Instigating Thought: Mythological Creatures
Directions: Read rhetorically each of the following mythological creatures. Be sure to come up with at least two
researchable questions for each creature presented. What more can you learn? What interests you?
Check out this website: http://www.freewebs.com/cosmologies/ancientsoutherneurope.htm
"Griffin, Legendary Creature." Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6Th Edition (2011): 1. Literary Reference Center.
Web. 10 Feb. 2013.
Griffin, in ancient and medieval legend, creature with the head and wings of an eagle and the body of a lion. Its name also
appears as griffon and gryphon. The griffin originated in ancient Middle Eastern legend and is often found in Persian
sculpture and the decorative arts. Although its significance is obscure, it is often thought to have been a protective symbol,
representing strength and vigilance.
"Cerberus." (n.d.): Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia. Web. 10 Feb. 2013.
CERBERUS, in Greek mythology, a three-headed, dragon-tailed dog guarding the entrance to the lower world, or Hades.
The monster permitted all spirits to enter Hades, but none to leave. Only a few heroes ever escaped; the great musician
Orpheus charmed it with his lyre, and the Greek hero Hercules captured it bare-handed and brought it for a short time to
the regions above. In Roman mythology the beautiful maiden Psyche and the Trojan prince Aeneas were able to pacify
Cerberus with a honey cake and thus to continue their journey through the underworld. Cerberus is sometimes pictured
with a mane of snakes and 50 heads.
"Cerberus." Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6Th Edition (2011): 1. Literary Reference Center. Web. 10 Feb. 2013.
Cerberus (sûr′bərəs), in Greek mythology, many-headed dog with a mane and a tail of snakes; offspring of
Typhon and Echidna. He guarded the entrance of Hades. One of the 12 labors of Hercules was to capture him.
"Harpies." (n.d.): Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia. Web. 10 Feb. 2013.
HARPIES, in Greek mythology, foul creatures with the heads of old women and the bodies, wings, beaks, and claws of
birds. They could fly with the speed of the wind, and their feathers, which could not be pierced, served as armor. They
snatched up mortals and carried them to the underworld, leaving behind a sickening odor.
One of the many perils to be overcome by the Argonauts in their quest for the Golden Fleece was an encounter with
these dread, half-human creatures, who were slowly starving a pathetic old man by befouling his food before he could eat
it. The Argonauts were on the point of killing the creatures when Iris, goddess of the rainbow, intervened. At her request
they merely drove the Harpies away. The Trojan prince Aeneas also came upon the Harpies, but he and his crew put out
to sea to escape them.
"Minotaur." (n.d.): Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia. Web. 10 Feb. 2013.
MINOTAUR, in Greek mythology, monster with the head of a bull and the body of a man. It was the offspring of
Pasiphaë, queen of Crete, and a snow-white bull the god Poseidon had sent to Pasiphaë’s husband, King Minos. When
Minos refused to sacrifice the beast, Poseidon made Pasiphaë fall in love with it. After she gave birth to the Minotaur,
Minos ordered the architect and inventor Daedalus to build a labyrinth so intricate that escape from it without assistance
would be impossible. Here the Minotaur was confined and fed with young human victims Minos forced Athens to send
him as tribute. The Greek hero Theseus was determined to end the useless sacrifice and offered himself as one of the
victims. When Theseus reached Crete, Minos’s daughter Ariadne fell in love with him. She helped him escape by giving
him a ball of thread, which he fastened to the door of the maze and unwound as he made his way through it. When he
came upon the sleeping Minotaur, he beat the monster to death and then led the other sacrificial youths and maidens to
safety by following the thread back to the entrance.
"Centaurs." (n.d.): Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia. Web. 10 Feb. 2013.
CENTAURS, in Greek mythology, a race of monsters believed to have inhabited the mountain regions of Thessaly and
Arcadia. They were usually represented as human down to the waist, with the lower torso and legs of a horse. The
centaurs were characterized by savageness and violence; they were known for their drunkenness and lust and were often
portrayed as followers of Dionysus, the god of wine. They were driven from Thessaly when, in a drunken frenzy, they
attempted to abduct the bride of the king of the Lapiths from her wedding feast. The centaur Chiron, noted for his
goodness and wisdom, was an exception. Several Greek heroes, including Achilles and Jason, were educated by him.
"Chiron." Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6Th Edition (2011): 1. Literary Reference Center. Web. 10 Feb. 2013.
Chiron (kī′rŏn), in Greek mythology, centaur, son of Kronos. He was a renowned sage, physician, and prophet. Among
his pupils were Hercules, Achilles, Jason, and Asclepius. When Hercules accidentally wounded Chiron, the pain was so
great that Chiron surrendered his immortality to Prometheus and died. Zeus then set him among the stars as the
constellation Sagittarius.
