A PowerPoint Presentation by Liz, Mary,
Carmen, Jonathan, Amber, Yasmeen, Katy,
and Steph
Sphinx

 Origin: Egypt or
Ethiopia
 It is a female monster
with the body of a lion,
the breast and head of a
woman, eagle's wings,
and sometimes a
serpent tail
Sphinx

Greek Sphinx
Egyptian Sphinx
Sphinx

 Incorporated into Greek myth
 Daughter of Orthus and Chimaera, Typhon and
Echidna , or Typhon and Chimaera
 Fond of riddles, i.e. “What goes on four legs in the
morning, two legs in the afternoon, and three legs at
night?”
 Answer: a human (number of legs describes place in
life cycle: baby  adult  old person with cane)
Typhoeus

 Origin: Greece
 Man-shaped torso, two coiled
vipers instead of legs, fifty
serpents per arm instead of
hands, winged, dirty matted
hair and beard, pointed ears,
and eyes flashing fire.
 Said to be big enough for his
head to brush the stars
 Volcano-daimon: could hurl
red-hot rocks at the sky and
storms of fire boiled from his
mouth.
Typhoeus

 Son of Earth or Hera, depending on myth
 Mate of Echidna, a half-snake half-woman creature
 Father of Orthos, a two-headed dog; Cerberus, a
three-headed dog; Lernaea Hydra, a chtonic, serpentlike creature with numerous heads; and Chimair, a
creature with the body of a goat, the tail of a snake or
dragon, and the head of a lion
Typhoeus

 Went on rampaging
murder/destruction
spree, destroyed cities,
killed a lot of people
 Was defeated in battle
by Zeus who
imprisoned him under
Mt. Etna, a
stratovolcano on the
coast of Sicily
Thalia

 Origin: Greece
 Goddess of Festivity
and Banquets, Muse of
Comedy
 A young woman
crowned with ivy and
carrying a comedy
mask, bugle, or
shepherd’s staff
Thalia

 One of three Graces,
minor goddesses of
charm, beauty, nature,
human creativity, and
fertility and daughters
of Zeus
 Eighth born of nine
Muses, goddesses of
inspiration
Rhode

 Origin: Greece
 Daughter of Poseidon
 Wife of Helios
 Sea-nymph of Aegean
island of Rhodes,
convinced Zeus to allot
island to Helios after it
rose from the sea
Skylla/Scylla

 Origin: Greece
 Twelve dangling feet,
six long necks and
grisly heads lined with
a triple row of sharp
teeth
 Her voice was likened
to the yelping of dogs
 Classically depicted as
fish-tailed sea goddess
Skylla/Scylla

 Often mentioned with Charybdis, a
giant whirlpool monster that both
sucks down and spews out seawater
to drown ships, because they live on
opposite sides of the Straits of
Messenia between Italy and Sicily
 Skylla is a six-headed, snakelike
monster that will swoop down and
snatch sailors from the decks of
passing ships
 There are two towering rocks called
the Rovers which clash together to
destroy passing ships and Skylla
makes her home in the most lofty of
the two peaks. Her rocky habitat is
always shrouded in clouds … no
sunlight ever reaches the summit and
no mortal man can climb the sheer
rock-face or even shoot an arrow to
such a height.
Triton

 Origin: Greece
 Fish-tailed sea god,
sometimes depicted with
twin fish or dolphin tails,
crab-claw "horns,” greentinged skin, and/or a pair
of equine forelegs.
 Carried a winged bow
and conch-shell trumpet
 Has some power over the
ocean
Triton

 Son of Poseidon and Amphitrite
 Father of sea-nymphs Pallas, Kalliste, Triteia, and
Tritonides
 Patron god of salt lake Tritonis
 Helped Argonauts escape when they became
trapped in the desert
Thamyris

 Origin: Greece
 Half-nymph humanoid,
son of Pilammon, a
mortal singer, and
Argiope, a nymph
 Talented singer who
was punished by Hades
for his hubris either by
blindness or the
removal of his voice
Sirens

