We have all heard of giants, cyclops, and even Medusa, but those monsters pale in comparison to Typhoeus. The biggest, most powerful, and the most deadly monster imaginable, who just so happens to also be a God. Stemmed from Greek mythology, Typhoeus is first mentioned in the 8th-7th century BC poem Theogony written by Hesiod. He also makes appearances in literature such as Bibliotheca, Fabulae, Metamorphoses, Argonautica, Astronomica, Halieutica, Dionysiaca, and Pythian Ode 1. Typhoeus also appears in the plays Prometheus Bound and Seven Against Thebes. There are three main story lines on why Typhoeus was born. One claims that Gaia was angry with Zeus for imprisoning her Titan children, so she gave birth to a monster who could challenge Zeus’ power. Another story states that Hera was mad at Zeus for giving birth to Athena by himself, so she asked Gaia and Tartarus to have a …show more content…
child as strong as Zeus. The final storyline claims Hera alone was actually the mother of Typhoeus, after praying for Gaia to give her a child to challenge Zeus, for the same reason as before. Few believe that Hera was the mother, and actually prefer the story claiming that Hera asked Gaia to give birth to Typhoeus. By any story line, Typhoeus went on to lay siege to Heaven, claiming he would take over Mount Olympus. While all other Gods fled in fear, Zeus stayed to challenge Typhoeus. The battle was long and drawn out, ending with Typhoeus ripping out Zeus’ tendons. Hermes retrieved the tendons, which he returned to Zeus. Following the return of his tendons, Zeus began to throw lightning bolts at Typhoeus, overwhelming him and quickly throwing Mount Etna on top of him, trapping him forever. Some say that he was instead trapped in the Pit of Tartarus, but that is not as popular as the first belief. He was created as the personification of volcanic eruptions because he had been fighting to break free from under Mount Etna, causing it to erupt. Described as being so tall “his head brushed the stars”, he was a man from the waist up, winged, with two coiled serpents for legs.
In the place of fingers, he instead had one hundred serpent heads. From his head also stemmed one hundred deadly snakes, and he had glowing red eyes. He was depicted in some stories to breathe fire and throw hot molten stones, and in others he was described as having the qualities of a strong storm. Typhoeus, also commonly known as Typhon, was the final son of Gaia and Tartarus, he was born a God. Typhoeus is said to be “the father of all monsters”. He married Echidna and gave birth to Gorgon, Cerberus, Chimera, Sphinx, Nemean Lion, Orthos, and Ladon. He was also considered a terror to mortals, and was feared by the Gods as well. Typhoeus was considered the most dangerous, most feared, and certainly the most deadly monster of them all. Only challenged by Zeus himself, Typhoeus struck fear into the hearts of all, and even nearly defeated Zeus. The father of many monsters and a Greek God, trapped under Mount Etna, is by far the most powerful monster of all
time.
Polyphemus is a semi-human, man-eating monster with a single eye in the center of his forehead. He was referred to as a cyclops. He is the son of Poseidon and Thoosa, and lives on an island devoted to cyclops. Polyphemus means abounding in songs and legends.
Cyclopes are members of a primordial race of giants, each with a single eye in the middle of its forehead; they are mainly seen in Greek mythology. Whenever people hear the word “Cyclops,” it is always associated with humongous 20-foot tall cannibal with a big stick roaming the forest and mountains. However, Cyclopes are one of the oldest Greek mythological creatures; they are children of gods and nature spirits who came out wrong. Poseidon was the most common father. Hesiod was one of the first Greek scholars to describe them as three brothers who were primordial giants. Today Cyclopes the media perceptions of Cyclopes has not changed. They are still viewed as rugged human-like monsters with one eye in the middle of their head. Cyclopes are the least favorite of Greek mythological creatures; they are seen as brute, vile, and disgusting creatures with a thirst for blood. Even though Cyclopes are mythological creatures, they make us question our existence because they are so similar to us. They make us question whether we share an ancestral trait or if we will one day turn into them. Cyclopes are gigantic one-eye monsters that live a lawless life in the middle of the forest or in the mountains; they possess no social manner or fear of gods. They work for Hephaestus in the heart of volcanic mountain Aetna. Society perceives Cyclopes as monsters because of the way they are portrayed in films and books.
From this point, in this essay of Dante’s Inferno, the seven major monsters, namely Minos, Cerberus, Plutus, Minotaur, Centaurs, Harpies and Geryon, are examined for their role and function in the story.
Homer’s The Odyssey chronicles Odysseus’s return home from the Trojan War to reunite with his wife, kingdom, and son. However, Odysseus has been encountering serious difficulties that have prevented him from reaching home for nearly twenty years. These difficulties include various different types of monsters, each of which seems to embody undesirable traits such as laziness or savagery. The Greeks portray creatures with these traits as monsters as an example of the Greeks’ “better” traits and subsequent superiority. Each species of monster within The Odyssey represents one or more qualities that the Greeks have demonized in comparison to themselves.
Polyphemus plays a big role in Greek mythology and The Odyssey. There are many gods, goddesses, and mythical creatures in the epic poems Homer had written. Polyphemus, the son of Poseidon is often portrayed as a giant monster with barely an human characteristics. It plays an important role in The Odyssey and greek mythology because he had held Odysseus captive and got blinded. There are so many myths and theories about cyclopes and how they worked for Zeus and were semi-human monsters with bad temper.
