"is that most of the elephants became deceased during the settlement of the Mediterranean islands. A claim to support this theory is that the early Greek settlers thousands of years later incorporated the dwarf elephant into their mythology calling them Cyclopses (one-eyed monsters). This is because the skull of an elephant shows a single large hole on the forehead which does resemble an eye socket - the actual eye sockets are placed quite low on the sides of the animal's head and thus easily overlooked. Cyprus dwarf elephant The Cyprus dwarf elephant (""Palaeoloxodon cypriotes"") is an extinct species that inhabited"
"Monoceros (legendary creature) The monoceros () is a legendary animal with only one horn. It derives from the Greek word ""Μονόκερως"", a compound word from μόνος (""monos"") which means ""only one"" / ""single"" and κέρας (""keras"") (neuter gender, which means ""horn"". The monoceros was first described in Pliny the Elder's ""Natural History"" as a creature with the body of a horse, the head of a stag (minus the antlers), the feet of an elephant, and the tail of a wild boar. It has one black horn in the middle of its forehead, which is two cubits in length, and is"
"impossible to capture alive. In today's English language, the term ""monoceros"" typically refers to a unicorn or similar one-horned creature. Monoceros (legendary creature) The monoceros () is a legendary animal with only one horn. It derives from the Greek word ""Μονόκερως"", a compound word from μόνος (""monos"") which means ""only one"" / ""single"" and κέρας (""keras"") (neuter gender, which means ""horn"". The monoceros was first described in Pliny the Elder's ""Natural History"" as a creature with the body of a horse, the head of a stag (minus the antlers), the feet of an elephant, and the tail of a wild"
"Unicorn The unicorn is a legendary creature that has been described since antiquity as a beast with a single large, pointed, spiraling horn projecting from its forehead. The unicorn was depicted in ancient seals of the Indus Valley Civilization and was mentioned by the ancient Greeks in accounts of natural history by various writers, including Ctesias, Strabo, Pliny the Younger, and Aelian. The Bible also describes an animal, the re'em, which some versions translate as ""unicorn"". In European folklore, the unicorn is often depicted as a white horse-like or goat-like animal with a long horn and cloven hooves (sometimes a"
"by the same authors formally named in a subsequent publication as the type species ""Sauroniops pachytholus"". The generic name has the intended meaning of ""Eye of Sauron"", a powerful entity from the ""Lord of the Rings"" fantasy novel by J.R.R. Tolkien, combining his name with a Classical Greek ὄψ, ""ops"", ""eye"". Like in the novels the corporeal presence of Sauron had largely been limited to a single searching eye, ""Sauroniops"" is only known from a single bone above the eye socket. The specific name is derived from Greek παχύς, ""pachys"", ""thick"", and θόλος, ""tholos"", ""round building with conical roof"", in"
"Sphinx A sphinx ( , Boeotian: , plural sphinxes or sphinges) is a mythical creature with the head of a human and the body of a lion. In Greek tradition, it has the head of a human, the haunches of a lion, and sometimes the wings of a bird. It is mythicised as treacherous and merciless. Those who cannot answer its riddle suffer a fate typical in such mythological stories, as they are killed and eaten by this ravenous monster. This deadly version of a sphinx appears in the myth and drama of Oedipus. Unlike the Greek sphinx, which was"
"Empusa Empusa or Empousa (; ""plural"": ""Empousai"") is a shape-shifting female being in Greek mythology, said to possess a single leg of copper, commanded by Hecate, whose precise nature is obscure. In Late Antiquity, the empousai has been described as a category of phantoms or spectres, equated with the ""lamiai and mormolykeia, thought to seduce and feed on young men. Also empuse in English usage. The primary sources for the ""empousa"" in Antiquity are Aristophanes's plays (""Frogs"" and ""Ecclesiazusae"") and Philostratus's ""Life of Apollonius of Tyana"". The Empusa has been defined in the Sudas and by Crates of Mallus as"
"by the rays of the sun (the arrows of Apollo). Python (mythology) In Greek mythology, Python (; ""gen"". Πύθωνος) was the serpent, sometimes represented as a medieval-style dragon, living at the center of the earth, believed by the ancient Greeks to be at Delphi. Python, sometimes written Phython, presided at the Delphic oracle, which existed in the cult center for its mother, Gaia, ""Earth,"" Pytho being the place name that was substituted for the earlier ""Krisa"". Greeks considered the site to be the center of the earth, represented by a stone, the ""omphalos"" or navel, which Python guarded. Python became"
"of the skull is solid bone, with a distinctive single median tooth in the upper jaw. It has no outer ears, and the eyes are deeply recessed and covered with skin and scales. These rudimentary eyes have a cornea, lens, and complex ciliary body, which allows them to detect light, but they are reduced in size and do not have an anterior chamber. The body is elongated, and the tail truncates in a manner that vaguely resembles the head. Their name is derived from Amphisbaena, a mythical serpent with a head at each end-referencing both the manner in which their"
