JP+Mythology&Religion+Mythological+creatures.

= Ancient Greek Mythological Creatures. = Welcome to our page on mythological creatures there are many different creatures throughout Greek mythology and they are all part of a legend or story. Some where thought of as good and that they helped the gods and willingly did their bidding but others fought the gods and where enemies who's soul purpose was to cause havoc and mayhem to put off the gods and heroes. Today Mythology is taken very differently due to all of the different religions and the progression of science. Today if you where to tell Medusa was real and she was slain by Perceus to someone and it happened lately they would think you where crazy or know that it was just mythology.

Philippa

Medusa- Medusa was one of the three gorgons, creatures with snakes for hair, supposed to be rather ugly and can turn people to stone if the look at them, and was the mortal one. She was once a beautiful women but one day she angered Athena, the goddess of wisdom, (there are multiple myths on how) and Athena turned her into an ugly creature with snakes for hair and the ability to turn anyone who sees her into stone. Later on, a young demigod, named Perseus, was to slay Medusa for King Polydectes. He found the area where Medusa resided and slayed her (some myths say he used her reflection (in a shield) to turn her to stone others say that he used the reflection to keep an eye on her and strike her down with out looking at her directly). Medusa ability was so strong that even if her head was severed and turned to stone she could turn people to stone so Perseus used it to turn King Polydectes to stone.

Echidna- Echidna was known as the "Mother of all monsters", due to the fact she gave birth to many of them. She was part snake and part nymph and was supposed to be rather pretty in some myths (at least the top half of her, which was the head and chest of a woman). Her mate has Typhon and she had many children with him, including Chimera, Cerberus and Ladon. She was eventually killed by Argus,the many-eyed guard, while she was sleeping.

Chimera- Chimera was a mythological beast with a lion's body, a lion's head (with a mane oddly enough), a goat's head, a snake's head and a snake-headed tail. Chimera would breath fire and was a very dangerous creature and was female. She was one of the many offspring of Echidna and Typhon. Chimera was considered an omen of things storms and natural disasters. Some myths state she gave birth to the Nemean lion and the Sphinx. Chimera met her end when she started causing chaos in Lycia and a hero called Bellerophon was called into stop her. Bellerophon and Pegasus engaged in battle with Chimera and, using a spear with a lump of lead attached to the end, Bellerophon killed Chimera.

Minotaur- Minotaur was a creature with a bulls head and tail and the body of a man. It was forced to live in a giant labyrinth and every year, fourteen young people (half boys and half girls) were sacrificed to the Minotaur. This ended when a young hero, Theseus, with the help of the king Minos' daughter, went into the maze and slayed the beast. He got out by a thread he tied to the entrance so he could find his way out.

Jaiden

Centaur- The Centaur is a mythological being that has appeared in mythology and even in modern movies, books and television. Obviously it is just thought as a myth nowday but in ancient greece the Centaur was a a good and a bad race. Centaurs are a specific tribe that are loved in books and movies because they are wild, untamed and completely unpredictable in theory centaurs are double agents working for the good and the bad. The Centaur where savages so they where sometimes found eating raw meat, being drunk and disorderly, but even though they where savage they still followed a god but only one Dionysus who was the god of wine and wine making, grape harvest, ecstasy and ritual madness. There are two Stories to the birth of the Centaur one being that they where born from a cloud shaped like Hera the queen of the gods and the queen of Zeus and the other story being that the son of Ares, Ixion killed the father of his wife but Zeus saw him and took pity so he sent a copy of hera Zeuses queen to Ixion. Ixion met the copy of Hera and seduced her, the result of their affair caused the birth of the centaur and in this ixion was punished. There where many, many bad centaurs but in movies like "The Chronicles of Narnia" they are good and often save or help people in distress or in wars.

Cyclops- Cyclops where giant human looking creatures that had 1 eye set in the middle of their forehead. In the beginning Uranus (sky) and Gaia's (earth) children wher Titans, Hecatonchires or hundred-handed and 3 Cyclops. the Cyclops helped zeus overthrow their father Uranus because he was imprisoning the children of Gaia and Uranus inside Gaia. In return of the overthrowing of Uranus and zeus letting the children of Uranus free the Cyclops gave the gods gifts they gave Zeus the gift of thunder and lightning, Poseioden his trident and Hades a helmet of darkness. After the Cyclops where freed they lived a violent life where their work was always full force and dangerous. There where said to be two generations of Cyclops one group where the children of Gaia and Uranus and the second group where a band of lawless Shepard in Sicily who had lost the skill of metallurgy and where no longer blacksmiths. One of the Cyclops was Polyphemus. when Odysseus came to his island polyphemus trapped the men in his cave with his sheep and ate some of the men he also asked for Odysseus's name and got tricked into thinking his name was nobody so no one would come to avenge the Cyclops or come to his rescue instead they would think that nobody did the crime. On the second night Odysseus made Polyphemus drink too much wine and blinded him with a red hot poker. When the Cyclops rolled the stone that was blocking the entrance away to let his sheep graze Odysseus and his men hid under the sheep by clinging on the wool from their stomach they escaped without the Cyclops knowing. After setting sail Odysseus shouted to the cyclops that he did it to him and tom the cyclops his name the Cyclops threw boulders and shouted for his father Poseidon to avenge him. Scientific theorys say that the one eye could be due to blacksmiths having tattoos on their foreheads of the sun or wearing a eye patch so the flying sparks wouldn't blind both eyes.

Cerberus- The Cerberus was a three headed gaurd dog for Hades who has been a favourite in some fictious media. Not only did the Cerberus have three heads but it also had a lions claws and a mane of snakes and it's tail was a snake also. The Cerberus was posted so that the souls of the dead would not leave the underworld. The Cerberus was the son of Typhon and Echidna he was to admit the souls of the dead admittance but never let them free. Heracules or Hercules was sent to take the Cerberus from the underworld as one of his twelve labours and as all of the labours where they where complicated. Hercules was to bring the Cerberus live from the underwold withiought using weapons. Before he entered the underwold he sought the help of Athena and Hermes who helped him journey to the underworld. Hercues asked Hades to bring the Cerberus to earth which he willingly agreed but only if Hercules could overpower the beast without weapons, he did and dragged the Cerberus to earth and brought it to the king who set the labours for Hercules because Hera the queen of the gods drove Hercules mad and he killed his sons and was bound to the labours. The king was so terrified of the beast that he told hercules tht he would be relived of his labours if he took the Cerberus back to where it came from. Today a cerberus is either just another movie monster or a myth it has appeared in many movies and books like harry potter and any more. Griffin- The Griffin is a large beast with the body of a lion, the head and wings of an eagle and its back covered in feathers. The Griffins made nests like birds instead of eggs they laid agates round gemstones everything about the griffins where lusturous so they where often hunted. The nests where made of gold and precious metals so hunters where tempted to steal the nests. The griffin was thought to be the king of creatures since it was a mix of an eagle and a lion the eagle was the king of the birds and the lion the king of the beasts it was a very highly respected being. The Griffin was said to originate in india and depicted in liturature for ages. The Griffin also pulled the chariot of the goddess Nemesis she was the goddess of indignation against, and retribution for, evil deeds and undeserved good fortune and she was the personification of the resentment aroused in men by those who commited crimes with apparent impunity, or who had inordinate good fortune. unters would sell the parts of the Griffin and used the talons as drinking cups because of the size. The Griffin where constantl waging a war wit a one eyed species called the Airmaspians wholived at the foot of the mountains so they could steal the griffins gold and nest these two species where constantly at war and are told about in many stories in literature.

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