Greek mythology is responsible for some of the most enduring stories in all of history the pantheon of God sitting at top Mount Olympus the underworld Land of the Dead guarded by a multi-headed dog and don't forget the many many Monsters the Minotaur stalking through the Labyrinth the sirens luring Sailors to their death with their beautiful songs and of course the woman with hair made of serpents whose gaze can turn a man to Stone Medusa is quite possibly one of the most famous monsters in the mythological World you've almost certainly heard of her seen her referenced in some sort of movie or TV show but what is the real story behind the snake-haired woman grab your sword and shield and try not to make eye contact because today we're digging into the legend of Medusa the Gorgon according to the myths Medusa was not the only Gorgon she had two sisters all of them Daughters of the Sea Gods foris and Kito who dwelled at the very edge of the world the writer Hess described it as Beyond glorious ocean in the frontier land towards night where there are clear voiced Hesperides the Hesperides were Sky goddesses associated with the evening and guardianship of golden apples the gorgens with their intimidating wingspans sharp talons and hair made of snakes were quite different from these gentle Guardians their names were Medusa steno and arali sten's name means strong and forceful while aralis means broad depending on the story The Blood of the gorgens was said to have poisonous or healing properties those odds don't seem great but but if you happen to find yourself in possession of some Gorgon blood then why not flip a coin the gorgens have been part of Greek mythology since before the 7th or 8th century bcee when hiad wrote about them in theogony it's theorized that they were the result of NE Eastern mythological and artistic influences on Ancient Greek culture early depictions of the gorgens when they had a more OB beastial appearance with thick hair and tusks looked notably similar to those of lashu a Mesopotamian demon known for stealing children and attacking pregnant women over time depictions of the Gorgon shifted to become more human in nature but some monstrous elements remained as they became the creatures we imagine when we hear the word Gorgon today their imagery is frightening intimidating and iconic open mouths wide wild eyes and twisting crowns of snakes and no Gorgon is more recognizable than Medusa herself while the other gorgens were Immortals with monstrous features Medusa was quite different she was Mortal a lonely fate when her siblings would never grow old or die but where they were hideous to behold she was beautiful her looks and feminine charms captivated all who knew her and her most stunning attribute was her Lush Splendid hair but not all attention is welcome attention and Medusa captured the eye of a lustful god Poseidon brother of Zeus and the god of the sea Poseidon boldly pursued the Mortal girl but she rejected his advances out of Devotion to the goddess Athena whom she hoped to serve as a priestess someday but gods don't like to take no for an answer and one day in the temple of Athena herself Poseidon forced himself on Medusa Athena was horrified and enraged at the desecration of Her Sacred Temple and she sought Revenge not on pidan her uncle and the one who had abused his power but on Medusa Athena transformed her into a monster changing her hair to snakes and her face to a Visage so hideous that any who met her eyes would be petrified and turned to stone she returned to her sisters joining them in their isolation and fleeing from society but she was beset by wouldbe Heroes intending to slay her and cut off her head eventually one succeeded but we'll get to that a little bit later first we have to address something a few of you watching might have been listening to the story of Medusa and thinking hey that's not how I heard it and that's entirely possible there are several variations on the Medusa myth that have circulated over the years some popularized by different ancient poets some just resulting from the way story shift and change over the years after hundreds of retellings the earliest mentions of Medusa describe her as monster quite like her sisters born monstrous rather than made that way over time more emotion and drama was woven into the story The Poet heia described Medusa's fate as a sad one her mortality tragic alongside the immortality of her Sisters in Heat's version of the story Poseidon and Medusa had a consensual love affair and he lay with her in a soft Meadow and among spring flowers a gentler more romantic take on Medusa compared to what came before or after a century after heesa the poet stasinos of Cyprus wrote about Medusa and her sisters he described them as fearful monsters who lived in sarpedon a Rocky island in deep eding oceanis later the Greek playright escalus would expand on the Monstrous appearance of the Gorgon writing of three-winged sisters the snake-haired gorgens loathed of mankind whom no one of mortal kind shall look upon and still draw breath it is the Roman poet oid who might be responsible for the most commonly repeated version of the Medusa myth he described her fate in his work she was once most beautiful and the jealous aspiration of many suitors of all her Beauties none was more admired than her hair I came across a man who recalled having seen her they say that Neptune Lord Of The Seas violated her in the temple of manura Jupiter's daughter turned away and hid her Chast eyes behind her ages so that it might not go unpunished she changed the gorgon's hair to foul snakes and now to terrify her enemies numbing them with fear the goddess wears the snakes that she creat created as a breastplate one thing all the Medusa myths have in common is her death at the hands of the hero Perseus the story of Perseus began when acus the king of Argos was warned by the Oracle of Deli that his grandson would one day kill him since he didn't yet have any grandchildren he said about making sure that he never would he locked his daughter Deni in an underground room where she would never become pregnant but walls locked doors and a secret underground chamber are no match for Zeus the god of thunder and official God of infidelity Zeus took a shine to deny and decided to visit her in the form of a shower of golden rain stop right there don't say it get your mind out of the gutter yes he came to deny as a shower of gold bypassing the walls of her chamber and entering her body when the shower had passed she was pregnant she eventually gave birth to a son named pereus Furious that his daughter had managed to conceive a grandson and not believing that Zeus was the father acrus sent his daughter and newborn grandson out into the Open Sea on a ship they drifted for a while before landing on the shores of cedos Island where a local couple rescued them they weren't just any ordinary couple either the husband was the brother of the Island's King potis when Perseus grew up becoming a strong handsome young man he attracted the ey of King potis potis wanted to marry Deni but didn't see a way to pull off that Union with her son around see Deni didn't want to marry him and Perseus protected her from his unwanted advances so the king hatched a plan he would send percus away and make sure that he would never come back potis threw a royal banquet at which each and every guest was required to bring him a gift for his gift from pereus he asked him to Journey to the lair of Medusa to slay her and bring him back her head in poc's eyes this task was as good as a death sentence but persus promised to complete the quest and return Victorious with the gorgon's head in hand he was in luck too Athena ever eager for a chance to help Medusa suffer and for the chance to help out her demigod half brother offered guidance to Perseus she instructed him to find the Hesperides who would be able to tell him the location of Medusa and her sisters before he could locate the asperities Perseus would need to pay a visit to the gay the sisters of the gorgens three gray-haired women sharing one single eye between them he was able to get the better of them by stealing their eye holding it hostage and promising to return it in exchange for the location of the aspides when he reached the Hesperides they offered to help him in the form of a special bag he could use to carry Medusa's head without being harmed by it then several of the