Greek Monsters

Although there is no clear delimitation between Greek monsters and Greek mythical creatures, I have tried to divide them into two lists.

On the list of Greek monsters I have put those who had the most hideous look (even if they probably seemed beautiful to their mommies).

Campe or Kampe - a she-dragon, with the head and the upper body of a beautiful woman and the lower body of a dragon, with a scorpion-like tail. She had 50 heads of different creatures around her waist. Cronus had taske her to guard the Hecatonchires and Cyclopes in Tartarus. Zeus killed her in order to free the Cyclopes.

Cerberus - the three-headed dog who was on guard at the gates of Hades.

Cerberus Tamed by Hercules
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Charybdis - a sea nymph turned by Zeus into a monster.

Chimera - a fire-breathing monster with a lion's head, a goat's head and a snake's tail.

Mythical Creature of Lion, Goat and Chimera
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Echidna - a monster with a woman's head and a snake's body, she was the mother of all the major Greek monsters.

Erinyes (In Roman mythology they were called Furies)- they were female deities of vengeance, who would pursue killers or those who swore false oaths.

Virgil (70-19 BC)...
Gustave Doré
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Geryon - a winged monster who had three human bodies from his waist up.

Heracles Fighting...
Greek
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The Gorgons - three monstruous sisters (initially there was only one Gorgon).

Attic black-figure dinos depicting Perseus fleeing from the Gorgons, c.590 BC (ceramic)
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The Graeae were three very old sisters, not exactly monsters... it's just that they shared among themselves one eye, one ear and one tooth!

Ladon or the Hesperian Dragon, who guarded golden apples.

Lamia - a monstruous woman who ate little children (the bogeyused by ancient Greeks and Romans to make their little ones behave).

The Lernaean Hydra - a sea monster that Herakles fought against; it had many heads and the catch was that, each time a head was cut off, two other heads grew instead. Yikes!

Hercules and the Lernaean Hydra

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Pollaiolo, Piero...
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Medusa - one of the Gorgons; her hair was made of snakes and her look would turn anyone into stone (for more pictures of Medusa, click here).

Head of Medusa
Rubens, Peter Paul
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For more pictures of Medusa, click here.

Orthrus - a dog with two heads, who was guarding the Cattle of Geryon.

Scylla - another beautiful nymph, turned into a monster by Circe, who was jealous of her.

Circe Transforming Scylla
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Typhon - was the father of the monsters. He had a hundred heads and hundreds of snakes around his thighs.

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