Greek Monsters (1/?) (AA)

                One animal in Greek mythology was Chimera. It was an animal depicting of three different parts. It was a lion, snake, and a goat. It was generally seen as a lion, with the head of a goat arising from its back, and its tail is of a snake. It was a monstrous fire breathing animal. Chimera was the offspring of Typhon and Echidna. Typhon was a giant Greek monster that threatened the Olympians. It was unleashed by Uranus so that he would remain in a powerful state.  He was eventually captured and put underneath a mountain, Mount Aetna, to spend eternity. The Greeks believed that when any volcanoes erupted it was Typhon getting angry.

Chimera was also the sibling of Cerberus and the Lernaean Hydra. Cerberus is the guard dog of the underworld for the god, Hades. The Lernaean Hydra was defeated by Hercules. Whenever one of the five Hydra’s heads was cut off, two more would regrow in its place. When Hercules had to defeat it for one of his five labors, he burned where the head would regrow to prevent two more heads from reappearing. He was helped on this labor, and it didn’t count for his punishment of performing twelve labors completely.

The Chimera is generally seen as a female because of its mention in Ancient Greek writings, such as The Iliad. “Sightings” (It is a mythical animal after all. It could not be seen even if someone wanted to see it) of the Chimera were generally seen as omens for storms, disasters, or wreckage of some sort.

In one version of Greek mythology, Chimera is seen as the wife of her brother, Orthus. Orthus was a two-headed dog, similar to his brother Cerberus that had three heads total. He was owned by a three-bodied giant, Geryon. Geryon is often described as a Greek monster with human faces. Orthus was the guard for Geryon’s herd of red cattle in the “sunset” land of Erythria. For Hercules’s tenth labor, he needed to capture these red cattle to move onto his next task. When he arrived on this land, he killed Geryon, Orthus, and Eurytion and left with the cattle. Eurytion was the master of Orthus, who was also involved in guarding the cattle of Geryon. He was also mentioned in the modern novel Percy Jackson: The Battle of The Labyrinth.

Chimera was killed by Bellerophon, helped by Pegasus who is the offspring of Medusa, under the order of King Iobates of Lycia. Bellerophon was a great hero of Greek mythology. With Pegasus, who could fly, Bellerophon flew overhead Chimera and killed her. He did this while maintaining a distance from her so he would not be killed by the fire in which she would kill with if provoked. This monster is often seen in Greek art.

Another kind of Greek monsters were the Gorgons. There were three Gorgons: Medusa, Stheno, and Euryale. Out of these three Gorgons, Medusa was the only mortal. They are commonly seen as three women with snakes as their hair and women whose glance will turn a person into stone. Medusa was killed by the mortal hero, Perseus in his quest to save his mother from her dreaded faith. Perseus killed Medusa when she was sleeping so that he would not turn into stone by looking into her eyes. These Gorgons are mainly seen in the writing of Homer. The name Gorgon is derived from the Greek word, “gorgos.” This literally translates into dreadful or terrible, suitable for these monstrous Greek women. They supposedly live on their own island in order to prevent massive killings.