Gods contributed gifts that would Aid him with his quest Athena gave him a polished shield Zeus offered an unbreakable sickle Hades gifted him a helmet that gave him the ability to turn invisible and Hermes gave him a pair of wing sandals armed with the favor of the Gods and the hidden location of the gorgon's cave Perseus prepared to take on Medusa when Perseus arrived at the cave he found Medusa sleeping using the polished face of the shield he received from Athena he was able to look at Medusa's reflection reserving her without being turned to stone then using the unbreakable sword he sliced off Medusa's head from her bleeding wound the famous winged horse Pegasus and his brother cror were born with a helmet of invisibility keeping him hidden from view pereus threw Medusa's head into the bag and fled but perseus's Journey wasn't over just yet on the way back home he passed through Ethiopia where he spotted a beautiful young woman bound to a rock waiting for a sea monster to rise up and swallow her hole this was as he learned the doing of Poseidon a punishment for the queen of Ethiopia's vanity Andromeda would pay the price for her mother's choice to Proclaim herself more beautiful than the daughters of narus in exchange for andromeda's hand in marriage Perseus slayed the monster kius and freder the two were married but the union was interrupted by andromeda's Uncle who was originally supposed to marry her e pereus defeated the lecherous Uncle by holding up Medusa's head turning him into stone after all this trial and tribulation it was time for pus to return home and offer the king his gift when he arrived he learned that polyactis had continued his predatory pursuit of deny and his absence enough was enough and Perseus confronted the king in his Palace holding up the head of Medusa for him to see polyes turned to stone face Frozen in shock forever but wait did Perseus ever kill his grandfather he did but it was an accident sometime later while participating in a series of athletic games he threw a discus that hit an old man and killed him that old man was was the grandfather he never knew but enough about pereus what happened to Medusa yeah she died but what happened after that though she was no longer living she made her mark on the land throughout perseus's journey home as Perseus Flew Over the North African desert using the winged shoes gifted him by Hermes Medusa's blood began to leak from the Satchel falling onto the Sands and creating venomous snakes when perus stopped AR rest at the shoreline of the Red Sea her blood dripped into the water transforming into hard red coral as for the the fate of Medusa's head Perseus presented it as an offering to Athena in thanks for her Aid during the journey she placed the head on her Shield her ages using it as an offensive as well as a defensive weapon it protected her but it now could also turn her opponents to Stone now seems like an appropriate time to mention that the name Medusa means protector Medusa is far from the only female figure in Greek mythology with a touch of the serpentine about her there are her sisters of course but it goes beyond the gorgens in many Greek myths lamia was a beautiful woman either the daughter of a king or the daughter of Poseidon and the mother of the sea monster Sila either way she was beautiful beautiful enough to catch the eye of the God of Thunder and the infamous philanderer Zeus he seduced her and she bore several of his children well as you can imagine Hara didn't take kindly to this you might expect her to get used to Zeus's Affairs after a while but she had a real talent for wrath and she depending on the version of the myth either killed off all of lamia's children except for Celia or forced lamia to kill her own children either way lamia was driven mad with grief becoming obsessed with stealing and killing children over time her rage and hatred turned her into a monster transforming her into a hideous creature half woman half serpent Zeus decided to do something to ease her pain did he bring her children back no of course not but he did give her the gift of Prophecy and the ability to pluck out her eyes at will and replace them oh gee thanks that really makes up for all the horrible tragedy there is another another female serpent monster in the Greek myths the daughter of the Sea Gods foris andito her name is derived from the Greek word for Viper in hot's writing he described her Den as a cave deep down under a hollow Rock far from the deathless gods and Mortal men hiad also wrote descriptions of her appearance half a nymph with glancing eyes and fair cheeks and half again a huge snake great and awful with speckled skin eating raw flesh beneath the secret parts of the Holy Earth she was the mother of many of Greek mythology most iconic monsters including cus the many-headed dog that guards the Underworld the chimra a hybrid lion Goat snake and the Hydra the many-headed Beast eventually slain by Hercules women who are part snake are not limited to Greek mythology there are different versions of serpentine women from all over the world one striking example is the Japanese Nur Ona or wet woman once again get to your mind out of the gutter the name refers to her preferred habitat along the coasts riverbeds and in and around various bodies of water it also refers to the fact that they always appear dripping wet as if they freshly emerged from beneath the surface of their watery home the norona are vampiric sea serpents lurking around bodies of water waiting for unsuspecting humans to wander by so they can drain them of their blood and eat them the story is thought to originate from the awami region of the shiman prefecture and there are two variations on the creature one looks like an enormous SE serpent with the head of a human woman and the other is the same but with humanoid arms as well both variations have long black hair drenched with water and forked tongues she doesn't turn her victims to Stone with a glance nor does she use her inhuman physical strength to Simply destroy them right away instead the most common versions of the story have Nur Ona using trickery to ins snare her prey aurona will appear on the coast or Riverbank disguised as an ordinary woman in a state of distress carrying a baby bundled up in her cloth she'll beg from help from passers by when they draw closer she ask them to hold her baby and allow her to rest if the victim accepts the baby into their arms it will become heavier and heavier weighing them down until they're unable to move then she's able to attack and feed Medusa can be seen throughout Ancient Greek art her face painted on ceramics sculpted from Stone smelted from metal according to meline Glennon of the Department of Greek and Roman art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art Medusa's face functioned much like the modern evil eye she was a protective symbol something dangerous that would repel other dangers keep keeping other evils away the association likely contributed to the popularity of Her Image in art the gorgonian the head and face of Medusa appears frequently in Temple decorations from the Archaic Period in these depictions she is hideous and beastly then in the helenistic era her Visage morphs into that of a beautiful though still inhuman woman Medusa's impact on art has persisted Beyond ancient Greece in 1554 selini sculpted a bronze statue depicting perseus's moment of Victory just after beheading her he stands over her body holding her severed head in the air this was intended to represent the power of the medich family over the people of Florence other artists of the time courted the favor of the medis with Medusa imagery carvaggio painted Medusa's moment of defeat onto his ceremonial Shield again capturing the image of the powerful creatures defeat during the French Revolution Medusa became a symbol of a political movement jacoban Rebels used her image as an emblem of French Liberty linking her power with anti-establishment action Medusa inspired more modern poets than heot and ID lighting a creative fire in Percy Shelly he pinned on the Medusa of Leonardo da Vinci in the Florentine Gallery a tribute that includes lines such as is the melodious Hue of beauty thrown athwart the darkness and the glare of pain which humanize and harmonize The Strain and a woman's countenance with serpent locks gazing in death on Heaven from those wet rocks Shel described Medusa in the language of a