresistible song lured sailors to their deaths
- Skolopendra, giant sea monster said to be the size of a Greek trireme. It has a crayfish-like tail, numerous legs along its body which it uses like oars to move and extremely long hairs that protrude from its nostrils. Child of Phorcys and Keto.[1]
- Taraxippi, ghosts that frightened horses
- Telekhines, skilled metal-workers with the heads of dogs and flippers of seals in place of hands.
- Typhon, extremely savage and terrifying monster with man's upper body, snake coils instead of legs and serpentine fingers.
Mythical animals
These animals possess some fantastic attribute.
- Argos, Odysseus faithful dog, known for his speed, strength and his superior tracking skills.
- Arion, the immortal horse of Adrastus who could run at fantastic speeds
- Balius and Xanthus, the immortal horses of Achilles
- Calydonian Boar, a gigantic boar sent by Artemis to ravage Calydon.Was slain in the Calydonian Boar Hunt
- Cretan Bull, was the bull Pasiphaë fell in love with, giving birth to the Minotaur.
- Crommyonian Sow, the Crommyonian Sow was a wild pig that ravaged the region around the village of Crommyon between Megara and Corinth, and was eventually slain by Theseus in his early adventures.
- Ceryneian Hind, an enormous deer which was sacred to Artemis; Heracles was sent to retrieve it as one of his labours
- Giant eagle, Zeus condemned Prometheus to having his liver eaten by the giant eagle for giving the Flames of Olympus to the mortals.
- Giant turtle, Sciron robbed travelers passing the Sceironian Rocks and forced them to wash his feet. When they knelt before him, he kicked them over the cliff into the sea, where they were eaten by the giant sea turtle. Theseus killed him in the same way.
- Griffin or gryphon, a creature that combines the body of a lion and the head and wings of an eagle.
- Hippalectryon, a creature with the fore-parts of a rooster and the body of a horse.
- Hippocampus, a creature with the upper body of a horse and the lower body of a fish.
- Hippogriff, a creature with the front part of an eagle and hind legs and tail of a horse, symbols of Apollo.
- Golden Fleece, from a golden-haired ram, which was held in Colchis.
- Erymanthian Boar, a gigantic boar which Heracles was sent to retrieve as one of his labors.
- Karkinos, a giant crab which fought Heracles alongside the Lernaean Hydra.
- Laelaps, a female dog destined always to catch its prey
- Maera, the hound of Erigone, daughter of Icarius of Athens.
- Mares of Diomedes, four man-eating horses belonging to the giant Diomedes
- Nemean Lion, a gigantic lion whose skin was impervious to weapons; it was strangled by Heracles
- Winged Horse or Pterippi, winged pure white horses.
- Pegasus, a divine winged stallion that is pure white, son of Medusa and Poseidon, brother of Chrysaor and father of winged horses.
- Phoenix, a golden-red fire bird of which only one could live at a time, but would burst into flames to rebirth from ashes as a new phoenix.
- Sphinx has the haunches of a lion, the wings of a great bird, and the face of a woman
- Stymphalian Birds, man-eating birds with beaks of bronze and sharp metallic feathers they could launch at their victims
- Teumessian fox, a gigantic fox destined never to be hunted down.
- Zeus Golden eagle
Dragons
The dragons of Greek mythology were serpentine monsters. They include the serpent-like Drakons, the marine-dwelling Cetea and the she-monster Dracaenae. Homer describes the dragons with wings and legs.
- The Colchian Dragon, an unsleeping dragon which guarded the Golden Fleece
- Cychreides, a dragon which terrorised Salamis before being slain by Cychreus
- Demeter's dragons, a pair of winged dragons that drew Demeter's chariot and, after having been given as a gift, Triptolemus's
- Delphyne, female dragon.
- Giantomachian dragon, a dragon that was thrown at Athena during the Giant war. She threw it into the sky where it became the constellation Draco
- Lernaean Hydra, also known as King Hydra, a many-headed, serpent-like creature that guarded an Underworld entrance beneath Lake Lerna. It was destroyed by Heracles, in his second Labour. Son of Typhon and Echidna.
- The Ismenian Dragon, a dragon which guarded the sacred spring of Ares near Thebes; it was slain by Cadmus
- Ladon, a serpent-like dragon which guarded the Golden apples of immortality of the Hesperides
- Maeonian Drakon, a dragon that lived in the kingdom of Lydia and that was killed by Damasen
- Medea's dragons, a pair of flying dragons that pulled Medea's chariot. Born from the blood of the Titans
- Nemean dragon, a dragon that guarded Zeus' sacred grove in Nemea
- Ophiogenean dragon, a dragon that guarded Artemis' sacred grove in Mysia
- Pitanian dragon, a dragon in Pitane, Aeolis, that was turned to stone by the gods
- Python, a dragon which guarded the oracle of Delphi; it was slain by Apollo.
