Mystical animals from real life. The most mysterious creatures of our time. The myths speak of harpies as vicious kidnappers of children and human souls. From the harpy Podarga and the god of the western wind Zephyr, the divine swift horses Ahi were born

Ancient Greece is considered the cradle of European civilization, which has given modern times a lot of cultural wealth and inspired scientists and artists. The myths of Ancient Greece hospitably open the doors to a world inhabited by gods, heroes and monsters. The intricacies of relationships, the deceit of nature, divine or human, unthinkable fantasies plunge us into the abyss of passions, making us shudder with horror, empathy and admiration for the harmony of that reality that existed many centuries ago, but so relevant at all times!

1) Typhon

The most powerful and frightening creature of all those generated by Gaia, the personification of the fiery forces of the earth and its vapors, with their destructive actions. The monster has incredible strength and has 100 dragon heads on the back of its head, with black tongues and fiery eyes. From its mouths one hears the ordinary voice of the gods, then the roar of a terrible bull, then the roar of a lion, then the howling of a dog, then a sharp whistle that echoes in the mountains. Typhon was the father of mythical monsters from Echidna: Orff, Cerberus, Hydra, the Colchis Dragon and others who threatened the human race on earth and under the earth until the hero Hercules destroyed them, except for the Sphinx, Cerberus and Chimera. From Typhon all the empty winds went, except Notus, Boreas and Zephyr. Typhon, crossing the Aegean, scattered the islands of the Cyclades, which had previously been closely spaced. The fiery breath of the monster reached the island of Fer and destroyed its entire western half, and turned the rest into a scorched desert. The island has since taken on the shape of a crescent. Giant waves raised by Typhon reached the island of Crete and destroyed the kingdom of Minos. Typhon was so intimidating and strong that the Olympian gods fled from their abode, refusing to fight with him. Only Zeus, the bravest of the young gods, decided to fight Typhon. The fight went on for a long time, in the heat of battle, the opponents moved from Greece to Syria. Here Typhon shattered the earth with his giant body, subsequently these traces of the battle were filled with water and became rivers. Zeus pushed Typhon north and threw him into the Ionian Sea, near the Italian coast. The Thunderer incinerated the monster with lightning and threw him into Tartarus under Mount Etna on the island of Sicily. In ancient times, it was believed that the numerous eruptions of Etna occur due to the fact that lightning, previously thrown by Zeus, erupts from the mouth of the volcano. Typhon served as the personification of the destructive forces of nature, such as hurricanes, volcanoes, tornadoes. The word "typhoon" came from the English version of this Greek name.

2) Dracains

They represent a female snake or dragon, often with human features. Dracains include, in particular, Lamia and Echidna.

The name "lamia" etymologically comes from Assyria and Babylon, where the demons who killed infants were called so. Lamia, the daughter of Poseidon, was the queen of Libya, the beloved of Zeus and gave birth to children from him. The extraordinary beauty of Lamia herself kindled a fire of revenge in the heart of Hera, and out of jealousy, Hera killed Lamia's children, turned her beauty into ugliness and deprived her husband's beloved of sleep. Lamia was forced to take refuge in a cave and, at the behest of Hera, turned into a bloody monster, in desperation and madness, kidnapping and devouring other people's children. Since Hera deprived her of sleep, Lamia wandered tirelessly at night. Zeus, who took pity on her, gave her the opportunity to take out her eyes in order to fall asleep, and only then could she become harmless. Becoming in a new form half woman, half snake, she gave birth to a terrible offspring called lamias. Lamia have polymorphic abilities, can act in various guises, usually as animal-human hybrids. However, more often they are likened to beautiful girls, because it is easier to charm careless men. They also attack the sleeping and deprive them of their vitality. These nocturnal ghosts, under the guise of beautiful maidens and young men, suck the blood of young people. Lamia in ancient times was also called ghouls and vampires, who, according to the popular idea of the modern Greeks, hypnotically lured young men and virgins and then killed them by drinking their blood. Lamia, with some skill, is easy to expose, for this it is enough to make her give a voice. Since the tongue of lamias is forked, they are deprived of the ability to speak, but they can whistle melodiously. In later legends of European peoples, Lamia was depicted as a snake with the head and chest of a beautiful woman. It was also associated with a nightmare - Mara.

The daughter of Forkis and Keto, the granddaughter of Gaia-Earth and the god of the sea Pontus, she was depicted as a gigantic woman with a beautiful face and a spotted snake body, less often a lizard, combining beauty with an insidious and malicious disposition. She gave birth to a whole host of monsters from Typhon, different in appearance, but disgusting in their essence. When she attacked the Olympians, Zeus drove her and Typhon away. After the victory, the Thunderer imprisoned Typhon under Mount Etna, but allowed Echidna and her children to live as a challenge to future heroes. She was immortal and ageless and lived in a gloomy cave underground far from people and gods. Crawling out to hunt, she lay in wait and lured travelers, further mercilessly devouring them. The mistress of snakes, Echidna, had an unusually hypnotic gaze, which not only people, but also animals were unable to resist. In various versions of the myths, Echidna was killed by Hercules, Bellerophon or Oedipus during her undisturbed sleep. Echidna is by nature a chthonic deity, whose power, embodied in his descendants, was destroyed by the heroes, marking the victory of ancient Greek heroic mythology over primitive teratomorphism. The ancient Greek legend of Echidna formed the basis of medieval legends about the monstrous reptile as the most vile of all creatures and the unconditional enemy of mankind, and also served as an explanation for the origin of dragons. Echidna is the name given to an oviparous mammal covered with needles, living in Australia and the Pacific Islands, as well as the Australian snake, the largest of the poisonous snakes in the world. Echidna is also called an evil, caustic, insidious person.

3) Gorgons

These monsters were the daughters of the sea god Phorkis and his sister Keto. There is also a version that they were the daughters of Typhon and Echidna. There were three sisters: Euryale, Stheno and Medusa Gorgon - the most famous of them and the only mortal of the three monstrous sisters. Their appearance inspired horror: winged creatures covered with scales, with snakes instead of hair, fanged mouths, with a look that turns all living things into stone. During the fight between the hero Perseus and Medusa, she was pregnant by the god of the seas, Poseidon. From the headless body of Medusa with a stream of blood came her children from Poseidon - the giant Chrysaor (father of Geryon) and the winged horse Pegasus. From the drops of blood that fell into the sands of Libya, poisonous snakes appeared and destroyed all living things in it. Libyan legend says that red corals appeared from the stream of blood that spilled into the ocean. Perseus used the head of Medusa in a battle with a sea dragon sent by Poseidon to devastate Ethiopia. Showing the face of Medusa to the monster, Perseus turned it into stone and saved Andromeda, the royal daughter, who was intended to be sacrificed to the dragon. The island of Sicily is traditionally considered the place where the Gorgons lived and where Medusa, depicted on the flag of the region, was killed. In art, Medusa was depicted as a woman with snakes instead of hair and often boar tusks instead of teeth. In Hellenic images, a beautiful dying gorgon girl is sometimes found. Separate iconography - images of the severed head of Medusa in the hands of Perseus, on the shield or aegis of Athena and Zeus. The decorative motif - gorgoneion - still adorns clothes, household items, weapons, tools, jewelry, coins and building facades. It is believed that the myths about the Gorgon Medusa are connected with the cult of the Scythian snake-footed goddess-progenitor Tabiti, whose existence is evidenced by references in ancient sources and archaeological finds of images. In the Slavic medieval book legends, Medusa Gorgon turned into a maiden with hair in the form of snakes - the maiden Gorgonia. The animal jellyfish got its name precisely because of the resemblance to the moving hair-snakes of the legendary Gorgon Medusa. In a figurative sense, a "gorgon" is a grouchy, vicious woman.

Three goddesses of old age, granddaughters of Gaia and Pontus, Gorgon sisters. Their names were Deino (Trembling), Pefredo (Alarm) and Enyo (Horror). They were gray from birth, for three of them they had one eye, which they used in turn. Only the Grays knew the location of the island of Medusa Gorgon. On the advice of Hermes, Perseus went to them. While one of the grays had an eye, the other two were blind, and the sighted gray led the blind sisters. When, having taken out the eye, the graya passed it on to the next one in turn, all three sisters were blind. It was this moment that Perseus chose to take the eye. The helpless grays were horrified and were ready to do everything if only the hero would return the treasure to them. After they had to tell them how to find Medusa Gorgon and where to get winged sandals, a magic bag and an invisibility helmet, Perseus gave the eye to the Grays.