"Hydra." (n.d.): Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia. Web. 10 Feb. 2013.
HYDRA, in Greek mythology, nine-headed monster that dwelled in a marsh near Lerna, Greece. A menace to all of
Argos, it had fatally poisonous breath and when one head was severed, grew two in its place; its central head was
immortal. Hercules, sent to kill the serpent as the second of his 12 labors, succeeded in slaying it by burning off the eight
mortal heads and burying the ninth, immortal head under a huge rock. The term hydra is commonly applied to any
complex situation or problem that continually poses compounded difficulties.
"Chimera." (n.d.): Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia. Web. 10 Feb. 2013.
CHIMERA, in Greek mythology, a fire-breathing monster that had the head of a lion, the body of a she-goat,
and the tail of a dragon. It terrorized Lycia, a region in Asia Minor, but was finally killed by the Greek hero
Bellerophon.
"Typhon." Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6Th Edition (2011): 1. Literary Reference Center. Web. 10 Feb. 2013.
Typhon (tī′fŏn) or Typhoeus (tīfē′əs), in Greek mythology, fierce and monstrous son of Gaea. He was the father of
Echidna—a monster half woman and half dragon—and of Cerberus, Hydra, the Sphinx, and the Chimera. Typhon was so
frightful that Zeus set him afire and buried him alive under Mt. Aetna.
http://www.reference.com/browse/Typhoeus
In Greek mythology, the youngest son of Gaea and Tartarus. A grisly monster with a hundred dragons' heads,
he was conquered and cast into the underworld by Zeus but continued to be the source of destructive winds. In
other accounts, he was confined in the land of the Arimi in Cilicia or under Mount Etna, where he caused
eruptions and was thus the personification of volcanic forces. Among his children were Cerberus, Chimera, and
the multiheaded Hydra. Later writers identified him with the Egyptian god Seth.
Greek myth the son of Gaea and Tartarus who had a hundred dragon heads, which spurted fire, and a bellowing manytongued voice. He created the whirlwinds and fought with Zeus before the god hurled him beneath Mount Etna
"Cyclops." (n.d.): Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia. Web. 10 Feb. 2013.
CYCLOPS, in Greek mythology, giants with one enormous eye in the middle of the forehead. In Hesiod, the three sons—Arges,
Brontes, and Steropes—of Uranus and Gaea, the personifications of heaven and earth, were Cyclopses. They were thrown into the
lower world by their brother Cronus, one of the Titans, after he dethroned Uranus. But Cronus’s son, the god Zeus, released the
Cyclopses from the underworld, and they, in gratitude, gave him the gifts of thunder and lightning with which he defeated Cronus and
the Titans and thus became lord of the universe.
In Homer’s Odyssey, the Cyclopses were shepherds living in Sicily. They were a lawless, savage, and cannibalistic race fearing
neither gods nor humans. The Greek hero Odysseus was trapped with his men in the cave of the Cyclops Polyphemus, a son of
Poseidon, god of the sea. In order to escape from the cave after the giant devoured several men, Odysseus blinded him.
"Polyphemus." (n.d.): Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia. Web. 10 Feb. 2013.
POLYPHEMUS, in Greek mythology, a Cyclops, the son of Poseidon, god of the sea, and of the nymph Thoösa. During
his wanderings after the Trojan War, the Greek hero Odysseus and his men were cast ashore on Polyphemus’s island
home, Sicily. The enormous giant penned the Greeks in his cave and began to devour them. Odysseus then gave
Polyphemus some strong wine and when the giant had fallen into a drunken stupor, bored out his one eye with a burning
stake. The Greeks then escaped by clinging to the bellies of his sheep. Poseidon punished Odysseus for blinding
Polyphemus by causing him many troubles in his subsequent wanderings by sea. In another legend, Polyphemus was
depicted as a huge, one-eyed shepherd, unhappily in love with the sea nymph Galatea.
"Manticore." Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia Of Literature (1995): N.PAG. Literary Reference
Center. Web. 11 Feb. 2013.
manticore, also spelled mantichora or manticora or mantiger Greek manticho´ras,
martich&#x00F3ttkvœras, of Iranian origin; akin to Old Persian martiya- man, person, and to Avestan
xvar- eat, devour A legendary animal having the head of a man often with horns, the body of a lion,
and the tail of a dragon or scorpion. The earliest Greek report of the creature is probably a greatly
distorted description of the Caspian tiger, a hypothesis that accords well with the presumed source of
the Greek word, an Old Iranian compound meaning “man-eater.” Medieval writers used the manticore
as a symbol of the devil. In Canadian author Robertson Davies' The Manticore, the protagonist
dreams of a sibyl leading a manticore and examines his dream under Jungian analysis.
Research the picture to the left? W5? How? Ask questions.