![]() The Chimera had a goat head protruding from its back, the udders of a goat, and a serpentine tail. It was described as being three-headed, with the body and head of a lion. The Chimera was one of the more bizarre monsters found in Greek myths. Jason planted the teeth in the sacred field of Ares, the god of war, and soon a tribe of warriors grew from the ground. The dragon’s teeth were taken by the king of Colchis, Aeetes. The dragon was either killed by Jason in pursuit of the fleece or put to sleep by a witch. This offspring of Typhon guarded the famed golden fleece in Colchis, The Enchanted Land of the Golden Fleece, in the sacred grove of the Olympian god of war, Ares. The Colchian dragon is a giant dragon that appears in the story of Jason and the Argonaut’s Quest for the Golden Fleece. It was slain by Hercules as he retrieved the golden apples The Colchian Dragon Ladon was the dragon who guarded the golden apples in the garden of the nymphs of the west or Hesperides. The Hydra is killed by Hercules during his second labor. ![]() The number of heads possessed by the Hydra varies in ancient sources, with some stating nine and others six. In the Theogony, Hydra has poisonous breath and blood, the smell of which could kill. In popular culture, the Hydra appears with six heads that grow back when cut off. Hydra was a snake-like water monster who dwelled at the entrance to the Underworld in the Lake of Lemar in the Argolid region. The terrifying hound is the last labor of Hercules. It was the job of Cerberus to ensure none of the dead left the Underworld or that no one entered who was not supposed to. Hesiod gives Cerberus fifty heads, but he is usually depicted with three. Sometimes known as the hound of Hades, the god of the underworld, he is described as having three heads, a serpent as a tail, and snakes protruding from his body. CerberusĬerberus is the famous hound who guarded the gates of the Underworld in Greek mythology. Hesiod makes Orthrus the father of the Sphinx and the Nemean Lion, The Indomitable Beast, but other sources make these siblings of Orthrus. Hercules kills the two-headed hound during the theft. Geryon’s cattle were kept on an island called Erytheia, meaning “red one.” In the tale of Hercules, the hero must travel to sunset island and retrieve the cattle as his tenth labor. Orthrus guarded the cattle of the three-headed giant Geryon. Orthrusįirst, the pair created Orthrus, who was a two-headed hound. The pair are believed to have created the Caucasian Eagle that ate the liver of the Titan Prometheus, The Titan Who Defied Zeus in Tartarus. The Children of Typhon and EchidnaĪside from the eight children listed below Typhon and Echidna are credited with the creation of other monsters. In earlier tales, she was considered immortal, but later myths describe her death at the hands of a giant doing the bidding of the Queen of the Gods, Hera. ![]() Hesiod describes the human half of Echidna as resembling a beautiful maiden, similar in appearance to the beautiful woodland spirits. Gabriele Delhey, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons Hesiod equates her to rotting salt marshes and fetid sea foam. Echidna possibly represented natural rot, such as foul water, slime, sickness, and disease. The dracaena was the mate of Typhon, but despite this, she lived alone in a cave in Arima. Echidna, Mother of all MonstersĮchidna was a flesh-eating, half-woman, half-snake dracaena or female dragon. The two engaged in a fierce battle which Typhon lost thanks to Zeus’ Thunderbolt. Typhon famously challenged Zeus for the rule of the cosmos. Other sources depict Typhon as a giant winged humanoid monster. Typhon was supposed to emit every type of sound imaginable from his one-hundred heads, that only the gods could understand. Homer described Typhon as cruel, while Hesiod describes Typhon as immensely powerful with one-hundred fire-breathing snake heads on his shoulders. Another version is that he was the offspring of the Titan Cronus. In the Homeric Hymn to Apollo, Homer states that Typhon is the son of Hera and was given to another monster, the giant serpent, Python, to be raised. According to the ancient Greek poet Hesiod, Typhon was the son of the primordial deities Gaia and Tartarus. Typhon, a monstrous serpentine giant was one of the most feared monsters in Greek mythology. The pair, Typhon and Echidna were responsible for the creation of many of the creatures that terrorized fictional heroes, and no doubt gave the ancients nightmares. ![]() The Monsters of Ancient Greece in the Modern Worldīefore diving into the many different categories of terrifying and sometimes bizarre creatures and monsters of ancient Greece, it is pertinent, to begin with, two monsters in particular.
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