monster

Monstrocities and Beasts

Echidna
Echidna was the mother of all monsters (now that we're getting into bad guys), but really she was only the mother of about seven of them. She was also a monster and the mate of Typhon (who challenged all of the Greek Gods, and ende up with Mt. Aetna thrown on top of him). Echidna was allowed to live to bear more offspring for future heroes. Echidna was the daughter of Chrysaor, the Gold Bearer, who was a son of Poseidon and Medusa!!

CYCLOPS

A race of giants. Uranus and Gaea/Gaia were the parents. They each had but one eye, and that
was centered in the middle of the forehead. They worked at the forge for Hephaestus,
fashioning thunderbolts, etc. Hesiod mentions only three (not a race or tribe): Arges (thunderbolt), Steropes (lightning), and Brontes (thunder), obviously storm gods.

Odysseus encounters another group of Cyclopes in the Odyssey, one of whom is Polyphemus, son of Poseidon. These creatures live without any of the trappings of Greek society like law, agriculture or ships. Polyphemus, despite his skills as a shepherd, is a savage creature who eats Odysseus' men until Odysseus works out a strategem to put out the Cyclops' single eye.

In later literature, beginning with the Hellenistic poet Theocritus, Polyphemus is depicted as a burlesque figure, in love with the sea-nymph Galatea.

The Erinyes:
Another group with varying parentage; sometimes the daughters of Gaea and Uranus (most credible, see later in paragraph),
sometimes of Cronus and Euonyme, sometimes of Scotus and Gaea, and sometimes of Hades and Persephone. It is agreed,
however, that long before the Olympians ruled the territory we now call Greece, the people there recognized three immortal
maidens, bearing brass-studded whips, and baying and barking like bitches, who were dressed solely in black, had poisonous
blood that dripped from their eyes, and had serpents for hair (the same as that of the original description of the Gorgons). They
were born from the blood of the castrated sky god Uranus where it touched the earth mother Gaia. These implacable
goddesses could be stayed by neither sacrifice nor tears once their righteous anger was aroused. Their name means
"vengeance", appropriately, as that is what they took upon those who committed crimes against social or natural laws, and in
particular, those who committed crimes against their own families. Again the number varies, although three (or three aspects of
one goddess), four or five are most commonly recognized. They had other names/guises; the Semnae ('kindly ones"), the Dirae
("curses", Roman?), the Maniae, the Furiae ("furies"), and lastly, the Eumenides. They were involved in the first trial by jury; the
trial of Orestes for the killing of his mother Clytemnestra. The Erinyes hounded him till he found sanctuary in a temple of Apollo,
where he was judged by a jury of gods. A tie vote was broken by Athena's vote for acquittal. They are:

Alecto ("unresting one")
Pursuer of wicked lawbreakers until she deems their punishment fits the crime; if they die before she deems the punishment
complete, she follows them into the afterworld and continues with the punishment. She is pictured carrying a torch and a whip.

Megaera (Megaira)
Goddess of "envious anger".

Tisiphone ("avenger")
Goddess of retaliation (especially for murder).

The Gorgons
There were three Gorgons, they were all sisters. Two of them were immortal, but Medusa wasn't. (She ended up getting her head chopped off and having an immortal flying horse jump out of her body). The three were the daughters of Phorcus (the Sea God) and Ceto (a daughter of Pontus and Gaea.

There names were:

Medusa, her name means Ruler
Stheno, her name means Forceful
Euryale, and her name means Far-Roaming

Daughters of Phorkys and Keto. According to Hesiod, they live beyond Okeanos towards
Night, i.e. in the far west. Their sisters are the Graiai who have only one eye and one tooth between them. The Gorgons have snakey hair and, in most accounts, the ability to turn to stone anyone one who looks them in the eye. Apart from that they don't seem to cause much trouble. However, Perseus on the orders of Polydektes, outwits the Graiai and kills one of the Gorgons, Medusa. From the blood which spills on the ground are born Chrysaor and Pegasos Medusa's head turns out to be a useful weapon against enemies.