This monster, born of Echidna and Typhon, had three heads: one was a lion's, the second was a goat's, growing on its back, and the third, a snake's, ended with a tail. It breathed fire and burned everything in its path, devastating the houses and crops of the inhabitants of Lycia. Repeated attempts to kill the Chimera, made by the king of Lycia, suffered invariable defeat. Not a single person dared to come close to her dwelling, surrounded by the decaying carcasses of decapitated animals. Fulfilling the will of King Jobat, the son of King Corinth, Bellerophon, on a winged Pegasus, went to the cave of Chimera. The hero killed her, as predicted by the gods, hitting the Chimera with an arrow from a bow. As proof of his feat, Bellerophon delivered one of the severed heads of the monster to the Lycian king. Chimera is the personification of a fire-breathing volcano, at the base of which snakes are teeming, there are many meadows and goat pastures on the slopes, flames blaze from the top and there, above, lions' dens; probably the Chimera is a metaphor for this unusual mountain. The Chimera Cave is considered to be the area near the Turkish village of Cirali, where there are exits to the surface of natural gas in concentrations sufficient for its open combustion. A detachment of deep-sea cartilaginous fish is named after the Chimera. In a figurative sense, a chimera is a fantasy, an unrealizable desire or action. In sculpture, images of fantastic monsters are called chimeras, while it is believed that stone chimeras can come to life to terrify people. The prototype of the chimera served as the basis for the terrible gargoyles, considered a symbol of horror and extremely popular in the architecture of Gothic buildings.

The winged horse that emerged from the dying Gorgon Medusa at the moment when Perseus cut off her head. Since the horse appeared at the source of the Ocean (in the ideas of the ancient Greeks, the Ocean was a river encircling the Earth), it was called Pegasus (translated from Greek - “stormy current”). Swift and graceful, Pegasus immediately became the object of desire for many heroes of Greece. Day and night, hunters ambushed Mount Helikon, where Pegasus, with one blow of his hoof, made clean, cool water of a strange dark violet color, but very tasty, spring up. This is how the famous source of Hippocrene's poetic inspiration appeared - the Horse Spring. The most patient have happened to see a ghostly steed; Pegasus let the most lucky ones get so close to him that it seemed a little more - and you can touch his beautiful white skin. But no one managed to catch Pegasus: at the last moment, this indomitable creature flapped its wings and, with the speed of lightning, was carried away beyond the clouds. Only after Athena gave the young Bellerophon a magical bridle, he was able to saddle the wonderful horse. Riding Pegasus, Bellerophon was able to get close to the Chimera and struck down the fire-breathing monster from the air. Intoxicated by his victories with the constant help of the devoted Pegasus, Bellerophon imagined himself equal to the gods and, saddling Pegasus, went to Olympus. The angry Zeus struck the proud, and Pegasus received the right to visit the shining peaks of Olympus. In later legends, Pegasus fell into the number of horses of Eos and into the society strashno.com.ua of muses, in the circle of the latter, in particular, because he stopped Mount Helikon with the blow of his hoof, which began to oscillate at the sound of the songs of the muses. From the point of view of symbolism, Pegasus combines the vitality and power of a horse with liberation, like a bird, from earthly gravity, so the idea is close to the unfettered spirit of the poet, overcoming earthly obstacles. Pegasus personified not only a wonderful friend and faithful comrade, but also boundless intelligence and talent. The favorite of the gods, muses and poets, Pegasus often appears in the visual arts. In honor of Pegasus, the constellation of the northern hemisphere, a genus of marine ray-finned fish and weapons are named.

7) Colchis dragon (Colchis)

Son of Typhon and Echidna, vigilantly awake fire-breathing huge dragon guarding the Golden Fleece. The name of the monster is given by the area of its location - Colchis. The king of Colchis, Eet, sacrificed a ram with a golden skin to Zeus, and hung the skin on an oak tree in the sacred grove of Ares, where Colchis guarded it. Jason, a pupil of the centaur Chiron, on behalf of Pelius, king of Iolk, went to Colchis for the Golden Fleece on the Argo ship, built specifically for this trip. King Eet gave Jason impossible assignments so that the Golden Fleece would remain forever in Colchis. But the god of love Eros ignited love for Jason in the heart of the sorceress Medea, daughter of Eet. The princess sprinkled Colchis with a sleeping potion, calling for help from the god of sleep, Hypnos. Jason stole the Golden Fleece, hastily sailing with Medea on the Argo back to Greece.

The giant, the son of Chrysaor, born from the blood of the Gorgon Medusa, and the oceanid Kalliroi. He was known as the strongest on earth and was a terrible monster with three bodies fused at the waist, had three heads and six arms. Geryon owned wonderful cows of unusually beautiful red color, which he kept on the island of Erifia in the Ocean. Rumors about the beautiful cows of Geryon reached the Mycenaean king Eurystheus, and he sent Hercules after them, who was in his service. Hercules went through all of Libya before reaching the extreme West, where, according to the Greeks, the world ended, which was bordered by the Ocean River. The path to the ocean was blocked by mountains. Hercules parted them with his mighty hands, forming the Strait of Gibraltar, and installed stone steles on the southern and northern shores - the Pillars of Hercules. On the golden boat of Helios, the son of Zeus sailed to the island of Erifia. Hercules slew with his famous club the watchdog Orff, who was guarding the flock, killed the shepherd, and then took the fight with the three-headed master who came to the rescue. Geryon covered himself with three shields, three spears were in his powerful hands, but they turned out to be useless: the spears could not penetrate the skin of the Nemean lion thrown over the hero’s shoulders. Hercules also fired several poisonous arrows at Geryon, and one of them turned out to be fatal. Then he loaded the cows into the boat of Helios and swam across the Ocean in the opposite direction. So the demon of drought and darkness was defeated, and the heavenly cows - rain-bearing clouds - were released.

A huge two-headed dog guarding the cows of the giant Gerion. The offspring of Typhon and Echidna, the older brother of the dog Cerberus and other monsters. He is the father of the Sphinx and the Nemean lion (from Chimera), according to one version. Orff is not as famous as Cerberus, therefore much less is known about him and information about him is contradictory. Some myths report that in addition to two dog heads, Orff has seven more dragon heads, and there was a snake in place of the tail. And in Iberia, the dog had a sanctuary. He was killed by Hercules during the execution of his tenth feat. The plot of the death of Orff at the hands of Hercules, who led away the cows of Geryon, was often used by ancient Greek sculptors and potters; presented on numerous antique vases, amphoras, stamnos and skyphos. According to one of the very adventurous versions, Orff in ancient times could simultaneously personify two constellations - Canis Major and Minor. Now these stars are combined into two asterisms, and in the past their two brightest stars (Sirius and Procyon, respectively) could well be seen by people as fangs or the heads of a monstrous two-headed dog.

10) Cerberus (Cerberus)

The son of Typhon and Echidna, a terrible three-headed dog with a terrible dragon tail, covered with menacingly hissing snakes. Cerberus guarded the entrance to the gloomy, full of horrors of the underworld of Hades, making sure that no one came out of there. According to ancient texts, Cerberus welcomes those who enter hell with his tail and tears to pieces those who try to escape. In a later legend, he bites the new arrivals. To appease him, a honey gingerbread was placed in the coffin of the deceased. In Dante, Cerberus torments the souls of the dead. For a long time, at Cape Tenar, in the south of the Peloponnese, they showed a cave, claiming that here Hercules, on the instructions of King Eurystheus, descended into the kingdom of Hades in order to bring Cerberus out of there. Appearing before the throne of Hades, Hercules respectfully asked the underground god to allow him to take the dog to Mycenae. No matter how severe and gloomy Hades was, he could not refuse the son of the great Zeus. He set only one condition: Hercules must tame Cerberus without weapons. Hercules saw Cerberus on the banks of the Acheron River - the border between the world of the living and the dead. The hero grabbed the dog with his mighty hands and began to strangle him. The dog howled menacingly, trying to escape, the snakes writhed and stung Hercules, but he only squeezed his hands tighter. Finally, Cerberus gave in and agreed to follow Hercules, who took him to the walls of Mycenae. King Eurystheus was horrified at one glance at the terrible dog and ordered him to be sent back to Hades as soon as possible. Cerberus was returned to his place in Hades, and it was after this feat that Eurystheus gave Hercules freedom. During his stay on earth, Cerberus dropped drops of bloody foam from his mouth, from which the poisonous herb aconite later grew, otherwise called hecatine, since the goddess Hecate was the first to use it. Medea mixed this herb into her witch's potion. In the image of Cerberus, teratomorphism is traced, against which heroic mythology is fighting. The name of the vicious dog has become a household name to refer to an overly harsh, incorruptible watchman.