tragic beautiful woman lost to torture and death other writers expanded on the idea of a misunderstood Medusa in the 1975 Manifesto the laugh of the Medusa feminist theorist Helen siku used Medusa as a jumping off point to discuss women's bodies the fear of female desire and the value of women telling their own stories you only have to look at the Medusa straight on to see her she wrote and she's not deadly she's beautiful and she's laughing other prominent cultural voices had different opinions on what Medusa could represent in 1940 Sigman Freud's writing Medusa's head was published after his death in Freud's eyes decapitation could be compared to castration and therefore the fear of Medusa could be linked to a fear of castration linked to the sight of something he continued numerous analyses have made us familiar with the occasion for this it occurs when a boy who has hitherto been unwilling to believe the threat of castration catches sight of the female genitals probably those of an adult surrounded by hair and essentially those of his mother honestly that seems like a bit of a stretch also it should be noted that Medusa was the one who was decapitated in the myth so that whole castration metaphor does begin to fall apart a it there today Medusa remains a compelling character explored again and again in art and culture from Dungeons and Dragons to God of War to Percy Jackson and the Olympians the more things change the more they stay the same and artists continue to portray her and gorgens in a wide variety of ways sometimes she is the unfeeling monster the danger Beauty other times a tragic villain the victim of a curse that she didn't ask for or deserve she terrifies us she Wards off evil she excites and intrigues Us in every form for a being whose gaze is meant to be avoided at all costs none of us seem to be able to look away the tales of Greek mythology are full of gods and goddesses mingling with Mortals and interfering with their lives sometimes by introducing legendary objects that wield unimaginable power from a Medusa head that turns you into stone to a gold Golden Apple that started a war but the most famous object of all of Greek mythology is a simple box why is this seemingly dull box so famous to answer this and more we need to start with a woman named Pandora you've probably heard at least a few references to Pandora's Box in your lifetime generally when referring to something that is better off left alone but there's more to the story than just a woman and a box Pandora has a Mythic figure originated in the works of the ancient Greek poet heot first in his poem theogony then later on in his work works and days though Pandora was not referenced by name in theoy there is a female figure depicted in the poem thought to be Pandora she was according to this poem created on the orders of Zeus as a punishment for Humanity in response to the actions of Prometheus before we can explore Pandora further we first have to understand what exactly Zeus was trying to punish Humanity for what exactly did Prometheus do that upset the king of the Gods the ruler of the sky and thunder so deeply Prometheus was the son of the Titan iopus and one of the oceanic nymphs either Clemy or Asia depending on the story as you might imagine things were a bit contentious between Mortals and Immortals in the early days of humanity one of the many sources of conflict between the two was the possession of fire Zeus withdrew the gift of fire from humans as a punishment after Prometheus tricked him into accepting a sacrificial offering that looked appealing on the surface but was in fact just the bones of a bull this was intended to allow the humans to keep the meat for themselves while only offering the part of the bowl that was inedible to the gods if you're familiar with how Zeus acted in Greek mythology you could probably guess what happened next Zeus really didn't take kindly to being tricked so as punishment he hid fire from Humanity well Prometheus wasn't about to leave humans shering in the dark with no way to cook their food or heat themselves using a fennel stock to hide the flame he stole fire back from Zeus and returned it to The Mortals Zeus was Furious and took out every ounce of his rage on Prometheus he sentenced the immortal God to a fate worse than death he was bound with chains across a rock and every day an eagle which also happened to be one of susa's Messengers would come and eat his liver every night his liver would grow back and the nightmare cycle would start over again Prometheus would eventually be freed from his torment by the Greek hero Heracles or Hercules but we guess he probably had a bit of a rough time when he was chained to that rock so what does Pandora have to do with this lurid tale of fire deceit and liver eating birds in her first appearance in theoy she was created as the result of Zeus's determination to punish mankind by any means necessary note the choice of words there man kind we'll get back to that in an act of Retribution Zeus ordered hephestus the god of Artisans and blacksmiths to use Earth to craft the world's first human woman she would be beautiful but evil and her descendants would bring Untold suffering on the human race as heot put it for from her is the race of woman and female kind of her is the deadly race and tribe of women who live amongst mortal men to their great trouble no help meets in hateful poverty but only in wealth oh boy with that kind of attitude we're sure hiad was popular with the ladies back in Athens but hiad wasn't finished with his sexist takes on women yet nor was he content to only explore at this time nameless women in theoy he brought her back in his poem works and days where he expanded the myth of the first woman into the version most often repeated today in this telling she receives a series of gifts from the gods each contributing something to her final form heustis molded her from the earth Athena taught her weaving in Needle work and Aphrodite shed grade upon her head and cruel longing and cares that weary the limbs which honestly sounds like the goddess of love gave her depression Hermes gave her a Shameless mind and a deceitful nature as well as the power to speak more specifically he gave her the power to lie and use crafty words side note which ancient Greek girl do we think broke od's heart because his storytelling seems somewhat one-sided in its interpretation of the Sexes anyway Athena gave her clothing pytho goddess of persuasion and The Graces draped her in necklaces and jewels and the hore goddesses of the seasons placed a crown woven from Plants upon her head talk about drip to top it all off Hermes gave her a name Pandora meaning all gifts as hot wrote All they who dwelt on Olympus gave each a gift a plague to men who eat bread good news for the gluten- Freeman out there so when does that box come in well along with the creation of Pandora Zeus bestowed upon her a mysterious box the contents of which were a secret to anyone but him we should also mention that Pandora wasn't just a gift to humanity but also to prometheus's brother Epimetheus Prometheus warned his brother not to take anything Zeus offered him but being the hard-headed brother he was Epimetheus welcomed the beautiful Pandora as his wife and let her bring the box along too pretty soon after she opened that box and all manner of evil things flooded out filling the Earth and sea only one entity was left inside hope remained there in an unbreakable home within under the rim of the great jar and did not fly out of the door for ear that the lid of the jar stopped her by the will of aus holding Zeus who gathers the clouds wait a minute didn't that just say jar that's right Pandora's Box was never a box in the first place the word for the vessel that Pandora was given was pthos which refers to a large clay jar used primarily for storage it often held wine oil or grain it also could be used in burial practices and some were believed to contain Souls historians believe the word must have been mistranslated at some point as box and that just kind of caught on the mistranslation is frequently attributed to arasmus the 16th century humanist though other historians have pointed their fingers at the 16th century Italian poet Julio Gregorio geraldi wherever the mistranslation started the end result was the same pythos became pixus the word for casket which eventually became box to be fair we think Pandora's Box does