The Gorgons' pursuit of Perseus was a favorite subject for archaic vase painters. The Gorgon was also depicted on some early temples, perhaps because it was believed to ward off evil. Athena is depicted wearing a Gorgon's head on her aegis.

Medusa
One of the three Gorgons, who were three monstrous daughters of the sea god Phorcys and his wife, Ceto. Her equally hideous sisters were Stheno and Euryale. (The Gorgons are monstrous creatures covered with impenetrable scales, with hair of living snakes, hands made of brass, sharp fangs and a beard. They live in the ultimate west, near the ocean, and guard the entrance to the underworld). She was the only one who was mortal. Her gaze could turn whoever she looked upon to stone. There is a
particular myth in which Medusa was originally a beautiful maiden. She desecrated Athena's temple by lying there with Poseidon. Drops of her blood fell on the desert, and there engendered snakes. The Gorgon's remaining blood was caught in vials by Athena; it had such power that a single droplet from the left side could raise the dead, and the same tiny amount from the right could instantly kill.Outraged, Athena turned Medusa's hair into living snakes. Medusa was killed by the hero Perseus with the help of Athena and Hermes. He killed her by cutting off her head and gave it to Athena, who placed it in the center of her Aegis, which she wore over her breastplate. From Medusa's dead body the giant Chrysaor and the winged horse Pegasus, her son by Poseidon, sprang forth.

Gryphon
A fabulous beast with the head and wings of an eagle and the body of a lion. In myth the gryphon was sacred to Apollo, represented wisdom to Athena, and retribution to Nemesis.
Also spelled: griffin, griffon.

The Harpies

The Harpies were originally storm goddesses in ancient Greece or, some believe, aspects of the death goddess. Later myths
depicted them as "body snatchers". Their number varied, up to eight (or even more). As "snatchers" they were described as
monsters with female heads (fair-haired), claws, bear's ears, and vulture-like bodies. There are almost as many parents listed for
each as there are mythographers, so take what is listed here with a grain of salt!
The three which are most agreed upon as Harpies are starred below:
Aello (Means "howler") Said to be the daughter of Electra and Thaumas? She is the personification of the whirlwind.
Thyella
Ocypete (Means "Swift") Personification of storm winds. Daughter of Gaia? One of the two mentioned by Hesiod.

The others are:
Celaeno She is the personification of heavily clouded skies. Daughter of Gaia?
Kelaino
Lelaino
Nicothoe
Podarge
(Possibly another form of Celaeno.)The only Harpy mentioned by Homer.

They were the daughters of the Nereid Electra and Thaumas, the son of Pontus and Gaea. That made them sisters to Iris! These three sisters were always ravenously hungry. They were often called the Dogs of Zeus (Hades?). The name Harpy means "Snatcher." They were the ones that threw an entire country (Ethiopia I believe, no seriously!) into famine!
The Empousae These chicks were Greek demonesses and emmissaries of Hecate.

The Hydra
One of the most hideous creatures of Greek mythology is the nine-headed hydra. For each head
that was cut off, the monster grew two new ones. Hydra is famous for being one of the twelve labors of Hercules. It was believed that the middle head of Hydra was immortal. When
Hercules lopped off a head of the Hydra, two more grew out of the old one. With the help of
his servant Iolaus, Hercules managed to burn away the heads of the Hydra and bury the
immortal one under a huge rock.

Dragons
A legendary reptilian monster similar in form to a crocodile but with wings, huge claws, and fiery breath. In the Mesopotamian creation myth (Enuma Elish) a dragon was considered a symbol
for destruction and evil. Dragons became more benign in later mythologies. The Greeks and
Romans believed that they had the ability to understand and to teach mortals the secrets of the
earth.
Norsemen carved the prows of their ships with likenesses of the dragon. The ancient Celtic considered the dragon a symbol of sovereignty. The Teutonic invaders of Britain had
dragons depicted on their shields. The dragon also figures in the folklore of Japan. In China it is
traditionally considered as a symbol of good fortune, and was the national emblem of the Chinese Empire.