11) Sphinx

The most famous Sphinx in Greek mythology was from Ethiopia and lived in Thebes in Boeotia, as mentioned by the Greek poet Hesiod. It was a monster spawned by Typhon and Echidna, with the face and chest of a woman, the body of a lion and the wings of a bird. Sent by the Hero to Thebes as a punishment, the Sphinx settled on a mountain near Thebes and asked each passerby a riddle: “Which of the living creatures walks on four legs in the morning, two in the afternoon, and three in the evening?” Unable to give a clue, the Sphinx killed and thus killed many noble Thebans, including the son of King Creon. Dejected with grief, Creon announced that he would give the kingdom and the hand of his sister Jocasta to the one who would save Thebes from the Sphinx. Oedipus solved the riddle by answering the Sphinx: "Man." The monster in despair threw himself into the abyss and crashed to death. This version of the myth supplanted the older version, in which the original name of the predator that lived in Boeotia on Mount Fikion was Fix, and then Orf and Echidna were named his parents. The name Sphinx arose from the rapprochement with the verb "compress", "strangle", and the image itself - under the influence of the Asia Minor image of the winged half-maiden-half-lion. Ancient Fix was a ferocious monster capable of swallowing prey; he was defeated by Oedipus with weapons in his hands during a fierce battle. Depictions of the Sphinx abound in Classical art, from 18th-century British interiors to Romantic Empire furniture. Freemasons considered sphinxes as a symbol of the mysteries and used them in their architecture, considering them as guardians of the gates of the temple. In Masonic architecture, the sphinx is a frequent decorative detail, for example, even in the version of the image of his head on the form of documents. The Sphinx personifies mystery, wisdom, the idea of a person's struggle with fate.

12) Siren

Demonic creatures born from the god of fresh waters Aheloy and one of the muses: Melpomene or Terpsichore. Sirens, like many mythical creatures, are mixanthropic in nature, they are half-birds-half-women or half-fish-half-women who inherited a wild spontaneity from their father, and a divine voice from their mother. Their number ranges from a few to many. Dangerous maidens lived on the rocks of the island, littered with the bones and dried skin of their victims, whom the sirens lured with their singing. Hearing their sweet singing, the sailors, losing their minds, sent the ship straight to the rocks and eventually died in the depths of the sea. After that, the merciless virgins tore the bodies of the victims to pieces and ate them. According to one of the myths, Orpheus on the ship of the Argonauts sang sweeter than the sirens, and for this reason the sirens, in despair and violent anger, rushed into the sea and were turned into rocks, for they were destined to die when their spells were powerless. The appearance of sirens with wings makes them similar in appearance to harpies, and sirens with fish tails to mermaids. However, sirens, unlike mermaids, are of divine origin. Attractive appearance is also not their obligatory attribute. Sirens were also perceived as muses of another world - they were depicted on tombstones. In classical antiquity, wild chthonic sirens turn into sweet-voiced wise sirens, each of which sits on one of the eight celestial spheres of the world spindle of the goddess Ananke, creating the majestic harmony of the cosmos with their singing. To appease the sea deities and avoid shipwreck, sirens were often depicted as figures on ships. Over time, the image of sirens became so popular that a whole detachment of large marine mammals was called sirens, which includes dugongs, manatees, as well as sea (or Steller's) cows, which, unfortunately, were completely exterminated by the end of the 18th century.

13) Harpy

Daughters of the sea deity Thaumant and the oceanides Electra, archaic pre-Olympic deities. Their names - Aella ("Whirlwind"), Aellope ("Whirlwind"), Podarga ("Swift-footed"), Okipeta ("Fast"), Kelaino ("Gloomy") - indicate a connection with the elements and darkness. The word "harpy" comes from the Greek "grab", "abduct". In ancient myths, harpies were gods of the wind. The proximity of the strashno.com.ua harpies to the winds is reflected in the fact that the divine horses of Achilles were born from Podarga and Zephyr. They interfered little in the affairs of people, their duty was only to carry the souls of the dead to the underworld. But then the harpies began to kidnap children and annoy people, swooping in suddenly, like the wind, and just as suddenly disappearing. In various sources, harpies are described as winged deities with long flowing hair, flying faster than birds and winds, or as vultures with female faces and sharp hooked claws. They are invulnerable and stinking. Eternally tormented by a hunger that they cannot satisfy, the harpies descend from the mountains and, with piercing cries, devour and soil everything. The harpies were sent by the gods as punishment for the people who had been guilty of them. Monsters took away food from a person every time he took food, and this lasted until the person died of hunger. Thus, the story is known about how the harpies tortured King Phineus, who was cursed for an involuntary crime, and, stealing his food, doomed him to starvation. However, the monsters were expelled by the sons of Boreas - the Argonauts Zet and Kalaid. The heroes of Zeus, their sister, the goddess of the rainbow Irida, prevented the heroes from killing the harpies. The habitat of the harpies was usually called the Strofada Islands in the Aegean Sea, later, along with other monsters, they were placed in the kingdom of gloomy Hades, where they were ranked among the most dangerous local creatures. Medieval moralists used harpies as symbols of greed, gluttony, and uncleanliness, often confusing them with furies. Evil women are also called harpies. The harpy is a large bird of prey from the hawk family that lives in South America.

The brainchild of Typhon and Echidna, the hideous Hydra had a long serpentine body and nine dragon heads. One of the heads was immortal. Hydra was considered invincible, since two new ones grew from a severed head. Coming out of the gloomy Tartarus, the Hydra lived in a swamp near the city of Lerna, where the killers came to atone for their sins. This place became her home. Hence the name - Lernaean Hydra. The hydra was eternally hungry and devastated the surroundings, eating herds and burning crops with its fiery breath. Her body was thicker than the thickest tree and covered with shiny scales. When she rose on her tail, she could be seen far above the forests. King Eurystheus sent Hercules on a mission to kill the Lernean Hydra. Iolaus, the nephew of Hercules, during the battle of the hero with the Hydra, burned her neck with fire, from which Hercules knocked down his heads with his club. Hydra stopped growing new heads, and soon she had only one immortal head. In the end, she was demolished with a club and buried by Hercules under a huge rock. Then the hero cut Hydra's body and plunged his arrows into her poisonous blood. Since then, the wounds from his arrows have become incurable. However, this feat of the hero was not recognized by Eurystheus, since Hercules was helped by his nephew. The name Hydra is given to Pluto's satellite and the constellation in the southern hemisphere of the sky, the longest of all. The unusual properties of Hydra also gave their name to the genus of freshwater sessile coelenterates. A hydra is a person with an aggressive character and a predatory demeanor.

15) Stymphalian birds

Birds of prey with sharp bronze feathers, copper claws and beaks. Named after Lake Stimfal near the city of the same name in the mountains of Arcadia. Having multiplied with extraordinary speed, they turned into a huge flock and soon turned all the surroundings of the city almost into a desert: they destroyed the entire crop of the fields, exterminated the animals that grazed on the fat shores of the lake, and killed many shepherds and farmers. Taking off, the Stymphalian birds dropped their feathers like arrows, and they hit everyone who was in the open area with them, or tore them apart with copper claws and beaks. Upon learning of this misfortune of the Arcadians, Eurystheus sent Hercules to them, hoping that this time he would not be able to escape. Athena helped the hero by giving him copper rattles or timpani forged by Hephaestus. Alarming the birds with noise, Hercules began to shoot at them with his arrows poisoned by the poison of the Lernaean Hydra. Frightened birds left the shores of the lake, flying to the islands of the Black Sea. There the Stymphalidae were met by the Argonauts. They probably heard about the feat of Hercules and followed his example - they drove the birds away with a noise, hitting the shields with swords.

Forest deities who made up the retinue of the god Dionysus. Satyrs are shaggy and bearded, their legs end in goat (sometimes horse) hooves. Other characteristic features of the appearance of satyrs are horns on the head, a goat or bull tail and a human torso. Satyrs were endowed with the qualities of wild creatures with animal qualities, who thought little about human prohibitions and moral standards. In addition, they were distinguished by fantastic endurance, both in battle and at the festive table. A great passion was dancing and music, the flute is one of the main attributes of satyrs. Also, thyrsus, flute, leather bellows or vessels with wine were considered attributes of satyrs. Satyrs were often depicted on the canvases of great artists. Often the satyrs were accompanied by girls, for whom the satyrs had a certain weakness. According to a rationalistic interpretation, a tribe of shepherds who lived in forests and mountains could be reflected in the image of a satyr. A satyr is sometimes called a lover of alcohol, humor and sorority. The image of a satyr resembles a European devil.

17) Phoenix

Magic bird with golden and red feathers. In it you can see the collective image of many birds - an eagle, a crane, a peacock and many others. The most striking qualities of the Phoenix were the extraordinary life span and the ability to resurrect from the ashes after self-immolation. There are several versions of the Phoenix myth. In the classical version, once every five hundred years, the Phoenix, bearing the sorrows of people, flies from India to the Temple of the Sun in Heliopolis, Libya. The head priest kindles a fire from the sacred vine, and the Phoenix throws itself into the fire. Its incense-soaked wings flare and it quickly burns. With this feat, Phoenix returns happiness and harmony to the world of people with its life and beauty. Having experienced torment and pain, three days later a new Phoenix grows from the ashes, which, having thanked the priest for the work done, returns to India, even more beautiful and shining with new colors. Experiencing cycles of birth, progress, death and renewal, Phoenix strives to become more and more perfect over and over again. Phoenix was the personification of the most ancient human desire for immortality. Even in the ancient world, the Phoenix began to be depicted on coins and seals, in heraldry and sculpture. The Phoenix has become a beloved symbol of light, rebirth and truth in poetry and prose. In honor of the Phoenix, the constellation of the southern hemisphere and the date palm were named.

