Author Archives: C. H. Rosbie

3 Fearsome Greek Monsters by. C. H. Rosbie 

Now, when I ask you what you think is the most important thing in Greek myths, apart from the gods, you’ll probably say the heroes. However, I’ll say otherwise. I’ll say Greek monsters. What is the purpose of heroes if they don’t have any enemies to fight? You might as well know that there are several of these creatures, but, right now, I’ll only talk about three of them.

 First, let’s discuss Medusa. She, for one thing, could turn people into stone with her looks. There were a couple of statues at the place she lived with her other two sisters, the Gorgons, who were, long ago, men. Some might say that most interesting feature Medusa had was the snake hair growing on top of her head, which stayed attached to her heck until invisible Perseus came along and chopped off her head as a king’s present, but that’s another story. Anyway, from her badly severed head came bold, pure white Pegasus as a young foal and glided away with his silver wings. We’ll come back to this horse later on, but after we talk about our second Greek monster-the Minotaur.

 The Minotaur was a creature that had a tremendously large body that resembled a human, and, curiously enough, the brown head of a hairy bull. He (or maybe an it) was so revolting, and bloodcurdling that he was kept in an endless labyrinth at King Minos’s castle. But what exactly did he do? For one thing, the Minotaur consumed people alive. That was why every nine years, the monarch of Athens had to send 7 boys and girls to Crete, who were devoured by the outrageous creature. That was, until Theseus defeated it once and for all with his father, King Aegeaus’s permission, a magical ball of yarn, and the princess, Ariadne’s advice and help. However, I think that King Minos shouldn’t have made King Aegeaus send his young subjects to be eaten by the Minotaur in the first place. But I guess that it had some advantages since it got Ariadne and Theseus together, at least for a short time before the god Dionysus half kidnapped Ariadne, claiming she was actually his bride.

 Now, for the last monster–the Chimera. Just like the Minotaur, it was made of multiple creatures, which were lion, goat, and also a snake. The Chimera had firebreath that could cause great damage. She caused the most destruction to the kingdom Lycia. It was great relief to its residents when Bellerophon along with our winged horse, Pegasus, defeated the monster. The Chimera finally died when lead from one of Bellerophon’s arrows tricked into her stomach and killed her. It had been melted by one of the fires that it had caused to defend itself.

 Those were the three Greek monsters I was going to talk about for today. I chose these specific three creatures because they were connected. For instance, if Medusa hadn’t been killed be Perseus, Pegasus wouldn’t be there to assist Bellerophon in combat with the Chimera. I thought that perhaps I should choose the three which had the most influence in each other’s myths.

There are twelve major gods and goddesses living on Mt. Olympus. However, today I’m going to tell you about only three of the twelve immortals.

First up is the god Zeus. He is the king of all gods and goddesses. Zeus was raised by a couple of nymphs and a fairy goat, away from his dangerous father. It had been arranged by his mother Rhea to protect him from his father when he was an infant. When he was finally an adult, Zeus rescued his brothers and sisters, as their  father had swallowed them. Together, they rose up against their father. They battled him and his allies, the Titans. Soon, their father surrendered and the Olympians rose to victory. Since he was the eldest, Zeus became the king of them all.

Zeus’s symbol is the lightning bolt. During the battle with the Titans, it had been forged by a group of giants, called the Cyclopes. He often used it to get rid of troublesome mortals. In addition, Zeus was fearless when facing his enemies. For instance, he didn’t surrender when fighting Typhon, a monster whose head reached the skies.

Second is the goddess Hera. She is the goddess of marriage and the queen of Olympus. Hera is also the wife of Zeus. She had refused Zeus’ proposal at first, so he morphed into a cuckoo during a storm. Hera held the distressed bird close, but all of sudden, she found herself hugging Zeus! So, Zeus finally won her over. However, Hera soon came to know that Zeus had other wives besides her. She became jealous and selfish towards them. I think that Zeus should have stopped cheating Hera and focused on just one wife. Even though Hera could have been nicer, other gods and goddesses didn’t have many wives at the same time such as the goddess Aphrodite and the god Hephaestus. So maybe Hera’s reaction is close to normal.

The third and final god is Hermes, the herald of the gods. He was born between Maia, a nymph, and Zeus. As an infant, he stole the god Apollo’s cows and used clever tricks to cover his tracks.  The cows that he stole were fifty in all. Hermes kept forty-eight of them and sacrificed two to the Olympian gods. Apollo was furious! However, Zeus wanted Apollo and Hermes to be friends, as they were brothers. It ended up with Hermes owning the cows. However, he had to give Apollo his lyre in exchange for them. Because he liked his wit, Zeus handed Hermes a cape and one pair of winged sandals. Then, he appointed him the herald of the gods.

Those are the three gods and goddesses that I chose. I selected them because their myths were the most exciting to read. Also, they looked the most important. Hera and Zeus are the rulers, Hermes is the herald and therefore travels between earth and Olympus. I thought I ought to choose the gods who stood out the most.