"in a peacock's tail. The myth makes the closest connection of Argus, the neatherd, with the bull. In the ""Library"" of pseudo-Apollodorus, ""Argos killed the bull that ravaged Arcadia, ""then clothed himself in its skin."""" Argus is commemorated in the scientific names of at least six animals, each of which bears a pattern of eye spots: reptiles ""Cnemaspis argus, Eremias argus, Sibon argus"", and ""Sphaerodactylus argus""; the pheasant ""Argusianus argus""; and the cowry ""Arestorides argus"". Argus Panoptes Argus Panoptes (All-seeing) () or Argos () is a many-eyed giant in Greek mythology. The figure is known for having spawned the saying"
"Monopod (creature) Monopods (also sciapods, skiapods, skiapodes) are mythological dwarf-like creatures with a single, large foot extending from a leg centered in the middle of their bodies. The names ""monopod"" and ""skiapod"" (σκιάποδες) are both Greek, respectively meaning ""one-foot"" and ""shadow-foot"". Monopods appear in Aristophanes' play ""The Birds"", first performed in 414 BC. They are described by Pliny the Elder in his ""Natural History"", where he reports travelers' stories from encounters or sightings of Monopods in India. Pliny remarks that they are first mentioned by Ctesias in his book ""Indika"" (India), a record of the view of Persians of India"
"gave the name ""Cerberus"" to a genus of Asian snakes, which are commonly called ""dog-faced water snakes"" in English. Cerberus In Greek mythology, Cerberus (; ""Kerberos"" ), often called the ""hound of Hades"", is a multi-headed dog that guards the gates of the Underworld to prevent the dead from leaving. Cerberus was the offspring of the monsters Echidna and Typhon, and usually is described as having three heads, a serpent for a tail, and snakes protruding from parts of his body. Cerberus is primarily known for his capture by Heracles, one of Heracles' twelve labours. Descriptions of Cerberus vary, including"
"Philosophy appears only in the ""maturity of reality,"" because it understands in hindsight. Owl of Athena In Greek mythology, a little owl (""Athene noctua"") traditionally represents or accompanies Athena, the virgin goddess of wisdom, or Minerva, her syncretic incarnation in Roman mythology. Because of such association, the bird — often referred to as the ""owl of Athena"" or the ""owl of Minerva"" — has been used as a symbol of knowledge, wisdom, perspicacity and erudition throughout the Western world. The reasons for the association of Athena and the owl are uncertain. Some mythographers, such as David Kinsley and Martin P."
"Catoblepas The catoblepas (pl. catoblepones; from the Greek καταβλέπω, (katablépō) ""to look downwards"") is a legendary creature from Ethiopia, first described by Pliny the Elder and later by Claudius Aelianus. It is said to have the body of a cape buffalo. Its head is always pointing downwards due to its head being heavy. Its stare or breath could either turn people into stone, or kill them. The catoblepas is often thought to be based on real-life encounters with wildebeest, such that some dictionaries say that the word is synonymous with ""gnu"". Also known as an African version of a Gorgon."
"Chimera (mythology) The Chimera ( or , also Chimaera (""Chimæra""); Greek: , ""Chímaira"" ""she-goat"") was, according to Greek mythology, a monstrous fire-breathing hybrid creature of Lycia in Asia Minor, composed of the parts of more than one animal. It is usually depicted as a lion, with the head of a goat arising from its back, and a tail that might end with a snake's head, and was one of the offspring of Typhon and Echidna and a sibling of such monsters as Cerberus and the Lernaean Hydra. The term ""chimera"" has come to describe any mythical or fictional animal with"
"""Symphysops"" is the combination of the Ancient Greek σύν (syn) ""together"", φύσις (physis) ""growth"" and ὄψις (opsis) ""sight"", referring to the fused eyes. ""Symphysops"" is characterized by large eyes that merge at the front of the headshield (or cephalon) to form what looks like a visor with at the back a wide free cheek. The remainder of the cephalon is filled by the glabella, which in most species extends into a forward pointing thorn at its frontal tip. The occipital ring cannot be distinguish from the rest of the glabella, which has two pair of transverse furrows, the rear pair"
"to those who had never seen a living elephant. Classical scholars, on the other hand, have long realized that the story of the cyclops was originally a Greek folk tale, which existed independently of the ""Odyssey"" and which only became embedded in it at a later date. Similar stories are found in cultures across Europe and the Middle East. According to this explanation, the cyclops was originally simply a giant or ogre, much like Humbaba in the ""Epic of Gilgamesh"". The detail about it having one eye was simply invented in order to explain how the creature was so easily"
"Chrysaor In Greek mythology, Chrysaor (, ""Chrysáor"", ""gen"".: Χρυσάορος, ""Chrysáoros""; English translation: ""He who has a golden sword"" (from χρυσός, ""golden"" and ἄορ, ""sword"")), the brother of the winged horse Pegasus, was often depicted as a young man, the son of Poseidon and the Gorgon Medusa. Chrysaor and Pegasus were not born until Perseus chopped off Medusa's head. Medusa, one of the three Gorgon sisters, the most beautiful, and the only mortal one, angered Athena due to either having sex with, or being raped by, Poseidon in the Temple of Athena. Athena punished Medusa by turning her hair into snakes."