 Origin: Greece
 Birds with the heads and faces
of beautiful human women
 Sit on crags of a rocky coast
and lure sailors to their deaths
by singing in such enchanted
voices that sailors crash their
ships on the rocks to get
closer to them and, ultimately,
drown
 Featured in “The Odyssey”
and “The Argonautica,”
defeated respectively by
Odysseus and Orpheus
Will o’ Wisp

 Origin: Europe
 Appear as glowing balls of light
that lead travelers astray at night
 Irish myth states that they can
lead a person to treasure
 Also depicted in literature as a
metaphor for an unreachable goal
 Based on real-life environmental
phenomena known as “marsh
gas” or “swamp gas,” where gas
reserves in marshy environments
briefly spontaneously ignite
Valkyries

 Origin: Scandinavia and
Northern Europe
 Beautiful female warrior
spirits aboard flying
horses
 Assisted Odin by flying
into battle and escorting
the souls of the most
worthy slain warriors to
Valhalla (essentially
Viking warrior Heaven)
Tityus

 Origin: Greece
 Phokian Giant
 Son of Elara and Zeus, though
carried to term by Gaia after
his mother was buried in the
Earth to hide her from Hera
 Assaulted the goddess Leto,
was slain in punishment by
Artemis and Apollo, further
(eternally) punished in the
Underworld by being staked
to the ground and having two
vultures pluck out his liver
every night after it
regenerates during the day
Terpsichore

One of nine Muses
Choral song, and dance
Depicted with lyre
Terpsichore and her
sisters were believed to
reside above the golden
clouds that covered the
sacred Greek mountain
peaks of Mount Olympus
 Said to be mother of
Sirens, by Achelous




Telchines

 Origin: Greece
 Usually depicted as
humanoids or human/fish
hybrids
 Original inhabitants of
Rhodes, children of Pontus
or Gaia
 Talented smiths- created
trident for Poseidon and
sickle for Cronus
 Raised Poseidon
 Slain by Poseidon, Zeus, or
Apollo for developing evil
magic
Zelus

 Origin: Greece
 Demon of Jealousy
 A monstrous hag with a wrinkled,
shrunken body, black teeth, and
breasts covered in green venom
 Commonly referred to as Nemesis
Invidia, which is Latin for envy
 Appearance reveals the ugliness of
her soul and her crooked, squinting
eyes never sleep
 Feeds off serpents and thriving off
their venom
 Provoked by the spite and resentment
towards seeing others fortune and
success. The Zelus herself is her own
torture, competitive by nature and
fueling her fire with the bitterness she
so frequently encounters.
Sandman

 Origin: Northern and Central
Europe
 Humanoid human man
whose purpose is to sprinkle
dust or sand into the eyes of
children to make them sleep
and dream.
 If you wake up and you have
sandy gunk in your eye, he
visited you in the night
 Occasionally portrayed as a
more sinister character who
would steal the eyes of
children who refused to sleep
after throwing sand in them
Selkie

 Origin: Scotland, Ireland,
Faroe Island
 Gorgeous young men and
women that live as seals in
the sea but can turn into
humanoids on land by
removing their seal skin
 Become bound to a human
that steals their seal skin and
will remain homesick for the
sea until they have their skin
returned
Yuki-onna

 Origin: Japan
 A tall, beautiful woman with
white skin, black hair, and blue
lips
 Appears to mountain travelers in
snowstorms and has powers over
snow, ice, and cold (usually kills
them)
 Most famous story describes a
man who encounters a yuki-onna
and is spared by her, as long as
he doesn’t speak of her again.
Years later, he tells the story to
his wife who turns out to be the
yuki-onna. She spares him again
on behalf of their children but
melts away and disappears
Credits

 Yasmeen: Sphinx and Typhoeus
 Carmen: Titon and Thamyris
 Jonathan: Sirens, Will o’ Wisps, and Valkyries
 Katy: Tityus and Terpsichore
 Steph: Telchines
 Amber: Zelus
 Liz: Sandman, Selkie, Yuki-onna