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MOST Deadly
Greek Monsters
Most Deadly Greek
Monsters
Contents
1.Introduction:
Malicious Monsters
Published at Petitcodiac Regional School
May 2016
#5 – Minotaur
The half-man half-bull monster that was trapped in the
labyrinth.
#4 – Chimera
The hybrid monster that ravaged the lands with its fire
breath.
#3 – Scylla
The giant sea monster that ate anything she could get
into her mouth.
#2 – Hydra
The poisons sea snake that would grow back every
head that was cut off.
#1 – Medusa
The creature that would turn you to stone with only one
look.
I Thought…
What do you think?
Mythology
Madness
There are tons of monsters in stories, like the one
under your bed or in your closet…
But the ones that you are going to be told about were
actually believed to be true.
But that doesn’t mean they don’t make some great
stories!
Find out which monsters made the list of the top 5
most deadly Greek monsters
5
THE MINOTAUR
WHERE: The labyrinth of Crete
KILLED BY: Theseus
WHAT IT DID: Ate youth and maid
The Minotaur was a half
man, half bull creature
that was trapped in a
maze, but was it his fault?
In the story, it will tell
that he was born and
imprisoned in the maze
because the King of Crete
didn’t listen to Poseidon.
Minotaur
STARTING
King Minos vowed to Poseidon that if he made a bull appear that Minos would
sacrifice it to Poseidon. Once the bull appear, Minos decided to keep it instead.
Angered at Minos for keeping the bull, Poseidon blotted to punish him for his
arrogance. He made Pasiphe, Mino’s wife, fall in love with the bull.
As she fell in love, the queen went to see Daedaus, the inventor, to assist her in the
endeavor to build a hollow wooden cow.
While she was hidden inside the lifelike man-made cow, the bull impregnated her.
That was how the bullheaded Minotaur was born.
Death
The Minotaur was placed in a maze to stop him from terrorizing the kingdom. Sacrifices
of men and women from Athens. In the third year, Theseus offered to go into the maze
to kill the Minotaur.
He fell in love with King Minos’ daughter, Ariadne, who gave him a thread to help him
from getting lost in the maze. Theseus was able to slay the beast and followed the
unraveled thread back out of the maze.
#
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Quick Fact
In ancient times a maze was called a labyrinth
A-Maze-ing, right?
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THE CHIMERA
WHERE: Lycia (A place in Asia Miror)
KILLED BY: Bellerophon
WHAT IT DID: Breathing fire
The Chimera was a hybrid
monster with the head
and body of a lion and the
fire-breathing goat-head
attached to its back plus a
tail ending in a snake’s
head.
In some stories it was
said to have the wings of
a dragon, but did it really
need to be beheaded?
Chimera
WARNING
Merely seeing the Chimera was a bad omen. The monster regularly appeared before
disasters such as shipwrecks, violent storms and volcanic eruptions.
DEATH
Bellerophon was told by his father-in-law to kill the Chimera. Bellerophon
met with a well-known seer who told him that he would need to gain
Athena’s help to be able to fly on the winged horse name Pegasus. Once he set the
golden bridle that Athena gave him on Pegasus while the winged horse was drinking,
he was then able to fly to the Chimera’s lair. Upon seeing all the burnt land, it gave
Bellerophon the idea to put a piece of lead on his spear and stabbed the Chimera is its
throat. The Chimera tried to create fire and ended up melted the lead which choked
the Chimera to death.
Quick Fact
Bellerophon’s father-in-law was ordered by King
Proteus to kill Bellerophon.
#
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THE SCYLLA
WHERE: Strait of Messina
KILLED BY: Heracles (But she came back to life)
WHAT IT DID: Ate anything she could
An immortal twelve
footed monster with six
heads on long snake
necks, each head had
three rows of shark teeth.
If that doesn’t scare you,
what about the heads of
baying dogs in her loins?
Scylla
ABOUT
Scylla was a monstrous sea goddess who haunted the rocks of a certain narrow strait
on the opposite side of Charybdis.
Ships who sailed too close to her rocks would lose six men to her ravenous heads.
