Yr 5’s guide to
Greek
Monsters
Argus
Argus may have had as
many as one hundred
eyes which were located
all over his body. Hera
employed him as a
guard.
Charybdis
Charybdis is a five headed dragon.
The five headed dragon lives under a
small rock on a narrow channel. Opposite
Charybdis is a another sea monster
called Scylla who lives on a much larger
rock. Charybdis is a daughter to Poseidon
and Gaia.
Cerberus
Cerberus the three headed hell hound.
The hell hound was used to guard the
under world to Keep away the living
gods, goddesses, young children and
humans. It is impossible to Catch or
even kill the hell hound only Hercules has
captured Cerberus because he was the
strongest man alive his farther Zeus.
Cyclopes
There is more than one Cyclopes. Cyclopes
are one eyed giants with three horns on
their heads who liked to eat humans. They
were the children of Uranus and Gaea.
They only had one eye because they
swapped one eye so that they could see
the future.
Furies
Furies are huge creatures that glided in the sky
and killed robbers. They had massive wings to
help them fly. There were three of them and they
were also the goddesses of vengeance and the
Guardians of law.
They were horrible to look at - the Furies had
snakes for their hair and devil red blood dripping
from their eyes. Furious and infuriated were
named after the Furies.
Gorgon Medusa
The Gorgon Medusa had two sisters called Stheno and
Evryale. She had snakes on her head instead of hair
and had the power to turn people into stone when
they looked at her. She was once a beautiful woman,
but she offended Athena and changed her hair into
snakes.
Medusa was the only Gorgon who was mortal,
however she was more powerful than her sisters. If
you killed her she would die but her snakes would be
alive. How we know is because a boy called Perseus
killed her because he looked at her reflection in a
shiny shield.
Griffin
The griffin was a
combination of a lion and
an eagle. It had the body
of a lion and the head,
wings, and talons of an
eagle. Griffins were said
to live in northern Greece
where they guarded a
huge treasure. In ancient
times the griffin is also
said to have nested in
Pomerania.
Harpies
The Harpies are birds with
the face of a women. There are
three of them! They were
sometimes called the hounds of
Zeus. They serve Zeus. One of the
most famous stories involves
Phineas, the king of Thessaly, who
had the gift of seeing into the
future.
Hydra
The Hydra was a big dragon which had nine
heads. This dragon was very hard to defeat.
His tail was stretched out. When you cut off
one of Hydra’s heads two more would grow.
Minotaur
The Minotaur was half man, half bull, that
devoured sacrificial victims thrown into the
Labyrinth. The Minotaur was eventually killed
by Theseus. But in the Middle Ages, artists
portrayed a man’s
head and torso on a bull’s
body. Here’s how the
Minotaur figured into the
legend of Theseus.
Sirens
The sirens were giant, winged creatures with
heads of women. They lived on rocks on the sea,
where their beautiful singing lured sailors to
shipwreck. Odysseus filled his sailors’ ears with
wax so they might sail safely past the Sirens.
Beautiful half- women, half bird-like who sang
such sweet songs that
listeners forgot everything
and died of hunger. The
Sirens used a bewitching
song to lure the sailors in.