Just like the Greek mythology is full of various gods and goddesses, it also talks about many Ancient Greek Monsters that usually destroy people or ravage the countryside. These creatures are powerful, grotesque and something to be feared.
Ancient Greek Monsters are listed below:
Cerberus
Cerberus was a huge and powerful three-headed dog. It is said to have been the guardian of the path to the underworld.
Cyclops
The cyclops were one of the monsters from the primordial period and were said to be born from the earth itself. They had extreme strength and were quite ferocious with one eye bulging out from their foreheads. They are supposed to have built the thunderbolt for Zeus in Greek mythology. The Cyclopes were huge monsters with frightening features which liked to eat human beings. They were leading a debauched life and their works were always full of force, violence, and intrigues
Caledonian Boar
The giant, wild boar caused widespread damages and death to the rural region around Calydon. Oeneus asked for the heroes in Greece to hunt down the boar.
Minotaur
The minotaur is another well-known creature from ancient Greece mythology and is popularly used as a monster in many movies and shows. Minotaur has the body of a human but the body of a bull, living within a deeply twisted labyrinth and very fond of hunting and eating the flesh of prey. His home was supposed to be located under the palace of Knossos in Crete. He is supposed to have been killed by the Athenian hero Theseus with the help of king Minos’ daughter, Ariadne when he was sent as a sacrifice by the Athenians.
Echidna
Echidna is described by Hesiod as a part-snake Ancient Greek Monsters who gave birth to most of the monsters of Greek mythology..
Hydra
A massive and poisonous serpent with nine heads. One of the hydra’s heads was impervious to weapons. Hydra is one of the deadliest monsters in Greek history. His breath venom is dangerous and even his breath could be lethal for a mortal. It had the most dangerous capability to grow back injured or severed parts very quickly and even if its head was cut off it replaced it by growing two headaches to replace the earlier one. It is supposed to live in an underwater cave at the entrance of the underworld and set its lair in the lake of Lerna in the Peloponnese. He was one of the great monsters faced by the Greek hero, Heracles who managed to kill it by burning the stump after cutting off its head.
Hydra is so well known that it has become a metaphor to describe organisations mostly rebel, who have mass popularity and never-ending members.
Sirens
Sirens were one of the most dangerous monsters on earth who used to lure sailors on the ships to lure them onto rocks and then take them to the depth of the sea. The call of the sirens is said to have been irresistible to the sailors. A famous episode in Odysseus, when he used wax to cover the ears of his sailors and then tied himself to the ship to prevent the danger of the sirens.
Typhon
The typhoon was known as the father of all the monsters. She was a giant serpent who was even feared by the gods. She could only be defeated by Zeus and they had fought a legendary battle when she attempted to overthrow Zeus she was killed with the help of a thunderbolt and buried under Mount Etna.
Chimera
Chimera was another mixed creature who had the body and head of a lion along with the head of a goat protruding from its back and the head of a snake as its tail, who could breathe fire. He was very ferocious and feared by most. He had to be slain by Bellerophon with the help of Pegasus.
Polybotes
He was a Gigante who fought Poseidon in their war against the gods. He was pursued by the god across the sea and crushed beneath the rock of Nisyros which formed the tip of the island of Kos.
Satyrs
The satyrs were woodland spirits, often depicted in arts with head and upper body of the man, horns and pointy ears, and goat legs. They were also depicted with a large erect phallus.They were often seen accompanying Dionysus, the god of wine and ecstasy. They were shown in drunken revelry and orgy, dancing with Dionysus’ female followers, the maddens.
The Charybdis and Syclla
The Charybdis and Scylla are two monsters who are said to have lived on opposite sides of the narrow strait. Charybdis was a dangerous sea monster that created storms and tornadoes by drinking huge amounts of water which destroyed an entire fleet of ships. While Scylla similarly is a many headed monster who fed on the flesh of the mortals who came close to her lair.
‘Between a Charybdis and Syclla’ has become a well known idiom to describe a situation with two equally dangerous choices and no momentary solution.
Sphinx
Sphinx of another one of the interesting crates with the body of a lion, the head of the woman along the wings of an eagle, who used to ask a rifle to travelers and strangle them to death when they answered wrongly. She is known for her role in the story of Oedipus. He is said to have jumped off a high cliff to kill herself after being defeated by Oedipus in her own game.
Grater
These ancient hags lived in a cave in one of the mountains in Libya, near Lake Tritonis. They were born with gray hair and said to have the necks of a swan. The Graeae shared an eye and a tooth between themselves.
Medusa – The Gorgon Medusa
Medusa is a popular monster in modern pop culture and is known for her snaky-hair and her ability to turn men into stone when they look at her face. Medusa is one of three sisters, the Gorgons, daughters of Phorcys and Keto. She is a Demi-God who was transformed into a monster after being cursed because of polluting the temple of Athena as she was raped in the temple by Poseidon. She is said to be slain by Perseus by using a mirror and is then her head is also used as a weapon by Athena, by hanging it on her shield. She is a topic of modern literary research with feminist discourses treating her as almost an icon and a scorned woman who was punished because of being raped.
Giants
The Giants were impressive creatures as tall as the mountains, with snakes on their head instead of hair and tails like that of a dragon. They were conceived during the castration of the Titan Uranus by his son Cronus.
Harpy
Harpy was a monstrous bird who had the head of a woman abused to nail the souls of the people she caught for sacrifices to the goddess of vengeance. She was an agent of punishment who supposedly drag victims to the underworld and tortured them on her way. She was greatly feared due to her cruel ways.
Talos
A giant molded out of bronze and set to patrol the island of Crete. He was slain by the witch Medea when he tried to prevent the Argonauts from landing on the island.
Emphusa
Emphusa was another female monster who belonged to the underworld. She had only one leg on which he wore a bronze sandal. She supposedly left the underworld at night to enter the living world. She was a terrifying character who could transform herself into any form and used to terrorize women and children.