sound a bit more epic and mysterious compared to Pandora's jar this linguistic change might seem small but some scholars believe that it takes away from the larger meaning of the story for example Jane Ellen Harrison a British scholar of Classics believes that the shift from jar to box erased some of Pandora's inherent connection to the earth and the dirt the jar would have been made from Earth and Clay just like Pandora herself though hot's version was the first and the most well-known one other versions of the myth do exist in some Pandora desperately tried to stop the evils from escaping the jar slamming the lid shut but much too late by the time she got it closed the only thing left inside the jar was hope leaving the world full of evils and hopelessness this is a bit different from hot's version of Pandora who was deliberately deceitful and wicked in these versions Pandora is innocent deliberately tempted by Zeus and the other gods with the gift of a vessel she is warned never to open her curiosity gets the better of her and all of humanity suffers as a result in these versions the moral of the story shifts from you can't escape the wrath of the Gods to curiosity killed the cat The Killing being done by the Wrath of the Gods of course there are other versions of the story as well some that take the blame off of Pandora's shoulders entirely artists like Anton tishin and Sebastian lir painted depictions of the myth in which Pandora's husband Epimetheus opened the jar speaking of Epimetheus he and Pandora had a a daughter one who also experienced the wrath of Zeus firsthand P was married to dualon the son of Prometheus when Zeus decided to bring the current age of man to an end he created a massive storm to flood the entire world luckily Prometheus P's father-in-law and Uncle saw the flood coming he instructed dualon to build an ark where he and PIRA could wait out the storm wow that sure sounds familiar we'll come back to that later dealon and PIR managed to survive the flood their AR landing on Mount Parnassus after the waters receded but they were the only two humans that managed to make it somehow some way the two of them would need to repopulate the entire planet so they came up with a plan get your mind out of the gutter nothing like that happened instead they just went to an oracle to talk about it the Oracle instructed dualon to throw the bones of his mother behind his shoulder these instructions were not literal instead referring to rocks or the bones of GAA Mother Earth dualon and PIR did what anyone would do in the situation they started throwing rocks as soon as each Rock touched the ground it would transform into a human being the Rocks thrown by Deion became men the Rocks thrown by PIR became women so while Pandora was meant to bring about the destruction of humanity it was her daughter along with dualon who brought it back from the brink of Extinction where Pandora destroyed intentionally or not PIR created and both of them were forced to deal with Zeus and his grudge against humanity it should be noted that while Pandora's Box was actually a pthos there is another Greek myth featuring a box that punished the person for opening it in the story of psyche a beautiful mortal woman and the Beloved of Aeros Aphrodite's son and the god of Desire Aphrodite put her through a series of Trials these were difficult tasks intended to punish psyche for her relationship with AOS including Gathering water from the river sticks for her final task psyche was presented with a golden box that she was to take to the underworld and bring to panie there she would fill the box with a bit of Pan's Beauty and deliver it back to Aphrodite after successfully journeying to the underworld psyche found panie and shared Aphrodite's request happy to help Aphrodite panie filled the box then as psyche made her way back to complete her errand for the goddess she became consumed with curiosity about the Box's contents wanting to take a quick look for herself she opened the box to sneak a peek at the beauty inside however there was no Beauty to be found instead there was just a dark cloud that overwhelmed her plunging her into a deep comike sleep from which only a God could wake her some scholars believe that part of the transition from Pandora's jar to a box was due to the stories of Pandora and psyche getting mixed up and the two vessels being conflated with one another there are significant differences between the two myths however so it's difficult to see how that confusion would have occurred when it comes to the spread of myths and the way in which they shift and change over the centuries it could be difficult to pinpoint where exactly the changes come from since hiad first first wrote about Pandora her story has been retold and reimagined countless times in countless artistic mediums many European artists such as Pao farinati and Marco Angelo deoro depicted Pandora in one way or another Dante Gabrielle Rosetti notably depicted Pandora clad in red robes holding the Box in her hands with an ambiguous expression famous Belgian surrealist Renee marrit painted a seemingly unrelated image of a man looking out at a street scene with the title Pandora's Box Pandora's box was a popular subject in the world of theater as well with three French plays produced under the same title of Pandora's Box all in the first half of the 18th century these focused far less on Pandora herself and far more on the evils let loose on the world when the box was opened the first of these plays produced in 1721 was a Comedia Del art style piece which in a Happy Village is disrupted by vices including greed envy and hatred the second produced in 1729 and written by Philipa pon features Mercury the Roman version of Hermes interviewing the evils that are about to be Unleashed these include old age migraine destitution hatred Envy paralysis fever and transport the third play of the bunch was written by Pierre broy and produced in 1743 unlike the others it came with a subtitle curiosity punished this three-act comedy is set in the house of Epimetheus where Mercury delivers the Box this box contains seven flatterers honors Pleasures riches gaming or gambling taste fashion and false knowledge it also contains the seven evils Envy remorse avarice poverty scorn ignorance and inconstancy at the end of the play hope arrives to save the day in these interpretations of the story Pandora is barely involved at all the blame is instead placed on the gods who have chosen to torment humanity and on The Vices themselves that are the root of that Suffering The Myth has overall been difficult to interpret inviting different readings depending on the individual scholar or the cultural context they come from and at the time at which it's interpreted we'd like to throw our hat into the ring and give a bit of our own interpretation and speculation so let's quickly look at the interesting connection that we alluded to earlier there's another famous mythical story which includes the world's first woman unleashing evil on mankind the biblical story of Eve who ate the apple from the Tree of knowledge and got herself and Adam evicted from the Garden of Eden there could be a reason for this overlap as some Scholars suggest that theoy could have been based on the ancient Mesopotamian stories which may have also been a source for the story of Adam and Eve however it's also entirely possible that the two stories emerged independently we'll let you decide in the comments below like Zeus's thunderclouds let's get ready to rumble today we're taking a look at the most powerful Greek gods you might not have heard of the ones only the true connoisseurs will know number 20 Iris most people tend to picture Hermes when you think of the messenger of the Gods and that's fair the master of speed and looking cool and winged shoes is practically the Amazon Prime of Olympus but there's actually another messenger god or rather goddess Iris who also serves as the goddess of the rainbow and acts as a messenger in several texts including the Iliad in the work of hiad she also has the solemn responsibility of carrying water from the river sticks to deliver whenever a God wanted to take an oath still in spite of her responsibilities and how cool rainbows are she mostly acts as a helper of other gods so she comes in at the bottom of this ranking but iris is just a solo act how about a Divine tag team number 19 the hori the hori are the