18) Scylla and Charybdis

Scylla, the daughter of Echidna or Hekate, once a beautiful nymph, rejected everyone, including the sea god Glaucus, who asked for help from the sorceress Circe. But out of revenge, Circe, who was in love with Glaucus, turned Scylla into a monster, which began to lie in wait for sailors in a cave, on a steep rock of the narrow Strait of Sicily, on the other side of which lived another monster - Charybdis. Scylla has six dog heads on six necks, three rows of teeth and twelve legs. In translation, her name means "barking". Charybdis was the daughter of the gods Poseidon and Gaia. She was turned into a terrible monster by Zeus himself, while dropping into the sea. Charybdis has a gigantic mouth into which water flows non-stop. She personifies a terrible whirlpool, the yawning deep of the sea, which arises three times in one day and absorbs and then spews water. No one has seen her, as she is hidden by the water column. That is how she ruined many sailors. Only Odysseus and the Argonauts managed to swim past Scylla and Charybdis. In the Adriatic Sea you can find the Scylleian rock. According to local legends, it was on it that Scylla lived. There is also a shrimp with the same name. The expression "to be between Scylla and Charybdis" means to be in danger from different sides at the same time.

19) Hippocampus

A marine animal that looks like a horse and ends in a fish tail, also called hydrippus - a water horse. According to other versions of the myths, the hippocampus is a sea creature in the form of a seahorse with the legs of a horse and a body ending in a snake or fish tail and webbed feet instead of hooves on the front legs. The front of the body is covered with thin scales in contrast to the large scales on the back of the body. According to some sources, lungs are used for breathing by the hippocampus, according to others, modified gills. Sea deities - nereids and tritons - were often depicted on chariots harnessed by hippocampuses, or seated on hippocampuses dissecting the abyss of water. This amazing horse appears in the poems of Homer as a symbol of Poseidon, whose chariot was drawn by fast horses and glided over the surface of the sea. In mosaic art, the hippocampus was often depicted as a hybrid animal with a green, scaly mane and appendages. The ancients believed that these animals were already the adult form of the seahorse. Other fish-tailed land animals that appear in Greek myth include the leocampus, a lion with a fish tail), the taurocampus, a bull with a fish tail, the pardalocampus, a fish-tailed leopard, and the aegikampus, a goat with a fish tail. The latter became a symbol of the constellation Capricorn.

20) Cyclops (Cyclops)

Cyclopes in the 8th-7th centuries BC. e. were considered a product of Uranus and Gaia, the titans. Three immortal one-eyed giants with eyes in the form of a ball belonged to the Cyclopes: Arg (“flash”), Bront (“thunder”) and Sterop (“lightning”). Immediately after the birth, the Cyclopes were thrown by Uranus into Tartarus (the deepest abyss) along with their violent hundred-handed brothers (hekatoncheirs), who were born shortly before them. The Cyclopes were freed by the rest of the Titans after the overthrow of Uranus, and then again thrown into Tartarus by their leader Kronos. When Zeus, the leader of the Olympians, began a struggle with Kronos for power, he, on the advice of their mother Gaia, freed the Cyclopes from Tartarus to help the Olympian gods in the war against the titans, known as gigantomachy. Zeus used lightning bolts made by the Cyclopes and thunder arrows, which he threw at the titans. In addition, the Cyclopes, being skilled blacksmiths, forged a trident and a manger for Poseidon for his horses, Hades - an invisibility helmet, Artemis - a silver bow and arrows, and also taught Athena and Hephaestus various crafts. After the end of the Gigantomachy, the Cyclopes continued to serve Zeus and forge weapons for him. As henchmen of Hephaestus, forging iron in the bowels of Etna, the Cyclopes forged the chariot of Ares, the aegis of Pallas and the armor of Aeneas. The mythical people of one-eyed cannibal giants who inhabited the islands of the Mediterranean Sea were also called Cyclopes. Among them, the most famous is the ferocious son of Poseidon, Polyphemus, whom Odysseus deprived of his only eye. Paleontologist Otenio Abel suggested in 1914 that ancient finds of pygmy elephant skulls gave rise to the myth of the Cyclopes, since the central nasal opening in the elephant's skull could be mistaken for a giant eye socket. The remains of these elephants have been found on the islands of Cyprus, Malta, Crete, Sicily, Sardinia, the Cyclades and the Dodecanese.

21) Minotaur

Half-bull-half-human, born as the fruit of the passion of the queen of Crete, Pasiphae, for a white bull, love for which Aphrodite inspired her as a punishment. The real name of the Minotaur was Asterius (that is, "star"), and the nickname Minotaur means "the bull of Minos." Subsequently, the inventor Daedalus, the creator of many devices, built a labyrinth in order to imprison her monster son in it. According to ancient Greek myths, the Minotaur ate human flesh, and in order to feed him, the king of Crete imposed a terrible tribute on the city of Athens - seven young men and seven girls had to be sent to Crete every nine years to be eaten by the Minotaur. When Theseus, the son of the Athenian king Aegeus, fell to the lot to become a victim of an insatiable monster, he decided to rid his homeland of such a duty. Ariadne, the daughter of King Minos and Pasiphae, in love with the young man, gave him a magic thread so that he could find his way back from the labyrinth, and the hero managed not only to kill the monster, but also to free the rest of the captives and put an end to the terrible tribute. The myth of the Minotaur was probably an echo of the ancient pre-Hellenic bull cults with their characteristic sacred bullfights. Judging by the wall paintings, bull-headed human figures were common in Cretan demonology. In addition, the image of a bull appears on Minoan coins and seals. The minotaur is considered a symbol of anger and bestial savagery. The phrase "Ariadne's thread" means a way to get out of a difficult situation, to find the key to solving a difficult problem, to understand a difficult situation.

22) Hecatoncheires

Hundred-armed fifty-headed giants named Briares (Egeon), Kott and Gies (Guy) personify the underground forces, the sons of the supreme god Uranus, the symbol of Heaven, and Gaia-Earth. Immediately after their birth, the brothers were imprisoned in the bowels of the earth by their father, who feared for his dominion. In the midst of the fight against the Titans, the gods of Olympus called on the Hecatoncheirs, and their help ensured the victory of the Olympians. After their defeat, the titans were thrown into Tartarus, and the hekatoncheirs volunteered to guard them. Poseidon, the lord of the seas, gave Briareus his daughter Kimopolis as his wife. Hecatoncheirs are present in the book by the Strugatsky brothers "Monday begins on Saturday" as loaders at the Research Institute of FAQ.

23) Giants

The sons of Gaia, who were born from the blood of castrated Uranus, absorbed into the Earth-mother. According to another version, Gaia gave birth to them from Uranus after the titans were cast down by Zeus into Tartarus. The pre-Greek origin of the Giants is obvious. The story of the birth of the Giants and their death is told in detail by Apollodorus. The giants inspired horror with their appearance - thick hair and beards; their lower body was serpentine or octopus-like. They were born on the Phlegrean Fields in Halkidiki, in northern Greece. In the same place, then the battle of the Olympic gods with the Giants took place - gigantomachy. Giants, unlike titans, are mortal. By the will of fate, their death depended on the participation in the battle of mortal heroes who would come to the aid of the gods. Gaia was looking for a magical herb that would keep the Giants alive. But Zeus was ahead of Gaia and, having sent darkness to the earth, cut this grass himself. On the advice of Athena, Zeus called for Hercules to participate in the battle. In the Gigantomachy, the Olympians destroyed the Giants. Apollodorus mentions the names of 13 Giants, of which there are generally up to 150. Gigantomachy (like titanomachy) is based on the idea of ordering the world, embodied in the victory of the Olympic generation of gods over chthonic forces, strengthening the supreme power of Zeus.

This monstrous serpent, born of Gaia and Tartarus, guarded the sanctuary of the goddesses Gaia and Themis in Delphi, at the same time devastating their surroundings. Therefore, it was also called Dolphin. By order of the goddess Hera, Python raised an even more terrible monster - Typhon, and then began to pursue Laton, the mother of Apollo and Artemis. The grown-up Apollo, having received a bow and arrows forged by Hephaestus, went in search of a monster and overtook him in a deep cave. Apollo killed Python with his arrows and had to remain in exile for eight years in order to appease the angry Gaia. The huge dragon was periodically mentioned in Delphi during various sacred rites and processions. Apollo founded a temple on the site of an ancient soothsayer and established the Pythian games; this myth reflected the replacement of chthonic archaism by a new, Olympian deity. The plot, where a luminous deity kills a snake, a symbol of evil and an enemy of mankind, has become a classic for religious teachings and folk tales. The Temple of Apollo at Delphi became famous throughout Hellas and even beyond its borders. From a crevice in the rock, located in the middle of the temple, vapors rose, which had a strong effect on the consciousness and behavior of a person. The priestesses of the temple of the Pythia gave often confusing and vague predictions. From Python came the name of a whole family of non-poisonous snakes - pythons, sometimes reaching up to 10 meters in length.