"Hippocampus (mythology) The hippocampus or hippocamp, also ""hippokampoi"" (plural: hippocampi or hippocamps; , from , ""horse"" and , ""sea monster""), often called a sea-horse in English, is a mythological creature shared by Phoenician, Etruscan, and Greek mythology, though its name has a Greek origin. The hippocampus has typically been depicted as having the upper body of a horse with the lower body of a fish. Coins minted at Tyre around the 4th century BC show the patron god Melqart riding on a winged hippocampus and accompanied by dolphins. Coins of the same period from Byblos show a hippocampus diving under"
"the only mortal Gorgon, Medusa, whose gaze turned people to stone. Ovid's account of Medusa's mortality tells that she had once been a woman, vain of her beautiful hair, who was raped by Poseidon in the Temple of Athena. In punishment for the desecration of her temple, Athena had changed Medusa's hair into hideous snakes ""that she may alarm her surprised foes with terror"". Athena instructed Perseus to find the Hesperides, who were entrusted with weapons needed to defeat the Gorgon. Following Athena's guidance, Perseus sought the Graeae, sisters of the Gorgons, to demand the whereabouts of the Hesperides, the"
"Cerberus In Greek mythology, Cerberus (; ""Kerberos"" ), often called the ""hound of Hades"", is a multi-headed dog that guards the gates of the Underworld to prevent the dead from leaving. Cerberus was the offspring of the monsters Echidna and Typhon, and usually is described as having three heads, a serpent for a tail, and snakes protruding from parts of his body. Cerberus is primarily known for his capture by Heracles, one of Heracles' twelve labours. Descriptions of Cerberus vary, including the number of his heads. Cerberus was usually three-headed, though not always. Cerberus had several multi-headed relatives. His father"
"land. The echidnas are named after Echidna, a creature from Greek mythology who was half-woman, half-snake, as the animal was perceived to have qualities of both mammals and reptiles. Echidnas are medium-sized, solitary mammals covered with coarse hair and spines. Superficially, they resemble the anteaters of South America and other spiny mammals such as hedgehogs and porcupines. They are usually black or brown in colour. There have been several reports of albino echidnas, their eyes pink and their spines white. They have elongated and slender snouts that function as both mouth and nose. Like the platypus, they are equipped with"
"she had no body. Jane Ellen Harrison notes that ""Medusa is a head and nothing more... a mask with a body later appended"". Prior to the fifth century BC, she was depicted as particularly ugly, with a protruding tongue, boar tusks, puffy cheeks, her eyeballs staring fixedly on the viewer and the snakes twisting all around her. The direct frontal stare, ""seemingly looking out from its own iconographical context and directly challenging the viewer"", was highly unusual in ancient Greek art. (""But see"" the common depiction of the evil eye on 6th century drinking vessels, and particularly, eye-cups, which, like"
"exception is the Latin poet Horace's Cerberus which has a single dog head, and one hundred snake heads. Perhaps trying to reconcile these competing traditions, Apollodorus's Cerberus has three dog heads and the heads of ""all sorts of snakes"" along his back, while the Byzantine poet John Tzetzes (who probably based his account on Apollodorus) gives Cerberus fifty heads, three of which were dog heads, the rest being the ""heads of other beasts of all sorts"". In art Cerberus is most commonly depicted with two dog heads (visible), never more than three, but occasionally with only one. On one of"
"Flegetonte (""river of blood""), to continue through the seventh Circle. Minotaur In Greek mythology, the Minotaur (, ; , , Etruscan: ""Θevrumineś"") is a mythical creature portrayed in Classical times with the head and tail of a bull and the body of a man or, as described by Roman poet Ovid, a being ""part man and part bull"". It dwelt at the center of the Labyrinth, which was an elaborate maze-like construction designed by the architect Daedalus and his son Icarus, on the command of King Minos of Crete. The Minotaur was eventually killed by the Athenian hero Theseus. The"
