Creatures

Throughout Greek Mythology, many strange and wonderful creatures have appeared. Here are some of the more well-known ones.

Centaur-Half man, half horse
The centaurs of Greek Mythology are usually male. They lived in the wild and rarely came among the humans. Centaurs were very strong and many were very wise. Many heroes of old were raised by centaurs.

Chimera-Powerful Beast
The chimerae were strange creatures. Part snake, part goat, and part lion.

Cyclops-One eyed Giant
The Cyclopes were the sons of Poseidon. They had only one eye, and fed on meat. Odysseus lost some of his men to a hungry cyclops named Polythemus.

Harpy-Killer bird
Harpies were killer birds with the front half of a woman. They were sent by the gods to torment certain mortals. Jason and his Argonauts drove away a group of harpies to rescue a king from starvation.

Gorgons-The three sisters
The gorgons were monsters who were so ugly that any man who looked at them was turned into stone. Their names are Euryale, Medusa, and Stheno. The most famous was Medusa who was killed by Perseus.

Minotaur-Half man, half bull
The Minotaur is best known for his imprisionment in the labyrinth of Crete. Enemies of Crete were thrown into the labyrinth to wander about until found and devoured by the Minotaur.

Pegasus-The winged horse
Best known for carrying Perseus, the pegasus also carried Bellerophon. Pegasus was born from the blood of Medusa after Perseus cut her head off. The gods put an image of pegasus in the sky to honor it for refusing to carry a mortal up to Mt. Olympus.