goddesses of the seasons and portions of time or the hours that might not sound especially powerful but their responsibilities in the myths include guarding the gates of Olympus you know the home to all those more powerful Gods they're also responsible for watching over the constellations and the conditions required for good farming on Earth the three sisters are yomia good order and good pasture irini peace and spring and dicki Justice three may beat the power of one but can they beat the power of the sun number 18 Helios Helios is the god of the sun who drives a chariot from east to west across the sky hey wait a minute that sounds like Apollo's whole deal yeah well Helios did it first Apollo was originally associated with more Purity and Radiance than then with the son itself but over time he became associated with the son as well but Helios did it first and he earned his spot on the list he's the original Greek sun god speaking of which you can't have the sun without the moon which brings us to number 17 Salini selini is the goddess of the moon and sister to Helios like her brother she also drives a chariot across the sky pulled by winged horses the light of the moon is depending on the story a crown on her head or the folds of her shiny clo other Greek goddesses are associated with the moon including Artemis Hera and an upcoming entry into the ranking but selini isn't just a moon goddess she was represented by ancient Greek poets as the moon itself incarnate she's not just the goddess of the moon she's the whole damn Moon all by herself but can she beat Death number 16 Kon some viewers might not consider this next entry to be a God to that we say he was the son of arabus and NX the primordial god and goddesses of dark and Knight respectively you look at KRON in his shadowy face and you tell him he doesn't count KRON has one of the most important and morbid jobs in all of Greek mythology he's tasked with rowing The Souls of the Dead across the river sticks and Aaron carrying them into the Afterlife every person who dies winds up sitting in kon's boat and they can't get where they're going without him if that's not a kind of incredible power then what is but what's a robo to a battleship number 15 a Aris maybe you associate power with a more active position or with the ability to pack a real punch harm wise how about Aris the goddess of strife Discord and rivalry more specifically goddess of The Strife of War Aris is frequently depicted lurking around battlefields enjoying the sight of human Bloodshed and loss Aris is so widely disliked by the other gods and goddesses that she is the only goddess not invited to the wedding of pelus and thetus she turns up anyway and when the other gods refuse to let her in she decides to cause some trouble among them she took a golden apple inscribed to the fairest and threw it amongst the goddesses specifically Hera Aphrodite and Athena the gift inflamed their rivalry and grew into a conflict that would end up causing the Trojan War arys proves that sometimes you can bring the most powerful people to their knees simply by sewing the seeds of Discord but how could hatred and strife ever stand up to the raw power of love number 14 Eros not to be confused with our pre previous entry on the list AOS is the god of love passion and fertility if you're not sure what's so powerful about AOS maybe hearing the name of his latter Roman counterpart will clarify it Cupid that's right using a bow and arrows or flaming torch Aros is the one responsible for igniting Love and Desire in the hearts of both men and gods when Eros falls in love with a mortal woman psyche their love was so strong that they overcame Aphrodite's attempts to keep them apart he literally beat the goddess of love his mother at her own game but while AOS controls what you love our next terrifying tag team controls what you fear number 13 Phobos and daos you may consider including two Gods as one entry cheating but Phobos and daos come as a set sorry they just do they both serve as the personification of fear with Phobos serving as the god of panic and flight and Doos representing Terror and Dread yes by the way Phobos is indeed where we get the word phobia from the twins also sometimes represent fear of loss and are the children of arys and Aphrodite their sister is aris and all three of them were told in The Iliad to accompany their father arys when he sent soldiers to war Phobos and Doos are also described as appearing on Athena's Shield along with the face of Medusa intended to strike Terror into the hearts of Athena's enemies if you've ever tried to reason with someone in the grip of a terrible Panic or tried to be rational in the face of irrational fear like walking down the hall from the bathroom to your bedroom in the dark you know just how powerful these twin forces can be but irrational fears are one thing what about a goddess that it's extremely rational to fear number 12 Eno speaking of war did you know that there is a Greek goddess of war that's right it's not all Aries in the war zones he's also joined by Eno referred to as the sister of War by Greek poet quintus smos she accompanied Aries into many of his most iconic battles and was involved in the war of the seven against thieves as well as the Trojan war myths vary in terms of whether she is ares's sister wife or daughter but one thing is certain if there is blood being shed Eno has a hand in it number 11 Guess Who's Next go ahead try it guess try your luck if you get it wrong then this next entry is not on your side it's tyi the goddess of chance or luck just like Fortune itself tyi can go a variety of ways and it's depicted differently depending on that direction holding a Rudder she helps guide fate itself with a ball she represents the unsteadiness of Fortune which can go any way at any time with a cornucopia she symbolizes the gifts of Fortune abundance and plentiful rewards that come to those blessed with good luck as pindar put it in his Olympian ode 12 for your hand steers the ships of the ocean on their flying course and rules on land the march of savage Wars and the Assemblies of wise counselors but if your luck is even worse it might not be tiis doing but someone a whole hell of a lot more for formidable number 10 Nemesis maybe you don't believe Fortune is random maybe you believe that a person reaps what they sow and what goes around comes around let us introduce to you Nemesis the goddess who specializes in Just Desserts Nemesis dos out Divine punishment particularly when it comes to hubris extreme dangerous Pride or arrogance in the myth of Eko and narcissus she's the one who punishes narcissus for his vanity luring him to a pool where he becomes so entranced by his own reflection that he eventually dies on the spot the poet meses once wrote A Hymn to Nemesis calling her Nemesis winged balancer of Life dark-faced goddess daughter of justice but being able to kill is one thing what about the divine power to save number nine Asus as the son of Apollo and a mortal princess Aus may not be considered a God by some Greek mythology enthusiasts but he was good enough to be the patron god of the escapades an Ancient Order of doctors as that might imp asclepius was the god of medicine and doctors he was so mighty even as a mere demigod that he gained the ability to bring the dead back to life his skills were so great that they violated the natural order and Zeus struck him down with a thunderbolt yes he was killed by Zeus and then placed into the stars as the constellation of fucus but his ability to revive the dead and accomplish something that scared the hell out of the king of the Gods earns him a spot on this list but death and rebirth are only two fa of many what about the beings who can see them all number eight the fates when it comes to every mortal's Destiny the length of their life and the exact moment of their death there are three famous sisters who hold all the cards actually they hold a golden thread and a pair of scissors the fates the daughters of nxs and either Zeus or Themis are a package deal clo the spinner who spins the thread of Life lissus the measurer who determines how long each thread or life spin B will be and atropos the unbending inflexible who cuts the thread when it's time for someone to Die the rule of the Fates is so Ironclad that the other gods do not dare interfere when they decide someone's time is up that applies to their pet Mortals and their