- Rhodian dragons, serpents that inhabited the island of Rhodes; they were killed by Phorbus
- Thespian dragon, a dragon that terrorized the city of Thespiae in Boeotia
- Trojan dragons, a pair of dragons sent by Poseidon to kill Laocoön and his sons in order to stop him from telling his people that the Wooden Horse was a trap.
- Solar Dragons
Drakons
Drakons ("δράκους" in Greek, "dracones" in Latin) were giant serpents, sometimes possessing multiple heads or able to breathe fire (or even both), but most just spit deadly venom.
The Laconian Drakon was one of the most fearsome of all the drakons.
Cetea
Cetea were sea monsters. They were usually featured in myths of a hero rescuing a sacrificial princess.
- The Ethiopian Cetus was a sea monster sent by Poseidon to ravage Ethiopia and devour Andromeda, which was slain by Perseus
- The Trojan Cetus was a sea monster that plagued Troy before being slain by Heracles.
Dracaenae
The Dracaenae were monsters that had the upper body of a beautiful woman and the lower body of any sort of dragon. Echidna, the mother of monsters, and Keto, the mother of sea-monsters are two famous dracaenae. Some Dracaenae were even known to have had in place of two legs, one (or two) serpent tail.
- Campe, a dracaena that was charged by Cronus with the job of guarding the gates of Tartarus; she was slain by Zeus when he rescued the Cyclopes and Hecatoncheires from their prison
- Ceto, a marine goddess who was the mother of all sea monsters as well as Echidna and other dragons and monsters.
- Echidna, wife of Typhon and mother of monsters.
- Poena, a dracaena sent by Apollo to ravage the kingdom of Argos as punishment for the death of his infant son Linos; killed by Coraebus.
- Scythian Dracaena, the Dracaena queen of Scythia; she stole Geryon's cattle that Heracles was herding through the region and agreed to return them on condition he mate with her.
- Scylla, a dracaena that was the lover of Poseidon, transformed by Circe into a multi headed monster that fed on passing sailors in the way between her and Charybdis
- Sybaris, a draceana that lived on a mountain near Delphi, eating shepherds and passing travellers; she was pushed off the cliff by Eurybarus.
Automatons
Automatons, or Colossi, were men, animals and monsters crafted out of metal and made animate in order to perform various tasks. They were created by the divine smith, Hephaestus. The Athenian inventor Daedalus also manufactured automatons.
- The Hippoi Kabeirikoi, four bronze horse-shaped automatons crafted by Hephaestus to draw the chariot of the Cabeiri
- The Keledones, singing maidens sculpted out of gold by Hephaestus
- The Khalkotauroi, fire-breathing bulls created by Hephaestus as a gift for Aeëtes.
- The Kourai Khryseai, golden maidens sculpted by Hephaestus to attend him in his household.
- Talos, a giant man made out of bronze to protect Europa Esther
Legendary tribes
- Acephali (Greek akephalos, plural akephaloi, from a-, "without", and kephalé, "head") are human without head, with their mouths and eyes being in their breasts.
- Amazons, a nation of all-female warriors.
- Arimaspi, a tribe of one-eyed men.
- Cynocephaly, dog-headed people.
- Curetes, legendary people who took part in the quarrel over the Calydonian Boar.
- Dactyls, mythical race of small phallic male beings.
- Hyperboreans, mythical people who lived "beyond the North Wind".
- Korybantes, were armed and crested dancers.
- Lapiths
- Monopodes or Skiapodes, a tribe of one-legged Libyan men who used their gigantic foot as shade against the midday sun.
- Myrmidons, legendary warriors commanded by Achilles.
- Panotii, a tribe of northern men with gigantic, body-length ears.
- Pygmies, a tribe of one and a half foot tall African men who rode goats into battle against migrating cranes
- Spartoi, mythical warriors who sprang up from the dragon's teeth.
- Telchines
List of Greek mythological figures
See also
References
Sources
- Burkert, Walter (1982). Structure and History in Greek Mythology and Ritual. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-04770-9.
- Morford, Mark; Robert Lenardon (2003). Classical Mythology (7 ed.). New York: Oxford University Press.
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