25) Centaur

These legendary creatures with a human torso and a horse's torso and legs are the embodiment of natural strength, endurance, cruelty and unbridled disposition. Centaurs (translated from Greek as “killing bulls”) drove the chariot of Dionysus, the god of wine and winemaking; they were also ridden by the god of love, Eros, which implied their propensity for libations and unbridled passions. There are several legends about the origin of centaurs. A descendant of Apollo named Centaur entered into a relationship with the Magnesian mares, which gave the appearance of a half-man, half-horse to all subsequent generations. According to another myth, in the pre-Olympic era, the smartest of the centaurs, Chiron, appeared. His parents were the oceanid Felira and the god Kron. Kron took the form of a horse, so the child from this marriage combined the features of a horse and a man. Chiron received an excellent education (medicine, hunting, gymnastics, music, divination) directly from Apollo and Artemis and was a mentor to many heroes of the Greek epics, as well as a personal friend of Hercules. His descendants, the centaurs, lived in the mountains of Thessaly, next to the Lapiths. These wild tribes peacefully got along with each other until, at the wedding of the king of the Lapiths, Pirithous, the centaurs tried to kidnap the bride and several beautiful Lapithians. In a violent battle, called centauromachy, the Lapiths won, and the centaurs were scattered across mainland Greece, driven into mountainous regions and deaf caves. The appearance of the image of a centaur more than three thousand years ago suggests that even then the horse played an important role in human life. Perhaps the ancient farmers perceived horse riders as an integral being, but, most likely, the inhabitants of the Mediterranean, prone to inventing "composite" creatures, having invented the centaur, thus simply reflected the spread of the horse. The Greeks, who bred and loved horses, were well acquainted with their temper. It is no coincidence that it was the nature of the horse that they associated with the unpredictable manifestations of violence in this generally positive animal. One of the constellations and signs of the zodiac is dedicated to the centaur. To refer to creatures that do not look like a horse, but retain the features of a centaur, the term "centauroids" is used in the scientific literature. There are variations in the appearance of centaurs. Onocentaur - half man, half donkey - was associated with a demon, Satan or a hypocritical person. The image is close to satyrs and European devils, as well as to the Egyptian god Seth.

The son of Gaia, nicknamed Panoptes, that is, the all-seeing, who became the personification of the starry sky. The goddess Hera forced him to guard Io, the beloved of her husband Zeus, who was turned into a cow by him in order to protect him from the wrath of his jealous wife. Hera begged a cow from Zeus and assigned to her an ideal caretaker, the hundred-eyed Argus, who vigilantly guarded her: only two of his eyes closed at the same time, the others were open and vigilantly watched Io. Only Hermes, the crafty and enterprising herald of the gods, managed to kill him, freeing Io. Hermes put Argus to sleep with a poppy and cut off his head with one blow. The name of Argus has become a household name for the vigilant, vigilant, all-seeing guardian, from whom no one and nothing can hide. Sometimes this is called, following an ancient legend, a pattern on peacock feathers, the so-called "peacock eye". According to legend, when Argus died at the hands of Hermes, Hera, regretting his death, collected all his eyes and attached them to the tails of her favorite birds, peacocks, which were supposed to always remind her of her devoted servant. The myth of Argus was often depicted on vases and on Pompeian wall paintings.

27) Griffin

Monstrous birds with a lion's body and an eagle's head and front paws. From their cry, flowers wither and grass withers, and all living beings fall dead. The eyes of a griffin with a golden tint. The head was the size of a wolf's head with a huge, intimidating beak, wings with a strange second joint to make it easier to fold them. The griffin in Greek mythology personified insightful and vigilant power. Closely associated with the god Apollo, appears as an animal that the god harnesses to his chariot. Some of the myths say that these creatures were harnessed to the cart of the goddess Nemesis, which symbolizes the speed of retribution for sins. In addition, the griffins rotated the wheel of fate, and were genetically related to Nemesis. The image of the griffin personified dominance over the elements of earth (lion) and air (eagle). The symbolism of this mythical animal is associated with the image of the Sun, since both the lion and the eagle in myths are always inextricably linked with it. In addition, the lion and eagle are associated with mythological motifs of speed and courage. The functional purpose of the griffin is protection, in this it is similar to the image of a dragon. As a rule, guards treasures or some secret knowledge. The bird served as an intermediary between the heavenly and earthly worlds, gods and people. Even then, ambivalence was embedded in the image of the griffin. Their role in various myths is ambiguous. They can act both as defenders, patrons, and as vicious, unrestrained animals. The Greeks believed that griffins guard the gold of the Scythians in northern Asia. Modern attempts to localize griffins vary greatly and place them from the northern Urals to the Altai Mountains. These mythological animals are widely represented in antiquity: Herodotus wrote about them, their images were found on the monuments of the period of prehistoric Crete and in Sparta - on weapons, household items, on coins and buildings.

28) Empusa

A female demon of the underworld from the retinue of Hekate. Empusa was a nocturnal vampire with donkey legs, one of which was copper. She took the form of cows, dogs or beautiful maidens, changing her appearance in a thousand ways. According to existing beliefs, the empusa often carried away small children, sucked blood from beautiful young men, appearing to them in the form of a lovely woman, and, having had enough of blood, often ate their meat. At night, on deserted roads, the empusa lay in wait for lone travelers, either frightening them in the form of an animal or a ghost, then captivating them with the appearance of a beauty, then attacking them in their true terrible form. According to popular beliefs, it was possible to drive away the empusa with abuse or a special amulet. In some sources, the empusa is described as close to the lamia, onocentaur, or female satyr.

29) Triton

The son of Poseidon and the mistress of the seas Amphitrite, depicted as an old man or a young man with a fish tail instead of legs. Triton became the ancestor of all newts - marine mixanthropic creatures frolicking in the waters, accompanying Poseidon's chariot. This retinue of lower sea deities was depicted as a half-fish and half-man blowing a snail-shaped shell to excite or tame the sea. In their appearance, they resembled classic mermaids. Tritons in the sea became, like satyrs and centaurs on land, minor deities serving the main gods. In honor of the tritons are named: in astronomy - a satellite of the planet Neptune; in biology - the genus of tailed amphibians of the salamander family and the genus of prone gill mollusks; in technology - a series of ultra-small submarines of the USSR Navy; in music, an interval formed by three tones.

When we have nightmares about terrible monsters, we realize that this is just a fantasy: monsters emerge from the darkest depths of the subconscious and embody our secret fears (special thanks to the movie Aliens!). However, there have been many cases where people actually believed that some creature actually existed. Everyone has heard about Bigfoot, but there are others - so evil and scary that some people are even afraid to mention them.

Yovi

Yovi is the Australian equivalent of Bigfoot. It has been spotted in different parts of Australia, most often in the Blue Mountains region to the west of Sydney. Reports of encounters with strange creatures appeared shortly after the settlers from Europe decided to settle in the area, and do not stop to this day. The Australian Aborigines also have many legends about encounters with the yowie. At first, it was called "yehu" (yahoo), which means "evil spirit." And although there have been no cases of a direct attack by a yovi on a person, this creature itself is terrifying. They say that he stands and stares at you, without looking up, and then disappears into the forest thicket.

Yakumama

Rumors of a giant anaconda living in the jungles of South America have always existed. This is not an ordinary giant anaconda, but an unknown reptile of truly monstrous proportions. Witnesses claimed that this snake is larger than any they have ever seen, and its length reaches 40-50 meters. The natives gave her the name "mother of water". They say that the head of this snake is almost two meters wide. She can cut down trees on her way, let alone large animals or a person - when they meet this monster, they are doomed.

Brownie

Brownie - a creature from Slavic mythology, an evil spirit. He looks like a little man with a big beard. It is believed that every house has its own brownie and that brownies love cleanliness and help maintain it. These creatures do not seem to be evil, but on the contrary, they are useful in the household, but if the brownie does not like something, he can begin to build evil intrigues and ruin your life. It's best not to mess with him. If he loves you, he will help you, and if he suddenly dislikes you, he will pinch you to bruises at night, lean on top in a dream and press so that you can’t breathe. In general, the brownie is an ambiguous figure.

Bunyip

Bunyip, also known as "kyanprati", is an Australian sea devil, or evil spirit. This creature is large in size and rather peculiar in appearance: it has the head of a crocodile, the muzzle of a dog, fangs and flippers like a walrus, and in addition to everything, a horse's tail. Bunyip lives in swamps, streams, rivers, ponds and lakes. There have been no reports of encounters with him since the middle of the 19th century, but the natives still believe in his existence. Bunyips are bloodthirsty: at night they go hunting, devouring animals and people, and they especially love to feast on women.