STARTING
She was once a beautiful nymph who was loved by the sea-god, Glaucus. He went to
see the witch named Circe to cast a love spell on Scylla.
Circe became jealous of his love and instead made a vial of poison which she poured it
into the pool where Scylla bathed. When Scylla walked into the bath she became a
ferocious sea monster.
Quick Fact
AFTER
Scylla couldn’t move from her rock, so was forever stuck on the Strait of Messina as a
monster. Instinctively, she would devour anything or anyone edible that sailed by.
#
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Charybdis was turned into a monster by Zeus.
She swallowed lots of saltwater which created
funnels and sucked in passing ships.
Talk about being water logged!
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THE HYDRA
WHERE: Swamps of Lerna
KILLED BY: Slayed by Heracles
WHAT IT DID: Growing heads back
The hydra was a water
snake which was
originally believed to have
nine heads, but once one
was cut off two more
grew back.
So how was anyone able
to kill it?
Hydra
STARTING
The Hydra was the offspring of Typhon and Echnidra. Hera raised the monster to kill
Heracles.
It could only live if it had at least one head. He also had poisonous blood and breath
that was so bad even his scent was deadly.
DEATH
Heracles killed the Hydra as a second labor. He covered his mouth and nose with a
cloth to stop him from being poisoned.
Heracles confronted the Hydra wielding his famed club every time Heracles
decapitated one of its heads, two more grew back.
After realizing that he couldn’t stop the Hydra that way, he asked his nephew, Lolaus,
for help.
Lolaus came up with the idea to burn the heads. Once the heads were burnt, they
didn’t grow back.
Quick Fact
AFTER
After Heracles cut off the immortal head, he buried it in the ground.
Heracles did indeed use the poison tipped
arrows to shoot Nessus, who kidnapped
Heracles’ wife.
I wouldn’t want to get on his bad side!
Since the blood was poisonous, Heracles took some arrows and dipped them in the
poison just in case he needed it for later.
#
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MEDUSA
WHERE: Athena’s temple
KILLED BY: Slayed by Perseus
WHAT IT DID: Turning mortals to stone
Medusa was a green
skinned monster that
turned any mortal to
stone, but was she always
like that?
In some stories it states
she was born as the
monster, but the one I’m
going to tell in the
beginning she started as a
pretty young girl.
Medusa
STARTING
DEATH
Medusa was one of the three Gorgon
sisters. Unlike her sisters she was mortal.
They were the daughters of Phorcus and
Celo.
Perseus was able to slay Medusa by looking
at her reflection rather than looking
directly at her. By doing that it stopped
him from being petrified like all the other
heroes that tried to kill her before him.
Medusa loved her looks and the beauty of
her hair. Any time she could she would
boast about herself.
Since Medusa was pregnant by Poseidon,
upon her decapitation, Pegasus, the
winged horse, and Chrysaor, a golden
sword wielding giant, sprang from her
corse.
Poseidon fell in love with her. So one day
they met up in the Parthenon.
AFTER
PUNISHMENT
After decapitation, Medusa’s head
would still turn any mortal to stone.
To punish Medusa for having
relations inside her temple, Athena
transformed her into a beast with
writhing snake hair. The face of an
ugly human female, with old and
powerful bat-like wings and to top
that off, looking upon her would
immediately turn any mortal to
stone.
#
The blood from her head created the
poisonous vipers of the Sahara desert.
Some of the blood fell on to seaweed
and created Red Sea coral.
Parthenon– The biggest temple in
Greece where you went to worship Athena.
Quick Fact
It was said that Athena place the head
in the center of her shield called the
Aegis.
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Since Medusa was mortal, if she looked upon
herself, she would turn to stone.
I wonder how she did her snakes in the
morning.
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I thought…
What do you think?
Here are the criteria I used in
ranking the Most Deadly Greek
Monsters.
1. Do you agree with my ranking? If you
don’t, try ranking them yourself. Justify
your ranking with data. You may use my
criteria or you may use your own.
The movie:
 The most known
 Killings
 The most damage made
2. Here are others to consider: The
Cyclops, the Empusa and the Sphinx.
Find out more about them. Should they
have made my list? Are there others that
should be considered?