(Morford, Lenardon, and Sham 420-421). King Polybus and Queen Merope raised the child as their own and named him Oedipus, meaning “swellfoot”, because of the way he was found with the spike through his ankles. (Morford, Lenardon, and Sham 421). When Oedipus became a young man, he found out that he was not the natural born child of the King and Queen so he searched for his destiny. Oedipus discovered the truth from the oracle, whom his real parents were and was advised to avoid his birth land. In agreement, Oedipus traveled to Thebes and on his journey he crossed paths with his birth father, where they fought and Oedipus killed him and filled the prophesy told by the oracle. (Morford, Lenardon, and Sham 421). Oedipus continued his journey to Thebes and came across the city pursued by a flying monster, (the Sphinx, meaning “strangler”) that the goddess Hera had sent upon the city of Thebes. (Morford, Lenardon, and
One of the most well-known pieces of Greek tragedy is Euripides’s The Bacchae, a tale which chronicles the life and ultimate revenge that the Greek god Dionysus would take out upon his mortal family. Through this tale Dionysus can be viewed in multiple lights. He varied his appearance from that of a great leader, to that of a master of the great art of manipulation. With that said, no image was grander than how he showed that the great Greek gods are not known for being forgiving creatures. Dionysus proved this by being utterly brutal and relentless. With these actions, he showed that the gods should, in most cases, be well and truly feared for their potential retaliation and retribution.
One of the most interesting qualities of Greek mythology is probably the depiction of monsters in the myths. However, these monsters are not all unique. In fact, they all fall into very distinct categories, making them almost the same. Most monsters in Greek mythology look and act in the same ways. Several monsters from these myths look the same in that they have very similar qualities such as being large, snake or human like. However, they are also very alike in that they behave in very similar ways, from guarding something or roaming freely and causing chaos. Generally, the monsters in Greek mythology follow this outline and are depicted in a way to show these qualities.
Aphrodite, goddess of love and beauty, later rose from the sea where Uranus's body had been thrown. Now Cronus became king of the universe. Cronos married his sister, Rhea, and they had six children. At the time of Cronos's marriage to Rhea, Gaea prophesied that one of his children would overthrow Cronos, as he had overthrown Uranus. To protect himself, Cronos swallowed each of his first five children -- Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades, and Poseidon -- immediatly after birth.
Monsters are a representation of fear and are like nightmares. This is so because many of the monsters’ qualities strike fear thus, they are a representation of fear itself. Monsters are like nightmares is that one having the nightmare always awakes before the end, symbolizing the victory of good over evil. This is why monsters’ symbolize evil as well as fear. This was the case with Heracles and the snakes. Even danger was lurking, baby Heracles woke up before tragedy could strike and struck back at tragedy.
Monsters are towering, fierce beings best known for causing nightmares and battling heroes. Tales are told of their devastating power, but also of their agonizing defeats. Monsters are symbols of the inherent evil of human nature and of the dark truths of the natural world. Monsters are also challenges, tasks a hero must complete. Sometimes monsters are the ultimate measure of a hero’s worth, other times just another step in a hero’s journey. In the book Bulfinch’s Mythology, Thomas Bulfinch writes that “Monsters, in the language of mythology, were beings of unnatural proportions or parts, usually regarded with terror, as possessing immense strength and ferocity, which they employed for the injury and annoyance of men.” Although independent of what they represent, Monsters come in numerous builds and multiple figures, like humans.
Poseidon is one of the strongest gods in Greek mythology. Poseidon was the god of water, horses, and earthquakes. He was thought to be the reason for boat wrecks, and drowning’s.
Odysseus, known as an iconic Greek king and warrior of Ithaca, has all of the traits that a mighty king would have. His tale and reputation are one that would continue to live on long after his passing. This fame and reputation is known as kleos. Kleos, in Greek, means renown or honor, it symbolizes what you hear about someone through another person. Kleos is a common theme in Homer 's epic, the Odyssey, the main example being that of Odysseus and his son Telemachus, who is concerned that his father may have died a pathetic and pitiable death at sea rather than a reputable and gracious one in battle. Kleos has proven to be very important to Odysseus time and time again. From the way he is introduced, to his actions, to the way he is viewed
Prometheus' birth has two sides of stories behind the myth. Most people, in that time period, weren't sure who Prometheus' mother was. His father, on the other hand, was Iapetus, one of the Titans. One of Prometheus' mothers in the stories was Clymene, one of the Oceanids, and the other version has it that Asia, also one of the Oceanids, was Iapetus' spouse (Parada 4). Whatever the case was, Epimetheus was Prometheus' brother. Later in life, Prometheus would tell Epimetheus not to accept any gift from Zeus because of the vision he would get from his ability to before-hand tell the future. This Epimetheus would later ignore when he would marry Zeus' creation, Pandora (Parada 3).
In the 2010 movie “Clash of the Titans” a man named Perseus discovers he is the son of Zeus, and is called upon the doomed city of Argos to save them from Hades and the monster known as the Kraken, set upon them by Zeus after the royals of the city insulted the gods; Perseus, tasked with finding a way to defeat the Kraken, went and cut of the head of Medusa, and used it to turn the monster to stone; and with the help of his father, sent Hades, who had betrayed Zeus, back to the underworld. The ancient greek tale which the movie was based on had a king Acrisius that was told that someday he would be killed and overthrown by his grandson; upon hearing this he imprisoned his beautiful daughter, Danae, in a dungeon, where she was visited and impregnated by Zeus; discovering the newborn child, the king locked Danae and his grandson in a chest and threw them in the ocean, where they were rescued by a fisherman, whom Danae married and they raised Perseus; to save his mother from a cruel king, he agreed to recover the head of a gorgon, which he did; on his way home he he