This is my top ten list of the top of mythical creatures, counting down to my all time number one mythical creature.
10 Stymphalian birds are man eating birds with bronze beaks and
feathers made of metal which they could shoot at people. They were pets of
Ares, the god of war. They migrated to Acadia to escape a pack of wolves. There
they nested and bred quickly. Heracles sixth task was to get rid of the
stymphalian birds from Acadia. He scared the birds into the air with a rattle,
he got from Athena, and then shot them with poisoned arrows. The surviving
birds flew far away and never came back.
9 Cyclopes are one eyed giants, they are split into two groups the older ones being sons of Uranus and Gaia, and the younger ones are sons of Poseidon. There are three older Cyclopes Brontes, Sterope and Arges. They are very talented builders and craftsmen. They were rescued from the pit of Tartarus by Zeus. They then supplied Zeus’ lightning bolt, Hades’ helmet of invisibility and Poseidon trident which Zeus, Hades and Poseidon used against the titans. The younger Cyclopes are very talented blacksmiths. They are the sons and daughters of Poseidon and they craft weapons for him and his armies. 8 Hekatonkheires also known as the hundred handers are three giants with one-hundred hands and immense strength. They fought on the side of the gods when the gods overthrew the Titans. They fought on the god’s side because Zeus rescued them from Tartarus. They each had one-hundred hands and fifty heads. 7 Sirens were beautiful but dangerous creatures. Their singing was so good that it lured sailors to their death on the rocky shores. In most pictures they look like mermaids. There were two encounters were the sailors did not die, one was with the Argonauts and they had Orpheus play a tune louder than the sirens so they couldn’t hear the siren song. The other encounter was when Odysseus told his men to plug their ears with beeswax, but he wanted to listen to their music so he told them to tie him to the flag pole and no matter how hard he struggled not to take him down. 6 The Nemean lion was a ferocious lion with a hide impenetrable to mortal weapons. Its claws were sharper than any mortal weapon. Heracles first task was to kill the Nemean lion. When he got there he met a shepherd named Molorchos, Molorchos said that if Heracles came back within 30 days a ram would be sacrificed to Zeus but if he did not come back within 30 days it would be sacrificed to Heracles instead as a mourning offering. He fetched arrows to shoot it with not knowing about its fur being impenetrable. One version says that he kept shooting it with arrows at it with one eventually getting into its unarmoured mouth. The other version says that he stunned it with his club and strangled it to death. 5 The Sphinx in Greek mythology had the haunches of a lion and sometimes had wings and the face of a woman. The sphinx had a riddle and those who could not answer it suffered a fate of being eaten by this horrific monster. The riddle went as followed “What goes on four in the morning two by midday and three in the evening?”. The answer to the riddle was man, it goes on four when it’s a baby, two when it’s a child to man, and three when it uses a stick. 4 The Gorgons were three sisters with living venomous snakes for hair. Two of the three sisters were immortal the other more well-known one Medusa was not. Each of the gorgons were unique in their own way, the unique thing about Medusa was that her gaze could turn people to stone. Stheno was the eldest gorgon and the most vicious. Eurale was noted for her screaming and in some versions of mythology she could also turn people into stone with her gaze. 3 The Minotaur was a creature with the head of a bull and the body of a man. It lived in the labyrinth, a deadly maze created by Daedalus for King Minos. The labyrinth was made. The Minotaur was killed when Theseus challenged the labyrinth. He was given a golden string which he tied to the entrance so he couldn’t get lost. After a while Theseus found the Minotaur and killed it with his bare hand. He then followed the string back to the entrance and married the princess. 2 A phoenix is a legendary bird, there is only ever one phoenix living at a time. The phoenix is basically a bird made of fire that can live up to 1400 years old, and when it dies it rebirths itself. Stories of how the phoenix rebirths vary some say that a phoenix erupts into flames and burns into ashes and the new phoenix appears from those ashes, others say that the phoenix just decomposes before being born again. 1 Griffins also known as gryphons or griffons are mythical creatures with the head and wings of an eagle and the body of a lion. Griffins were usually seen as majestic creatures or as the kings of all creatures and they are known for guarding priceless possessions and treasure. |