Bigfoot

Almost everyone has heard of Bigfoot. But in case you don't know, this is a large creature that has been seen in many parts of North America. Bigfoot is known to be very tall, have thick brown or black fur, and stink terribly. There are reports that he abducted people and kept them in the forest for a long time in his hiding places. Whether this is true or not is not known for sure. They say he likes to watch people, looking into the windows of houses at night.

Jikininki

Jikininki is a very peculiar mythical creature. This is a Japanese evil spirit, a goblin that eats human corpses. It is known that once they were people, but for sins after their death they were turned into terrible spirits. If you are a bad and greedy person, you will be cursed and after death you will have to roam the Earth forever in the guise of a jikininka, endowed with an insatiable hunger. They say they look like a decaying corpse with very bright eyes, with which they can immobilize you with a look. So it's better not to see them.

Yeti

Yeti - Himalayan Bigfoot. They say that he comes from Tibet, from where he then spread to the nearby highlands. Witnesses claim to have seen a yeti carrying a large rock and whistling an eerie tune. Yeti walks on two legs, is covered with white hair, and he also has huge fangs. Yeti should not be taken lightly, because. in Tibet, many cases have been recorded when people encountered it.

Chupacabra

The Chupacabra is the legendary goat vampire. This creature is rather modest in size, but very vicious. The first mention of the chupacabra came from Puerto Rico, and then there were many reports of a meeting with this monster in both South America and North. Chupacabra translates as "sucking goats." She kills animals and sucks their blood. There is not a single serious proof of the existence of the Chupacabra, but people still believe in it.

Beast of Gevaudan

Between 1764 and 1767, the French province of Gévaudan (now the Lozère department) was terrorized by a creature that looked like a huge wolf. It is known that in three years the ruthless cannibal wolf, whom everyone considered a werewolf, made 250 attacks, 119 of which led to death. The killings continued for several years, and even King Louis XV sent hundreds of professional hunters to round up the beast, but their efforts were unsuccessful. They say that he was eventually killed by a local hunter - with a consecrated silver bullet. And human remains were found in the stomach of the beast.

wendigo

Wendigo is an Indian bloodthirsty cannibal spirit. It is said that if a person is cursed, they can turn into a wendigo, especially if that person has practiced black magic and cannibalism. And also if he was cursed by a healer or bitten by another wendigo. The danger is that the wendigo is always hungry and loves human flesh very much. This creature is three times taller than a human, it has translucent, but very hard skin that no weapon can take. You can only kill him with fire.

Gugalanna

The Sumerians were an interesting people. They built such a highly developed civilization that they rose above the rest. Their epic, like the epic of other ancient peoples, tells of various outlandish creatures, gods and goddesses, including very bloodthirsty ones. One of the most famous mythical monsters of the Sumerians is Gugalanna, the heavenly bull from the Epic of Gilgamesh. This creature killed thousands of people in search of the city where the great king lives, and it was also looking for him to kill. It was possible to cope with this bull, but not without losses. Gugalanna was a terrible heavenly punishment that one of the gods sent to people.

Mananangal

These creatures, legends about which are common in the Philippines, look like vampires. They are also very fond of blood, but they have features that distinguish them from other vampire-like creatures: these monsters love to feast on the hearts of babies and know how to split their body in half. They say that at night they do just that - they leave the lower half of the body to stand on the ground, and the upper one releases membranous wings from the shoulders and flies away to look for a victim. Mananangals fly into houses, grab pregnant women, drink their blood and steal the heart of their child with their long proboscis tongue. The good news is that they can be killed. To do this, pour salt, crushed garlic or ashes on the lower half of the monster's body.

Black Annis

Black Annis is known to every Briton. She is an evil witch with bluish skin, long sharp teeth and claws and a frightening smile who roams the countryside and steals small children. It is necessary to protect not only children, but also animals from her, because she eats children and small sheep, tearing off their skin. From this skin she then makes belts and wears them. She lives in a cave called "Black Annis's Dwelling" and is scratched with witches' claws into the roots of an old oak - the only tree left from an ancient forest in Leicestershire.

dybbuk

A dybbuk for Jews is the same as for Christians a demon or spirit that inhabits a person and which Catholics drive out in the process of exorcism, and Orthodox ones - with reprimand prayers. A dybbuk is the soul of a dead bad person. She cannot rest and is looking for someone to move into. It is said that a dybbuk can attach itself to a good person and make him demon-possessed. It seems that the dybbuk is desperately looking for help and support in this way, but in the end it brings only evil, completely mastering the person. It takes one righteous and ten other members of the community, dressed in funeral shirts, to exorcise the dybbuk.

Koschei

The tale of Koshchei the Immortal is common among the Slavic peoples. This is a powerful and strong sorcerer who always plots and is considered one of the most terrible precisely because of his immortality. Looks like a tall thin old man or a skeleton. Likes to kidnap other people's brides. He has a weakness - his soul, but this soul is bewitched and turned into a needle "Koshcheev's death", and the needle is very well hidden. We know it by heart: a needle in an egg, an egg in a duck, a duck in a hare, a hare in an iron chest, a chest buried under an oak, an oak on a magical island. Not the best way to spend your vacation.

1) Typhon

2) Dracains

They represent a female snake or dragon, often with human features. Dracains include, in particular, Lamia and Echidna.

3) Gorgons

7) Colchis dragon (Colchis)

10) Cerberus (Cerberus)

11) Sphinx

12) Siren

13) Harpy

15) Stymphalian birds

17) Phoenix

18) Scylla and Charybdis

19) Hippocampus

20) Cyclops (Cyclops)

21) Minotaur

22) Hecatoncheires

23) Giants

25) Centaur

27) Griffin

28) Empusa

29) Triton

The world knows a huge number of myths in which different creatures play an important role. They do not have scientific confirmation, but new reports regularly appear that entities have been seen in different parts of the world that do not look like ordinary animals and people.

Mythical creatures of the peoples of the world

There are a huge number of legends that tell about mythical monsters, animals and mysterious entities. Some of them have common features with real animals and even people, while others personify the fears of people living in different times. Every continent has legends that involve unique mythical animals and creatures associated with local folklore.

Slavic mythical creatures

The legends that arose during the time of the ancient Slavs are familiar to many, since they formed the basis of various fairy tales. The creatures of Slavic mythology hide important signs of that time. Many of them were held in high esteem by our ancestors.

Mythical Creatures of Ancient Greece

The most famous and interesting are the myths of Ancient Greece, which are filled with gods, different heroes and entities, both good and bad. Many Greek mythical creatures have become characters in various modern stories.

Mythical animals in Norse mythology

The mythology of the ancient Scandinavians is part of the ancient Germanic history. Many entities stand out for their sheer size and bloodthirstiness. The most famous mythical animals:

English mythical creatures

Various entities that, according to legends, lived in England in ancient times, are among the most famous in the modern world. They became the heroes of various cartoons and films.

Mythical creatures of Japan

Asian countries are unique, even when considering their mythology. This is due to the geographical location, unpredictable elements and national color. The ancient mythical creatures of Japan are unique.

Mythical Creatures of South America

Ancient Indian traditions, Spanish and Portuguese culture are mixed in this territory. Over the years, various people have lived here, praying to their gods and telling stories. The most famous creatures from myths and legends in South America:

Mythical Creatures of Africa

Considering the presence of a large number of peoples living on the territory of this continent, it is quite understandable that the legends that tell about entities can be listed for a long time. Good mythical creatures in Africa are little known.

Mythical Creatures from the Bible

While reading the main holy book, one may come across various entities that are unknown. Some of them are similar to dinosaurs and mammoths.

He even cited exhaustive proof in the form of photographs in this article. Why am I talking about mermaids yes, because mermaid- This is a mythical creature found in many stories, fairy tales. And this time I want to talk about mythical creatures that existed at one time according to legends: Grants, Dryads, Kraken, Griffins, Mandrake, Hippogriff, Pegasus, Lernean Hydra, Sphinx, Chimera, Cerberus, Phoenix, Basilisk, Unicorn, Wyvern. Let's get to know these creatures better.

Video from the channel "Interesting facts"

1. Wyvern

Wyvern-This creature is considered a "relative" of the dragon, but it only has two legs. instead of the front - bat wings. It is characterized by a long snake neck and a very long, mobile tail, ending in a sting in the form of a heart-shaped arrowhead or spear. With this sting, the wyvern manages to cut or stab the victim, and under appropriate conditions, even pierce it right through. In addition, the sting is venomous.
The wyvern is often found in alchemical iconography, in which (like most dragons) it personifies primary, raw, unrefined matter, or metal. In religious iconography, it can be seen in paintings depicting the struggle of Saints Michael or George. Wyverns can also be found on heraldic coats of arms, such as the Polish coat of arms of the Latskis, the coat of arms of the Drake family, or the Feuds of Kunwald.

