Centuries ago, people imagined about terrifying and demonic creatures. They were strange creatures, often results of profane associations between mismatched entities. In every mythology, every culture contains stories about abnormal monsters with unique properties and usually demonic. Greek mythology is full of such stories and beings. These Greek mythical creatures were almost never good with people. Instead, they were demonic and terrifying. They always plagued the inhabitants of entire areas until a hero arose to give a solution.
- Delfini or Delfyna
A serpent deity, daughter of Gaia. From the waist up, she was a woman and a snake from the waist down. Reportedly she gave her name to Delphi after killing her mate Python. Her brother Typhoon had entrusted her with the custody of the tendons of Zeus at Korykeion, until the moment when she was surprised by Aigipan and god Hermes took the opportunity to get them back. Delfini was the keeper of the old oracle of Gaia in Delphi. Apollo fought with her and killed her so he became the owner of the oracle. He covered the oracle’s tripod with her skin, stating that the oracle belonged to him from then on.
- Empousa
Empousa (she who penetrates) was a female demonic Greek mythical creature and belonged to the cult of the goddess of the underworld Hecate. She had some similarities with the creature called Lamia.
She was one-legged, wearing a bronze sandal (like the ones the goddess Hecate was wearing) and had the croup of a donkey. During the nights she abandoned the Lower World in and climbed into the world of the living. She could take any form and she appeared at women and children to cause terror. Sometimes her face lit up like it was on fire. She used to turn into a dog (just like the Hecate), a cow or a beautiful girl and set an ambush in the wilderness. She lured travelers, drank their blood and ate their flesh. The only means of defense for the travelers was to confront her with swearing!
- Echidna
Echidna was monstrous; half a winged woman with sparkling eyes and the other half was a huge, scaly serpent. Hesiod says that her parents were Phorcys and Kito, while others say they were the parents of Tartarus and Gaia or Styx or Chrysaoras and Callirhoe. She lived in a deep cave under a rock in Cilicia, away from gods and humans. In the cave she lived with her husband, a Greek mythical creature with a hundred heads Typhoon. She was ageless and immortal and lured the victims into pits and devoured them alive.
She was mother of some “famous” monsters. She had given birth to Cerberus, the Matins (guard of the herds of Geryon), the Nemean Lion, the Hydra, the gray of Krommyonas and the Sphinx of Thebes. She was also rumored to be the mother of Chimera, the dragon of Colchis, the guardian of the Golden Fleece, the dragon that guarded the golden apples of the Hesperides and the eagle of Prometheus.
- Kito
She was a water deity, ugly and old since birth. She was a daughter of Gaia and Pontus. Her siblings were Nereus, Forkis, Eurybia and Thaumas. She embodied the horror of the sea.
- Ladon
Sleepless Ladon was a snake – dragon. A Greek mythical creature whose parents in accordance with Hesiodus were Phorcys and Kito, (Pherecydes states as its parents Typhoon and Echidna while Peisander states that he was born by Gaia). Ladon had two heads or three or a hundred and had the gift of human speech. Actually, it spoke several languages. Hera had assigned it to guard the apple tree “of the golden apples”, which had been offered as a wedding gift by Gaia for her marriage with Zeus. Hercules managed to kill it after a fight or with an arrow, after he had the beast drunk. Zeus transformed it into the constellation of the serpent (others claim that this constellation is the serpent of Aesculapius)
- Lamia (Ghoul)
Lamia was a Greek mythical creature in the service of Hecate. From the waist up she was a beautiful woman and from the waist down she a reptile.
Lamia was the daughter of Vilos and Libya, and because she was pretty she became loved by Zeus. That love however caused the wrath of Hera. The goddess killed all the children of Lamia except Scylla, or, according to another version, sentenced her to give birth to dead children, deprive her of sleep and transformed her into a monster.
Lamia, because she lost her own children, envied the other mothers and used to devour their children, so people attributed to her the sudden deaths of infants and believed that if she was were caught and had her belly opened, all the children who she had swallowed would become free.
Zeus gave her the ability to remove her eyes and then put them back at their place so that she managed to save herself from the torment of insomnia imposed by Hera.
According to traditions of the 3rd century AD, Lamia was said to be lurking in the wilderness where she seduced young travelers with a whistling sound and then sucked their blood and ate their guts, as did Empousa.
The traditions of Delphi stated another Lamia, deity of springs. According to these legends, Lamia or Sybaris was a huge beast that lived in a cave near Krissa of Fokida and grabed people and animals. After a prophecy at the oracle of Delphi, the city decided to offer a young person for sacrifice, in order to atonement the beast. After a draw it was decided that Alkyoneus would be sacrificed, but he was replaced by Euribatus who offered himself. When Euribatus went into the cave he grabbed the beast and threw it on some rocks, where it was crushed. At that spot a spring named Sybaris gushed forth.
- Chimera
The Chimera was monster born from the union of Typhoon and Echidna. Chimera is a Greek mythical creature often depicted with a lion’s head, a snake’s tail and abody of a goat and sometimes with a lion head and body, a goat’s head starting at the center of its body and a snake’s head on the tip of its tail.
It was raised by King Amisodaros of LyciaIt used to hide in a ravine. Each time a somebody passed by, Chimera would come out of its hideout and burn them with flames bouncing of its three mouths.
Vellerophon was the one who managed to kill it. When he tamed Pegasus, the winged horse, he flew over the ravine where Chimera lived and with the advantage given by the horse’s wings he aimed at the beast with his arrows, until the wounded it heavily. He then threw his spear at it which was pinned between the beast’s jaws. At the tip of the spear Vellerophon had tied some lead. When the lead came in contact with the fiery breath of Chimera it melted and the metal began to flow into the hot throat until it burned all of its organs.
- Chrysaor
Son of Poseidon and Medusa, Chrysaor was a gigantic warrior a monster that emerged from the body of Medusa along with Pegasus, the winged horse, when Perseus beheaded her. This particular Greek mythical creature was named Chrysaor because he was born with a golden sword in hand.