own mortal Sons and Daughters too in a few myths some of the Gods test this such as Apollo who got around their verdict on a mortal by getting them drunk enough to change their minds but aside from plying them with booze the gods know not to cross these three sisters you can try all you want but you just can't fight fate but would you be any more capable of fighting our next Godly contestant number seven pan pan is one of the less intimidating Gods when it comes to appearances he's just a friendly little Goatman with a flute after all and it's true that while a lot of the other gods spend their time starting Wars and cheating on Hera over and over and over and over looking at Yus pan tends to stick to his domain in the fields forests and pastures frolicking with nymphs and playing music but don't underestimate him pen is said to have a voice so fearsome that he frightened the Titans during their battle with the gods he's also said to be gifted in the art of Prophecy so much so that he taught Apollo himself how to define the future mostly he just prefers to party and start a lost Travelers by suddenly appearing to them but he's a goat god with hidden depths pan may be a goat but can our next contestant claim the title of the goat number six Thanatos because Hades is the god of of the underworld people tend to assume that that makes him the god of death but those people are sorely mistaken the Greek god of death is actually Thanatos considered to be the personification of death itself naturally this makes him pretty unpopular among both Mortals and gods but that doesn't matter whether they like him or not death is a constant here to stay as hiad put it in theoy if he should touch a man that man is his and even to the gods who are Immortal death is anend enemy however despite his name bearing a striking similarity to a later powerful being Thanatos sadly does not have his own Infinity Gauntlet our next contestant however is sure to blow you away number five eolus Poseidon may be the god of the sea but there is one thing in nature that can cause the tides to turn at the drop of a hat the wind enter eolus the god of Storms and The Keeper of the winds in The Odyssey he passed a bag along to aysus that contained the storm winds which could carry him and his men home but when ads' crew opened the bag looking for Treasure they were blown all the way back to the shore of ais's home it should be mentioned that in some writings theis is not considered a god at all but instead a mortal Who was appointed as the Divine Keeper of the winds in others such as the work of starus he is called the cousin of Iris and is therefore a God either way that guy keeps a violent storm locked away and can release it whenever he wants that's power mortal or not but could the power of wind help anyone Escape their Doom number four moros the gods have accomplished a lot of impossible things in their various myths they've created storms transformed people into animals even cheated death but there is one thing that can't be escaped by the certainty of its very nature and that is doom doom just so happens to be the perview of moros the son of nxs and the god that personifies impending doom he can even give Mortals the ability to foresee their death though there is nothing they can do to change it even Zeus can't defy a decree from moros in the Greek tragedy Prometheus bound moros is described as the all destroying God who even in the realm of death does not set his victim free Bleak speaking of inevitable number three arabus arabus is the primordial God of Darkness one of the first beings to ever exist he was the father of Hamera goddess of the day after the gods created the Earth arabus finished the underworld filling any empty space there with dark Mists he is so deeply associated with the underworld that his name is used to refer to the place where the spirits of the Dead pass after leaving their bodies behind he may have faded out of relevance but Hades would not have his kingdom of death if it weren't for arabus laying the underground work but could this feisty Divine emo hold a candle to the original goddess of Goths number two hecy Zeus ruled the skies Poseidon rules the Seas Hades rules the underworld but there is one one goddess whose domain is all three Realms the sky the earth and the Underworld hecy the goddess of Witchcraft necromancy boundaries and gateways HEC is associated with the moon and night sky borders City walls Crossroads on Earth and ghosts and passage into the underworld she was the only Titan who maintained her power under the rule of Zeus and she was honored and respected by all gods even as they took their place on Olympus she assisted the Gods in the war against the Giants and she killed IUS the Giant and Son of Gaia in battle she was also known for being able to send demons and evil spirits up to Earth from the underworld and to dwell among the spirits of the Dead the living and the Gods in equal measure what can't she do well things this next contestant can number one chaos some descriptions consider it a goddess others a God and most say neither as Aristophanes put it at the beginning there was only chaos night dark arabus and deep Tartarus Earth the air and Heaven had no existence firstly black winged Knight laid a germless egg in the bosom of the infinite deep arabus and from this After the revolution of long ages sprang graceful AOS with his glittering Golden Wings Swift as the whirlwinds of the Tempest he made it in deep Tartarus with dark chaos winged like himself and thus hatched forth our race which was the first to see the light chaos was the void before everything the place from which all else sprang forth some early personified versions of chaos depict a goddess of the air and the birds that fly in it she is the void the parent of all primordial gods and if creation is power the most powerful entity in all of Greek mythology after all none of it would have happened without chaos flesh eating horses child devouring witches and of course many-headed Devil Dogs get your sword and shield ready and I hope Athena and Fortune are on your side today because we're coming face to face with some of the most Terri in Monsters in all of Greek mythology and we can guarantee that number one won't be what you expect number 20 Argus Argus a servant of Hera was a giant whose body was covered in 100 eyes he made for a heck of a Watchman for Hera tested with watching over a cow that her Priestess IO had been transformed into in case you're wondering yes the Priestess turning into a cow had something to do with Zeus and his extramarital Shenanigans the less said about that the better in addition to his numerous eyes Argus was imbued with constant strength and wakefulness able to keep his watch forever without stopping to sleep or rest his duty was cut short when he was slain by Hermes who disguised himself as a shepherd and shut argus's eyes permanently According to some versions of the story all it took to slay Argus was a simple thrown Stone earning him his spot toward the bottom of this ranking still he has an impressive Legacy Hera took argus's eyes and transferred all of them to the tale of her favorite bird the peacock there his allseeing eyes live on but what Argus lacked in power our next contestant made up for in Horsepower number 19 Mays of diamides the giant diamides king of thce was in possession of four terrifying man-eating horses known as the Mars of diamides the demigod hero Heracles was tasked with stealing these mares by King Urus but he didn't know that these were no ordinary horses their diet of human flesh had driven them mad and in some versions of the story they could also breathe fire Heracles managed to complete his task by killing diamides and feeding him to his bloodthirsty horses yikes by the way Heracles is also conflated with a different hero one whose name you might recognize but to understand that first you need to know about a really frightening Kitty number 18 nimian lion most of the iconic monsters in Greek mythology wound up facing off against one of the most iconic Heroes Hercules also known as Heracles in the original Greek but we'll stick to the more recognizable name from here on out Hercules wasn't necessarily the greatest guy there was that whole thing where he killed his wife and all their children for example Disney didn't include that part in the cartoon but he was top-notch at monster fighting when King yisus