Medusa, her name means Ruler
Stheno, her name means Forceful
Euryale, and her name means Far-Roaming

Medusa
One of the three Gorgons, who were three monstrous daughters of the sea god Phorcys and his wife, Ceto. Her equally hideous sisters were Stheno and Euryale. (The Gorgons are monstrous creatures covered with impenetrable scales, with hair of living snakes, hands made of brass, sharp fangs and a beard. They live in the ultimate west, near the ocean, and guard the entrance to the underworld). She was the only one who was mortal. Her gaze could turn whoever she looked upon to stone. There is a
particular myth in which Medusa was originally a beautiful maiden. She desecrated Athena's temple by lying there with Poseidon. Outraged, Athena turned Medusa's hair into living snakes. Medusa was killed by the hero Perseus with the help of Athena and Hermes. He killed her by cutting off her head and gave it to Athena, who placed it in the center of her Aegis, which she wore over her breastplate. From Medusa's dead body the giant Chrysaor and the winged horse Pegasus, her son by Poseidon, sprang forth.

The Minotaur

The Minotaur was the monstrous son of a white bull (which was sent by the sea god Poseidon as a
gift to Minos) and Pasiphae, the wife of King Minos of Crete. When the child was born it had the head of a bull and the body of a man, and was given the name Minotaur. The creature was fed on
seven boys and seven girls sent annually as tribute by the Athenians, a tribute that had been forced
upon them since the murder of Androgeus. To free his countrymen of this terrible burden, now being
exacted for the third time, the hero Theseus came to Knossos, entered the maze-like Labyrinth
where the Minotaur lived and killed it. He was assisted by King Minos' daughter Ariadne, who gave
him a ball of thread, instructing him to unravel it on his way into the maze so that he could find his way out again. She also smuggled a sword to Theseus. Theseus had promised to change the usual
black sail on his ship for a white one if he was successful in his attempt to kill the monster. In the joy
of victory he forgot his promise, and when his father, King Aegeus, saw the black sail on the returning ship he committed suicide.

Peliades:
Medea wishing to exact revenge against Pelias, conned his (not-too-bright) daughters into cutting him into pieces and placing
those parts into a cauldron of boiling water; saying this was a spell that would make him young again. It didn't happen! The
daughters were:
Amphinome
Euadne
Peisdice
Pelopeia

The Sirens
The Fisherman and the Siren
by Frederic Lord Leighton

These were three women who sang so beautifully that any man who heard them was compelled to jump off of his ship (they lived on an island) and swim to them. Unfortunately most of the sailors died in the rough water and those who didn't perished of hunger because they never moved from the Sirens. Supposedly (though we don't know because no one ever made it back) they were part fish and part woman and incredibly beautiful.
Beautiful half-woman, half-birdlike creatures who sang such sweet songs that listeners forgot everything and died of hunger. They were the daughters of Calliope (some say of Sterope). In
the oldest legends there were two, later writers had three, and still later writers kept adding
more. They sat on rocks by the sea and lured sailors to their doom by singing to them. The three most famous were Parthenope, Ligea, and Leucosia. Ulysses escaped from
them by filling his crew's ears with wax while he tied himself to the ship's mast. The Argonauts
were saved by Orpheus' music.

Aglaope(beautiful face)
Aglaophonos (beautiful voice)
Himeropa
Leucosia (white being)
Ligea (shrill)
Molpe (music)
Parthenope (maiden face)
Peisinoë (persuading mind)
Raidne (improvement)
Teles (perfect)
Thelchtereia
Thelxepeia (soothing words)
Thelxiope (persuasive face)

They were sisters to the Gorgons as well as the Graiae and the Monster Scylla.

Sleipnir (Norse)
was the swift eight-legged horse ridden by Odin. It was the offspring of Svadilfari (the horse that helped build the walls of Asgard) and Loki (disguised as a mare in that event); and was given to Odin as a gift. Sleipnir could travel through the air and over the sea, and was swift enough to beat any other horse in a race.