2. Asp

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Asp- In the old ABC books there is a mention of an asp - this is a serpent (or snake, asp) "winged, has a bird's nose and two trunks, and in which land it is rooted, it will make that land empty." That is, everything around will be destroyed and devastated. The famous scientist M. Zabylin said that, according to popular belief, the asp can be found in the gloomy northern mountains and that he never sits on the ground, but only on a stone. It is possible to speak and kill the serpent - the destroyer only with a "trumpet voice", from which the mountains shake. Then the sorcerer or medicine man grabbed the stunned asp with red-hot tongs and held it "until the snake died"

3. Unicorn

Unicorn- Symbolizes chastity, and also serves as the emblem of the sword. Tradition usually represents him in the form of a white horse with one horn coming out of his forehead; however, according to esoteric beliefs, it has a white body, a red head and blue eyes. In the early traditions, the unicorn was depicted with the body of a bull, in later ones with the body of a goat, and only in later legends with the body of a horse. Legend claims that he is insatiable when pursued, but will obediently lie down on the ground if a virgin approaches him. In general, it is impossible to catch a unicorn, but if you succeed, you can only keep it with a golden bridle.
“His back was curved and his ruby eyes shone, at the withers he reached 2 meters. A little higher than his eyes, almost parallel to the ground, his horn grew; straight and thin. eyelashes cast fluffy shadows on pink nostrils. (S. Drugal "Basilisk")
They feed on flowers, they especially like rosehip flowers, and well-fed honey, and they drink morning dew. They also look for small lakes in the depths of the forest in which they bathe and drink from there, and the water in these lakes usually becomes very clear and has the properties of living water. In Russian "alphabet books" of the 16th-17th centuries. the unicorn is described as a terrible and invincible beast, like a horse, all the strength of which lies in the horn. Healing properties were attributed to the horn of the unicorn (according to folklore, the unicorn purifies water poisoned by a snake with its horn). The unicorn is a creature of another world and most often portends happiness.

4. Basilisk

Basilisk- a monster with the head of a rooster, the eyes of a toad, the wings of a bat and the body of a dragon (according to some sources, a huge lizard) that exists in the mythologies of many peoples. From his gaze, all living things turn to stone. Basilisk - is born from an egg laid by a seven-year-old black rooster (in some sources from an egg hatched by a toad) into a warm dunghill. According to legend, if the Basilisk sees his reflection in the mirror, he will die. Caves are the habitat of the Basilisk, they are also its source of food, since the Basilisk only eats stones. He can leave his shelter only at night, because he cannot stand the cock crow. And he is also afraid of unicorns because they are too "clean" animals.
“It moves its horns, its eyes are so green with a purple tint, the warty hood swells. And he himself was purple-black with a spiked tail. A triangular head with a black-pink mouth opened wide ...
His saliva is extremely poisonous and if it gets on living matter, then carbon will immediately be replaced by silicon. Simply put, all living things turn into stone and die, although there are disputes that petrification also comes from the look of the Basilisk, but those who wanted to check it did not come back .. ("S. Drugal "Basilisk").
5. Manticore

Manticore- The story of this terrible creature can be found in Aristotle (4th century BC) and Pliny the Elder (1st century AD). The manticore is the size of a horse, has a human face, three rows of teeth, a lion's body and a scorpion's tail, and bloodshot red eyes. Manticore runs so fast that he overcomes any distance in the blink of an eye. This makes it extremely dangerous - after all, it is almost impossible to escape from it, and the monster feeds only on fresh human meat. Therefore, on medieval miniatures, you can often see the image of a manticore with a human hand or foot in its teeth. In medieval works of natural history, the manticore was considered to be real, but living in deserted places.

6. Valkyries

Valkyries- beautiful warrior maidens who fulfill the will of Odin and are his companions. They invisibly take part in every battle, granting victory to the one to whom the gods award it, and then carry away the dead warriors to Valhalla, the castle of heavenly Asgard, and serve them at the table there. Legends also call the heavenly Valkyries, which determine the fate of each person.

7. Anka

Anka- In Muslim mythology, wonderful birds created by Allah and hostile to people. It is believed that anka exist to this day: there are simply so few of them that they are extremely rare. Anka is in many ways similar in its properties to the phoenix bird that lived in the Arabian desert (it can be assumed that the anka is the phoenix).

8. Phoenix

Phoenix- In monumental statues, stone pyramids and buried mummies, the Egyptians sought to gain eternity; it is quite natural that it was in their country that the myth of the cyclically reborn, immortal bird should have arisen, although the subsequent development of the myth was carried out by the Greeks and Romans. Adolf Erman writes that in the mythology of Heliopolis, the Phoenix is the patron of anniversaries, or great time cycles. Herodotus, in a famous passage, recounts with marked skepticism the original version of the legend:

“There is another sacred bird there, her name is Phoenix. I myself have never seen her, except as painted, because in Egypt she rarely appears, once every 500 years, as the inhabitants of Heliopolis say. According to them, she arrives when she dies father (that is, she herself) If the images correctly show her size and size and appearance, her plumage is partly golden, partly red. Her appearance and size resemble an eagle.

9. Echidna

Echidna- half-woman half-snake, daughter of Tartarus and Rhea, gave birth to Typhon and many monsters (Lernean hydra, Cerberus, Chimera, Nemean lion, Sphinx)

10. Sinister

Sinister- pagan evil spirits of the ancient Slavs. They are also called kriks or khmyrs - swamp spirits, which are so dangerous that they can stick to a person, even move into him, especially in old age, if a person did not love anyone in life and he had no children. Sinister has a not quite definite appearance (she speaks, but is invisible). She can turn into a little man, a small child, a poor old man. In the Christmas game, the villain personifies poverty, poverty, winter darkness. In the house, the villains most often settle behind the stove, but they also like to suddenly jump on the back, shoulders of a person, "ride" him. There may be several bad guys. However, with some ingenuity, they can be caught by locking them up in some kind of container.

11. Cerberus

Cerberus One of Echidna's children. A three-headed dog, on whose neck snakes move with a formidable hiss, and instead of a tail he has a poisonous snake .. Serves Hades (the god of the Kingdom of the Dead) stands on the eve of Hell and guards its entrance. He made sure that no one left the underground kingdom of the dead, because there is no return from the kingdom of the dead. When Cerberus was on earth (This happened because of Hercules, who, on the instructions of King Eurystheus, brought him from Hades), the monstrous dog dropped drops of bloody foam from his mouth; from which the poisonous herb aconite grew.

12. Chimera

Chimera- in Greek mythology, a fire-spewing monster with the head and neck of a lion, the body of a goat and the tail of a dragon (according to another version, the Chimera had three heads - a lion, a goat and a dragon) Apparently, the Chimera is the personification of a fire-breathing volcano. In a figurative sense, a chimera is a fantasy, an unrealizable desire or action. In sculpture, images of fantastic monsters are called chimeras (for example, chimeras of Notre Dame Cathedral), but it is believed that stone chimeras can come to life to terrify people.

13. Sphinx

sphinx s or Sphinga in ancient Greek mythology, a winged monster with the face and chest of a woman and the body of a lion. She is the offspring of the hundred-headed dragon Typhon and Echidna. The name of the Sphinx is associated with the verb "sphingo" - "compress, suffocate." Sent by the Hero to Thebes as a punishment. The Sphinx was located on a mountain near Thebes (or in the city square) and asked each passerby a riddle (“Which living creature walks on four legs in the morning, two in the afternoon, and three in the evening?”). Unable to give a clue, the Sphinx killed and thus killed many noble Thebans, including the son of King Creon. Dejected with grief, the king announced that he would give the kingdom and the hand of his sister Jocasta to the one who would save Thebes from the Sphinx. The riddle was solved by Oedipus, the Sphinx in despair threw herself into the abyss and crashed to death, and Oedipus became the Theban king.

14. Lernaean Hydra

lernaean hydra- a monster with the body of a snake and nine heads of a dragon. The hydra lived in a swamp near the city of Lerna. She crawled out of her lair and destroyed entire herds. The victory over the hydra was one of the exploits of Hercules.

15. Naiads

naiads- Each river, each source or stream in Greek mythology had its own boss - a naiad. No statistics covered this cheerful tribe of patronesses of waters, prophetesses and healers, every Greek with a poetic streak heard the careless chatter of naiads in the murmur of the waters. They refer to the descendants of Oceanus and Tethys; number up to three thousand.
“None of the people can name all their names. Only those who live nearby know the name of the stream.