presented Hercules with 12 Labors to complete his first assignment was to slay the nimian lion now this was no ordinary lion the Beast which was terrorizing people all around nemia was a vicious fighter whose skin was impervious to all weapons but where Spears and swords had failed Hercules was able to kill the lion with his guns by which we mean his big strong arms he grabbed hold of the lion and squeezed it until he choked it to death then he wore its skin as a trophy but unlike our next contestant Lions can't attack from above number 17 salian birds for his sixth labor Hercules was tasked with taking out the vicious salian Birds who had migrated to the marsh in Arcadia and decimated the crops trees and people there penus described the deadly Birds these fly against those who come to hunt them wounding and killing them with their beaks all armor of bronze or iron that men wear is pierced by the birds but if they weave a garment of thick cork the beaks of the salian birds are caught in the cork garment these birds are the size of a crane and are like the Ibis but their beaks are more powerful and not crooked like that of the ivis in addition to their extremely sharp beaks the birds were equipped with metallic feathers they could use like weapons and also poison dung gross there's a legend that if a bird poops on you it's good luck but that definitely doesn't apply to these birds if you crossed the path of the stallan birds you were pretty much flocked Hercules was unable to enter the bird's territory directly as the ground in the marsh where they dwelt wouldn't support his weight instead Athena gifted the hero with a cotala a bronze rattle that he shook frightening the birds into the air then he was able to shoot them one by one with arrows dipped in the PO poisonous blood of another monster on this list no spoilers the birds that survived flew away and would never trouble the people of Arcadia again unlike our next horrifying reptilian Beast number 16 Hydra this next monster has a good head on its shoulders in fact it has several and if it ever happens to lose its head two more grow out of the open wound in its place that's right we're talking about the Hydra the Hydra was an enormous monster resembling a water snake with many heads the exact number depends on the source one of which could not be killed the Serpent's blood and its breath were both poisonous and even breathing in the smell of it could potentially be deadly for one of his labors Hercules was tasked with slaying the Hydra but he couldn't do it alone he needed the help of his nephew IAS as Hercules cut off each head IAS followed behind using fire and a sword to cauterize each wound and prevent new heads from growing there they continued this process until the only head left was the immortal one which Hercules severed from its neck and buried beneath a heavy rock where it could do no more damage for a little bit of extra fire power he could use during his future tasks he dipped the tips of his arrows into the hydra's poison blood that's right he took down the salian birds using the blood of the Hydra that's working smarter not harder but there is more than one way to be a mythological horror with multiple heads number 15 Chimera up next we have the Chimera a hybrid monster made up of the parts of a lion a goat and a snake oh and it can also breathe fire in case it wasn't terrifying enough already the Chimera was referred to in The Iliad as a bane to many men it was known for terrorizing the residents of its Homeland in Lysa it spent its time there devouring people and presumably blasting them with its fire first to get them nice and crispy before it was slain by the hero bolerophon who attacked it while riding on the back of the winged horse Pegasus but at least you need to be close to the Chimera for it to hurt you for some creatures it's enough just to hear them number 14 Sirens hey what's that sound it sounds like beautiful music maybe we should get closer and see for our s wait no no stop don't go any further that's the enchanting voice of our next Monster the sirens let's get one thing out of the way you might have been picturing the sirens wrong your entire life these seductive creatures who song lure Sailors to crash their ships on treacherous rocks may live near the sea but if you're picturing them as mermaid you got it all wrong they were actually bird women with the lower bodies of birds and the heads or upper bodies of women it makes sense when you think about it fish aren't exactly famous for their singing skills the exact ratio of bird to woman varies depending on the depiction but one aspect of the sirens is always the same they perched on the rocks and sang tricking Sailors into crashing their ships ensuring that they would drown and never again reach home most famously the sirens were encountered by adicus on his long journey where he managed to to avoid succumbing to their song by having his men stuff their ears with wax and then tie him to the Mast of the ship so he might hear their song and live in some retellings of that story the sirens were so Furious that a mortal man was able to hear their song and survive that they threw themselves into the sea and drowned now speaking of bird women the sirens weren't the only part Bird partom monsters in Greek myth number 13 harpies the harpies the personifications of dangerous storm winds and the Servants of Zeus would swoop down from the sky to punish anyone who had anchored the gods most often Zeus Hera or Athena when someone disappeared suddenly without explanation in ancient Greece their disappearance might have been attributed to harpies snatching them up and carrying them away to their Doom but you'd rather be carried away than eaten right number 12 polyphemus the Cyclops or oneeyed Giants are famous throughout Greek mythology but one of them is more famous than any of the others polyphemus polyphemus is another one of the monsters encountered by adicus in his Epic Journey the Cyclops trapped adicus and his 12 men in a cave where he blocked the entrance with a giant rock he devoured six of the men eating them alive but what polyphemus had in brute strength he lacked in critical thinking skills adicus was able to trick the Cyclops by getting him drunk on wine and when he had fallen asleep the hero stabbed him in the eye with a burning stake blinding him then adicus and his surviving men escaped by hiding beneath polyphemus's sheep as they went out to pasture though though blinded the Cyclops survived the encounter with odyss and attempted to sink the hero Ship by hurling giant Boulders at it as he and his men sailed away but a stupid Maneater is one thing a smarter one is far scarier number 11 Sphinx the Sphinx was a female monster with a lion's body the head and chest of a woman the wings of an eagle and the tail of a snake she was known for her appetite for human flesh and an affinity for riddles according to myth the God sent her to Thief to punish the people there for something whatever they were mad about that day probably where she would eat anyone who failed to solve her riddle which was taught to her by the muses the King of Thieves offered his throne to anyone who could defeat her and attius decided to accept the challenge when he successfully answered her riddle she responded reasonably by throwing herself off a mountain by the way in case you ever encounter a sphinx here's the answer to her most famous riddle what goes on four legs in the morning two in the afternoon and three in the evening why it's man who begins life crawling on all fours walks on two legs in adulthood and uses a walking stick in old age there now you can be just like edus but only in that one aspect we hope speaking of messed up parent child relationships number 10 lamea lamia might be the closest thing that Greek mythology has to the boogeyman a terrible monster used to frighten children into good behavior she began as a beautiful daughter of King Bellis of Libya but after she caught the the eye of Zeus and bore several of his children Hera caught wind of the whole Affair and was less than pleased she killed all of lamia's children except for one who is featured later on this very list at least that's one version of the story in another even more upsetting version Hera forced lamia to kill her own children the grief and rage caused by this act transformed lamia into a half snake half-woman monster who dwelled in a cave and emerged