The Sphinx
Oedipus Explains the Riddle of the Sphinx
Jean August Dominique Ingres
Canvas, 1808

The Sphinx is the child of Echidna and Typhoeus and therefore kin to other monsters like the Hydra, the Chimaira and the Nemean lion.
The Sphinx is best known as the riddle-loving monster which terrorised Thebes until Oedipus came along and answered her question correctly .
Oedipus' reward is to marry the queen of Thebes, his mother, which prompted Jung's reading of the Sphinx as the riddle herself which Oedipus failed to understand.
In ancient art the Sphinx is often shown carrying off young men. As a death-bringing snatcher she is
comparable to the Harpies, also composite monsters who are sometimes shown on tombs carrying off the dead.

There are several species according to myth: the ram-headed one, the hawk-headed
one, and the human-headed one) was a mythical creature with the head of a woman, the body of a
dog, the tail of a serpent, the paws of a lion, and a human voice. It was sent as a curse to Thebes by Hera and devoured those travelers that could not answer its riddle. Oedipus finally bested the
creature by answering the riddle: What is it that in the morning walks on four legs, at noon on two,
and in the evening on three? The answer: man, who crawls as a baby, walks erect as a man, and
leans on a cane in his old age. The sphinx thereupon committed suicide.

Scylla

     Scylla grew up a beautiful maiden nymph, the daughter of
     Phorcus and Ceto. One day while she walked along the
     water's edge a man turned sea-god, Glaucus, spotted her. He
     lusted after her, but, in she did not return that love. A jealous
     Circe, who was in love with Glaucus herself, changed Scylla
     into a monster with. She was human to the waste, but below
     that were biting snapping dogs. She had become a monster.
     She sat on the Italian side of the straits of Messina gobbling up
     anything that came within her reach.

Charybdis

Charydis was once a nymph, the daughter of Poseidon and Gaia. And she flooded lands for her father's underwater kingdom until Zeus turned her into a monster and had her suck in and out water three times a day. She lived in a cave on the Sicilian side of the Strait of Messina, opposite the monster Scylla, the two of them forming a dangerous threat to passing ships.

Agdistis

Agdistis originally had both male and female sexual organs. But the gods cut off the male one, and an almond tree grew up from it. Sangarius' daughter picked the fruit and ate it and became pregnant.

Campe

Campe was the jailoress in Tartarus who guarded the Cyclopes and the Hecatoncheires(the Giants). She was double-shaped, and female to her hips. From her chest to her thighs she was covered in fish scales. Over her shoulders a scorpion curled around itself. She was killed by Zeus when he freed the Cyclopes and the Giants to fight the Titans.

Delphyne

Delphyne was a female dragon. A "half-bestial maiden," as Carlos Parada puts it, who guarded the sinews of the hands and feet of Zeus after Typhon severed them. She was eventually killed by Apollo.

Scythian Monster

The Scythian Monster was half maiden half serpant. She refused to give Geryons cattle to Hercules unless he agreed to have intercourse with her. As a result, little Agathyrsus was conceived. As well as Alcaeus, Gelonus, and Scythes (the first King of Scythia).

Stymphalian Birds

These man killing birds were gathered around a lake in Stymphalos. But then Hercules came along and killed all of them using noisemakers made by Hephaestus. Bye-Bye Birdies!

Lamia

Lamia was a queen of Libya who fell in love with Zeus. Hera killed her children in jealousy, so Lamia went crazy and devoured all the children she could, becoming a demon. She would trick parents and then steal and eat their children.

Fairies
In folklore and legend, a diminutive supernatural being, in human shape, who has magical powers.
Usually depicted as clever and mischievous. Known by many names and in many forms: Brownie, Dwarf, Elf, Gnome, Goblin, Leprechaun, Pixie, etc.

Hippocampus (Roman):
The hippocampus is a creature that is half-horse and half-fish, with the head and forequarters of
a horse and the tail and hindquarters of a dolphin. It had forelegs with webbed paws, and may have a fin on the back of its neck. Neptune's chariot was pulled through the ancient seas by several of these creatures, and Neptune was occasionally seen riding one.