16. Ruhh

Ruhh- In the East, they have long been talking about the giant bird Ruhh (or Hand, Fear, Foot, Nagai). Some even dated her. For example, the hero of Arabian fairy tales Sinbad the Sailor. One day he found himself on a desert island. Looking around, he saw a huge white dome without windows and doors, so big that he could not climb on it.
“And I,” says Sinbad, “walked around the dome, measuring its circumference, and counted fifty full steps. Suddenly the sun disappeared, and the air darkened, and the light was blocked from me. And I thought that a cloud had found a cloud in the sun (and it was summertime), and I was surprised, and raised my head, and saw a bird with a huge body and wide wings that flew through the air - and it was she who covered the sun and blocked it over the island . And I remembered a story long ago told by people wandering and traveling, namely: on certain islands there is a bird called Ruhh, which feeds its children on elephants. And I made sure that the dome, which I went around, is a Ruhh egg. And I began to marvel at what Allah the great had created. And at that time, a bird suddenly landed on the dome, and embraced it with its wings, and stretched out its legs on the ground behind it, and fell asleep on it, praise be to Allah, who never sleeps! And then, having untied the turban, I tied myself to the feet of this bird, saying to myself: “Maybe it will take me to countries with cities and populations. It will be better than sitting here on this island. "And when the dawn rose and the day came, the bird took off from the egg and flew up into the air with me. And then it began to descend and landed on some land, and, reaching the ground, I quickly got rid of her legs, afraid of the bird, but the bird did not know about me and did not feel me.

Not only the fabulous Sinbad the Sailor, but also the very real Florentine traveler Marco Polo, who visited Persia, India and China in the 13th century, heard about this bird. He said that the Mongol Khan Kublai once sent faithful people to catch a bird. The messengers found her homeland: the African island of Madagascar. They did not see the bird itself, but they brought its feather: it was twelve paces long, and the feather core was equal in diameter to two palm trunks. It was said that the wind produced by the wings of Ruhh knocks a person down, her claws are like bull horns, and her meat restores youth. But try to catch this Ruhh if she can carry a unicorn along with three elephants strung on her horn! the author of the encyclopedia Alexandrova Anastasia They also knew this monstrous bird in Russia, they called it Fear, Nog or Noga, giving it even new fabulous features.
“The leg-bird is so strong that it can lift an ox, it flies through the air and walks on the ground with four legs,” says the ancient Russian Alphabet of the 16th century.
The famous traveler Marco Polo tried to explain the secret of the winged giant: “They call this bird on the islands Ruk, but in our opinion they don’t call it, but that’s a vulture!” Only ... greatly grown up in the human imagination.

17. Khukhlik

Khukhlik in Russian superstitions, the water devil; disguised. The name khukhlyak, khukhlik, apparently, comes from the Karelian huhlakka - "to be weird", tus - "ghost, ghost", "strangely dressed" (Cherepanova 1983). The appearance of Khukhlyak is unclear, but they say that it is similar to Shilikun. This unclean spirit appears most often from water and becomes especially active during Christmas time. Likes to play pranks on people.

18. Pegasus

Pegasus- v Greek mythology winged horse. Son of Poseidon and the Gorgon Medusa. He was born from the body of a gorgon killed by Perseus. The name Pegasus received because he was born at the source of the Ocean (Greek "source"). Pegasus ascended to Olympus, where he delivered thunder and lightning to Zeus. Pegasus is also called the horse of the muses, as he knocked Hippocrene out of the ground with a hoof - the source of the muses, which has the ability to inspire poets. Pegasus, like a unicorn, can only be caught with a golden bridle. According to another myth, the gods gave Pegasus. Bellerophon, and he, taking off on it, killed the winged monster Chimera, which devastated the country.

19 Hippogriff

hippogriff- in the mythology of the European Middle Ages, wanting to indicate the impossibility or inconsistency, Virgil speaks of an attempt to cross a horse and a vulture. Four centuries later, his commentator Servius states that vultures or griffins are animals in which the front part of the body is eagle and the back is lion. To support his assertion, he adds that they hate horses. Over time, the expression "Jungentur jam grypes eguis" ("to cross vultures with horses") became a proverb; at the beginning of the sixteenth century, Ludovico Ariosto remembered him and invented the hippogriff. Pietro Michelli notes that the hippogriff is a more harmonious creature, even than the winged Pegasus. In Furious Roland, a detailed description of the hippogriff is given, as if it were intended for a textbook of fantastic zoology:

Not a ghostly horse under the magician - a mare
Born into the world, his vulture was his father;
In his father, he was a wide-winged bird, -
In the father was in front: like that, zealous;
Everything else, like the uterus, was
And that horse was called a hippogriff.
The limits of the Riphean mountains are glorious for them,
Far beyond the icy seas

20 Mandragora

Mandrake. The role of Mandragora in mythopoetic representations is explained by the presence of certain hypnotic and stimulating properties in this plant, as well as the similarity of its root with the lower part of the human body (Pythagoras called Mandragora “a human-like plant”, and Columella called it “half-human grass”). In some folk traditions, the type of Mandragora root distinguishes between male and female plants and even gives them the appropriate names. Old herbalists depict Mandragora Roots as male or female forms, with a tuft of leaves sprouting from the head, sometimes with a chained dog or an agonizing dog. According to beliefs, the one who hears the groan emitted by the Mandrake when it is dug out of the ground must die; to avoid the death of a person and at the same time satisfy the thirst for blood, allegedly inherent in Mandrake. When digging up the Mandrake, a dog was put on a leash, which, as it was believed, died in agony.

21. Griffins

Griffin- winged monsters with a lion's body and an eagle's head, guardians of gold. In particular, it is known that they protect the treasures of the Riphean mountains. From his cry, flowers wither and grass withers, and if there is someone alive, then everyone falls dead. The eyes of a griffin with a golden tint. The head was the size of a wolf's head, with a huge, intimidating beak a foot long. Wings with a strange second joint to make it easier to fold them. In Slavic mythology, all approaches to the Iry garden, the Alatyr mountain and the apple tree with golden apples are guarded by griffins and basilisks. Whoever tries these golden apples will receive eternal youth and power over the Universe. And the very apple tree with golden apples is guarded by the dragon Ladon. There is no passage here for foot or horseback.

22. Kraken

kraken is the Scandinavian version of the Saratan and the Arabian dragon or sea serpent. The back of the Kraken is a mile and a half wide, and its tentacles are capable of embracing the largest ship. This huge back protrudes from the sea, like a huge island. The Kraken has a habit of darkening the sea water by spewing some kind of liquid. This statement gave rise to the hypothesis that the Kraken is an octopus, only enlarged. Among the youthful writings of Tenison, one can find a poem dedicated to this remarkable creature:

For centuries in the depths of the ocean
The bulk of the Kraken sleeps soundly
He is blind and deaf, on the carcass of a giant
Only at times a pale beam glides.
Giants of sponges sway over him,
And from deep, dark holes
Polypov innumerable choir
Extends tentacles like arms.
For thousands of years the Kraken will rest there,
So it was and so it will continue,
Until the last fire burns through the abyss
And heat will scorch the living firmament.
Then he wakes up from his sleep
Before angels and people will appear
And, surfacing with a howl, he will meet death.

23. Golden dog

golden dog.- This is a dog of gold that guarded Zeus when Kronos pursued him. The fact that Tantalus did not want to give up this dog was his first strong offense before the gods, which later the gods took into account when choosing a punishment.

“... In Crete, the homeland of the Thunderer, there was a golden dog. Once she guarded the newborn Zeus and the wonderful goat Amalthea who fed him. When Zeus grew up and took power over the world from Kron, he left this dog in Crete to guard his sanctuary. The king of Ephesus, Pandareus, seduced by the beauty and strength of this dog, secretly came to Crete and took her away on his ship from Crete. But where to hide a wonderful animal? Pandarey thought about this for a long time during his journey by sea and, finally, decided to give the golden dog to Tantalus for safekeeping. King Sipila hid a wonderful animal from the gods. Zeus was angry. He called his son, the messenger of the gods Hermes, and sent him to Tantalus to demand from him the return of the golden dog. In the twinkling of an eye, swift Hermes rushed from Olympus to Sipylus, appeared before Tantalus and said to him:
- The king of Ephesus, Pandareus, stole a golden dog from the sanctuary of Zeus in Crete and gave it to you to keep. The gods of Olympus know everything, mortals cannot hide anything from them! Return the dog to Zeus. Beware of incurring the wrath of the Thunderer!
Tantalus answered the messenger of the gods thus:
- In vain you threaten me with the wrath of Zeus. I did not see the golden dog. The gods are wrong, I don't have it.
Tantalus swore a terrible oath that he was telling the truth. With this oath, he angered Zeus even more. This was the first insult inflicted by tantalum on the gods...

24. Dryads

Dryads- in Greek mythology, female spirits of trees (nymphs). they live in a tree that they protect and often died with this tree. Dryads are the only nymphs that are mortal. Tree nymphs are inseparable from the tree they inhabit. It was believed that those who plant trees and those who care for them enjoy the special protection of the dryads.

25. Grants

Grant- In English folklore, a werewolf, who is most often a mortal disguised as a horse. At the same time, he walks on his hind legs, and his eyes are full of flames. Grant is a city fairy, he can often be seen on the street, at noon or closer to sunset. Meeting with a grant portends misfortune - a fire or something else in the same vein.