Mythological Monsters

                                                                                              

The Cetos of Troy

The Cetos of Troy was a gigantic sea-monster sent by Poseidon to plague the land of Troy as punishment for King Laomedon's refusal to pay him for the building of the city's walls. When Laomedon built Troy, Poseidon and Apollo, who had lost favor with Zeus, were punished to serve Laomedon for wages, and accordingly Poseidon built the walls of Troy, while Apollo attended to the king's flocks on Mount Ida. 

When the two gods accomplished their tasks, Laomedon refused to recompense them as he had promised and expelled them from his dominions. Poseidon in return for the breach of promise by sent a marine monster into the territory of Troy, which ravaged the whole country. By the command of an oracle, the Trojans were obliged to sacrifice a maiden to the monster; and on one occasion it was decided by lot that Hesione, the daughter of Laomedon himself, to  be the victim. 

Fortunately for Hesione Heracles was returning from his expedition against the Amazons, and he promised to save the maiden, if Laomedon would give him the horses which Tros had once received from Zeus as a compensation for Ganymedes. Laomedon promised to give them to Heracles, but again when Heracles had killed the monster and saved Hesione he did not keep his word. Heracles waged war against Troy, and killed Laomedon, with all his sons, except Priam and gave Hesione to Telamon.

The Python

PYTHON was a monstrous serpent which Gaia , Mother Earth, appointed to guard the oracle at Delphi. The beast was said to have been born from the slime left behind after the great Deluge. He lived in the caves of mount Parnassus. When Apollo claimed the shrine as his own, he killed the dragon with his arrows. The oracle and festival of the god were then named Pythian after the dreaded beast.

The Dragons of Medea

The Dragons of Medea born of the blood of the Titans; were a pair of  winged Dragons which drew the flying chariot of the witch Medea. She summoned them to escape from Korinthos following the murder of King Kreon, his daughter Kreousa and her own children by Jason.

The Ismenian Dragon

The Ismenian dragon was a gigantic serpentine monster which guarded the sacred spring of Ismenos near Thebes. It was the offspring of Ares the God of war. When the hero Cadmus came to find water in order to found Thebes, he killed the ugly serpent by casting a stone.

The goddess Athena instructed him to sow the dragon's teeth in the earth, which harvested an army of warriors, called Spartan, five of who became the ancestral lords of Thebes.

Out of revenge Ares, the father of the dragon, transformed Cadmos and his wife into serpents.

The Hydra

The HYDRA LERNAIA was a gigantic, nine-headed serpent, which dwelled the swamps of Lerna. It is said that it was born of Typhoon and Echidna. Heracles was sent to destroy her as one of his twelve labors, but for each of her heads that he decapitated, two more were grown back. He used burning torches to the severed stumps, preventing them from regenerating. In the battle he also destroyed a giant crab who assisted the Hydra.

The Hydra and the Crab were placed in the skies as the Constellations Hydra and Cancer by Hera.   

The Chimera

The Chimera was a huge beast which wreaked havoc on the countryside of Lycia in Anatolia. It was a creature with the body and  head of a lion, a goat's head rising from its back, and a serpentine tail.

The hero Bellerophon was commanded to slay it by King Iobates. He battled with the beast on the back of the winged horse Pegusus and, drove a lead-tipped lance down the Chimaira's flaming throat and destroyed it. The Chimera was the result of the union of Typhoon and Echidna. It is said that the Sphinx the Nemeian Lion were the monster children of the Chimera.