to steal babies and children from all the homes devouring them better be good kids or lamia will Slither into your room and eats you alive but hey at least you're not being eaten alive in a dark scary maze number nine minitar Animal Human hybrids are pretty common throughout Greek mythology and one of the most famous of all time is the part bull part man Minotaur born of the Unholy Union between queen pacif and a white bull the minitar was kept in a labyrinth where King Minos would send seven Athenian men and seven Athenian women to be sacrificed to the beast on a regular basis some versions say once a year others say every 9 years the minotaur's reign of terror continued until Theus defeated it with help from Princess ariadne the Minotaur is now dead our next Monster isn't number eight impusa like lamia impusa was another female monster that prayed on humans while they slept this shape-shifting creature would take on different forms depending on what she wanted to do if she was trying to frighten Travelers one of her favorite activities she would appear as a grotesque monster with legs made from bronze and cow dong if she wanted to feed on the blood of young men she would take on the shape of a beautiful woman she would also sometimes take on the shape of a cow a mule or a dog no matter what shape she took she was not the type of being you wanted to cross paths with at least if you wanted to keep all your blood inside your body some monsters attack while you sleep others are so strong they can only be attacked while they sleep number seven kki and dragon during Jason's quest for the Golden Fleece he encountered the monster that was tasked with guarding it in the sacred grove of arys the Kian Dragon this massive Beast was so powerful it was thought to mean certain death for Jason when he faced it but with the help of the Sorceress media he put it to sleep and managed to slay the dragon even in death it still posed a threat though its teeth were taken out of its mouth by the king and sewn in a sacred field there they caused a group of stone solders to spring up from the earth and attack Jason sure he managed to defeat those two but how many monsters can still hurt you even after they've been killed number six Sila oh would you look at that adicus is here again the next two monsters on our list come as a set and were among the horrors faced in the hero's Odyssey first there was Sila a beast with 12 feet and six heads on Long Serpentine necks each head had three rows of sharp teeth which she used to snap up her prey from within her cave whenever they got too close she devoured six of ody thisius his men as his ship passed by her but she shared those treacherous Waters with another monster number five caribdis caribdis dwelled on the shores across from Sila where she would drink up and spit out the waters three times a day creating a vicious Whirlpool together they made it nearly impossible to make it through the waters alive adicus managed to after being Shipwrecked only by holding onto a tree for dear life for hours until cibus spat up a raft she had swallowed but what do you find more frightening water or snakes number four AK kidna AK kidna was another half-woman half snake but she was far more than just that hiad described her as a flesh eating monster who was not like Mortal men nor was she like the undying Gods but was something else entirely she was ageless with a taste for raw human flesh and spent her time lurking in a cave and praying on humans that were unfortunate enough to wander into her domain she and her lover bore some truly nightmarish children together including the gorgens the Chimera and the culian dragon that's not even close to all of them either according to apollodorus she hunted humans for many many years until her reign of terror was cut short by Argus who killed her while she slept and who could have expected Argus to come back talk about a plot twist number three Cerberus the 12th and final labor of Hercules the most dangerous one of all was to travel into the underworld and kidnap serverus the Beast that guarded the gates of the Land of the Dead the many-headed dog was a horrible sight to behold with a serpent for a tail and the heads of snakes all over its back some accounts said that he had more than three heads going up as high as 50 hiad described the hellish Hound in theoy like this a monster not to be overcome and that may not be described serverus who eats raw flesh the Brazen voiced Hound of Hades 50 headed Relentless and strong he also describes cerberus's role as the ultimate guard dog as people go in he fawns on all with actions of his tail and both ears but he will not let them go back out but lies in wait for them and eats them up when he catches any going back through the gates once he arrived in the Underworld Hercules met with Hades the god of the underworld and he agreed that Hercules could take the Beast with him if he managed to overpower cus with nothing but his own two hands and no other weapons Hercules did indeed wrestle cus into submission though he sustained a bite from the serpent tail in the process unlike the Neiman lion cus was not killed in theight he was taken to Urus alive and was later returned safely to his home in the Underworld unlike the other monsters that Hercules faced off against Cerberus survived the encounter without so much as a scratch soon after he resumed his post and presumably got some nice scratches behind the many pairs of ears from pranie for being such a good boy but let's now go from a bad boy to a really scary girl number two Medusa no list of monsters would be complete without the woman whose mere gaze can turn turn a man into solid Stone Medusa crowned with hair made of rising hissing snakes she struck Terror into the hearts of all men throughout ancient Greece in one of the most famous versions of her myth Medusa was assaulted by Poseidon in the temple of Athena and then punished by the goddess for the violation she was then transformed into a monster that we all know today eventually she was defeated by the hero percus with the help of the Gods but her powers persisted even after death her severed head according to one version of The Legend was placed in Athena shield and used to paralyze opponents on the battlefield with fear if there is one monster from Greek myth that everyone knows it's Medusa so why isn't she number one on the list who could have possibly edged out the iconic Gorgon from the number one spot well it's number one Typhon how about the father of all the monsters this is the entity that created the Gorgon cus Sila the nimian lion the Sphinx and several other entries on on this very list Typhon the son of Gaia and tarus is the largest and most powerful monster in Greek mythology the giant monster had wings snake heads in place of its hands and a lower body made from even more coiled snakes his eyes were made of fire and he spat fiery stones from his horrible mouth some descriptions of him state that he spat poison instead which he also emitted from his hair apollodorus described him like this down to his thighs he was human in form but of such immense size that he rose higher than all the mountains and often even scraped the stars with his head with arms outstretched he could reach the West on one side and the east on the other and from his arms there sprang a hundred dragons heads below his thighs he had massive coils of vipers which when they were fully extended reached right up to his head and emitted violent hisses he had wings all over his body and filthy hair springing up from his head and cheeks floated around him in the Wind and Fire flashed from his eyes so yeah yeah pretty intimidating it takes two to tango of course and Typhon didn't father all those children by himself he had a wife a kidna who was also featured on this list but while AK kidna was slain by Argus Typhon was not killed well he wasn't one version of the story but most takes on the myth agree that he survived he battled Zeus himself and lived to tell the tale he was imprisoned in Tartarus or beneath the land of the aroyi there beneath the ground his rage shook the Earth and caused volcanoes to erupt terrorizing Humanity even from within his eternal prison without Typhon Humanity would have had far fewer monsters to fight so that earns him the place as the Big Daddy of them all now check out soldiers encounter mysterious monsters in Vietnam War or watch this instead