Pegasus
is the winged horse from Greek mythology who sprang from Medusa's neck when she was killed by Perseus. Pegasus then flew to mount Helicon, where, striking the ground with his hoof, a stream began to flow which became sacred to the Muses. When Bellerophon was giving the task of killing the Chimara, he was advised to procure Pegasus for the battle. Minerva gave Bellerophon a golden bridle and showed him Pegasus drinking at the well of Pirene. At the sight of the bridle, Pegasus approached and allowed himself to be captured. With Pegasus' help, the Chimaera was easily defeated. This conquest and other successes with Pegasus caused Bellerophon to become swell headed. He attempted to fly Pegasus to Olympus to join the gods. An angry Zeus sent an insect to sting Pegasus, causing him to throw Bellerophon from his back. Bellerophon thereafter wandered the earth alone, lame and blind in consequence. Some stories place Pegasus in Zeus' stables after this, entrusted with the task of bringing thunderbolts and lightning to the god.

The Phoenix in Greece

Greek mythology places the phoenix in Arabia, where it lives close to a cool well. Every morning at dawn it bathes in the water and sings a beautiful song. So beautiful is the song, that the sun god would stop his chariot to listen. There only exists one phoenix at a time. When the phoenix feel sits death approaching (every 500 or 1461 years) it builds a nest, sest it on fire, and is consumed by the flames. A new phoenix springs forth from the pyre. It then embalms the ashes of it's predecessor in an egg of
myrrh and flies with it to the City of the Sun. There the egg is deposited on the altar of the sun god.

The Phoenix in Egypt

In Egypt the phoenix was usually depicted as a heron, but also as a peacock or an eagle. The brilliantly red and golden plumed Bennu was the sacred bird of Heliopolis. Identified as a heron with its long straight back and head adorned at the back withtwo erect feathers, the Bennu was later named Phoenix by the Greeks. The Bennu lived on the ben-ben stone or obelisk within the sanctuary of Heliopolis and was worshipped alongside Ra and Osiris. It was said to create itself from the fire that burned on the top of the sacred Persea tree in Heliopolis. The sun rose in the form of the Bennu each morning. Bennu was also considered a manifestation of Osiris, said to spring from his heart as a living symbol of the god. The Bennu symbolizes rebirth as it rises from the ashes, just as the new sun rises from the old.

Praxidicae
They are demi-goddesses. They oversee the dispensation of justice (especially if there was a sworn oath). They include:
Praxidice
Aulis
Alalkomenia
Thelxinoea

Satyr with Nymphs
A forest and mountain creature. Part human, with a horse's tail and ears, and a goat's horns
and legs, satyrs were merry, drunken, lustful devotees of Dionysus.

Titanides

Daughters of Gaea and Uranus. They include:
Mnemosyne
Mother of the Muses.
Phoebe
Mother of Asteria and Leto.
Rhea
Wife of Cronus. She is the mother of the gods, and is often called "Mother Earth".
Tethys
Wife of Oceanus and mother of thousands of sea deities, including the Oceanides and the Naiades.
Theia
Mother of Helios, Eos, and Selene. Sometimes designated as "goddess from whom light emanates".
Themis
Mother of the Horae, the Moirae, the Hesperides, and Astraea, all by Zeus.

Unicorn       "...I can o'ersway him; for he loves to hear
                                                                                     That unicorns may be betray'd with trees,
                                                                                     And bears with glasses, elephants with holes,
                                                                                     Lions with toils and men with flatterers;

Julius Caesar
--William Shakespeare

A fabled beast having the head and legs of a horse and a long, twisted horn set in the middle
of its forehead. Pure white, it has been used as a symbol of virginity, holiness and chastity. It has also been described as a white horse, with the legs of an antelope, and a spirally grooved horn projecting forward from the center of its forehead, with the horn being white
at the base, black in the middle, and red at the tip.

Perhaps the earliest mention of the unicorn is by Herodotus, who in the 3rd century BC wrote of the 'horned ass' of Africa. The more likely earliest surviving mention of the unicorn comes from a century later, in the writings of the Greek historian Ctesias. He writes of a creature he calls the 'wild ass of India' describing it as being equal in size to a horse, with a white body, a red head, bluish eyes and a straight horn on the forhead, a cubit long. He describes the lower part of the horn as being white, the middle black, and the tip red. Drinking cups made from the horn were believed to possess the power of neutralizing poison when poured into them. Ctesias represents the unicorn as being extraordinarily swift of foot, untameable and almost impossible to capture.