"Yale (mythical creature) The yale or centicore (Latin: ""eale"") is a mythical beast found in European mythology and heraldry. Most descriptions make it an antelope- or goat-like four-legged creature with the tusks of a boar and large horns that it can swivel in any direction. The name might be derived from Hebrew יָעֵל (""yael""), meaning ""Ibex"". The yale was first written about by Pliny the Elder in Book VIII of his ""Natural History"": he describes the ""eale"" as a creature found in Aethiopia ""the size of a hippopotamus, with an elephant's tail, of a black or tawny colour, with the"
"Argus Panoptes Argus Panoptes (All-seeing) () or Argos () is a many-eyed giant in Greek mythology. The figure is known for having spawned the saying ""the eyes of Argus"", as in to be ""followed by"", ""trailed by"", ""watched by"", et cetera, the eyes; the saying is used to describe being subject to strict scrutiny in one's actions to an invasive, distressing degree. The monstrous entity has been either directly included or indirectly alluded to in a wide variety of works influenced by Greco-Roman thought over the past several centuries. Argus Panoptes (), guardian of the heifer-nymph Io and son of"
"single eye atop the head as a nauplius (first stage larva). The eye has a lens and senses the direction of light but cannot resolve more details in images. Later, more sophisticated segmented eyes develop on sides of the head while the initial eye stays for some time. So, it is possible to say that, at some stage of development, crustaceans also have a ""third eye"". Some species, like the brine shrimp, retain the primary eye, being three-eyed in the adult stage. Most arthropods have simple eyes, called ocelli, between their main eyes. Parietal eye A parietal eye, also known"
"Gorgon In Greek mythology, a Gorgon (; plural: Gorgons, ""Gorgon""/""Gorgo"") is a mythical creature portrayed in ancient Greek literature. While descriptions of Gorgons vary across Greek literature and occur in the earliest examples of Greek literature, the term commonly refers to any of three sisters who had hair made of living, venomous snakes, as well as a horrifying visage that turned those who beheld her to stone. Traditionally, while two of the Gorgons were immortal, Stheno and Euryale, their sister Medusa was not and she was slain by the demigod and hero Perseus. The name derives from the ancient Greek"
"Amphisbaena The amphisbaena (, plural: amphisbaenae; ) is a mythological, ant-eating serpent with a head at each end. The creature is alternatively called the amphisbaina, amphisbene, amphisboena, amphisbona, amphista, amfivena, amphivena, or anphivena (the last two being feminine), and is also known as the ""Mother of Ants"". Its name comes from the Greek words ""amphis"", meaning ""both ways"", and ""bainein"", meaning ""to go"". According to Greek mythology, the amphisbaena was spawned from the blood that dripped from the Gorgon Medusa's head as Perseus flew over the Libyan Desert with her in his hand, after which Cato's army then encountered it"
"of a ""pillar of cloud"" by day and a ""pillar of fire"" by night. In the ancient Greek comedy ""The Clouds"", written by Aristophanes and first performed at the City Dionysia in 423 BC, the philosopher Socrates declares that the Clouds are the only true deities and tells the main character Strepsiades not to worship any deities other than the Clouds, but to pay homage to them alone. In the play, the Clouds change shape to reveal the true nature of whoever is looking at them, turning into centaurs at the sight of a long-haired politician, wolves at the sight"
"Griffin The griffin, griffon, or gryphon (Greek: γρύφων, ""grýphōn"", or γρύπων, ""grýpōn"", early form ""γρύψ"", ""grýps""; ) is a legendary creature with the body, tail, and back legs of a lion; the head and wings of an eagle; and sometimes an eagle's talons as its front feet. Because the lion was traditionally considered the king of the beasts and the eagle the king of birds by the Middle Ages the griffin was thought to be an especially powerful and majestic creature. Since classical antiquity, Griffins were known for guarding treasure and priceless possessions. In Greek and Roman texts, griffins and"
"Minotaur In Greek mythology, the Minotaur (, ; , , Etruscan: ""Θevrumineś"") is a mythical creature portrayed in Classical times with the head and tail of a bull and the body of a man or, as described by Roman poet Ovid, a being ""part man and part bull"". It dwelt at the center of the Labyrinth, which was an elaborate maze-like construction designed by the architect Daedalus and his son Icarus, on the command of King Minos of Crete. The Minotaur was eventually killed by the Athenian hero Theseus. The term Minotaur derives from the Ancient Greek , a compound"